# Way Too successful food change...



## new_wind (Oct 24, 2008)

After being very concern with my girl not eating (Purina pro) I switch to Blue Buffalo Wilderness, it didn’t impress her much, lets say she just did ok, last refill there was not BBW on stock so I bring home the BB Puppy Large Breed and decide to take some BB canned food, I give her half can every 12 hours and around 3 cups after each soft meal.
Now she always wants to be eating, she seat next to the food storage and look at me and then the food, I think I know what she is trying to say.

1- Is good idea to keep the mix as I do? Or Should I use only dry food?

2 – Her poop is getting softer, first part is firm but last is soft, is she getting too much food?

3 – She is also Hyper active, I don’t know if is the new food or something else, but since this start more than a week after food change I can just guess, now she has to be roaming around the house for 1 hour before she get to bed, after 1 hour walking and some other time fetching balls, running and wrestling I am the one really exhausted.
I don’t want her to get fat or sick or hungry or anything, how much is good to feed her?
She is not fat right now; I have to press softly on the sides to feel her ribs.

Thanks a lot.


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## rainydaygoods (Oct 13, 2008)

How old is your girl? 

Re: the soft-ish poops: I feed Charlie Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy (dry kibble only at meals, though I supplement with training treats throughout the day - tiny hot dog bits, cubes of boiled chicken, etc. ) He is just about 8 months old - not sure of his weight but I'd guess 70 pounds, maybe more (hmm... gotta take him in to the vet to weigh him!). He gets way less food than your girl, and it sounds like a little more exercise, too: 1 1/2 cups of dry kibble at each meal, then 1/2 cup more of kibble put into 2 kongs after being mixed with yogurt, peanut butter, banana... or sometimes just soaked in water - and frozen like that. So, basically, he gets 4 cups total of kibble a day, plus the supplementals I mentioned above. I used to feed him more, but when I switched to the Blue Buffalo, I found he needed way less food than he got on his old food, and that really helped his poops (I'm certain that the food switch was part of this too).

Also, Charlie sometimes gets the zoomies at night, too. He walks at least an hour and a half every single day (5 miles or more), gets mental exercise throughout the day (lots and lots of short blocks of training), and also fetch/frisbee outside and "hallway fetch" every night inside. One of the reasons I asked how old your girl was is because I definitely noticed that Charlie's exercise needs - both physical and mental - went up at 7 months, like, overnight. That teenage phase! You mentioned a lot of physical activity for your girl but are you doing mental training every day as well? That really does help to tire them out! Hide-and-seek games, obedience, etc. - these kinds of things are so great to help tire out their minds - a few minutes at a time for puppies (like, 5 - 10) throughout the day makes a big difference!


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## Jake's Mom (Nov 27, 2008)

Jake is also eating BB LBP. At almost 12 weeks, he's eating 3 1/2 cups a day divided into 3 meals and a frozen kong. He gets a tablespoon of their canned food mixed with warm water and poured over his food. 

He loves it. He has tons of energy. Finally has nice poops, and the softest, silkiest, shiniest coat ever. We definitely love the change.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

So she is getting 6 cups of the kibble a day? That sounds like WAY too much! Depending on her age, it looks like she souuld probably be getting closer to 3 or 4 cups a day.(If she is between 5 and 12 months old.) And that is if she is NOT getting canned also. Since you are adding canned, she would need even LESS of the kibble.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

Can you post pictures of her standing, from the side, and from above?

If you have to press to feel her ribs, she could be too heavy.

When I run my hand over my 9 month olds ribs I do NOT have to press to feel them. And if she is running and "twisting", I can see them.

As an example, my pup never got more than 1872 calories from her dog food. At 6 months she was reduced to closer to 1500. Now at 9 months she gets just over 1400 calories. The MOST she ever got was 4 cups. And the kibble you are feeding has more calories a cup that the kibble I feed. (Granted all pups/dogs are NOT the same, but that is just an example.) 

Right now your pup is getting 3030 calories a day JUST from the kibble, that isn't counting the canned. I don't know which flavor of canned you are using, but the Chicken flavor has 455 calories a can(and it looks like all of the flavors are over 400 calories per can.). Which would mean your girl is getting closer to 3500 calories a day.


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## WiscTiger (Sep 25, 2002)

6 Cups PLUS a can of canned food. My guess is it is WAY too much food.


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## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

That seems too much food. I would look at the feeding guidelines on the bag and start with the least amount for her age and weight. If she is still hungry give a bit more. 

Each dog is different so you have to do the rib test that Tracy described every now and then to check her body condition.

