# Bought Wellness Lg. Breed Puppy, buyers remorse. :(



## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

I have been feeding my pup Tober (5m old), Fromm Lg. Breed Puppy.
He does wonderfully on it. 
Fromm is manufactured in Wisconsin, I live in Maine. There is one store within driving distance that sells Fromm. 

When I had to purchase a new 33lb bag of food, the pet store was out. They only get shipments once per month. 
I didn't have enough Fromm to last a month, so I needed to buy another brand. 

I purchased Wellness Lg. Breed Puppy Super Mix 5, and switched from Fromm to Wellness slowly (over 2 weeks). Tober had NO issue until a couple nights ago. 

He has had BLOWOUT diarrhea on and off for several days now. He asks to go out every 30min to an hour when having GI issues. Even throughout the night. Guess I had just better thank my lucky stars that despite liquid diarrhea (mostly in the p.m.) there has not been a single drop in the house. Most excellent for a young pup with a very upset tummy.

He has had diarrhea on and off over 3 days, as in diarrhea day one, fine day two, diarrhea day three. At first I wondered if he ate anything odd that caused this. Now, I am sure it is the food. Back to Fromm, I guess. 

Guess this was more of a vent than anything, thanks for listening.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

I always order my food online. I get like 3-4 months worth at a time. Is that an option for you so this never has to happen again?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

You are not over feeding? How do they compare in calorie/proteins? If it was over two weeks ago, I don't know that I'd blame the kibble...could be something else. 

Have you rested the gut, put pup on a bland diet? I would do so, get a fecal run, and then slowly go back to the kibble(your choice on not Wellness) I'd also give some slippery elm bark to help the gut heal, or at least do some probi/digestive enzymes with the bland diet. I hope he feels better and kudo's to him for no messes in the house!


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

Are you sure it is not an intenstinal parasite of some sort that he may have picked up?


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

I can't afford to purchase 3-4 bags at once. And, this store sells it cheaper than any place I have found online. 

Maybe once I get my income tax returns, I will be able to spend $200 at once for dog food. For now, not in the budget.  I was kinda looking to switch brands anyway, just to see if I could find something more readily available in my area.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

I am feeding my puppy Wellness Brand. For her it was the only one that I tried that didn't give her the runs.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

He gets 2.5c in the a.m. and depending on how active he has been throughout the day 2-2.5c in the p.m. He is 47.5lb and moderately active. 
I will sit and compare them more closely . . . 

Normally, I would have thought parasites too, but he had been dewormed repeatedly. He had normal Pyrantel admin. for his puppyhood and has been on Sentinel (like Interceptor) since 9weeks.

Not saying Wellness is a bad food, just not working for Tober.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

We (Tober) are doing bland diet today.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

shannonrae said:


> I can't afford to purchase 3-4 bags at once. And, this store sells it cheaper than any place I have found online.
> 
> Maybe once I get my income tax returns, I will be able to spend $200 at once for dog food. For now, not in the budget.  I was kinda looking to switch brands anyway, just to see if I could find something more readily available in my area.


A lot of these companies have auto-ship options. They automatically send you a bag every month, so you don't have to buy all that at once. Just choose to have one every month or two sent depending on how you feed and it takes the thinking out of it.

After the free shipping coupons or the 20% off deals they always have, you pay less having it shipped than buying it in the store. 

Just throwing that option out there.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

^ I was not aware that that was an option, thanks!


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Wellness was too rich for my dogs and also gave them the runs. I have an uncle who had the same problem on Wellness with his GSD puppy. Some foods just don't work with some puppies.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

What were you paying for the Fromm? I am buying from doggiefood.com. 

I must admit I usually buy two bags or a bag and something else to get the free shippping but it beats what I was going to have to pay locally. Doggie Food is $49.99 for the large bag of puppy gold. When I was buying from the store I always had one back up bag but that puts you out $100 not $200

I have been getting it within a week of ordering and have been very pleased with their customer service. Don't forget gasoline costs money, too. If you have to go out of your way to drive there add that to the cost of the food. (not to mention the other things that add to the per mile cost of operating a car)


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

HATE Wellness....same problem here....loose stools and the puppies really didn't eat it like they should.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I buy from doggiefood.com also. Free shipping when I purchase only one bag of Acana at a time. Less expensive than the store, saves me 200 mile round trip and great to get it delivered to the door! They stock lots of different foods.


