Basenji and food problem suggestions

[starcentral]

Let me answer some questions from various posts:

I should also have mentioned that he will sometimes try and eat grass. I know dogs can do this if their stomach is upset.

The previous owner left his food out all day. I wasn't a fan of this and preferred to put food out in morning, and after work to get him into routine of eating and going to the bathroom. But he does not eat on that schedule and likes to eat whenever he wants to eat. This is usually dinner time and late at night, but never usually in the morning.

He doesn't smell at all, his coat is beautiful, and teeth are very clean. I did pick some plaque off his canines near his gum line because it was forming near the gum line and this is bad and can lead to gum disease (my 14 year old mini daschund was testament to that)

The bile is once per week, the soft stool is not always mud-pie like, usually his stool is good enough to pick up (as I have been for 3 weeks now). I thought he was house trained well, so I don't know if these accidents are a result of something else? The first 2 weeks he did not have a single accident and I let him run around the whole house (but blocked off 2nd floor stairs to limit activity).

[AJs Human]

Purina (IMO) isn't the best food out there either. AJ won't even eat it. You may have to upgrade to something else. A lot of the folks here feed Evo. I use Pinnacle, but I have to order it online now and have it shipped to me. Some have their dogs on raw diets and it works well for them. From the photos I've seen here, the folks who use the above diets have gorgeous and healthy dogs.

[tanza]

It is a difficult changing from being "free" fed (which I am totally NOT a fan of).. to scheduled eating… and that may be causing all of the problems. In my opinion, first go to a good quality food (there are lots of discussion on the forum about diet and I am not a fan of Pro Plan, but is better than Kibbles & Bits). Then try and feed him 3 times a day if you can, however regardless if 2 or 3 times, put the food down, give him 20 minutes to eat it.. and then pick it up till the next time. They do learn to eat as they will not starve themselves. In the in between times, get one of the toys that you can put food in and put some of his kibble in there.. that way he has to work to get it out, but still can eat off and on during the day....

I would say that the vomitting of bile is from empty tummy, the toys with food in them should help that, especially while you are teaching him to eat when fed instead of free feeding.

[NerdyDogOwner]

I don't want to get into a debate what is "good food" or not. People have different opinions, and we (as do dogs) have a different taste of food. So what if someone does not think "X brand" is good or not. Hell, we eat tons of **** that we would never feed to dogs….and I think even the worst dog food is not half as bad as what we cram down our mouths.

My suggestion on the topic at hand:

Wouldn't it be a better idea to go back to Kibble 'n Bits, wait until he is "back to normal" and then gradually transcend (by mixing little by little) over to the food you would like to use?

It sounds like a "shock" reaction to having his diet change so abruptly, especially since he has been on it for some time.

That's what I would do anyways.

[nomrbddgs]

I wouldn't go back now-his body is in the process now of changing. But, I would put him on a better food than Purina. Purina is the very low end of good food-you want a midrange to start with. Iams is not good either. I would feed him twice per day-usually 12 hours apart or close to, and change his food over 4 weeks. 1st week 25% new food,75%old-second week 50/50-third 75% new, 25% old-fourth new food. I use nutro chicken, oatmeal and rice for sensitive stomachs and all of mine seem to tolerate this well. Sorry to say this, but you may have to put up with a few more weeks of mud pie poop.

As for the actual feeding-if he's hungry, he will eat. IMO To put him on a schedule is important to me, if mine don't eat within 15-20 min, it gets picked up until the next meal. I will give a few carrots or treats inbetween, but they get the idea very quickly that if they don't eat when the food is down, they have to wait until the next feeding time. Again, this is all MO only.

After I read the other post, I will add, rice is a good idea as well as pumpkin for his stomach, just not too much too fast otherwise you will have the opposite problem of constipation.

[CrazyBasenjiMom]

Wellness brand has worked for us. I fostered two B from Brat, and they were in horrible condition…underweight, skin problems. Very nervous. I knew I was getting them so I got Wellness puppy. My vet likes this brand and my Belle ,who I got at 8weeks ,and is now 2, has been raised on this brand, with no problems. I added pumkin to the smaller b's when I noticed there stools were muddy too, and eating grass. This has helped. I also noticed the boys ate way to fast....hardly breathed...so I invested in the "donut" dish, what a improvement. They slowed down alot. I don't free feed the boys, I did with Belle. The boys were so under weight I had to feed in the morning and evenning and a few treats in between. Vitame E helps too. My vets been very good to us and explaining the digestive systems of animals.

Good luck and patience is the key.

[starcentral]

Thing is, sometimes his stool is just fine, othertimes soft and mud-pie splatter everywhere. It's happened twice in the house when I wasn't home (thank god for bissel) so I don't know if it was explosive, or him just going to the washroom and not being able to hold it.

On regular walks and letting him out back in the yard, his stool has been a little soft but still properly shaped.

Can anyone say the exact right time it takes for a dog to adjust to food before you can make a good decision that it is good or bad?

[tanza]

I don't think there is any "exact" right time… they are all different especially when the entire situation changes. But rule of thumb I use is at least 3 to 4 wks

[starcentral]

Even with his free feeding routine, I found he only ate a little in morning (or none), at dinner time, and before bed. I can try putting out in morning and at night and removing after 20 minutes, but usually in morning he's freaking out over why everyone is leaving, I'm not sure he will settle down enough to just focus on eating. He was free-feeding before I got him, so maybe best to keep that way until he's back to normal.

