# I'm so frustrated!



## mom2twopups (Mar 4, 2009)

Ok, I made the same mistake that SirShaun (I think that this is how he spelled it) and got the Nutro Natural Large Breed Puppy awhile back. When we got Lucy from the rescue, they had her on pruina puppy chow. That didn't work for me at all, so we went and immediatly got her new food. I choose the Nutro Large breed puppy, just out of ignorance. All the Pit's that I have been in contact with are large dogs, and I figure if she will be over 50 lbs, then this would be fine for her. Well, after coming here, I realized that it wasn't, so we went and got Blue Buffalo puppy. This made her sick. She had diarrehea (sp) for days and days and she went about 6-7 times a day. We were so excited about this food, until we saw what it did to her. I actually looked up Blue Buffalo Puppy and found that lots of owners had the same experience, it still got a 3 out of 5 stars, but she just didn't do well on it. We kept thinking that we would just give it some time, and this was even with transitioning with only 25% of Blue with her Nutro. We did this for over a week and her bm's just never got any better. We put her back on full Nutro and back to normal. Now, I know that this isn't good food, even though she seems to thrive and do well on it, especially since she is a medium dog...so I am torn. Do I put her on Nutro Natrual Small bites which I have a feeling she will do well on, or do I try putting her on Blue Buffalo Wilderness and take a chance? I just hate spending so much money on food that is of no use to us. We spent over $40 on the Blue and hardly used any of it, I hate to do the same with something else as well. I am confused and frustrated. I can't do the Orijen because there is only one place here that sells it and it is over an hour away. I just want something that will be good for her system and that helps her grow the way that she needs to grow. What do you suggest? I have looked through all the food analysis and most of these foods I can't even get here! It's frustrating to no end.


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## BedlamBully (Jun 6, 2008)

Buy smaller bags, or ask if they have samples at the store.

Orijen and Taste of the Wild are the two foods I recommend the most. 

But if you are having problems with her food you can add some plain yogurt to it ( a couple tablespoons at the most) and it will help settle her stomach. Also realy pumpkin has been said to help. 

Also you may be over feeding her. Honestly two cups at the MOST a day is usually sufficent.


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## mom2twopups (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks for you advice...actually, I am not even sure that I can buy Wilderness in puppy, I have looked on line and it doesn't show that this is even an option. You are right, we feed Lucy about 2 to 2.5 cups a day. It says to feed her 3, but this seems a bit much, plus, we have been transisoning (sp) so we didn't want to upest her too much. I would ask the people at PetSmart, but really...what will they truly know about the different dog food brands. I guess that I will just leave Lucy here (normally she goes with) so that I can just read all the labels and get a puppy food that I truly feel comfortable with and hope that this works out. Also, I will get some plain yogurt and pumpkin when I am at the store this week and maybe try the Blue Buffalo again. I just hate for her to have such running bm's. We all know that this is not fun...thanks again for your help.


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## BedlamBully (Jun 6, 2008)

if you get pumpkin make sure you get real pumpkin in a can is okay just not the pie filling pumpkin


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## mom2twopups (Mar 4, 2009)

Got it! Thanks! I had read that online before...that it is good for loose stools and runny stools...(strange how that works!) but that it has to be real pumpkin! Thanks again!


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

Peanut's vet said i could give 1 2mg immodium for diarrhea when he was having his issue with food. Blue wilderness is usually avilable at petsmarts.


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## LiiL_L0cz_Red_N0se (Sep 15, 2008)

i know if your pet doesnt like the food u can bring it back to petsmart for a store credit. ask someone about that. also, blue is a good feed but harsh on the stomach. it is very rich and has alot more protein then what ur feedin ur pup now. i would just buy online if ther eis nothing in your area u like, but u will have to expacet some nasty poops when u switch over. good luck keep us updated


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

I used Nutro for a long time and had no problems, just choose the right formula. I know many very reputable English Bulldog breeders who feed Nutro, and you don't know dogs with potential problems until you've had an EB. It is more detrimental to your pup to be constantly sick than it is to feed Nutro. I recently switched to TOTW because it is an all stage food, and I free feed, and also because my EB has some seasonal skin problems that I have heard TOTW can help with. 

