# Can changing food cause Diarrhea?



## Desray (Jun 28, 2013)

Hi! So we think the new food we put our GSD Beau on caused him to have diarrhea.

We were feeding him Nature's Recipe Lamb Meal and rice, and he wasn't thrilled with it, but he ate it. We decided since he wasn't crazy about it, we would switch his food. The Nature's recipe has 20% protein. Now mind you, he's not an active GSD. He lays around most of the time, content to laze the day away, except for our night time walks. (It's hot here in Arizona!)

So we went to Petsmart where they told me about Simply Nourish Lamb and Oatmeal. We brought it home, and mixed it in with his old food, and he started having diarrhea!! The protein in this one is no less than 24%.

We had to go buy otc anti diarrhea meds because he just couldn't control it. He had 6 accidents in the house, and was drinking tons of water. So we switched him back to Nature's Recipe, but we put him on Chicken with sweet potato and pumpkin, corn free, grain free, and gluten free. This one has 27% protein. Hopefully this will be easier on his tummy.

We orginally thought, maybe it was the high protein content, but then thought, no because the protein content in the Simply Nourish was only 4% more than Nature's Recipe we were feeding. We mixed the Simply Nourish with the Nature's Recipe like you're supposed to, to avoid stomach upset. The vet said something in the Simply Nourish may be too rich for his tummy, or there's something in the ingredients that doesn't agree with him. We stopped the diarrhea meds now that he's been on it for a couple days, and see what happens. If it comes back and doesn't stop we'll take him into the vet at that point.

Has anyone else experienced this? My vets office said that GSD's are prone to sensitive stomachs/GI tracts. Have you found this to be true? They also said because of this, not to change his food if we found it works, even if he's not thrilled with it.

Simply Nourish: Simply Nourish Lamb & Oatmeal Adult Dog Food - Sale - Dog - PetSmart

Nature's recipe:
Nature's Recipe Grain Free Easy-to-Digest Dry Chicken Dog Food - Sale - Dog - PetSmart


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## AngelaA6 (Jan 20, 2013)

Switching too quickly can cause diarrhea as can the food being too rich for them. On average it takes about a week or more to slowly transition a food, 75% old food with 25% new for two days, then the next two 50% and 50%, and the last two 25% old and 75% new, sometimes it can take longer with certain foods but some dogs can only handle blander foods. I also put about a tablespoon and a half of unsweetened pumpkin (from the can you can find in the baking aisle, just make sure it's unsweetened) and 2 TBS unsweetened plain yogurt when I'm doing a cold turkey switch (not recommended but for when recalls happen and what not sometimes it's unavoidable) I also try to find a food close to what they're already eating, protein source wise so it's not such a huge switch on their digest track.


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## Desray (Jun 28, 2013)

AngelaA6 said:


> Switching too quickly can cause diarrhea as can the food being too rich for them. On average it takes about a week or more to slowly transition a food, 75% old food with 25% new for two days, then the next two 50% and 50%, and the last two 25% old and 75% new, sometimes it can take longer with certain foods but some dogs can only handle blander foods. I also put about a tablespoon and a half of unsweetened pumpkin (from the can you can find in the baking aisle, just make sure it's unsweetened) and 2 TBS unsweetened plain yogurt when I'm doing a cold turkey switch (not recommended but for when recalls happen and what not sometimes it's unavoidable) I also try to find a food close to what they're already eating, protein source wise so it's not such a huge switch on their digest track.


We did the slow switch, just like that, and he was still having diarrhea after 6 days. They told me to switch him back to his old food and take him off the meds to see what happens. We had him on lamb, so when we bought the new food, we made sure it was lamb. I don't know what it is in that food (simply nourish) that would make him sick! I know chicken is easier to digest which is why we switched him to chicken when we put him back on Nature's Recipe with sweet potato and pumpkin. We'll buy some canned pumpkin and plain yogurt to help soothe his tummy! Thanks for the suggestion!


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## AngelaA6 (Jan 20, 2013)

Hmm well hopefully more people here will chime in as I've been fairly lucky with food switching.


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## mego (Jan 27, 2013)

It is possible that the bag of new food you got has something wrong with it. It might be old or a bad batch.

Also, some dogs take a longgg time to switch. When I switched my girls food I did a 75/25 for almost an entire week, then a 50/50 for another week etc. Maybe it was excessive but it worked for her. If he's doing fine now, he's probably adjusting. I'd give it a few weeks of a mixture, and then a whole week of just the new kibble and then evaluate!!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

you switched foods and it didn't agree with your dog. switch again. you
may have to switch brands a few times before finding a brand that
your dog likes and a brand that works for your dog.


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## mego (Jan 27, 2013)

doggiedad said:


> you switched foods and it didn't agree with your dog. switch again. you
> may have to switch brands a few times before finding a brand that
> your dog likes and a brand that works for your dog.


:thumbup: I forgot to mention this


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## VTGirlT (May 23, 2013)

You might have to go slower..
I advice you to buy your dogs old food (smaller bag will do) and a bag of the new food you want.
This is what i did, and what my vet said he did with his senstive stomach dog.
You do 10% new food, 90% old food for about two days, make sure the stool is either normal, soft is acceptable, but go for normal stools. When it is normal go to 80% old 20% new for a day or two. If this causes diarrhea, you are more than likely going to quick- and so take a step back and do less new and more old again, until you have normal stool and bump up the new food percentage. Keep doing this until you are 100% new food.
It can take about two weeks before you can fully feed the new food, just have patience and try to always go for the normal stools.


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