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## GSDGunner (Feb 22, 2011)

Good_Karma said:


> Wellness was too rich for my dogs and also gave them the runs. I have an uncle who had the same problem on Wellness with his GSD puppy. Some foods just don't work with some puppies.


Yep, same here. I had a lot of problems with different foods. It took nearly 10 different foods to find the right one.
Wellness Super5 Mix was one of the worst. Constant loose stools bordering at times on diarrhea.


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## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

Shannonrae, Wellness gave my pup diarrhea too. Not as bad as you describe but bad enough. When we stopped the Wellness, everything was back to normal in a couple days. Good luck.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

I'm in Wisconsin and we feed Fromm LBP Gold, and are about to switch to the adult formulas. It's like $46 a bag for the puppy and will be about $42 a bag for the adult. Add in taxes and its almost the same as the online pricing. Sometime's we can get the 5 lb bags at buy one get one free, which is a good deal except that the two bags only last 10 days.


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## ShatteringGlass (Jun 1, 2006)

I know a guy who had his 4 GSDs on Wellness and they all add loose/pudding poops, he did switch them off it after giving it time to show improvement but it never happened.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

jocoyn said:


> What were you paying for the Fromm? I am buying from doggiefood.com.
> 
> I must admit I usually buy two bags or a bag and something else to get the free shippping but it beats what I was going to have to pay locally. Doggie Food is $49.99 for the large bag of puppy gold. When I was buying from the store I always had one back up bag but that puts you out $100 not $200
> 
> I have been getting it within a week of ordering and have been very pleased with their customer service. Don't forget gasoline costs money, too. If you have to go out of your way to drive there add that to the cost of the food. (not to mention the other things that add to the per mile cost of operating a car)


It's about $49.99 per bag. The store I buy from is about 7 miles away, and is an area I am in frequently for other reasons. So gas cost is not an issue. I will look into the ordering online idea again.


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## rainy1023 (Dec 27, 2011)

My black lab came home on wellness super five puppy mix. I love the stuff for him. He grew slowly and is he solid muscle. I have never seen a dog this muscular. I don't know if it is his food or his genes. Indie our gsd puppy came home on eukanuba. I added some wellness she has had liquid stools but they are now turning to formed again.I want to put our gsd on total wellness but right now I have two fourty pound bags of eukanuba. So for now I will mix. I wish I knew which food would keep her healthiest. My husband lost a gsd at 10 from cancer and I know we eat organic. If you ever see the food movie and a ghost in my genes and really see what monsanto is doing to our foods. you understand why. I had horrific allergies that are almost completely gone as long as I eat 90 percent organic. So I wonder what's in the dog food also. My husband in his line of work has seen cancer patients that do so much better on organic diets.I just want to give our dog the healthiest diet possible. My son is four and had eaten organic since birth and he just had his first cold. My peditrician was amazed her went to four without any illness. He asked me what I did. I said organic baby food and breastfed him. My other kids were not organic but were breastfed and they had ear infections colds galore.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Here are few good sites to order food off of:

Pet Food Online | Dog & Cat Supplies & Products | PetFoodDirect.com
Dog Food - WagginTails.com
Hearty Pet - Dog Food

Most have either free shipping or big discount coupons always available. I'll typically go with whoever has the best prices when I'm ordering.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

Lucy Dog said:


> Here are few good sites to order food off of:
> 
> Pet Food Online | Dog & Cat Supplies & Products | PetFoodDirect.com
> Dog Food - WagginTails.com
> ...


 
Thanks!


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

Last night Tober had another fit of diarrhea. Mucous brown nasty stuff. I had tried adding 1c Fromm LBP to his chicken and rice. 

Now he is back on strict bland diet and we have started Metronidazole. 

Hope he is not one of those dogs that has GI issues for his whole life. . .


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

I tried Wellness at one point as well and no go. I don't know what's in that stuff but it's equivalent to ex-lax. I wouldn't feed it if it was free. If your pup is parasite free and did well on the previous food than that is more than likey it. Give his GI track time to heal.


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

they added the original food to bland diet and had issues tells me not food but pup picked something up. definitely time to take in and see whats going on might not be worms but something else he picked up coccidia giardia etc..


