We have just got an 11 month old Cairn terrier bitch (Maddie) - who is wonderful!  I did a lot of research on food before we got her and am really impressed with Burns (both in nutritional value and ethos etc).  However, Maddie has been fed on James Wellbeloved and this is the food her breeder uses with all her Cairns, with good results.  I have noticed her poos are a little runny (might be just nerves etc from the stress of moving home?) and she farts so much and stinks - probably not a lot I can do about that!  at least the husband has someone to blame now :-).  Do you think its unnecessary/arrogant for me to change her to Burns?  Anyone used both or can offer any advice?  Thanks

I believe they are both good foods- but just bear in mind that if you do swop over then do it gradually by mixing in new food with her old food otherwise she will have upset tummy :)

I have used both and would use them again, although for my dogs burns seems to suit them better :)  more solid poos and less of them.  If your pup has a runny tummy then Bio Yoghurt is very good for sorting it out very quickly.  you are right about  the change in homes possibly affecting her tum, another cause can be too much food (cairns, being small, eat a surprisingly small amount ;) )

Dont ever think you are being arrogant for looking for a better food,you are being an educated,responsible owner by doing so,good on you :) I cant help you with either food as i live on the other side of the world :o

Adding a little pumpkin to his food may help with the poops,it helps with both diareah and constipation or as Dill suggested probiotics or yogurt are also good.

Bad gas can be a sign of the dog not digesting it's food properly,so it may pay to try another food,maybe with less ingredients such as Burns and see how he goes.

The best food to give her is what suits her best, but as lel says, if you are going to change brands make sure you do it gradually, over a period of about 2 weeks beofre the changeover is complete, because dietary change can easily cause digestive upsets if done too suddenly. Other things that commonly cause mild tummy upsets include change of routine, stress and even change of drinking-water - all things experienced at once when a dog goes to a new home.
:)

Thanks for all the help.  Think I am going to wait for her tummy to settle down a bit before I try changing her food.  Have some info from Burns and will gradually change her food over (after her tum has settled down).  The yogurt sounds a good idea.  How much should I give her (she currently has two small meals a day)? And should it be natural bio yogurt? 

Hi,

I thhink both are good foods however my Goldens prefer JWB ,less poo (each dog poos once a day,and I have 4 dogs),no smelly breath and very solid never been loose on JWB, or skin problems,no wind problems either.No dust in feed bags,maintain weight ratio well on JWB so far Ive yet to find another complete that suits my dogs and they thrive on,the next second Ive found is acatually Hills I had one dog on this which I tried gave good results, but overall still preferred Jwb.
What suits some dogs just doesn't suit others,some thrive on cheaper brands yet other end up with more problems.
Agree change over food very gradually I do it over a 2 week period just adding a little more in each time :-)

Briony :-)

Hi,

I have two Cairns. Abby who is just over two years old and Rudi who is 18 months.   I've only had Rudi for three months and he was very distressed the first couple of weeks about being rehomed.

Fortunately, his appetite and digestion were fine.  His breeder used Pedigree small bite Adult.  I have to tell you that Rudi's poo smelled absolutely horrible - and from a fair distance.  I switched him over to a new food  (Naturediet) after he'd settled and I no longer have to brace myself to pick up his poo.  It does not smell nearly as bad as before I switched.   Maddie's farting should stop once her stomach settles.

You do need to use bio yogurt and two or three generous teaspoons should be enough for a Cairn.  You can one of the yogurt drinks, Yocult .. or whatever it's called.   

Have fun with Maddie.  Cairns are fun dogs to own. 

Stacey

Stacey

Hi Stacey

Its so nice to hear from you as, after being a lurker for some time on Champdogs, I have watched your threads with interest knowing that you were a Cairn owner!  Hope you don't mind!  Have given Maddie 2 teaspoons of Natural Bio Yogurt and will see how she goes. 

Thanks for all your help.

Adele

I found JWB created firmer, less regular, less smelly poos than Burns which I am feeding now, however Burns seems to be improving my dog's itching so I guess at the end of the day, its all swings and roundabouts! What works for one, won't necessarily work for another!

