# High quality foods



## BluePaws (Aug 19, 2010)

Please don't slam me for this ... I totally understand the concept of higher quality food equaling less 'output' (yeah, ok, poop). I hate to say it, but the poop also smells better. 

But don't you need some grain, some 'fillers' .. to form solid poop? After reading dozens of threads on here, it seems that dogs on the high quality, low or no-grain foods have a higher risk of having the runs. Is that a false perception?


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## MrsMiaW (Sep 25, 2010)

I am not an expert, but when I switched both my dogs (one GSD, one hound mix), to grain-free, high quality food, their poop was solid and they have not had one loose poop since (about 2 months now). On the food with grain, which was a high-quality food, my GSD would have some solid poop and some very soft. Not full blown diarrhea, but not something that would have been healthy long term. At this point, I would never consider going back to a food with grain.


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## BluePaws (Aug 19, 2010)

MrsMiaW said:


> I am not an expert, but when I switched both my dogs (one GSD, one hound mix), to grain-free, high quality food, their poop was solid and they have not had one loose poop since (about 2 months now). On the food with grain, which was a high-quality food, my GSD would have some solid poop and some very soft. Not full blown diarrhea, but not something that would have been healthy long term. At this point, I would never consider going back to a food with grain.


Ok, good to know .. thanks! I'd LIKE to go grain-free but am so worried about the transition ...about the 'trial and error' of finding which one works for us ... and the more research I do, the more I hear GOOD and BAD about just about every brand out there. It seems so 'hit or miss' ... that some foods work with some dogs, some not. I don't want to screw with their constitutions in the meantime.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Cash could only have solid poops on grain-free.


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## Rott-n-GSDs (Jul 7, 2010)

My dogs are on a 100% raw prey model diet: no grains, no fillers, no veggies. They have very nice, tiny, solid poops.


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

Jax had an ear infection a while ago so I took away his carbs completely. It made his poop a little tooooo solid, so grains may not have everything to do with it.


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## rtpva (Apr 4, 2011)

My retired K-9 has food allergies and does very well on "Natural Balance" Bison & Sweet Potato and Venison & Sweet Potato dry foods...they also make treats that are grain free...his coat is bright & thick and he loves it...oh, he also loves raw carrots and they are allergist approved. Another great treat is dessicated (freeze-dried) beef liver marketed by "Prime Taste Treats". He can't eat chicken or soy.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

BluePaws said:


> But don't you need some grain, some 'fillers' .. to form solid poop? After reading dozens of threads on here, it seems that dogs on the high quality, low or no-grain foods have a higher risk of having the runs. Is that a false perception?


No... it may take some time to adjust to the higher quality food which may cause the runs, but grains and fillers are definitely not needed to form a solid stool.



Jax's Mom said:


> Jax had an ear infection a while ago so I took away his carbs completely. It made his poop a little tooooo solid, so grains may not have everything to do with it.


Supplement some canned pumpkin... the extra fiber should help.


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## Heidibu (Jul 22, 2008)

Pumpkin is great...but can go either way depending on the dog. Some get loose stools, some dogs get relief from loose stools.

I put my three on Taste of the Wild Salmon a few years ago...and get excellent results. They look good and feel good. 

Feeding a higher quality food (and not necessarily grain free...that's just my choice) is SO worth it. Their ears clear up, their teeth stay white, they are much healthier, staying away from a food that is corn based especially. Recently, my geriatric had to be put on a Hills JD because of mobility issues. Immediately, his teeth started having plaque issues. I have to brush his teeth much more often. 

If one has the time to do raw, even better...I'm just not one that can do it.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Our dog is having the best poops now that we alternate between grain free Orijen and raw. She does OK having one or two milk bones a day.

I don't know how true this is, but a neighbor told me dogs do not metabolize corn into energy, they just poop it out, so you would have more volume, and since their body is not getting nutrients from it, if fed in large amounts the dog would develop ketoacidosis from having to burn their own fat for energy.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

BluePaws said:


> But don't you need some grain, some 'fillers' .. to form solid poop?


Nope.


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## MKSWEET (Mar 12, 2011)

I have also heard the same thing, that you should incorporate some grains into the diet if they are having loose stools. When I first got my pup I put him on TOTW and he was having very loose stools. When I went to return the food, the pet store manager told me that the food was too "rich" for him at that age and that he probably needed some grains. I then bought Wellness LBP and he has been doing very well on it. 

I did more research over the last couple weeks and I have discovered that it was more likely that he was possibly just getting too much calcium/phosphorus in the all life stages TOTW. I am also thinking it could have possibly been just a hard transition from Iams puppy (what the breeder was feeding) to a high quality food like TOTW.

Either way, I think I will be trying to transition him into a different grain-free food now that he has been having solid poops. Maybe Orijen LBP, I have heard good things and it is only $5 more than the Wellness where I live.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

My dog had loose, smelly stools on Orijen even though I phased it in slowly over a month. I switched her to TOTW High Prairie and the amount of 'output' has greatly diminished and it is very easy to pick up.... and very little odor.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i feed my dog preminum kibble and can food.
i switch brands a lot. i also feed my dog
cooked boneless and skinless chicken breast,
raw ground beef, raw chicken backs, green veggies,
pears, apples, rice, quinoa, yogurt (organic), salmon
oil, oilve oil, flax seed oil, table scraps (depending),
fresh fish, canned fish ( in spring water, no salt added).


