I have a 6 month old male springer x poodle. When i got him he had the runs quite badly. vet did some tests and he didn’t have any parasites etc so it was put down to food intolerance. We had him on bland diet - steamed chicken and this made it even worse. hence the reason the vet suggested fish and the change in stools was instant. so we stopped feeding chicken based and switched to fish based dry brand - Fish 4 Dogs. He got a bit bored after a while and kept turning his nose up so i did some more research and decided to get natures menu country hunter tinned salmon and potatoe or venison and blueberry, which i mix into his dry and he devours it every mealtime now and still we have solid poo once or twice per day.
What i would like to know is there a better brand of dry food on the market for him that i can buy that is better than fish 4 dogs that is either fish based- grain free - no chicken either just in case this is still an issue for him. I was told fish 4 dogs was a good brand but i note that on the reviews they don’t come up as high as some of the other brands. i am a bit stuck because there is too much to choose from and thought maybe others would be able to help. I just want him to have the best food possible, i don’t mind if i have to spend a bit more, so long as he gets quality and remains healthy and happy. Im happy to order online.
Also i am looking for training treats - again so much choice out there. he likes all the fish 4 dogs chew treats but need something smaller for training but again chicken free.
Acana seems to do well in the ratings. Their Regional range has Pacifica which consists of three types of fish (60%). It’s grain-free and contains vegetables and fruit. The review on AADF is here and it scores well. You have to click the box to drop down to Pacifica.
BTW I know that Fish4Dogs doesn’t score particularly highly on the directory but that doesn’t mean that it is not satisfactory for some dogs. I had mine on it for some time and in fact brought my puppy up on it just last year (with a bit of Naturediet Puppy added). TBH she did OK on it, as did the others. There are one or two reasons that I changed food but it wasn’t due to the scoring system. The main thing was that I was struggling to keep their weight in check. That’s probably nothing to do with the food because I’ve had the same difficulty with other types of dried food.
I am wondering if your dog would enjoy the Fish4Dogs a bit more if you added a drop of warm water to it? This brings out the fishy aroma which they find tempting. If not that, then perhaps you could add a bit of something else that he might fancy such as a small amount of sardine, minced beef or whatever else you can think of (that’s not chicken). Like you have been doing, lots of people add a little bit of wet food to make the dry more palatable. Naturediet works well when used in this way. They do a lamb only variety and a rabbit and turkey one. The Natures Menu tins that you are using sound good. The company do pouches as well and I understand that the contents of both are steamed so maybe they are tastier than some wet food.
I’d second the suggestion of Acana Pacifica, and can also recommend it from personal experience. I fed it to one of my standard poodles, who had always got on best with a fish-based diet, for the last 2 years of her life and she loved it and did well on it. (It had nothing to do with her demise, I hasten to add, she was very old! On the contrary, it seemed to pick her up no end)
there’s also supplements you could had to the dry food as i use yumega plus which was advised from my vets as my dog as a skin condition there are cheaper alternatives other than yumega plus salmon oils which will work just as well
I don’t believe the philosophy of feeding a dog the same thing everyday as they have evolved alongside humans as scavengers. If hunting, like wolves, they would not pass up a rabbit and insist on finding a chicken. Intolerance developes from eating the food over time, changing the protein source will usually work but you can then get intolerance after a while to the new food. The manufacturers don’t want you to change from their product hence this idea of a dog having to eat only dog food. A dog fed a mono diet will have diarrhoea initially and I am not saying constantly change. Adding something different for a change to a good basic diet is quite easy. I am not convinced of the mantra of not mixing raw and cooked but it can do no harm. Dr Pitcairn the US vet of considerable reputation has a chapter in his book on supplementing kibble as a start to home made feeding.
In terms of grain free and fish - Canagen Scottish Salmon comes in both a wet and dry, Barking Heads FIsh N Delish, Arden Grange Sensitive - lots and lots of grain free foods have been launched recently including a white label pet shop only grain free in four ‘flavours’ with 50% meat content - Country Hunter also do a dry dog food to complement the tins and frozen