Innova and diarrhea

jellyfish

Toki is on innova and had I have a suspicion it isn't sitting well with him, but I am not sure. help
He has had solid poops followed by pudding poop. No straining to poo. No vommiting. Plays, eats, drinks, sleeps normal and happy. Doesn't seem to be in any pain. Just has bad poo for the last week or two.

However, yesterday he had super liquidy diarrhea all day. I was very alarmed. I gave him pumpkin in his kibble and tons of water, though he always has access to water anyway
Today, his poos are back to solid stool first, followed by thick pudding poop in the same poop, which is so much better than all of it being liquid. This has been the normal bad poops. But still...

Both his last visits to the vet have come back good, even the fecal test.
I've decided to only use kibble, ice, and pumpkin as treats to see if bad treats are the cause.

I did some google research, some people said that Innova was too rich in ingredients and isn't dog food for every dog. Some also said that if they give their dog too much innova, their pup has soft stools. Some said that they had to wait a month for their pup to get used to the innova, but i've had him for a month. I'm confused, I thought innova was a good brand. He also doesn't seem to like to eat it unless it is laced with something yummy, like wet dog food or pumpkin, or he is really hungry. I'm okay with him being a picky eater, as i am one too, but not the diarrhea. Is this just internet speculation or is there some truth to any of these statements i've read?

Has anyone had issues with innova before? Am I feeding him wrong? Switch foods now or not, or wait a while longer to switch? Should I take him to the vet tomorrow or wait it out until the 27th? (my vet wanted to give it a month to see if the gas goes away, or else to change the food anyway). Any advice is welcome. I just wanted to get some opinions from other dog people.

Thanks!
Julia

JessicaRabbit

My dogs will have similar instances with their food (we feed Orijen). Typically we will fast for a meal and they will be back on track. I have found that adding mashed chickpeas to their food works for them and keeps their poop pretty consistent. We cook our own chickpeas. If you try it and go canned just get chickpeas with no added salt.

jellyfish

Thanks! I've never thought to use chickpeas. I might just try that!!
I emailed jim and carol and they said to switch him back to diamond. I am sending doug on a hunt for this brand while I am at work because it isn't sold at the petsmart by my house.

JessicaRabbit

Do not feed Diamond, way too many recalls. Crap ingredients. Don't do it.

shibamistress

It may just be this brand doesn't work with him, which is frustrating, but possible, as you noted. Does it have lamb in it? My dogs all get terrible gas when they have lamb, and it's all three of them, and my GSD did too, so I've given up on lamb entirely. The only Innova foods I've fed, though, are EVO because my dogs eat raw usually, and this was only for when they are kenneled. They seem to tolerate it ok, with a little loose poop, but that was more the switch from raw to kibble, I think. (They LOVE EVO, but they're super excited by kibble in general, I think because they don't normally get it!)

I think you're doing the right thing by trying to eliminate other possible problems (treats, etc), but I suspect the dog food doesn't sit well with him. If it we're me, I'd get some small bags of different types, and see what works with him. It's probably just a matter of finding another food you feel good about that will work ok with him.

I would say, though, that it might be worth redoing the fecal sample on your next vet visit. Some parasites have an odd growth pattern, so if you hit them when they are not "shedding" then it might be possible to miss them. Or so my vet told me when we found out my Akita had coccidia. Can't hurt to recheck, anyway.

Good luck! Oh, and I love the chickpea tip too! Didn't know that one! And I thought the same thing about Diamond. I sometimes also feed my dogs Taste of the Wild btw, but it's grain free--I don't feed any grains at all.

jujee

The thing with evo and Innova is that they were bought out by P&G over a year ago. When that switch happened I stayed away because I wasn't sure if the ingredients would stay as good as they were before the buyout.

Try different kibbles, not every kibble works out for every dog. Lisa mentioned a great idea about buying little bags and figuring out which one suits him better. Smaller dog food businesses will give you free samples of different dog kibble. I know acana has small trial packages for a few dollars, but would have to find a store that sells them.

Losech

Yeah, buy little bags, not big ones, so if one doesn't work you don't have a ton of useless kibble. Look at this site, it's got good information on a ton of brands and can help you pick which ones to try.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

I had something similar happen with Conker, but he'd been doing it on his shelter food too. Turns out he's got many sensitivities and intolerances to stuff so he gets home made and raw food. Hopefully your pup doesn't, and you'll be able to find a good kibble he does good on. This stuff is not fun to deal with.

jellyfish

@Losech, thanks for the link! I had a good time looking at some of the foods. I actually find it interesting to read labels, human food and dog food, i have no idea why this is fun, lol! :P

I put research into picking a good food for Toki, and I figured Innova would be good for him. I took him to the vet yesterday after he vommited before breakfast and after a long, morning car ride. I think he was just car sick, but that was the last straw, and I took him in.