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

Heidibu said:


> P Recently, my geriatric had to be put on a Hills JD because of mobility issues. Immediately, his teeth started having plaque issues. I have to brush his teeth much more often.


Have you thought about just supplementing along with a high quality diet? Looking at JD, it just has added omega 3s and glucosamine. I supplement omega 3s, glucosamine, chondroitin, and msm. 

Personally Id rather supplement pumpkin daily to a dog who had loose stools on high quality foods, than drop down to a lower quality food with fillers that firmed up the poop. First would be rule out other causes though.


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## Heidibu (Jul 22, 2008)

Lin said:


> Have you thought about just supplementing along with a high quality diet? Looking at JD, it just has added omega 3s and glucosamine. I supplement omega 3s, glucosamine, chondroitin, and msm.
> 
> Personally Id rather supplement pumpkin daily to a dog who had loose stools on high quality foods, than drop down to a lower quality food with fillers that firmed up the poop. First would be rule out other causes though.


Oh yes...he's been on a high quality food for years...I'm kindof a food snob.  He's been on a glucosamine cocktail since he was about 4 years old...he's now 12. It took my vet a very long time to persuade me to feed him something primarily corn based. I'm never been a fan of Science Diet or Hills. But, he started losing footing, falling and other mobility issues. This food is helping. The boy is big...he's about 115 pounds of tank. He's not fat...we worked very hard to keep him lean as possible to help his old bones. Not to pirate the thread...but here he is:









All in all. you have to feed what works best for the individual dog and his particular needs.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

When I give my girls a chicken leg for a meal, I always get small solid poops the next morning. We only do that once or twice in a week though.


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## 3ToesTonyismydog (Dec 27, 2009)

Did you know that their are 19 different types of corn grown in the USA? And the ones used in dog food is feed grade, which is pretty low quality. The reason corn is not good for dogs is their short digestive track, which is way shorter than a humans and we all know we do not always digest corn. But in some dogs corn can cause issues. Same goes for wheat. Brown rice and whole white rice along with oatmeal are good for dogs, any other grains to include other rice's are not good. Millet, Barley, Brewers rice, Rice flour, Wheat and other types of grain are really not good for dogs.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

Heidi: is there something else in the food for joints besides the glucosamine, chondroitin and omega 3s? Does the bag say the amounts of those in the food? Online I could only find percentages.


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## 3ToesTonyismydog (Dec 27, 2009)

Only Orijen has any real amount of glucosamine in it to really help. But you can get chicken backs at your butcher shop and chicken feet have lots of glucosamine. Those you can get at most asian markets and pretty cheap. I use human glucosamine pills for my dog.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

3ToesTonyismydog said:


> Only Orijen has any real amount of glucosamine in it to really help.


What is the amount in orijen? For existing arthritis, glucosamine should be 1500mg/day with glucosamine 1000 mg/day. At this point, I have not come across a food where they met therapeutic levels. 

Similar thing with omega 3s added. I give 2400 mg/day of fish oil with 300 mg/day krill oil (said to be more bioavailable O3s) as an anti inflammatory for Tessa.

Edit: Orijen does list it on their website. 1400 mg/kg glucosamine and 1000 mg/kg chondroitin. How does that compare to the amount of food fed daily? I'm thinking a lot less than a kg is fed daily? But I may be way off there. Maybe someone could weigh a days worth of Orijen for me?


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## Heidibu (Jul 22, 2008)

Lin said:


> Heidi: is there something else in the food for joints besides the glucosamine, chondroitin and omega 3s? Does the bag say the amounts of those in the food? Online I could only find percentages.


I'm sure it does...will go look when I can. One of the selling points my vet made to persuade me to try it is the amount of omega 3s in this food. He said that the amount of omega 3 that he gets in this particular food would be impossible to give by supplement alone. Think 100 pills to get the amount in this food. Exxageration of course...but there is no way we would be able to just give him supplement alone.

Definately more poops with this food...and I agree it goes straight through. My poop eater, Bruder goes right for it after it comes out of the oven. Mmmm, warm poop. ROFL. Sorry for that visual.


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## GROVEBEAUTY (Oct 23, 2008)

We feed canned food and Pinnacle Peak Protein or TOTW Bison, supplemented with 2000mg of Glucosamine and Chrondroitin with MSM, 2000 mg of Ester C, 2 multiple vitamins and three Fish oil capsules (not sure of the mg). My three are doing well. I also give them chicken or beef in their food 3-4 days a week. They all do well. No issues with poop and no illness. My two 11 Y/O boys are doing well, one with a little arthritis, but manageable with Meloxicam and swimming for exercise. My female has never been sick a day in her life. Her coat is wonderful and she has lots of energy and really white teeth. I also have fed Solid Gold Hundeflocken. They do well on it also.


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