Adele,

Glad you took the plunge and posted!  :-)

Stacey

I changed from JWB to Burns a while ago.  It took approx 3-4 week's before his poos settled but I am really pleased with the result.  I found that you need to give the right amount of Burns, too much and his poo is runny.  I now give the advised amount but add a little rice so that he keeps his weight.  It's an excellent food IMO.

Scattergood,

Not taking a pop at you, but I do not understand why you would feed a food that does not keep your dog at proper weight without supplementing it.  And feeding enough of the food to keep the dog at a healthy weight causes runny poo.  Burns is low in protein as it is and supplementing it with rice lowers it even further. 

I also think Burns is a good food, but to me it sounds as if it does not suit your dog.  On the otherhand, maybe it suits your dog better than anything else you've tried.

Stacey

All dogs are different, I know some pups that have thrived on JWB but my oldest Malamute had very runny poos on JWB until I changed him onto another food, I think we chose Wafcol at the time.

I would change your pup over (took me 3 days) and then watch to see how she reacts to the new food :)

I think you should go whatever you feel comfortable feeding your dog on.

I recently changed my pup over from james wellbeloved to Burns as i found out that JWB test on animals and burns dont.

Same here Jenny, I've changed from JWB to Burns too, I must say though, I am most impressed with the results of Burns.  So when I get pups they will also be raised on Burns mini bites.

My deciding factor to change was that JWB do test on animals!!  I wouldn't change back now the results in a few months is most impressive

If you are feeding a good quality feed why is there a need to supplement this food? (Burns)
Surely if it is well balanced there is no need,very occasionally I use cod liver oil ,but not often as the dogs already have super shiny coats which you can almost see your face in :-D yet not too soft to lose water resistance which for my breed (Goldens is essential to have).
Stacey raised the point but nobody replied and im curious as well.
Or is just some people do this but most Burns users dont?

Briony :-)

Hiya

Just thought I'd add my bit. I also feed Burns to my 19 month old Gordon as she is has allergy problems. If I feed her Burns alone she loses too much condition, and the amount she needs to keep her weight up makes her have very runny poo. It has taken many painfully thin months to get her to the healthy weight she is at now. When we received the results of the allergy test we found that she could be fed raw green tripe so she now has the lowest recommended amount of Burns with tripe mixed in. The difference in her is amazing, she has put weight on, her coat is beautifully shiny, she is less manic and best of all her poos are very firm. I did worry at first that they were too hard but she doesn't seem to struggle. It's just really weird to see her almost 18 months later doing a poo that can actually be picked up as opposed to washed away.
Alli

One of the reasons why I want to change Maddie's food is JWB's policy on animal testing compared to Burns who don't test.  Have decided will definitely change over to Burns - once her tummy has settled down a bit.

Stacey - Maddie's breeder also told us to give her a spoonful of ExmaRid Dry Skin Formula with Starflower Oil (also contains Cod liver oil and soya oil).  It says its "a feeding oil to promote healthy supple skin for pets prone to dry, scaly and itchy skin".  Just wondered if you had heard of it/used it or had any probs with your Cairns' skin (know Westie's can be prone to skin probs but hadn't heard anything with Cairns).

Hi Adele,

Cairns are prone to allergies and they often manifest themselves as itching, tail or paw biting.  They can be very sensitive to flea bites and certain pollens.   I've had three Cairns and never had a serious allergy problem with any of them, knock wood. 

When Abby was younger she did go through a period where she was scratching more than I would like and chewing on her tail.  The tail problem was cured when I stop using the scissor and hand pullled the hair instead.  She hates anything to do with her tail, which is why I tried the scissors in the first place.  Now, she just has to put up with it. :-)With Cairns, many so-called skin problems are actually the result of clipping rather than stripping out the dead coat. 