No parasites or diseases were found, so he thinks the Innova is upsetting him. He said his colon was inflammed cause of the gas. Poor Toki and his farts
He gave me some medicine for the soft stools/inflammation and perscription diet I.D. wet dog food to help transition to Diamond. I am going to stick with that for now because I know he doesn't get sick on it. I would like to change to something else, but I don't want to risk upsetting his stomach again for while.
Toki is obsessed with the wet dog food :P

I am proud to say that he had a really healthy poop this morning. It was glorious, i've never been so excited to see poop.

*JackBurton*

He started on diamond just try different foods in small amounts then make the switch. We used Arcana and Taste of the Wild. The later really worked well for us.

tjbart17

@jujee They have actually put out official statements that they haven't changed the ingredients or their suppliers for Innova. I wouldn't worry about that.

Koda gets this type of poop every year in December. Not sure why. His diet hasn't changed, but he had it 3 days last week. At first I though he got into the cat food, but now I know he hasn't. Then I remembered that this is the third December we've been through this. That's not much of any help I know, but thought I'd put it in there.

shibamistress

I like Taste of the Wild. Good to know about not changing the ingredients on Innova, because Evo was a pretty good food, too. Just more expensive that TotW, but I actually liked it better, and the dogs seemed to as well. I'd just go slow with a change to a new food (of better quality than Diamond).

jujee

@tjbart17 - thanks for the heads up about it. I still am a bit iffy about them though lol

tjbart17

@jujee Yeah so am I so I grilled a rep at a therapy dog event. he he. That's how I found out.

sergeant0844

I just switched Jake to Taste Of The Wild puppy brand and have had really good results. Grain free and tons of quality ingredients (bison, venison, salmon). I had him on Eukanuba and he'd barely touch it. It's also garbage quality food...same as Diamond. There's a good article (Food 101) on here and good stuff if you search around online. I figure since they're litter mates they might have the same type of stomach for food.

jellyfish

Thanks!!!!!
I'll have to remember to steer clear of Eukanduba then. I was at the local pet store yesterday actually and just discovered that I live next to a place that sells taste of the wild. I'd been searching for it some time now and I am rather optimistic now that it works well for Jake. I'm definitely going to consider it for whenever I get a chance to switch him over.

As an update, Toki's poops did not improve once the transition to Diamond kibble happened. Granted, we were in houston for a week and that could have caused stress and my family drinks well water. The vet put him on perscription ID kibble, not wet food like last time, and his poops seem to be doing much better. I hope I can find something that will sit right with his stomach that isn't this ID stuff.

Saya

Maybe some probiotics will help the pup's gut get back into order? I know someone who used Ark naturals gentle digest and it worked for the dog.

I seen it by me, but so far my dogs haven't need it..

I read some people give people probiotics, but I dunno..

Hope Toki feels better soon.

jellyfish

thanks saya! Probiotics is something i might want to look into. And as far as Toki feels, I think he feels okay, maybe just gassy. He plays and moves and eats like a happy pup, and he doesn't seem to have a problem laying on his stomach. I know it takes a lot for a dog to show illness, but he seems to act too happy to be in pain.

ShikokuSpirit

I had Lynxiene and Shoushuu on Innova once. I let them finish the (large) bag waiting for signs of improvement (this was before the company buy out switch). Nasty stuff for my dogs. I had horrible experience with very loose to watery poo! Yeah...never again. FYI. I'm in support of the switch to another kibble of high and grain-free quality.

I've had good experience with:
- Wellness Core
I rate this the highest quality of kibble! My dogs do excellent on it and have lovely solid, firm poop.
- Acana
Tis' been awhile since I've fed this - cause it doesn't soak/absorb water well. I think it gave solid, "medium" in firmness poop.
- Taste of the Wild
My dogs seem to do alright on it but their poo, while solid, is soft - "mushy" if stepped on.

I'm trying out a new grain-free kibble product called Horizon Pulsar. I don't have an opinon/review on this quite yet. It just came out recently. I only have a couple of 1 LB sample packets right now.

Ultimately, I believe raw food to be the best because my dogs have such awesome solid, hard and "flakey" poo (turns into powder if stepped on)! =p

jellyfish

Thanks saya! Super helpful!!!!

shibamistress

Yep, raw is the best! If it's got bone in it, it is exactly as Corina describes--hard, flaky, turns to powder.

Anyway, I hope you find something that works for him, poor boy!