My dog has diarrhea after switching to a 5-star grain-free food, why?

That is quite a high protein content for food, the recommended percent of protein in an adult dog's diet is 18-25%. It may be the switch in food to this higher protein could be the cause of his diarrhea. Since you have seen the vet and everything has come back normal, you might want to consider putting him on a diet with less protein. Sometimes certain brands of food do not agree with a dog's system, so you can look into a different brand. Brands I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. I personally do not recommend grain free diets unless the dog has a diagnosed grain allergy, which is actually very rare. In dogs who suffer from allergies, only 10% have food allergies, and the majority of those are protein related. Grains really are beneficial to dogs, providing a lasting source of energy and fiber. In addition, recent studies have show that diets who use lentils instead of grains negatively affects the dog's absorption of taurine. This has lead to taurine deficient dilated cardiomyopathy later in life. If you really want to stay with grain free food, maybe try one with a different source of protein because chicken is the most common protein allergy. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

Hello, and thanks for your question. The grain free foods tend to be very rich; diarrhea is actually pretty common. I do not recommend grain free food - there is no science to back up any benefits of going grain free in dogs, and there are actually concerns that it is harmful (if you want further information, look into the connection between grain free and dilated cardiomyopathy heart disease). I recommend Purina, Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, or Iam’s Eukanuba puppy food. Ol’ Roy would not be my preference, but I would still recommend it over grain free, especially since Freya clearly tolerates it better!

Natures recipe is a good brand but if he is still having issues you may want to talk to you vet about putting him on a prescription GI diet like science diet I/D or purina EN. If you are concerned he has food allergies, then I would stick with grain free but I would also look for a diet that doesn't have chicken like natural balance venison and sweet potatoes. A lot of dogs are allergic to chicken and beef. If you haven't had his stools check for parasites, campylobacter, and giardia, I would have your vet do that. It is not normal for them to have diarrhea so if it continues, I would certainly have it looked into. Your vet may want to do blood work and x-rays on top of the fecal. You may want to bring him a fecal sample as it is sometimes difficult to obtain a fecal sample when they are having diarrhea. Finally, you can also start him on a probiotic. I like purina fortiflora or propectalin paste. I hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If the diarrhea only comes back when you start adding the Purina One Smart Blend in to the i/d then I would change foods. It sounds as though she has developed a sensitivity to that food or the protein in the food. If the Purina is chicken based try to get a formula with out chicken. Otherwise be sure you check a fecal and even consider deworming her (even if sample is negative), run general blood work to be sure nothing systemic is going on. Hill's i/d is a balanced diet and can be fed long term, worse case scenario. Personally I think it might be the Purina One formula, so I would try a different brand or different Purina one protein source. I hope this helps and I wish Maci the best!

Blue Buffalo is not a good food despite what all their marketing ads tell you. You will find very few vets that think it's a good choice. She would be better off back on Purina and I'd suggest the Pro Plan Puppy for large breed dogs. I think you should switch her back slowly to the Purina. It is typical for dogs to poop a lot of Blue Buffalo as they don't really seem to absorb/digest much of it. I also suggest you add in a probiotic to aid with digestion for the next couple weeks. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/purina-pro-plan-focus-large-breed-chicken-and-rice-formula-dry-puppy-food https://www.petco.com/brand/tomlyn

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is not known at this time if grain free diets are actually better than diets with grain. I usually recommend feeding a high quality diet. Purina is an excellent diet but if you do not have access to this diet, there are others that you could consider that are also excellent such as Hill's Science Diet, Royal canin and Iams foods. Grain does not necessarily make dogs gain weight so I would be more focused on the quality and balance of the diet per se. Good luck and have a great day!

Nope, no reason to switch at all! Purina is the best of the supermarket brands, and it's absolutely fine to feed Cletus. I never recommend feeding grain free diets. They are a fad, and it's appearing to be a dangerous fad. Vets are seeing an increase in dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy who are on grain free diets, and the FDA is now investigating that link. Keep him on the Purina. I hope this helps!