I switched from the food Abby's breeder used (Pedigree) to JWB, however, the JWB seemed to increase the amount of scratching.  I then tried Hills Science Diet and also added an oil capsule from Dorwest Herbs.  That did not work either.   I tried homemade food, but I was concerned about getting the balance of nutrients right.  So then I switched to Naturediet and in a couple of months the itching was gone completely.  Both of mine are on Naturediet and neither has dry skin.  I'm through experimenting with foods.  :-)

Try Burns and see if you like it and it agrees with Maddie.  When it comes to food most Cairns are the "labs of the terrier world" and are very prone to putting on excess weight.  Since Burns seems to keep most dogs on the lean side it should be a good choice.  I tried Abby with Burns, but she really did not like it at all.   I personally think Naturediet is a better choice, but for a dry complete it is hard to beat Burns.

Stacey

Stacey, when I changed to Burns, the amount advised on the packet was tiny in comparison with the amount I was giving with JWB.  I tried giving the advised amount but he started to look scrawny.  I tried increasing the amount and that made his poo runny - the adviser at Burns told me that that might happen.  I then tried reducing the amount and adding a small amount of rice - and bingo, perfect.  I changed from JWB because Oscar wouldn't touch it all of a sudden (new bag) and then I found out that the Company had been bought by pedigree and judged that they must have changed something.  (It also had a different smell). We are very happy with it.

Hi,

I can confirm being in the animal feed business that Jwb has been brought out by Royal Cannin ;-)

Briony :-)

we fed our dogs JWB for years with good results but have now changed over to Nature Diet which gives us even better results -the dogs love it and it seems easy to digest. their stools are small, firm and produced just once a day - it is expensive though I have 6 meduim to large dogs and get through 8 cases per week (@ £ 45.00 ) :rolleyes:

Trevor & Stacey.
I'm very interested in this 'Nature Diet'. can you tell me what it is and where I can buy it please

You can get Naturediet at Pets at Home but if you want info lookHere
I use it when I go away with the dogs and feeding raw isn't possible.
                                                                                            Anne

Hi Anne,

You can order Naturediet from the company directly (naturediet.co.uk) if you cannot find it.  I am in Surrey and buy mine through Surrey Pet Supplies, which is far cheaper than Pets at Home and cheaper for me than buying it directly from Naturediet for the number of cartons I want at home.

Stacey

A little word of warning on Naturediet for those who are also concerned about ethics/environmental issues, their packaging cannot be recycled in normal domestic recycling waste. The salmon and prawn which is oddly enough for sensitive tummies can cause colitis.

hi,
Ive fed JWB to my springer and he did fine on it. I had switched from arden grange as was finding it difficult to rely on i-net orders. He is back on AG salmon now, but if i run out a bag off JWB fish and rice goes down well without upsetting him. I tried him on Autarky which made only seemed to make him poo, scratch and fart alot more. With regard to Burns i have never tried it as i dont see how having 60% rice in a product would benefit my dog. I  have reccently started using naturemenu pouches too, i add a small ammount with his evening meal and he is loving it. His coat is looking beter for it too. I decided to do this as i saw it as a compromise to feeding raw, in an ideal world i would love my boy to be fed a Raw diet but at the moment it isnt practical.
Dont Know if this post will help, but i would suggest thinking about arden grange as i do think its a good quality product and if you shop around cheaper than JWB or Burns.

I think the comments above bear out my experience with Burns which was that our retriever was fine on the puppy food and then scrawny on the adult food. You shouldn't have to muck around with what is sold as a complete food, it should be what it says on the pack!
Therefore if you are feeding a food and having to add stuff to it to keep weight on or because of digestive problems then it's time to think about changing foods!
At the end of the day, Burns, Arden Grange and until recently James Wellbeloved were all made in the same factory, presumably using similar ingredients and coming off the same production line.

I also use natures menu for my 2 toy poodles although I buy the tins of it as one of the dogs isn't keen on the pouches which is a bit of a pain as I have to order it as it is not stocked in pets at home like the pouches are. I order from Berriewoods in bulk as they charge delivery regardless of how much you buy. I have to say the 2 dogs look super on it so I don't mind the hassle of getting it on line as it appears to be very good quality with no additives or preservatives. They also have kibble (Royal Canin mini sensible) which I put in a treat ball or 2 kongs as they won't eat it out of a dish.