Akita to skinny from food that gives him good poops General Chat

I switched my dogs to a weight management food in mid November at the suggestion of my vet because their poops were too soft and often runny. He said they might be getting to much fat content. This has worked well and they now have good poops, but they are huge due to the high fiber content and Bandit is losing weight and is too skinny. I took both dogs to vets this morning for some vaccinations and they were concerned about Bandits weight and thought he might be ill. This appointment was just with the vet techs as it was only shots, and I was going to ask them about his weight anyhow, they just beat me to it. So I’m going to start giving them 1/4 of their meals with a regular food and see what that does for the poops and weight, maybe work it up to 50-50 over time as long as the poops are ok. I have been feeding them more then recommend because of the low calorie count in the weight management food. Will update as we progress with the transition

Good luck. My boy is chubby. Being too thin is better than being too fat. We are going to try this food.

He is too thin for his age, breed and activity level. They came out to talk with me because they were concerned he was losing weight because he might be sick and if I hadn’t been able to explain why they would have held off on the vaccinations

This is what I’ve been using. Same company also has a weight management that isn’t grain free, for those that prefer that

Are you dogs picky about flavors?

They haven’t had very many different foods. They got taste of the wild puppy food, the one for larger breed dogs, switched to same brand pine forest once done with puppy food and switched to nutrisource when I was trying to figure out the soft poop issue. Upon vets suggestion switched to the nutrisource weight management, which had the desired effect. They enjoy the nutrisource way more then the taste of the wild. They both would often leave some of the taste of the wild in their bowl but always finish all the nutrisource. They actually eat it very fast and I think I’m going to get them the bowls that make them eat slower

Before you go ahead and spend money on new bowls Marc I saw a suggestion somewhere to use a baking tray, you would spread the food around on it or even a muffin tin, they would move slowly around the pockets and pick the kibble out with their tongue ( that’s if you have either of these )

I don’t have a muffin tin and I don’t want to give the dogs my baking tray. I’ll price the bowls and maybe see what I can find at a second hand store. The do need to eat slower, I feel like they just wolf down their food way to fast, like it’s a competition to see who can finish first

If its competition eating, feeding them separate may help, I also found with fast eaters adding a little warm water helps slow them down.
You could also try placing a ball in dish see if that helps.
Another idea is you can also take a small regular food dish/bowl and set it upside down inside their large dish.

There is a school of thought that a dog which eats too fast takes in excess air into the stomach which might cause ‘bloat’ although there is no definitive data as to why canine bloat occurs and despite attempts to intentionally recreate canine bloat in laboratories they have been unsuccessful in doing so as of yet. "
https://www.caninejournal.com/canine-bloat/

Nigredo scarfs down food. He doesn't chew well either. That's just how he is. I've never bought a slow down bowl because I just don't really see the point. Even if he wasn't able to take such big bites, he still won't really chew the kibble. He also would likely attempt to spill over the bowl with his feet etc.

They eat in separate rooms but at same time and are separated by a wooden gate. I’ve heard/read both sides of wetting the kibble. One is that dry is better for the teeth and wetting it can help with bloat, maybe because they eat it slower? My friends Akita got bloat and rushed to surgery. That’s where I saw the wetting of food.

If they scarf their food like my Beagles do, they will swallow it whole and it hardly touches the teeth. I always moisten their kibble with stewed veggie broth, but really, warm water would do just as well.
I have had expensive problems with broken teeth by giving hooves, bones and antlers - trying to give them the amount of tooth and jaw exercise that I think they should have. I have recently been giving them ears, - cows, lambs, and rabbit ears with the fur on. Big success, but don't last long!

It's just another gimmick, that feeding dry would clean teeth, there is no way it would as they don’t chew it long enough plus it breaks up when they bite down on it.

Well it’s 10 days since I’ve been changing up their diet. As of now they get 50% weight management and 50% regular kibble. The regular kibble is a different brand but same protein source. So far so good. I think I’ll keep it at this ratio for a bit, maybe a week, to make sure everything keeps coming out the way I want.. I’d like to be able to get them off the weight management as they are young and active dogs without a weight issue, but I want their poops to remain good. Bandit weighed 84lbs and Katie Mae weighed 66-67lbs this afternoon. They both could use to gain a few more lbs. but I’m in no rush, I’ll just try and take it slow. Without all the extra fiber the poops are a bit smaller too!!!

The only things that clean teeth are frozen turkey/chicken necks and wings.

Kibble, whether fed dry or moistened, will not.

Chicken necks/wings wouldn’t last long enough for a Gsd, with these they might get one or two bites in then down the hatch it goes

I prefer to get large turkey necks which Mikhaël cuts into thirds, but then they are very large, not like chicken necks which I freeze in two whole ones together. But of course Tikva is only a little girl not a big Gsd, so she enjoys her frozen chombles and has been known to chomble a whole turkey neck - I think it was a left over from Pereg that I dropped out of the freezer. Wings - depends on size. If the chicken wings are small again I freeze them in twos. Turkey wings really are too big for her [Do Not Tell Her That Or She Will Want Them Every Day].

She has them, or large whole ungutted sardines if I can get them, frozen. Crunch, crunch, crunch!

So at the suggestion of a dog food rep that I ran into in the store I got them a bag of guinea fowl dog food, he said it should help with solid poops, and they are more solid and more segmented. It’s still a 50/50 ratio of weight management and regular food, but I may try and feed less weight management and more regular and see how it goes. It does cost $25 more a bag then the turkey I was feeding, guess it’s a more expensive protein source (they get the birds from France). He also said it’s good to switch up the protein source as different meats have different amino acids. I’m not sure if this is true or not, but can’t hurt to change up the flavors as long as things keep coming out well...it’s been about 3.5 weeks with the new food.

So the dogs are completely off the weight management food, it’s been at least 2 months, maybe 2 1/2... Good solid poops. I’ve even switched up the protein source within the brand. First they had Guinea fowl, then Trout and Salmon, and now Duck. Everything coming out like it should... Katie Mae and Bandit (but Katie Mae more so), both put on a couple extra lbs so I’m working on finding the right amount to feed them. Katie Mae could still fill in a tiny bit more I guess, as she’s only 21 months old, where as Bandit is probably filled in as much as he’s going to, as he will be 3 next month.

I am experimenting too. Merry puts on weight too easily, but Ed has to have a little extra to keep weight on these days. I can look up the percentage of fat and carbs, but it is not always easy to judge the calorific content of one food against another.