Over feeding can indeed cause looser stool. Not only that you risk her getting too heavy and growing too fast which cna lead to orthopedic problems.

I also mix kibble and canned as the dogs like it. It is not needed for nutrition but the dogs enjoy it and I like to see them enjoy thier meal too. I have 3 adults and they split ONE can between them and one can last me for about 3 meals per dog. So they get just a dab and I add about 1/4 cup of water to it to help mix it up. 

They also get cottage sheese, eggs, leftover meal and veggies mixed in every now and then.


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## new_wind (Oct 24, 2008)

My Girl is 9 months (3 with me now), the canned food is the BB too, I took 2 each flavor to see what she likes most, and apparently all are good enough.

I forget to mention, we walk twice a day for 1 hour and practice some discipline exercises along the walk in which she receive few oz of ham, smoked beef jerky or packed treats.

After her “formal” meal she also gets one egg every other day.

At home we spend time in throwing ball, hide the prize, pulling the rope, nothing too formal but consistent, then we go to the floor and is wrestling time, she have to find the way to take out of me the prize (without biting) 

When I leave for work I give her some chewing stuff, like pig ears, and the frozen Kong stuffed with peanut butter and some chicken livers.

Some times when I am already in bed with lights off she comes with her toy and throw it at me to play.

I don’t need to really press to feel her ribs, maybe slightly, but I can see her ribs while she is walking mostly the lower ones (maybe it’s me, but some times I think she is skinny but heavy)

Should I reduce the quantity right away or can I do it gradually?

Thank you all.


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## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

Always reduce gradually. 

She may not need it reduced at all if her body condition is lean, so be fair about assessing this. 

Pups go through growth spurts and all of sudden sprout up and need more food for awhile. It may be she had a spurt and you upped her food and did not reduce back a little?


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: KathyW.
> 
> She may not need it reduced at all if her body condition is lean, so be fair about assessing this.


I was under the impression that the bump in the amount of food was a recent thing. (Recent enough that she wouldn't yet have gained a noticeable amount.)

How long has she been getting 6 cups of kibble?


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## new_wind (Oct 24, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: BlackGSD
> 
> I was under the impression that the bump in the amount of food was a recent thing. (Recent enough that she wouldn't yet have gained a noticeable amount.)
> 
> How long has she been getting 6 cups of kibble?


Tracy, 
Yes, I just change her food less than 4 weeks ago and the heavy demand has been since week and a half only no more than that.
The lack of appetite and the lean figure worried me always, to be honest I was kind of pushing her to eat, now I am thinking that maybe she was only eating the right amount by herself and I hook her with more tasty food and after a few days she start need more, kind of when the parents want their kids to finish the whole plate even when they are not so hungry and later on they develop need for more food even when they don’t need it ending over weighted.
Good thing I ask before cause a problem.

Once Again, thank you all for your help.


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## lcht2 (Jan 8, 2008)

hyper activity is comeing from the wilderness...(i fed this to tyson but it didnt agree with him) its a high protein, high cal, low carb food for very active/working dogs. high amounts of this will cause hyper activity or as i call it lots of energy. the food is a very high quality food that doesnt need to be fed in large amounts. if u are happy with the food i would suggest feeding a smaller amount and see how she does. if that doesnt help, i would recomend switching foods. 

IMO, u can find high quality kibble with a lower amount of protein and cals. u could try adding some raw?? from what i've read about, oatmeal and rice are good for "thickening up."


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## new_wind (Oct 24, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: lcht2hyper activity is comeing from the wilderness...(i fed this to tyson but it didnt agree with him) its a high protein, high cal, low carb food for very active/working dogs. high amounts of this will cause hyper activity or as i call it lots of energy. the food is a very high quality food that doesnt need to be fed in large amounts. if u are happy with the food i would suggest feeding a smaller amount and see how she does. if that doesnt help, i would recomend switching foods.
> IMO, u can find high quality kibble with a lower amount of protein and cals. u could try adding some raw?? from what i've read about, oatmeal and rice are good for "thickening up."


Hi Steve, 
Actually comparing the Wilderness with the LPB (Both from BB) the only difference is the amount of protein and little less calcium in the Wilderness.
Aside of that the percentage is pretty much the same in both formulas.

What is really confusing is the information about protein for dogs, in human’s, protein is broken in amino acid chains and even when little is used to produce energy most of it goes to muscle building, repair and regeneration and support of other systems like brain function.
Looking across the internet seems to be that most people think protein for dogs is source of energy more than tissue builder, but I can’t find any medical or Biological reference.
The only document I found is one that shows some relation between dehydration and dry protein consumption, but is not referenced to the effect itself.

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/101555/pdf


Thanks


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