This week I put him back on KBN unfortunately, but already his stool is firm. I just want to rule out any possiblities with all the changes so that's why I felt I had to. I don't want to go to boiling food right now but if the problems continue I will. I think I did the food change too fast, I thought he was more robust and I definitely did not wait a month as I've only had him for 3 weeks.

What do people here think of Royal Canin - Chicken meal, brown rice, rice, oatmeal, chicken fat, wheat gluten, natural chicken flavor, dried beet pulp (sugar removed)….

Another one I found was "by Nature" - no wheat, no corn, no soy…...

I'm browsing though the dog food section on Petsmart.com

[nomrbddgs]

If you are looking for a good quality food with no grains, in Canada, you can buy Acana. Pacifica (fish based) is what I am using for my boxer. I can get it for about $63 in southern Ont. for a 17.5 K bag. (I think that's what it is). You probably won't find it at Petsmart. You can go to their website-championfpetfoods.com- and go to locations to find out where you can get it near you.

[Schouiffy]

People seem to be helping with the feeding, but for brands.. we have a million threads on forum about food brands. Take a gander in the search box for more in depth discussion - but check out
www.dogfoodanalysis.com

they pretty much test everything, and honestly the 6 star dog foods don't cost much more than the 4 or 5 - so why not get the best for your pup ? esp when your dog could have allergic reactions to stuff in 5 and below. When Lycia is fed kibble she is on Orijen which is Canadian (no wheat no rice) and I'm sure being in Canada you can get it.

Royal Canin would not be a good choice, not just the lack of meat in the kibble but the ingredients after (brown rice, rice, oatmeal, wheat gluten) all not very good for dogs. and dogs really shouldn't be fed beet pulp.

[AJs Human]

Schouiffy: Thank you for sharing that site…very informative. I am amazed at some of the things dog foods are allowed to contain. I was shocked that they rated KnB a 1 star simply because there was nothing lower! I hadn't realized it was that bad, I just knew I didn't care for it. I have been curious how Pinnacle would rate against other foods. I'm happy it's a 5. I'll probably stick with it because AJ likes it and he does well on it.

I'm not knocking you, starcentral...please don't think I am. You are doing the best you can for Benji. It's all anyone can ask. You can't have him running around with loose bowels. I wish you well with him.

[nomrbddgs]

Orijen is the flip side of Acana. They are both made by champion pet foods based in Alberta. They are both really good foods, I just have tried both and Zina had fewer issues on the Acana Pacifica than the Orijen. Simply my preference to have her on fish based. But I also know Zina's father is allergic to chicken, so that's why opted for fish.

[Patty]

I can't comment on the feeds mentioned as I've no experience of them but I'm not sure from reading your posts whether you are changing food without gradually introducing the new ones over a period of at least a week.

I know that you've alread had so many experienced advice so hopefully you have understood the necessity of this gradual changeover.

[NerdyDogOwner]

www.dogfoodanalysis.com seems VERY outdated. I have bought 2 of the brands/types they have listed and the ingredients are completely different. Don't forget that brands are constantly changing/upgrading the contents.

[AJs Human]

Also don't forget that Europe may have more stringent regulations on what goes into pet foods than on this side of the pond.

[starcentral]

I'm just writing to update that since the switch back, Benji is doing well again. Bile only once so far, and no mud-pies at all either. Now we're learning to deal with the snow, but that's a whole other story.

I'm still researching what new food to transition Benji over too, also he is only eating all his food late at night, none in the morning or during the day. Because of that pattern, I leave it out all day. If I really want him to eat twice a day, perhaps I should remove it at night all together to see if the next morning he manages to eat?

[lvoss]

The best way to instill good eating habits is to decide when you want to feed him then offer him food at that time for 15 minutes. If he doesn't eat it then the food goes away. A healthy dog will not starve themselves and will get the idea that when food is offered to eat it or it won't be there later. Some dogs may miss several meals before catching on but that is okay. In the wild, dogs do not eat everyday so missing some meals isn't going to hurt them.

[NerdyDogOwner]

@starcentral:

I'm just writing to update that since the switch back, Benji is doing well again. Bile only once so far, and no mud-pies at all either. Now we're learning to deal with the snow, but that's a whole other story.

I'm still researching what new food to transition Benji over too, also he is only eating all his food late at night, none in the morning or during the day. Because of that pattern, I leave it out all day. If I really want him to eat twice a day, perhaps I should remove it at night all together to see if the next morning he manages to eat?

Getting him to eat 2 times a day shouldn't take too long for him to figure out what is happening.

Just put out the food in the morning. Remove the bowl after 30 minutes (or 15 like mentioned above, I used 30, so he gets some time to register the food). Then don't offer any food until the evening meal. Leave for 30 minutes, and remove.

He most likely will get pretty hungry the first day or 2. But don't worry. Basenjis are the "world best" actors in faking starvation. Also their stomachs are developed in such a way they can go for long periods without food. Actually I read an article saying Basenjis are one of the breeds that could get by on 1 meal a day…but it was still recommended to spilt the amount and feed 2 times, for digestion/health reasons.

I started a 2 times a day for Gizmo 2 weeks ago. His transition was more natural...he just stopped eating all his mid-day and evening meals, just left them half done. So I understood he didn't need 3 times a day anymore.

[Patty]

I'm so glad to hear that Benji is improving.

Don't worry if he'll only eat once a day leave that to him to decide. In my experience if a Basenji only wants eat once a day that's all he needs.

If the time is inconvenient to you do exactly as Ivoss suggests.