# Never ending qwest... Candidae ALS *vs* Diamond Naturals



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

I'm on a never ending qwest to get my dog to have firm stools. Sorry that I'm probably making people nuts with my food posts. 

He came home on nasty Purina puppy chow. Ixnayed that and started on Innova LPB... stayed on that for months... even after a bout of coccidia was cleared, kept with it. Added pumpkin, probiotics but never could get a good stool.

Changed to Blue Buffalo Chicken and Brown Rice. Better. Some improvement, but still going runny at the end. Still needing to add pumpkin and continued with the probiotic.

I'm sick of this. Tonight, again, I had to go to the vet for an anal gland expression and yes, again, they were full.

I've given the BB about six weeks. 

I hate to jump ship too soon, but I've come to the conclusion we need to do another food change.

At this point, my narrowed down choices are: Canidae ALS or Diamond Naturals -- but not sure which flavor. My worries with the Diamond Naturals are that I CANNOT find information on calcium and phosphorus levels.! Protein is min 26% for the chicken/rice. 

The dog I'm switching is 8 months old, 1/2 WGSD.

What would you choose?

(And yes, of course, a very slow transition. All switches have been very slow transitions.)

And no, no, no, I am not overfeeding. I've actually cut him below the recommended feeding amounts and he's becoming quite lean. Perhaps too lean.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

What about fecals - looking for things that are a bit harder to catch like coccidia and particularly giardia? As well as typical worms. I like the Mar Vista vet site information library on those things. 

Or something like what used to be called SIBO and is now ARD? You can read about that here: Overview - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency 

I have liked foods like Pinnacle (their more limited ingredient ones) and California Natural to help (like the Herring) firm things up. Fiber in the kibble helps. But I would be thinking of those things first....Good luck. No fun for the dog or the person.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

I will tell you that my dogs never had consistently solid foods on anything made by Diamond. They'd get diarrhea every time I opened a new bag, then have firm poops for a week or two, then more diarrhea as soon as I finished the old bag and started a new one. Yes I could have gradually switched bags just like when you're switching food brands, but I just decided to stop using Diamond products instead.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

My dogs eat Canidae Lamb or Chicken.... Not the ALS. If theyhave been off it, it takes a few days to have firm stools again.
My working dogs are eating Canidae Core.... But very expensive and may have to go back to TOTW. Doing really well on it though.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

JeanKBBMMMAAN said:


> What about fecals - looking for things that are a bit harder to catch like coccidia and particularly giardia? As well as typical worms. I like the Mar Vista vet site information library on those things.
> 
> Or something like what used to be called SIBO and is now ARD? You can read about that here: Overview - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency
> 
> I have liked foods like Pinnacle (their more limited ingredient ones) and California Natural to help (like the Herring) firm things up. Fiber in the kibble helps. But I would be thinking of those things first....Good luck. No fun for the dog or the person.


His last fecal was clean. About a month or so ago, maybe six weeks. I do think we're in the clear there. Now, though, I wish I would've done one again tonight since we were already there.

Thanks for the link. I'll do more research. Thankfully, he has none of the symptoms listed there, though I noticed it did say some dogs don't show any symptoms. His stools are never as runny as the example. And thank God he certainly doesn't look like those poor dogs with their ribs so prominent.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

I have had good luck with Diamond Naturals in the past. I have fed Canidae to my dogs, and found the coat to become coarse.


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## lisasroughdrafts (Jan 7, 2012)

*Canidae Grain Free Formula, Taste of the Wild, and Nupro*

I used to feed my GSDs Canidae Grain Free, until the price jumped through the roof. I've swithed to Taste of the Wild since, with no problems, and the food is still high quality. I also like to add Nupro with joint support. Really improves the quality of their coat and I like to think contributes to their overall good health.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

SIBO - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency this link on that site
small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
I have not had a SIBO dog that vomited.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I have not tried either of the brands you mentioned but I have tried Solid Gold Wolf Cub, Blue Buffalo LBP and Wellness Super5Mix for LBP, I had great results for all 3 and would recommend then all.

I am feeding Malice Wellness Super5Mix for LBP and she really likes it, she looks great and I liked it so much that I put Sinister on Wellness Core.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Have been feeding Diamond Natural lamb and rice for 3 or 4 months now and have not had any diarhea. It seems to be working for my 3.


