premium/holistic foods and tummy upset?

I have a cat who has been diagnosed with IBD and who has been doing great for months on Purina One Sensitive Systems dry food and Friskies canned.  Prior to hitting on the current combo, I tried just about all the premium foods and to say she didn't do well on any of them would be a huge understatement.

 Now she's healthy, and I'm happy.

If it works, don't mess with it.  IBD is a beast to deal with.  I do recommend a diary - just jot down daily activities, time and amount she was fed, and any treats or other things she ate.

Down the road, you may want to try home cooking for her since you say she ate fresh food without ill effects.  The problem with putting all your eggs in one commercial food basket is that there's likely to be that time down the road when they let you down, change their formula, the food suddenly doesn;t work and then you are at square one again.

That is what drove me to 100% home cooked, anyway.  I got tired of living in fear that my allergy dog was going to get "mystery food" and get  really sick. 

"morning vomiting" of yellow bile usually just means you need to feed smaller meals more often. Most likely your "good" foods were well-digested and left the stomach empty too long, resulting in bile vomiting, while your Purina One garbage just sits in the stomach being un-digested for many hours. Also it's pretty common for dogs to gobble up the cheap crap over the good foods because the cheap crap is spiked or sprayed with chemicals to get the dog to eat something he would ordinarily never consider to be food. Oh, and most dogs don't consider kibble to be food and the fact that some dogs eat it without mixers is more due to severe hunger/training than that they actually like it. I think feeding bowls of dry kibble with nothing mixed in to it to be unhealthy and bordering on cruel if that's all the dog ever gets to eat.

If she's doing well, stick with it. I'd probably supplement with extra meat though. Purina seems almost like giving kids Captain Crunch and nothing else, they'll get all their nutrients techincally, but not an optimal amount of certain things.  I'm sure others can give you great advice about why the holistic wasn't digesting well, I know often the cheap foods have all sorts of by products which are specially designed to make poop firm, but you wouldn't find in holistic foods.  I don't know, I don't think the Purina One Sensitive is all that bad compared to other "grocery store foods".   I'm sure some dogs can't handle the richness of the premium foods all that well. If your dog is eating it without being picky, well I think it's better that they eat what they need to be without having to constantly provide mix ins, than eating too little of the other food. We use Blue Buffalo and it's the first time I've EVER seen my dogs really like a food. Before, Sophie was so picky she might eat a cup of food over two days (which her vet did say was fine because she was self regulating, but I felt like she was waiting until she was starving and eating her kibble because it was her only option next to starving), but now she eats 2 cups a day of her food happily.

Hey, thanks for the "friendly" and positive response.

lisa4kids1pup

have all the yellow bile spots on my carpets that just won't come out to show for her frequent vomiting. 

We've got those too! 

MHO, if she's doing well and everything is fine, I'd leave her where she is.  I've been down the same road with my dog and all it did was cause me vet bills and her being just miserable loosing weight.  You can spruce up the Purina by adding in fresh meats, yogurt and healthy toppers like that too to give her a little nutrition boost. 

Oh, and most dogs don't consider kibble to be food and the fact that some dogs eat it without mixers is more due to severe hunger/training than that they actually like it. I think feeding bowls of dry kibble with nothing mixed in to it to be unhealthy and bordering on cruel if that's all the dog ever gets to eat.

 Bad day?

I've got blap spots too!  But only on their beds, which are the only cloth things on the floor.  Hardwoods are a great thing.

Even with homecooked Lynn will still blap every so often.  She's got a terribly sensitive tummy.  At least it's not poop problems.  My sympathies to those who deal with poop and blap (Lori) - I've been there, too!  

Some dogs do great on Purina, some don't. Not one of us here is a CVN. Only one person here had/has an education in large and small animal nutrition and she was often blasted that her education was from Iams and that she didn't know what she was talking about. Surprisingly enough, she quit offering info. Armchair nutrtionists - 1, science - 0. BTW, she has a background that also includes caretaking of wild animals, not just her field trial hounds. Animals such as a white bengal tiger and gray wolves. The wolves brought into her rehab were malnourished and not just from poor hunting fields. Malnourished from deficiencies in the "wild dog" diet. Evolution is not perfect. Anyway, they brought the numbers back up with Purina Dog Chow, before Purina came up with the wild animal formulas they now have. As well as presenting roadkill carcasses to keep up the dentition and skills and social structure of eating from the wild. Until they could be released and go back to the joys of going without food for a few weeks.

All in all, if it works, don't fix it.

Thanks to everyone who gave positive and helpful suggestions.  For now, I'm going to stick with the food she's doing well on since she eats it, and we have no more vomiting or loose stools.  Nearly two years of that seemed crueler to me than feeding her Purina One.  She has also seemed happier...more relaxed...tail wagging all the time, no ears back or tail down anymore.  Probably because her tummy feels better.  I may take the one suggestion of giving her some meat and yogurt. I do give her roast chicken pieces when we have that, and I sometimes boil up hamburger for her too...and she gets the occasional scrambled eggs.

I think you are a fine owner and are doing just what you should be doing. And good luck and give her some good back scratches for me, while you're at it.

Hey, if it ain't broke- don't fix it! :)

Stick with what she does well on, and what you feel is right for your dog.

Hey Lisa, my experience with premium foods has been pretty much identical to yours, only not so much vomiting, but diarrhea, gas, and even weight loss. I also thought chicken might be a problem, but they now eat it with no issues. I don't love the ingredients in Purina One, but I've been feeding it too, for quite a while, and the results have been great. Four dogs and none are having any issues and they all look really good. I supplement with bits of meat or whatever we're eating sometimes to make myself feel better, but I don't think it's neccessary. Do what works for your dog and try not to stress over it.

I know some premium foods are too rich for some dogs, Could it also be a grain issue? Maybe you could try feeding grain-free if you haven't already? Having said that, I think its really fine if she's doing best on Purina One. I personally tend to err on the side of caution, like I know my dog does well on Addiction when he didn't on some of the other brands, so I only rotate between flavors but stick to the same brand. If he does well on it thats good enough for me! I feed some homecooked too, so like other posters have said you could give that a try too.