My 6 month old lab changed from Puppy super Burgess to Iams junior about 4 weeks ago, his number two's have gone softer and he seems to be doing about 4 a day, is this normal at 6 months? Does anyone have any suggestions he seems to have a sensitive stomach? I am going to change to adult feed but dont know which to try, will it mess him about if i keep changing his food? Any help appreciated.

a lot will depend on how many times he is fed a day, althought i suppose not every dog is the same just like us humans, when i fed my two 3-4times a day one would sure enough go 4 times and the other only 3 times , even now when they are fed twice sam will go 2 or even sometime 3 but amber only goes once and sometimes twice, also your on the right track by not keep switching food every few weeks as all changes need to be gradual,my lab started on a gluten,dairy, read meat,soy free food that was suggested by her breeder and she managed very well on it,eventually it got really difficult to get hold of so i swapped to omega tasty which i'd used previously with not problem, but we noticed that amber started to scratch alot more and just didn't look so well on it, so after raeding about autuky on CD i'v put her on that and she is once again a picture of health,lovley coat and nice firm poos too. I think they do a junior whicj might be ok for your dog

its funny you should say about Amber scratching, as my lab has been scratching alot just lately, checked for fleas, couldnt see anything, spent a fortune on vets flea drops just in case, and he still scratching, it didit cross my mind that it could be his food. Maybe it just dosnt agree with him?

i think i've read somewhere that yellow labs are quite prone to have sensitive skin also read that guide dogs for the blind are looking into it as it affects some of their dogs, is yours yellow or black,or a choccy,

Hi,
I would get your dog off of iams a.s.a.p as it is not a reputable food and does seem to cause digestive trouble in alot of dogs,do a search here on champdogs or over the net on iams,you will see what i mean.
There are much better foods out there,try and choose something as natural as possible e.g burns,autarky,naturediet or better yet raw food,I live in Australia so i'm not too familiar with the rest of the U.K foods. There is yet ANOTHER article in this months "dogs today" mag. about the cruel animal testing iams does,it just makes my blood boil!!

~christine~

Hello
been off line for a few days, my lab is yellow, took him to the vets on fri to get nails clipped and mentioned the poos and itching, they have given me a couple of samples of Hills?? anyone heard of it. not tried it yet though, she also checked his anal glands which due to the fact he is so loose and often were full, she expressed them for him, im worried this might be a regular thing now as she said some dogs are prone to it?? I felt so sorry for Bogart, he didnt seem very happy after, although she said Iams is one of the best foods, im so confused as today he has done two firm poos! I have to keep an eye on his itching as she said he might have a skin allergy. I know its part of being a dog owner, but everytime i go he costs so much money just lately and im worried they just say and do these treatments to make money??

I personally would feed Burns (my dogs look great on it), you shouldn't get any problems. There address is:- www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk
They are one of the companies who do not test on dogs (or animals) where there is alot of talk that Iams and Hills do. I have seen some quite disturbing web sites about this and would not ever consider feeding those foods, but at the end of the day it's up to you.
Your vet would say that Iams and Hills are a good food,they are paid to say so. Do they sell both brands? Iams and Hills pay vets/petshops/supermarkets etc to recommend there food and have it displayed so it is eye catching.

Hi

I have a 14mth old ISBT and he used to have a very sensitive tummy with most dog foods. I then moved onto Science Plan and his poos have been great. They also make food for dogs with sensitive skin and sensitive tummys too.

hope this helps
xx

Bogart is ready for his tea now and i only have Iams in!! Dont want to give it to him!! I will be changing his food over gradually starting tommorrow, thanks for all your advise, will let you know what he ends up with, going to research them now!

Too many people take their vet's word as gospel,the truth is they dont know everything,especially when it comes to good nutrition,out of 4yrs. of vet school they only get 4 hours of training in nutrition and that training is provided by the makers of the food they sell.
The nurse at my vets asked me what i fed my dogs the other day,as their coats are so shiny,i told her home made food,well she gasped in horror!i told her i would love to get my dogs onto B.A.R.F and her responce to this was "what's barf"????She then strongly reccomended i buy a bag of iams and get them on that a.s.a.p! Anyway to cut a long story short i said"would your doctor reccomend you live out the rest of your days on only processed foods?" ofcourse her answer was NO,i think the same thing goes for our dogs.
I'm sorry to go so off topic but i needed to vent,today's vets need to be a little more open minded and stop pushing "their" foods as the be all and end all.

christine