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

Since I've used both....I can honestly say that the stool consistency was better on the Diamond Naturals. *Albeit, most of my dogs can eat almost anything*.
I prefer the Kirkland over both....although, Diamond Natural Extreme Athlete is excellent for dogs that are harder to keep weight on.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Does anyone know the calcium / phos levels for the Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice?

Oh yikes, eta, look at that, a dead heat.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

One thing to think about is that Canidae ALS has about 100 more calories per cup than D.N. Chix and rice. So it you would feed less.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

If I want to know something that isn't listed on the website (like the calcium %), I just call and ask.  (Unless someone answers your question.)


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Chelle, not sure if you switched over to something yet, but I wanted to let you know that since I've recently really had to budget _hard_, I switched Aiden to Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice and he's doing fantastic. I was terrified at first because I have had horrible experiences trying to find food that settles well with him, but I'm not kidding when I say that his poop is actually normal for once! And for such a great price!


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## rjholla (Feb 15, 2008)

Check out the fiber percentage. I had to go to taste of the wildness high prairie because it had less fiber and it worked well.


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

I had the same problem with my dog when she was younger. She had soft stools until she was almost a year old. I was talking with another dog owner and she had mentioned to me that her dog had a sensitive tummy and that he was allergic to chicken so she fed her dog a food with Salmon in it. So after I chatted with her a bit...I went and bought the blue buffalo Basics with Salmon and potato and slowly switched her over...and ever since, she has not had a problem with loose stools anymore. Have you looked into switching your dog's food to a non-chicken one?


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## BlackJack (Jun 23, 2011)

We have been fighting loose stool with Immo for months.

I am still waiting for blood work to come back from Texas A&M Gastrointestinal Lab, all fecal/blood work done local has came back clear. Immo's Vet put us on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat and has done wonders with him, we have been feeding it to him for about a week and half and so far so good. Downside its a very expensive food.


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## 1337f0x (Feb 21, 2012)

My Bichon used Royal Canine for the longest time and it's given him a healthy firm stool. I only just recently switched to Blue Buffalo because of all the nutritious components of it. It's sometimes giving a firm stool but sometimes it's a bit soft. 

Have you tried a mixture of foods? A higher in fiber food, vs. the high in protein and fruit/veg of Blue Buffalo.

I sometimes would give my Bichon (totally different from Shepherds, I know) a hand full of steamed rice with his food and it helped with firming it up also. I have yet to try that on Simba til he's a bit older. I want to keep him strictly on kibble and wet food for now.




BlackJack said:


> We have been fighting loose stool with Immo for months.
> 
> I am still waiting for blood work to come back from Texas A&M Gastrointestinal Lab, all fecal/blood work done local has came back clear. Immo's Vet put us on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat and has done wonders with him, we have been feeding it to him for about a week and half and so far so good. Downside its a very expensive food.



Royal Canin is all around very expensive of a food, but it's amazing and works wonders. They also have something for everyone I've found. Totally worth the extra $$ though!


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## BlackJack (Jun 23, 2011)

He was on Blue Buffalo before the Royal Canin, he did ok on it, still would have at least one day a week with watery poop and would take about can of pumpkin to clear it up. 

With the Royal Canin its been a instant fix for it.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

GatorDog said:


> Chelle, not sure if you switched over to something yet, but I wanted to let you know that since I've recently really had to budget _hard_, I switched Aiden to Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice and he's doing fantastic. I was terrified at first because I have had horrible experiences trying to find food that settles well with him, but I'm not kidding when I say that his poop is actually normal for once! And for such a great price!


Thanks, GatorDog.. I did try the Canidae.. for a time. Just did NOT work out. More soft stools. He was then diagnosed with chlostridium (I'm spelling that wrong, most likely.) He ran the course of meds and I kept him on Canidae ALS and he just plain quit wanting to eat it. He was totally refusing meals. I was adding plain rice, and he'd get a little interested, but he just did not like that Canidae. One day out of frustration, as I was at about a half bag of Canidae, I threw in some of my other dog's TOTW Salmon and Bailey inhaled it. I made the switch over to the TOTW and Bailey is eating every meal without anything added and his poops are improving! 

If I need to switch again, though, I'm all about Diamond Naturals. Right now rescue dog is switching over to 4Health. Wow what a difficult thing, just to find the right food. Glad for the endorsement of the Naturals, though.


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