When I got Artemis she was being fed OLE ROY. Yeah, I know.... anyway, I started her on Innova and she always had loose stool so I switch to Blue Wilderness Puppy. She's done alot better on it but she's still occasionally have loose stool. I'm careful to measure out her food.... she gets one cup early in the morning and another in the evening. I haven't seen her getting in to anything and we don't give her table food. There doesn't seem to be any pattern (time of day, etc.) I'd say she's been on BWP since the first of January. Should I give her more time on this or switch again?

Some people on here say to add some pumpkin to her food. I am sure someone will come in tell you how much because I am not sure of the amount.

A tablespoon or 2 with each meal should be fine, but make sure it's pure pumpkin and not pie filling (too many additives). Also, you may want to try pulling her off kibble completely for a few days. We did that with Ghost, and it helped transition her from grain inclusive kibble to BW. We did about 2 scrambled eggs supplemented with green beans and carrots at each feeding, and she firmed up within 24 hours.

All that being said, some Huskies just can't tolerate certain foods, even if they are grain free. Sometimes it's one ingredient over another, or something in the manufacture process. We actually switched Ghost over to Taste of the Wild (they make a puppy formula now, but the all life stages is fine as well) in November, and she's done even better on that than on BW. You might want to give it a try, and if you email them they'll send you samples. If you're going to transition, especially if she's still having tummy issues, make sure you do it very slowly so she has time to adjust.

Karen124 wrote:

When I got Artemis she was being fed OLE ROY. Yeah, I know....

Don't feel bad many of us started out that way..........

Just curious, approximately how often would you say this loose stool happens? Is there ever any mucous accompanying her stool? And are we talking really soft with little formation or liquid diarrhea with absolutely no formation?

Pumpkin is helpful for a temporary digestive upset, but it's not a cure or something you should rely on long term which is why I don't recommend it for ongoing problems.

Sounds like Rodeo, stool would be fine, and then the runs. Fine, Fine, fine, soft stool. Fine, Fine, mucous in the stool. I couldn't figure it out. Eventually it turned out to be a food intolerance and once I put him on a Venison patty formula (without chicken or pork) things got better almost immediately. We're slowly trying different kibbles without chicken or pork (as those seem to be his triggers, or at least one of them is) and he seems to be doing OK.

You may want to try a single protein source kibble and see if that makes a difference.

@hereforthepics LOL That's too funny!

@huskyluv I'd say it's just a few times a week. It's not full blown diarrhea and there doesn't appear to be any mucus -- it's just mushy. It still has some shape to it but you would definitely have to scrub your carpet/flooring.

I was trying to stick to a puppy kibble but after reading these forums, I'm seeing that it's ok to try some of the "all life stages" foods. I haven't seen many varieties of proteins for puppy formulations so it's good to know I have other options.

I would guess either irritable bowel or that something just isn't agreeing with her...more than likely the latter. Two months was more than enough time for her system to have adjusted so I'd try easing her onto something different. It's really a matter of trial and error till you find what works for your dog. I have TWO sensitive dogs and that makes finding new foods hard, but you'll get there.

I'm going to do some calling around today but I think Tractor Supply carries TOTW and I found a feed store that supposedly sells Orijen. Has anyone had better luck with one over the other? Also, does it matter what I start with? Fish vs. venison vs. duck vs. lamb, etc.? I'm going to try something other than chicken since that's in BWP.

Are any of the other brands at Petsmart/Petco any good?

I don't think it matters which variety you start with, just start slowly. My two love all the varieties of TOTW, but the Salmon one gives them very fishy breath Right now, I think I have them on the venison (I rotate with each purchase) and they literally dance for their meals! lol One of these days I have to get a video of feeding time. I think huskies generally do really well on fish since it was an integral part of their ancestral diet, but you may need to use trial and error to find the one that fits Artemis best.

As for Petsmart/Petco brands...I think Petco has a bigger selection of better foods, but I don't know for sure what brands they sell.

Karen124 wrote:

I'm going to do some calling around today but I think Tractor Supply carries TOTW and I found a feed store that supposedly sells Orijen. Has anyone had better luck with one over the other? Also, does it matter what I start with? Fish vs. venison vs. duck vs. lamb, etc.? I'm going to try something other than chicken since that's in BWP.

Are any of the other brands at Petsmart/Petco any good?

my mom use to feed authority from petsmart im not sure of the ingridents but i dont think they use by products and her dog always had a nice coat and it didnt make her poop alot and it wasnt to expensive if i can remember correctly

Does anyone have a puppy formulation that DOESN'T contain chicken? I'm at work so I'm fairly limited on my search time but I think every single puppy food I've found contains chicken. I'm thinking I might transition to a fish "all life stages" food for our first try. Do the ALS have puppy serving sizes on them or do you have to do any sort of kcal calculation. I've looked at a few webpages (TOTW, Orijen, BW) and so far I'm just seeing adult serving sizes.

Growing puppies need more calories to promote growth than an adult who is just maintaining. I've heard that TOTW now has a couple of puppy formulas. I also imagine there is probably a calculation out there as well, Val would probably know more about it. As for feeding amounts, I think we were feeding 3 or 4 cups of food a day while the kids were pups and that was of a less than great food (we didn't know until I found this site last summer).

I couldn't find any actual suggested amounts on the TOTW website, but I did find this:
Puppies have a much higher energy requirement per pound of body weight than adult dogs do. Very young puppies need more calories than older puppies as well. So, if you have two puppies that both weigh 10 pounds but one is 10 weeks and the other is 10 months, you will find that the 10 week old puppy actually will need to be fed quite a bit more food than your 10 month old puppy.

If you can find a bag of puppy formula in the store, I'm sure the back of the bag will give you suggested amounts, but it may differ depending on Artemis.

I believe Great Life is an ALS pet food. It has one meat ingredient which may help combat allergies if they're protein based. They have a grain free Bison, Salmon, or Chicken formula. With Rodeo it helped to try a novel protein first (one he hadn't had) and see how he took that. We tried Venison and it worked.

Here's their Buffalo formula:
http://www.doctorsfinest.com/Grain_and_Potato_Free_Buffalo_Dog_Food_p/gfbd.htm

I've fed their food in the past.

i feed a salmon formula from totw to my rat terrier puppy. i think they just came out with it. he loves it!

OK I think TOTW's puppy fish formula is chicken free so I think I'm going to try that! Wish us luck! If I can find it...

First stop (tractor supply) doesn't carry the puppy formula of TOTW. They had the regular salmon mix. Is there really THAT much difference between the formulas? I'm going to a feed store in a different town tomorrow and they carry both TOTW and Orijen so maybe they'll have a puppy formula in one or the other.

The "adult" is the same formula as the "all life stages"; they just changed it to adult because of the whole "all life-stages is bad" fad lol

I just want to take the time to thank every single one of you who posted on this thread. We're about 5 days in on a mix of her former Blue Wilderness Puppy and the new TOTW Pacific Stream Puppy and it's like night and day! The difference has been AMAZING! Much less stinky, firmer, and fewer bowel movements. I never thought I'd be this excited about dog poop!