I would say that if you want to switch you may have to feed very small amounts of the new food mixed in with the old, my EB is VERY sensitive, and I take a month to slowly transition him, my Pug and Pit can eat anything with no problem, so I'm giving them a shorter time. My EB comes to work with me and I give him 100% of the nutro all day, and before and after work he grazes on their food which is a mix. Eventually they will be all TOTW at home, and so I will start mixing TOTW in at work too.


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## mom2twopups (Mar 4, 2009)

Thank you all so much. I just got back from PetSmart and they had NO Wilderness by Blue..they are out. Go figure. I read just about every label there (minus the ones like Purian Pro Plan and Iams, etc) and I just ended up going with the Nutro Small Bites. It didn't look any better than the other ones, there was one that I was considering and that was a Science Diet, but it was in a different package. It looked a little better than the Nutro, but I hadn't done research on it, so I passed. I did ask about bringing the Blue food back and they said, yes for store credit, so yea! If that is what I decide to do. I really want her to transistion to this food...I know that it is better, I just hate the runny poo's and I know that she has to as well. At the end, I was giving her just about 20 pieces of the Blue (a small handful) and the rest was Nutro...she seemed OK, but then I got really sick and my dh ended up doing half and half, therefore runny poo again! URGH...I will get her FULLY off of the large breed Nutro, get her on the small bites and try the Blue again and have yogurt and pumpkin on hand when I do!
Thanks again to all of you. You are the best support team!


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## MY MIKADO (Apr 7, 2006)

I guess I'm use to driving too as I drive 68 miles everyday for work about 45min each way. I really like how my girl looks on Dick Van Pattons Organic food. She is looking good as normal stool only eats 2 cups a day.


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## Nizmo (Jan 15, 2009)

i just returned a 1/3 of a bag of science diet that i got for nismo like 3 months ago lol.
they were happy to give me in store credit.
i use royal canin, which is a pretty good food, i get that at petsmart, i think its 50-55 dollars and my dogs love it.


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## Nizmo (Jan 15, 2009)

oh and i got the big bag, i've had it for about 2 months now but im starting to run low. 
in the 30lbs bag there is 140 cups of food.


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## PeanutsMommy (Sep 21, 2008)

infinity8x3 said:


> Honestly... I don't think an hour drive is to much if you want the best food possible for your dog. And its not like you will be driving every day. Hmm lets see here, we started ours on orijen at 5 weeks he is 12 weeks old now. And he is still eating on his first 15lb bag. (although I did just get him another bag today, running low) They eat a lot less of Orijen than other foods and I free feed. So the way I see it is you shouldn't have to take the drive more than once a month. Or get it delivered. 15lb bag cost exactly $30.73 with tax, from where I get it. Any way to sum it up IMHO I think its worth an hour drive. Or maybe I just don't mind driving that much. But to sum it up agian if you did get orijen then your frustrations would be over.
> 
> Oh just noticed your name better up to the 30lb bag. lol


good posting.

for me i dont mind that i have to go out of my way to get Orijen and the cost just means i have to go without something for a little bit is fine with me. Infinity is right you feed alot less and it lasts alot longer.
For me feeding the best food out there is much better then trips to the vet.

When Peanut was a puppy i had him on nutro natural choices. he was always sick with vomiting after eating. I did some research and found out that nutro was covering up a recall. I changed my dogs food and he was so much better.

I think that you are experiencing normal changes in your dogs system. If you stopped changing the food so often and stayed on one food you will see so many positive changes. Honestly, it sounds like your dog is just not fully adjusted to the change and you take them off the food before they finish the transition.


