[Aczdreign]

Hey folks--

I just switched Argos over to Nature's Recipe Chicken and Oatmeal kibble. I was feeding him Purina Puppy Chow, i dont know the exact kind.
I know that Purina is a horrible food, but we had already bought the bag when I realized this. Waste not want not.
Anyway, I was unable to get the new bag of food early enough to slowly ween him from one to the other, so it has been a rather abrupt change in his diet. I know that this isn't the best of things for a dog's digestive system either, but I figured an abrupt change to a better food is better than another two weeks on a crappy one.
Today, when I took him outside (twice), he pooped 3-4 times, in different spots in the yard, and it was pretty runny. Not watery, just not hard like it usually is.
Do you guys think that this is his stomach adjusting to the new food, or did I make a bad choice in Nature's Recipe?

I WANT to switch him over to Blue Buffalo or Wellness but I just cant justify spending that much on dog food. Can anyone give me an idea of how long a 30 lb bag of these foods would last a single APBT? I took him to the vet yesterday, he weighed in at 26 lbs, and he is 3.5 months old.

 

[Wingman]

Remember that a puppy eats more than an adult dog. And as he gets older he will need less food. But my dog is 14mo and she goes through a 35lbs bag of food in 6-7weeks. And also remember that the better food you get the less you need to feed the pup. Good luck!

 

[Aczdreign]

See, 6-7 weeks I could justify paying more for it. My cat had a urinary obstruction a few years ago, and I put him on special food to prevent it happening again, and I definitely noticed he eats way less and his poop is much more compact and less smelly. I figured it would work the same way for the dog, i'm just worried about the food bill for my pup cause he's such a glutton.

But, again, if a 35 lb bag lasts a month and a half, maybe when this bag's empty I'll give it a shot.
Thanks for the response

 

[Wingman]

No problem! I get a lot of grief for feeding my dog "expensive" food, but the way I look at it, I spend 35 bucks every 1.5mo. And in my opinion that's a reasonable expense for my dogs food. I mean hell...I've spent more than 35 bucks on one meal for myself! lol

 

[MY MIKADO]

Vendetta is fed D i c k Van Pattens organic formula. It is 48$ for a 25# bag. But we are looking into switching over to Native brand dog food. It is cheaper and the ingridents are almost the same. I'm stopping by the pet food store to get some samples to see if my girl likes it. She is very picky. I wanted to go raw with her but i can not get her to eat meat of any kind.

 

[Aczdreign]

well, I'm on day two of runny poop from Nature's Recipe.
Again, I did switch him rather abruptly, but I am just about ready to bring the bag of food back to Petsmart. Honestly, I applaud him for being able to hold it in until we go outside, as runny as it is....I don't think I could do that.

So anyway what do you guys think i should do? Should I return the Nature's Recipe and for out the extra few bucks for Blue Buffalo (and switch his diet abruptly again) or just stick it out with a 15# bag of Nature's Recipe?

 

[Nizmosmommy]

We do blue buffalo salmon for NIsmo.
Because as a puppy we dinked around with his food a bit, and now grains realllllly irritate him and cause diarrhea. So the blue buffalo is EXCELLENT. I would suggest taking a look at the food comparison charts, you can do a search for the post here in the search engine, and really consider switching to one of the ones higher up.

I feel you on the spending so much money on food, When we first put Nismo on the 45 dollar bag of food I was like WTF!!??!?! That's so much money. But he's my baby and how I see it is he's going to feel like poop without it if we feed him something we find in a grocery store. So why make my baby suffer. If I had to chose between eating or feeding him, I would totally feed him. I know I'm a freak lol.

If I can suggest a brand it would be Cosco Kirkland puppy. It's actually reallllly good compared to the crud you find at other grocery stores. ANNND its 12.50 for a big bag. that's what our tiva is on and she's done excellent with it since day one, and she came off of Purina Puppy chow too.

 

[Nizmo]

its funny because people whine about paying a lot of money for good food. when in reality when you pay for the good food you end up spending the same amount as you would if you bought some ok food.
when feeding good food they dont need to eat as much. when you feed ok food you have to feed more. so your spending around the same amount.
when feeding ok food your dealing with all the fillers (grains), and your compromising your dogs health.
some food for thought, no pun intended

 

[Aczdreign]

Okay so I returned the Nature's Recipe to Petsmart and decided to take my business over to Petco instead after comparing prices of foods online.
Turns out, the 15 lb bag of Blue Buffalo cost like 3 bucks more than the Nature's Recipe did, once I joined their FREE discount club. After doing the math on the way home, I figured that I'll actually come out AHEAD buying the BB from Petco, because every fifth bag will be $5 off.
This means that 60 lbs of BB (bought in 15-lb increments) would cost around $120, while the NR bought in the same increments would cost around $115. Meanwhile, the same volume Purina trash that I was feeding him would be in the neighborhood of $150, calculated from the price of 8 lb bags (all that was available).
Long story short, Nizmo's absolutely right. On top of fillers, brands like Purina SEEM more affordable because the bags are less voluminous while APPEARING to be the same size (the 15 lb bag of BB is much smaller than the 15 lb bag of NR, it appears the same size as the 8 lb bag of purina).
Haha, thanks a ton guys, I'm a believer!