Switching from Hill's to Canidae

Leanie · 10-08-2007, 04:32 PM

SO I ordered a small bag of the Canidae Lamb and Rice and got it today. i put a little of it in with Ginger's (shih tzu) old food (hill's science diet z/d ultra). She looked at it and kept looking at me and back and forth. She finally took small piece of the canidae and never looked back...lol. Thankfully, she's eating both of them and not just picking the new one out. She seems to really like it and when I get too close to her food bowl and looks at me like "don't you even try to take my food away." She never did that with the hill's...lol. Anyway, I'm really hoping she can handle canidae, I've heard alot of good stuff about it. Ginger has terrible allergies and I'm hoping this will help her some, plus she has a problem (or I have a problem) with her eating her feces and I hope she'll get the nutrients now and stop doing that to. Wish me luck on this. BTW, once I have her switched completely over to canidae how much per day should I feed her? She weighs 10 pounds and is 2 and half yo.

Renoman · 10-08-2007, 04:58 PM

Good choice on the food. Canidae's a good food and if she likes it - that's half the battle.

I know the zd means the Hills was a prescription diet - but I don't know what it's used for. What is the reason she was on it?

What are the allergies Ginger has? Are they food related? If so, I'd just watch her closely to see if she has any reactions to the new food.

As far as how much to feed her, much of that depends on her activity level. You should be able to guage if she's getting too much or too little by whether she loses or gains weight. Start with the amount you've been feeding then adjust from there. Good luck, hope Ginger continues to like the Canidae.

Leanie · 10-09-2007, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renoman

Good choice on the food. Canidae's a good food and if she likes it - that's half the battle.

I know the zd means the Hills was a prescription diet - but I don't know what it's used for. What is the reason she was on it?

What are the allergies Ginger has? Are they food related? If so, I'd just watch her closely to see if she has any reactions to the new food.

As far as how much to feed her, much of that depends on her activity level. You should be able to guage if she's getting too much or too little by whether she loses or gains weight. Start with the amount you've been feeding then adjust from there. Good luck, hope Ginger continues to like the Canidae.

She's allergic to everything pretty much, mold, grass, fleas, cats, pollens, as far as food not sure though...vet put her on ZD because when she was 4 months old she started to vomit every time she ate her food (puppy chow is what the breeder had been feeding her) and she had diarrhea with it. She never vomitted again after switching her to ZD but there are times where she only poops one day and skips the next day and seems to strain sometimes and has gas some days. After reading how bad Hill's was I decided to switch her food to canidae. This morning she picked the canidae out and ate it and left the ZD...lol. So far she's doing pretty good. She's pretty active I guess. She plays alot but seems to tire out easy after playing for about 20 minutes. She'll sleep for about an hour or so and plays again until she's tired. She goes to sleep about 8pm and gets up at 5:30am and then goes to sleep again around 7am and doesn't wake up til sometimes around 11am. She seems to really like the new food, I'm slowly changing her over to it and thought it was going good until this morning she picked it out and left alot of her old food...lol. She's never been picky about food so I wasn't too concerned about her not liking it. I just don't want her to be getting too much of it and put weight on her.

bluesbarby · 10-10-2007, 05:45 PM

Riley is fed Canidae and eats his poops (although less so now that I add pumpkin to his food but he's getting older too) . I talked to a nutritionist who said the poop eating has less to do with nutrients and probably everything to do with the fact that he's part shih tzu. I guess they are prone to it. He never eats other dog's poops although he does like the kitty's so I have to keep him away from their litter box. Biggest difference in his poops -they are fewer. I feed him about 3/4 a cup a day(split in two) when he gets treats during training sessions. No treats and I increase the kibble a little. Sometimes he only eats 1/2 cup a day. But that's usually on days when he gets his raw bone (for teeth cleaning). And alot depends on the exercise he gets. My DH takes him on bike rides which usually increases his appetite.

Leanie · 10-11-2007, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluesbarby

Riley is fed Canidae and eats his poops (although less so now that I add pumpkin to his food but he's getting older too) . I talked to a nutritionist who said the poop eating has less to do with nutrients and probably everything to do with the fact that he's part shih tzu. I guess they are prone to it. He never eats other dog's poops although he does like the kitty's so I have to keep him away from their litter box. Biggest difference in his poops -they are fewer. I feed him about 3/4 a cup a day(split in two) when he gets treats during training sessions. No treats and I increase the kibble a little. Sometimes he only eats 1/2 cup a day. But that's usually on days when he gets his raw bone (for teeth cleaning). And alot depends on the exercise he gets. My DH takes him on bike rides which usually increases his appetite.

I was wondering if the poop eating might just be a shih tzu thing, cause I know alot who has this problem also. I was thinking about a half a cup to feed her when i have her completely switched over to it. So far she's doing great, been pooping more though but it's solid. With the Hill's she would go once a day and every and now and then skip a day, now she's going about 3 times a day. Is that normal with Canidae? I'm hoping that will taper off. Also I've noticed she's drinking ALOT more water and peeing alot more than usual. Could that be from the Canidae as well. Thanks for the replies.

SSpiro · 10-12-2007, 09:57 AM

My boxer used to eat his poo. It has to do with nutrition typically...

Good choice on the food!

bluesbarby · 10-12-2007, 11:42 AM

Riley only poops twice a day now. Initially when we switched he seemed to poop alot. But then he literally picked out the Canidae from his old food, even though I had mixed them. That was a waste. I haven't noticed a change in water consumption. He does drink alot but he's very active when we're home. My DH takes him for bike rides and he also loves to run zoomies around the back yard. But during the day when we're gone he pretty much sleeps and he can hold it the whole time we're gone which can be up to 9 hours. His poops do increase somewhat when he gets alot of treats. The biggest difference seems to be their size.

Leanie · 10-12-2007, 03:50 PM

I'll guess only time will tell... she has been pooping twice a day now the past couple of days so maybe it is tapering off now. And she's not drinking water constantly like she was before. However, yesterday she didn't eat anything until about 5pm. She ate a couple of pieces of food here and there throughout the day but that's it. I've tried many times to put her on a schedule but that has never worked, alot of mornings she won't eat until around noon. So I've always left food out for her, she's never over ate it either, most of the time she leaves alot left over in her bowl. I measure her food out for the day so she's not overeating. The vet told me once, it's not unusual for dogs to not eat one day and eat alot the next. She does that alot.