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

Brody couldn't do wellness either. But I've had other pups on it and they did fine. Just depends on the dog I guess.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

Holmeshx2 said:


> they added the original food to bland diet and had issues tells me not food but pup picked something up. definitely time to take in and see whats going on might not be worms but something else he picked up coccidia giardia etc..


He has been all checked out (I work at a Vet Clinic).  

The chicken, rice and Metro are doing a great job.
The stool is firming up already and he had 1/2c Fromm with his breakfast and supper. Whith no issues so far. 

If his GI tract is upset, then the gut must be rested because the lining of the gut becomes inflammed.
I think that Tobers gut did not have time rest.


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## GSDGIRLS (Jan 7, 2002)

i order natural balance on amazon.com it is free shipping with a 25.00 order and fast shipping


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## GSDkid (Apr 19, 2011)

shannonrae said:


> I purchased Wellness Lg. Breed Puppy Super Mix 5, and switched from Fromm to Wellness slowly (over 2 weeks). Tober had NO issue until a couple nights ago.
> 
> He has had BLOWOUT diarrhea on and off for several days now. He asks to go out every 30min to an hour when having GI issues. Even throughout the night.


Same exact thing happened to my girl when she was a pup. I don't think it was the food in that particular bag because we did Wellness for 2 months and she just kept having diarrhea. We switched to Nutro and she was fine. I'm assuming Wellness is just a bit too strong for my girl.


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

Stella did great on the Wellness Large Breed Puppy. We have since switched her to Blue Buffalo adult formula in the last month.


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## shannonrae (Sep 9, 2010)

Had 1 3/4c Fromm LBP with 1/4c chicken and rice. Still improving on the feces front!


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## sutton c. (Sep 20, 2013)

shannonrae said:


> I have been feeding my pup Tober (5m old), Fromm Lg. Breed Puppy.
> He does wonderfully on it.
> Fromm is manufactured in Wisconsin, I live in Maine. There is one store within driving distance that sells Fromm.
> 
> ...


When we got Ziva at 7 weeks the breeder had her on a high protein kibble that you could only find at a tractor supply store. We couldnt find any around us so after doing some research we put her on Blue Buffalo Wilderness large breed puppy. She did ok on it other than off and on diarrhea. We had her on it for about a month and she would only eat it if we mixed it with cottage cheese(which the breeder recommended). after doing even more research i learned high calcium intake is not good for GSD's so i stopped adding the cottage cheese in. after i took it out Ziva WOULD NOT eat the BB. spending a couple days online i recearched some top, reputable brands and came up with Wellness Core Puppy. We got a little bag at Petsmart to make sure shed eat it. she did, with gusto. we'd never seen her eat like that before. and her stool was perfect. now after being on it for a couple weeks she doesnt really like it anymore. so i guess its time for another switch :/


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

Not necessarily. It may be time to teach her she eats what is put down or she goes 'to bed hungry'. (<assuming everything else is o.k. health wise, normal BMs, no vomiting or lethargy).

Every one of my dogs have gone through a finicky period and I learned that switching just seemed to make it worse.

Food bowl goes down for 10-15 minutes and is picked up 'til next feeding time. No treats if they are being especially picky either. 

Ilda went through a really finicky phase I even added in a reward of all natural vanilla yogurt for 'dessert' AFTER she finished her kibble in a timely manner. 

They learn really quickly and it develops good eating habits. 




sutton c. said:


> When we got Ziva at 7 weeks the breeder had her on a high protein kibble that you could only find at a tractor supply store. We couldnt find any around us so after doing some research we put her on Blue Buffalo Wilderness large breed puppy. She did ok on it other than off and on diarrhea. We had her on it for about a month and she would only eat it if we mixed it with cottage cheese(which the breeder recommended). after doing even more research i learned high calcium intake is not good for GSD's so i stopped adding the cottage cheese in. after i took it out Ziva WOULD NOT eat the BB. spending a couple days online i recearched some top, reputable brands and came up with Wellness Core Puppy. We got a little bag at Petsmart to make sure shed eat it. she did, with gusto. we'd never seen her eat like that before. and her stool was perfect. now after being on it for a couple weeks she doesnt really like it anymore.* so i guess its time for another switch* :/


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