Basenji and food problem suggestions

[starcentral]

I adopted a male 4 year old Basenji named Benji 3 weeks ago.

The previous owner had him on Kibbles and Bit's (poor little fella) so I switched him to Purina Adult Pro Plan Chicken & Rice (blended the two until finished). He is vomitting bile 1 - 2 per week, and is now having occassional soft stool.

I use to let him have free run of the house while at work during the day, but now after 2 major messy accidents I can not leave him with free run of the house.

Does anyone have any similar experience or suggestions? Obviously I don't want him on Kibble 'n Bits, but perhaps the Pro Plan is not working out for him either.

I live in Canada, so might not have all the same food suggested by some people here so please keep that in mind.

Thanks for any insight… we want Benji to be happy and not have to be locked up all day.

[vickilb]

I bet he is just stressed from bieng in a new environment.

Pro Plan is good food. Try steaming a big pot of rice and adding some of that in his food to "bind".

I'm sure other forum memebers will have lots of other good suggestions too.

But, I know you can get rice in Canada!

Congrats on your new pup!

[Rita Jean]

I to say Congrats on new baby. You may have changed the dog food a little fast and his system just needs to adjust. Rice and boiled chicken. New home, new dog food he might just need a little more time.

Rita Jean

[MacPack]

Congratulations on your new boy. It can take a month or more for some to adjust to a new home, with loose stomach as the result. That, combined with a food change, might have him a bit loose for awhile. I hate to say it, but if the rice doesn't work, you might go back to the original food for a few months (if it agrees with him) then gradually change again to a better food. Good luck!

[tanza]

I think as I stated in the other thread started, this might have more to do with "free" feeding, which I am totally not in agreement!) then the type of food. IMO, Pro Plan is not that much better then Kibbles & Bits… there are better foods out there and many threads on the Forum about food (and yes, food choices are very personal, so this is just my opinion)

[sharronhurlbut]

I do have to agree with Pat. You need a better food.
Might be his system can't handle all the additives.
Find a good chicken and rice food with as little additives as possible, and slowly add that to the diet.
California Natural comes to mind.
I avoid Lamb as my 2 don't thrive on it.

[thunderbird8588]

Congratulations on your new addition, hope you get his problems sorted soon

[Nemo]

I think I actually felt a little nauseous reading the ingredient list of kibbles n bit.

Ditto on what everyone else said regarding a new food. The Pro Plan looks like it might have a bit more chicken (or any sort of meat for that matter) in it than the KnB food so it might be a bit of a shock to his system. I have one dog that I have to change over different protein sources very slowly while the other I can change pretty quickly. And like Sharron said regarding her dogs and lamb, I have one that doesn't thrive on chicken. Each dog can be a little different with what agrees with them. Good luck with Benji!

[NerdyDogOwner]

Dear lord, what's with ppl 2xposting topics latley?

Here is what I wrote in the other same topic:

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.

[starcentral]

@NerdyDogOwner:

Dear lord, what's with ppl 2xposting topics latley?

Sorry I didn't know which forum was better, but since his problem could be related to either food or health both places made sense to me. I did appologize first thing in the other forum.

To your suggestion however, I hate to think of even doing it, but I think I've decided to do just what you said… put him back on original food. It was probably too much change at once, and also to many variables now to properly determine what is wrong. There could be an underlying health issue so I should go back to square one.

There is just not a lot of consistency with the stool. Sometimes it is okay, sometimes it is not which is where I am puzzled. The bile vomit could just be empty stomach.

Yesterday, he barfed beige colored mush. It honestly looked like mashed potatoes but the food he eats is brown. At 2am this morning, he barfed again and this time it was bits of food and liquid.

Does anyone know if Basenji's are especially sensitive to glueten, healthy or with any diseases common with Basenji's?

[tanza]

Corn and wheat are biggies in all breeds. Especially Corn…

If this were my dog, I would stop all dog food (kibble or otherwise) and get him back on tract using boiled ground meat (boiled in water and pour off the fat) can use beef, turkey, chicken mixed with white rice (easier to digest then brown). And I would do that for a few days to settle down his digestive system. Then I would get some good quality kibble that has no grains. Ones like Natural Balance Potato and Duck and slowly start to mix that in.

[starcentral]

I will continue this topic in the FOOD FORUMS since likely this is not a health issue at this time:

http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=7726&page=2

Thank you everyone for you comments, I am new here, and new to Basenji's so all the help is appreciated. The longer I keep little Benji confined, the more destruction he starts doing to the laundry room!