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## LiiL_L0cz_Red_N0se (Sep 15, 2008)

AMEN! ahha yeah i was driving about 45 to get my orijen, its worth. period


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## mom2twopups (Mar 4, 2009)

Well, really I haven't changed the food that much...it just seems as if we have. When we got her, she was on puppy chow...she had been at the rescue for a week with that. We have no idea of what she was on before that. The day we got her, we started the transistion from puppy chow to Nutro...she did fine with that. No problems at all. Then I started reading on here about the dog foods and started reading the dog food analysis. Dh and I found Blue Buffalo at PetSmart and were very excited and bought it. We started giving her 25% and it messed her up bad. We did that for almost a week before just giving her a small handful of it...she did ok on just a small handful, but it is probably 98% Nutro and 2% Blue. Like I mentioned, I am going to get her off of the Nutro Large Breed completely...I am going to slowly ween her onto Nutro Small bites (puppy) and then hopefully someday move her back to Blue, when the summer comes and I have more time to spend with her. Between work/kid/baseball/school/and keeping up with the housework and errands, I just don't have the time to be out with her all the time if she has runny stools. As for the hour drive...it is 55 miles from my house...that is not including the Dallas traffic. I don't do well in places that I don't know and I am not comfortable driving that far for dog food, when I know that I will find something that will work for her, here in my town, or one of the surrounding towns. I could always get something online as well. I have a friend that uses Flint River Ranch and it works great for her dogs, but I can't get that here, or that I can find anyway.
We will find something that works well for her. Our lab is on Nutro as well and she does great on it. We noticed a huge difference on how she acted after she had a hard day of excersise (she is 7 and is getting arthritis) she moves much better and she has never been sick on that at all. So far, Lucy has done well on it as well. I would rather them be on Blue, but that is going to take lots of time, I am afraid...but that's ok...I will have the extra time in a couple of months and by then she will be a little older and might be able to stomach it better.


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

You can order online here:
www.heartypet.com - Natural Holistic Pet Foods & Supplies (Dog, Cat, Bird)
The shipping is pretty fair, and sometimes they have discounts and sales.


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## mom2twopups (Mar 4, 2009)

HEY!! Thanks FloorCandy!! That $12 saves me gas, time and worry! Thank you SO much for that link! That is perfect! You rock!


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

No prob, when I travel for long periods, I order it from there and have it shipped to my moms so she doesn't have to worry.


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## TODDEN (Jan 15, 2012)

*Nutro Large Breed Puppy food?!*

Hello, I am brand new to this forum and I have been reading about Nutro large breed puppy food as not being a good food for Pitbulls... I have been feeding my 2 girls this food the entire time I have had them with no negative side effects.

I have been considering getting them a food of higher quality.

I am just curious as to why the nutro large breed puppy is bad and what recommendations you all might have. I have been looking into Blue Buffalo, Canidae, and maybe Evo.

Any input would be great, thanks!


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Pit bulls are not a large breed dog. They are medium.....and nutro is not that great of a food to begin with. It was one of the foods recalled with the melamine scare about 5 years ago that killed several dogs. There are much better foods to feed such as TOTW, Acana, Wellnes, Orijen, and blue buffalo wilderness. All those foods mentioned are all grain free. I would definitely switch


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

TODDEN said:


> Hello, I am brand new to this forum and I have been reading about Nutro large breed puppy food as not being a good food for Pitbulls... I have been feeding my 2 girls this food the entire time I have had them with no negative side effects.
> 
> I have been considering getting them a food of higher quality.
> 
> ...


Hi welcome, take a look at this thread and if you have any additional questions, start a new thread with your question. Large breed is typically not good for AmStaff or APBT or AmBully, etc. Some AmBully's or pit mixes get over 100lbs , but Large Breed food is typically for dogs 100+lbs whihc pit bulls are not.

http://www.gopitbull.com/health-nutrition/3749-pet-food-rating-comparison-chart.html


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