Author Topic: Food  (Read 7150 times)

Offline charlie baby

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Food
« on: October 28, 2008, 09:35:58 am »
What do you guys feed your Newf?  I have a 7 month old Newf that has been sick for several months.  I'm not sure if it's the food or if it is something else.  we have tried several different foods and nothing so far has worked.

Thanks in advance.

Tonda

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Re: Food
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2008, 10:29:59 am »
I've got 4 month-old Bull/Neo mastiff mix pups and I feed them Eagle Pack Holistic Giant Breed Puppy Food. I HIGHLY recommend it. There's a LONG and involved discussion of food going on over on this topic:

http://www.bigpawsonly.com/index.php?topic=24773.0

Modified to add WELCOME TO THE BOARD. Post some pics so we can see your pupper.

Holly's Food Dissertation is a great topic too:
http://www.bigpawsonly.com/index.php?topic=9742.0
« Last Edit: October 28, 2008, 10:37:42 am by MastiffOverload »

Offline charlie baby

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Re: Food
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2008, 12:08:48 pm »
He's acutally at the vet right now and I miss him terribly!!  So far they don't know what's wrong.  We started him on a pet smart version of Eukenuba, I think it was called Harvest.  That's what the breeder fed him.  We then switched him to Ekenuba.  We then heard Ekenuba was not a very good food.  We then started to switch him to Nutram at that same time we were up north at our cottage for the Sept long weekend.  That Friday night the runs started and lasted for several days.  Us and our vet figured he got into something up north.  We watch him very carefully but we could have missed something.  The vet gave me some meds but the runs continued.  I then switch him to chicken and rice, after a few days he had a normal stool.  I then tried to get him back on the Eukenuba.  The runs came back again.  I have since seen the vet a few times and they felt he had Colitis, so they put him on a prescprtion diet form the vets.  This worked within a day.  I was happy about that other than it is a diet food with not a lot of nutrients for a growing newf.  I tried to switch him from the precsprtion food to Summit Holistic and the runs came back again.  This past week I was trying to switch him from the prescpriction diet to a run of the mill food Nutro Source (Large Breed Puppy), that was going well until yesterday.  He started vomiting several times, wouldn't eat his dinner, wouldn't drink. We rushed him to the vets they gave him a shot to stop the vomiting, that didn't work.  I have let him at the vets all day today to find out he's drinking a little, still refusing food and needs to be kept on IV.  So we had to leave him over night.  I wasn't thrilled with leaving him alone there but I want what's best for him.  At this point my vet does not know what's wrong.  My other concern is over the last month and a half he has only gained maybe 10lbs, this is my first Newf but from everything I've read I think this isn't right.  I'm sorry for the long note but I'm so scared there is something seriously wrong and I don't know where else to turn.  We thought maybe it was something in the food.

Offline charlie baby

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Re: Food
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2008, 02:27:29 pm »
Thank you all for the great responses.  We had tried a few of the things you have mentioned.  We were giving him a probodic while we were feeding him the rice and chicken and it helped while he was on the rice and chicken but when we were in several days of the new dog food that's when the runs came back.  The only dog food that we have had consitant sold stools is the Hills Prescription diet.  I don't care much the food costs I just want him to get the best diet his system will tolerate.  I will look into the Innova, thanks very much.  This is very helpful site and I really appreciate everyones input.

lookingfornewf

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Re: Food
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2008, 04:00:24 pm »
I'm guessing you're in Canada just because of the foods you named. If you want to try Innova which I have had very good luck with my Newf on, their website is www.naturapet. com. and it will tell you where to find it. In my area of Ontario it is small pet stores that carry it mostly Ryan's.
Part of the problem might be all the switching. I usually take about 2 weeks to slowly switch over. In this situation you should be able to go from the rice and chicken to the Innova if you want to try that.
I find most vets do not know much about foods. I have done a lot of research on the internet and on here to decide what to feed and am always getting new info.
Good Luck and please let us know how he is doing.

Offline maxsmom

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Re: Food
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2008, 04:34:48 am »
I have never had a newf, but when we got Max, my wolfhound, he was on purina and had loose stools.  We switched him to Nutro, same thing, not runny, just really soft and loose.  We switched him to Blue Buffalo, holistic or something.  Still soft, loose stools.  We switched to Innova Evo, same thing.  All of this was over the course of a year.  I finally changed everybody to raw and we have had nice firm stools, consistently, since then. I can feed complete meals of liver, kidney, gizzrds, etc., with no loose or runny stools at all.  It is so nice.
Kathy
Max  2 Irish Wolfhound
Jake  2 Great Pyrenees
Cody   3 Tibetan Mastiff
ChiChi 1.5 Caucasian Ovcharka
John and Nicki Maine Coon cats

Tonda

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Re: Food
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2008, 04:55:32 am »
I have never had a newf, but when we got Max, my wolfhound, he was on purina and had loose stools.  We switched him to Nutro, same thing, not runny, just really soft and loose.  We switched him to Blue Buffalo, holistic or something.  Still soft, loose stools.  We switched to Innova Evo, same thing. 

My pups, from the same litter, get identical food and one has firm poo and the other has really soft poo (ot the big D, though). *shrug*