Phantom finally on Tylan!

[TaylorN]

So we have officially made the 7-day transition to Sport Dog food herding and what a difference it has made in Phantom's poop! I have not seen anything less than a score of 3-4 since starting and I would say we're consistently at 3s as of today! He has been on 100% of the Sport dog herding for a day now. This morning's poop was much lower volume than usual and looked well formed. I will put a collage down below.

On the left is Purina pro plan poop, on the right is Sport dog. As you can see, it is much lower volume. Thinking this is a good sign.

With PPP, his poop was always inconsistent, even on Tylan. Some days were good, but some definitely regressed.

[Barb]

Wow! Finding the right food is definitely worth it! Congratulations.

Barb

[Jane&Clyde]

I'm so glad that the new food helped Phantom1 A change in food helped my Clyde a lot, too.

It looks like the poo on the right has an oily coating. If it stays that way, you might want to consider giving Phantom just a smidge more enzymes. I don't know if that is the recommended practice, but I started giving Clyde 1/8 tsp more enzymes at each meal and it got rid of the oily coating and firmed up the poop.

[Madelon]

WOW! That's a good looking poop I LOVE the Sport Dog Food! I first found it on a German Shepherd group and someone had said the poops they were seeing (non-EPI dog) were as close to the poop of a raw fed dog as they could get without feeding raw - when I saw the fiber was good and there were no peas and chicken (my boy has lots of food sensitivities) I decided to give it a try - I actually am able to feed him less on that food than when he was on other foods because it's so calorie dense.

Doing the happy poop dance for you in Tennessee

[TaylorN]

Thought I would come back and give an update for the people...ha.

Phantom has been on Tylan for 2 months now and is in the process of weaning off. We are currently on our once a day, every other day period and his poops are holding up! I am not sure when to expect a regression, if at all, but it is going well so far! His poop is the best and most consistent it has EVER been. I think the combination of sport dog herding elite and Tylan did him a lot of good.

The only con to this has been the fact that as a 60lb dog, sport dog recommends I give him roughly 2 cups a day. After getting 6 cups a day in order to gain weight, I get weird looks when I give him 1 cup 2x per day. Is there anything I can give him as filler food? I just don't want his stomach empty!

I have also been introducing slippery elm into his meals and haven't seen any poop regression with this addition in combination with subtracting out Tylan. Fingers crossed he will not need to be on a Tylan maintenance dose!

Photo of today's poop for reference:



OH, and the itching/chewing went away a few weeks after starting sport dog herding, but it came back as I put him on salmon oil for his skin. I am starting to think he may have an allergy/intolerance of fish as his PPP Salmon & Rice had him biting like crazy. Is fish a common allergy for dogs?

I have removed the salmon oil to see what happens. Any ideas on how long it takes a food allergy/intolerance to get out of a dog's system? I am guessing weeks.

[Jane&Clyde]

I don't know if fish is a common allergy for dogs or not, but my dog who doesn't have EPI is allergic to fish. It only took a few days for him to stop showing allergy symptoms after I stopped feeding him fish, so hopefully it will be the same for Phantom.

[Jean]

Good morning from the UK

Firstly fish

My Kara was blood tested for intolerances in foods, and it came back, white fish, beef, pork and chicken, the top two were chicken and fish, it would seem that Phantom has an intollerance to whatever fish is in the food, we always knew Kara wasnt good with white fish as it went straight through her.

As far as bulking out food, we always gave Kara scrambled eggs, and mashed potato, no butter, no milk, it was her all time favourite, the itching could also have been rice, Kara couldnt tolerate it at all, the vets told me it can cause a "heat" spot somewhere, which would make sense

The egg meal was firstly her last meal of the day , she had two main meals, and would then haunt you for her egg meal, so we batch cooked it and she had it when we felt necessary, I remember asking Uncle Ian the vet (no relation) how many eggs, he said 12 ! so would buy 48 at a time from our local Chinese supermarket, she would likely have 6 a day all mixed up, but before you go down that line, make sure he can tolerate eggs, all of my friends with EPI dogs tried it and hated me ever after, as they too were haunted

they are an enigma, every one different

we were never able to stop Tylan, she was on a minute amount once a day for about 3 years, but every time we stopped, it all went down hill, but I wish you all the best with weaning him off

Hows your college work coming on ?

Jean

[Tuckaboo Pam]

Hi Taylor. I switched to TOTW Pacific Stream a few months back to save some money, but I remember feeling the same way about the Sport Dog Elite portion. I believe Tucker was supposed to get 3 cups/day & I gave him 4. He didn't get fat, and he seemed happier. And, he certainly did thrive on that food. I think I started ordering directly from the company at the lowest price, but I had to order two bags in order to get free shipping. ---Pam

[Olesia711]

you can give him an extra 1/2 cup extra food a day to help him get used to less feedings.... and/or.... you can try giving him a handful of fresh string beans in a bowl, or a few pieces of an apple cut up, as an in-between meal (if he starts gaining too much weight.....) but just watch to see if that appears to be okay or if it makes his stools go south.... (you can mix a little enzyme in a dollop of yogurt and include in the bowl to cover any enzyme need with the fresh veggie or fruit)

[Madelon]

Hi! Glad to hear Phantom is doing so well - GOOD JOB MOM!! As for the food - Doc is on the Sport Dog Food Elite Herding as well - he's 105lbs and gets 4cups a day (2in the am and 2in the pm) in the winter - during the summer when he's more active he'll drop to 95lbs and I increase the food to 5cups a day (2 1/2am and 2 1/2pm) to keep him at 95lbs. The amounts on the bag are just a guide - WATCH THE WEIGHT - if he needs more food than what the bag says that's okay - if he needs less than what the bag says that's okay too. Not every dog is the same so those are just a guideline for pet owners to use.

With him doing so well I personally wouldn't try adding anything different just add more or less of the Sport Dog food if need be.