Do Some Dogs Do Better With Grains? Another Sensitive Stomach Post

[Kindra First]

We adopted an 8-10 month old lab mix puppy from a lab rescue. Underweight and a stray. The rescue fed her lamb and rice kibble, but I don't know the brand. We switched her to Fromm Lamb and Lentil. She was pooping 6-7 times a day. I assumed maybe the lentil was too much for her so I thought maybe it might help to up the protein. Tried Orijen Regional Red. Unmitigated disaster even though I was transitioning very slowly. Vet is worried about absorption issues. He suggested we try Purina En Gastro. He stated that if she does fine on that, we can keep her on that forever. The ingredients in that food make me cringe. (Love and trust our vet, but he is of the camp that dogs can do well on almost any kind of food). I switched to Evanger Chicken and Rice cans, which works amazingly well. It's fine for the short term but too expensive and inconvenient in the long term. So a few questions. Is it possible some dogs need grains? It just seems that she does better with some grain in her diet. Any dry food food recs? (She will eat anything I give her, so she is not picky at all). Any help would be much appreciated.

Happy to be part of this forum.

[Tanya]

Fromm and Orijen are very rich foods. especially if she was previously eating something more low-middle ground. many dogs do not do well on the "premium" foods because of this (too rich).

And yes some dogs do terrific with grains. not all dogs need grain free.

This thread may offer some suggests/info on what people are feeding.
https://www.lab-retriever.net/board/d...2085-feed.html

I am feeding Go! Turkey with now.

[BogeyBaby]

One of my trainers, who is a proponent of raw feeding, said that I ought to give grains to Bogey (oats or rice) because they can help his aggression tendencies. Personally I find that far fetched. I generally don't feed grains as I feel they are simply a filler, but up until a couple years ago I did feed grains with no issues.

[Berna]

Why is potato better than rice when it comes to canine nutrition?

I am a raw feeder and I do occasionally add rice to my dog's meals. I don't feed potato.

I'd avoid foods containing corn/maize though.

[doubledip1]

Grains are fine. I usually look for brown rice over white, but rice is good. I would rather feed rice as a binder over potato. Ultimately it's what works for your dog.

We tried Orijen. It's just way too rich for her. I avoid corn and soy as best as I can, but don't view wheat or rice as that much of an issue.

[emma_Dad]

Some dogs have problems with the richness of the high quality kibble. A dog doesn't need grains what so ever since they are a carnivore it's really just a filler. But if the dog need to be putting on weight, I would feed w/e they will eat till she gets healthy and back to a good weight. Vet's always recommend to feed bland chicken and rice when the dog is having tummy issues or just got out of surgery.

If your concern is price. Sometimes doing a homecooked diet or RAW is cheaper then a good kibble. and you will know exactly what's going into their diet.

[ZoeysMommy]

Try Proplan or Eukanuba and see if that works. Neither are over priced and work well for most dogs.

And there is nothing wrong with grains. Personally I think the whole grain free craze is overrated and completely unnecessary for most dogs

[Kathy W]

Agree with above post .... Try Pro Plan or eukanuba .... if you really do not like corn try pro plan sensitive skin and stomach

good luck

[Candy and Spike's Dad]

Candy doesn't do well on grain free food either. If you want to stay with Fromm, try Fromm 4 star grain inclusive food. That's what Candy is eating and she is doing very well.

[Annette47]

Chloe seems to maintain her weight better on grain free (she porks up quickly on grain-inclusive), which is why we feed it, but my previous dogs have all done very well on grain-inclusive foods. I agree that the ones you have been trying may have been too rich for her system. I would try Pro-Plan or the equivalent and see how she does.