He's a boy. 🙂 And he's neutered as of three weeks ago. He's only about 10 months old.
Loose Stool
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Do you not like the quality of the Orijen brand?
Orijen is a great quality food. I'd feed it more often, but where I live it isn't always available. For the summer I switch off it, but I always use the Orijen 6 Fresh Fish in the winter as it seems to work best for their skin and coats in our dry winters. I've been using Taste of the Wild (Pacific Stream) & Instinct more often since they seem to be readily available. Taste of the Wild is considerably less expensive than Orijen. Orijen is about the only food that I need to use less of because all 4 of mine seem to gain weight quite quickly on it - great for my 2 b-boys who are super lean and often look like they need an extra meal.
So no need to worry about the quality of Orijen.
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Orijen is a great quality food. I'd feed it more often, but where I live it isn't always available. For the summer I switch off it, but I always use the Orijen 6 Fresh Fish in the winter as it seems to work best for their skin and coats in our dry winters. I've been using Taste of the Wild (Pacific Stream) & Instinct more often since they seem to be readily available. Taste of the Wild is considerably less expensive than Orijen. Orijen is about the only food that I need to use less of because all 4 of mine seem to gain weight quite quickly on it - great for my 2 b-boys who are super lean and often look like they need an extra meal.
So no need to worry about the quality of Orijen.
Okay thank you very much. I will look into the Taste of the Wild particularly if I see that he's gaining weight.
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Orijen is a great quality food. I'd feed it more often, but where I live it isn't always available.
Getting premium dog food here in Spokane isn't a problem for us; however, our winter residence in Arizona is 100+ miles from any place that sells Orijen or any of the other premium dog foods.
So, when we're in Arizona, I order food from PetFlow, www.petflow.com/ which offers free shipping for orders of $59 or more (otherwise, shipping is $4.95). You can even set up reoccuring shipments if you wish. There are other, similar, places to order food, such as PetFoodDirect, www.petfooddirect.com.
I don't think these places ship to Canada, though, so this wouldn't be a solution for the OP, but for those of us in the US who live far from major shopping areas, it's one possible solution.
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Do you not like the quality of the Orijen brand?
Orijen is an excellent quality food. Although I started out feeding our dogs Orijen, I no longer do because I found that the very high protein content gave our two dogs loose stools. Obviously, this food doesn't affect every dog that way, so you can try it for yourself and see how your dog does.
I now feed a rotation of foods: Taste of the Wild (High Prairie or Wetlands), Blue Wilderness (Salmon), Wellness Core (Original or Ocean), and Nutrisca (Chicken or Lamb…they've just come out with Salmon which I'll try as soon as I determine whether or not it is ethoxyquin free).
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Hi there,
I have not personally used Orijen, many people I know have used it and like it. I always like to have a couple back ups in case ie; the company sells and changes formula, an individual dog has a specific issue, or I am some place I can't get a food I am using.
Just thought it would help to see the link with where to buy local for another option for your pup.
Therese -
When I first got Oakley I noticed he had loose stools which continued on taste of the wild bison and salmon. It turned out he did have giradhia which, after the treatment helped. Even now at 8 months old Oakley gets soft stools on High protein based foods such as taste of the wild. He is currently on a low residue formula for sensative intestinal systems and I've even gone through a round of probiotics from the vet. Some dogs, like Oakley just have softer stool! I would definitely get the parasite check bc to me when I think soft stool I tend to think ghiardia. Good luck with your new pup!
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Chealsie508, I am sure you may have already considered this so not suggesting you haven't already but just in case. We discovered in basenjis that when they are fed can play a role in soft vs hard stool. Not with all mind you but with some.
I originally fed twice a day and had some loose stool issues as well as trouble keeping wt on my kids. Then we switched to once a day feeding with treats and weight was much improved. I fed in the evening and although loose stools seemed frequent it wasn't ill appearing just softer stools. I read some articles about feeding schedules and found that feeding in the morning would firm up stools, we began doing that 2 years ago and it worked.
I'm not suggesting as I said that Oakley is an easy fix just thought if he has consistantly soft stool this might be an advantage to him.
I do also believe some dogs just do better on different foods for many reasons, we do so why wouldn't they?
I'm also sure you checked your water situation, I lived in the city and my dogs on city water didn't do as well so I gave them bottled water which they did better on, both stool wise and drinking. With my well water they have done really well. I don't think they always tolerated the chemicals city water companies add.
Just for what its worth
Therese -
Thanks Therese, Oakley gets fed twice a day, mainly bc if I don't feed him in the evening he decides to paw his ceramic bowls across the kitchen. That's good to know about feeding times. I have thought about it as I tend to notice his stools are firmer in the morning. I'll adjust and see if that helps. He is to me a peanut ( 8 mo. And 22.7lbs) and a slow grower so he has not been neutered yet, I wondered if hormones can also play a role? I would love to get him off the low residue as it is Iams prescription and I don't like iams but I also don't want to push the envelope
I might try instinct as both taste of the wild and canidae have not proved successful. On a side note: Oakley gets bottled water bc I don't drink the tap… We are both spoiled that way
I always wonder if my choice in giving a variety of treats isn't a factor as well, I've already figured out the hard way that for Oakley- stay away from soy! -
Chealsie…
Don't know if you know, but both Instinct and Canidae have come out with new limited ingredient grain-free foods. I think if you go to their websites you can get coupons. Also the bags at my local pet stores have $3 and $5 off coupons.Oh and treats absolutely affect stool consistency in my b-kids.
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I certainly have to be more careful in selecting his treats because I dont think they mix well when given for variety.. I have tried the Instinct treat bones which are venison and those are "iffy", then I use soft baked treats for training. But on any given day its normal for him to get a treat based with venison, another cheddar cheese and liver ( I cant imagine that to help a lot but he gets bored with only one treat and that leads to motivational issues)
Thanks for the info
