# Acana causing chronic diarrhea?



## seannymurrs (Dec 5, 2012)

My 3.5 year old Italian Mastiff has been eating Acana grain free food for about the past year and a half. We've always feed him the same recipe for 2-3 months and then rotated to one of their other recipes. Always sticking with Acana, always their grain free stuff. Every couple of months he will go through about a 24 hour period where he refuses food and his stomach makes REALLY loud gurgling noises. He'll usually start eating after a day or so but then will have really bad diarrhea for about a week. We will take him to the vet and he'll get on some meds and eat rice and chicken for a week and get better. Then a month or so later the same thing will happen again. Our vet says that sensitive stomachs are common for his breed, and we've all but narrowed it down to an issue with his food. The vet would like to have him start eating Purina EN, however I'm not crazy about that idea since I've heard bad things about it. There are so many "5-star" foods out there, I was hoping I could get some advise on what to try that might be easier on my boys stomach.


----------



## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

In dire situations, I would say feed the Purina EN. It does help a lot of dogs who are having issues where NOTHING else seems to help. 

In your case, it seems like it's such a random thing, I don't think I would completely switch to an RX food. It just doesn't seem necessary. 

There are so many other options to try. Have you looked into Acana's limited ingredient line? Also Nature's Variety has an LID line. California Natural is easy on the stomach, etc. Acana grain-frees are somewhat 'busy' and have a lot of different ingredients and proteins. Maybe he just needs something simpler.

You could also try some probiotics or canned pumpkin, etc.


----------



## seannymurrs (Dec 5, 2012)

Jacksons Mom said:


> In dire situations, I would say feed the Purina EN. It does help a lot of dogs who are having issues where NOTHING else seems to help.
> 
> In your case, it seems like it's such a random thing, I don't think I would completely switch to an RX food. It just doesn't seem necessary.
> 
> ...


We give him a bit of plain yogurt in with is food, and canned pumpkin in a Kong is one of his favorite treats. I think I'll give one of Acana's limited ingredient recipes a try. Thanks!


----------



## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

Have you discussed the possibility of Giardia or Coccidia with your vet?


----------



## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

Hmm I wonder if their formula downgrade has anything to do with it also. But that only happened more recently (june?)


----------



## seannymurrs (Dec 5, 2012)

Pawzk9 said:


> Have you discussed the possibility of Giardia or Coccidia with your vet?


Not specifically, though they've done both blood work and stool samples and nothing has ever shown up.


----------



## seannymurrs (Dec 5, 2012)

zhaor said:


> Hmm I wonder if their formula downgrade has anything to do with it also. But that only happened more recently (june?)


I'm pretty sure it's been happening longer than that.


----------



## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

seannymurrs said:


> Not specifically, though they've done both blood work and stool samples and nothing has ever shown up.


Unless those protazoa are busy forming spores, it won't show up on blood or stool sample.


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

zhaor said:


> Hmm I wonder if their formula downgrade has anything to do with it also. But that only happened more recently (june?)


I always wonder where people get information like this? Do you just google every single dog food variety and "formula changes"? (Also, what do you mean by downgrade?) 

We also had issues with the grain-free Acana (Ranchlands), even just feeding ~1/3 c. per day in lieu of treats during training. Problems decreased on the Chicken & Burbank, but Snowball isn't a fan of chicken-based kibble.


----------



## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

I just remember the formula change because other people mentioned it and then I googled it. If I bought Arcana, I would have noticed it on the ingredients.

I say downgrade cause they seemed to have decreased the meat content and increased plant protein content across all of their grain free lines.


----------



## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

zhaor said:


> I just remember the formula change because other people mentioned it and then I googled it. If I bought Arcana, I would have noticed it on the ingredients.
> 
> I say downgrade cause they seemed to have decreased the meat content and increased plant protein content across all of their grain free lines.


I actually don't think this is true. Some formulas, but not all.


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Did some more googling... I think just their Regional varieties changed. Unfortunately the website I read it on (Chazhound forums) won't load.


----------



## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

Isn't regionals all of their grain free stuff? Do they have grain free in classics?


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

zhaor said:


> Isn't regionals all of their grain free stuff? Do they have grain free in classics?


Yes, Regionals is their grain-free line. Their other varieties are not grain free; however the only grain listed in the varieties I checked (Duck and Bartlet Pear, and Chicken & Burbank) was oats.


----------



## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

I'm not sure if any of their grain inclusive varieties contains any grains other than oats.....


----------



## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

I don't think they do, but I wasn't going to say it without checking every single variety. I'm clearly MUCH too busy for that.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Are you sure he isn't getting into something nasty? Most dogs will given the slightest chance. Even dainty Max enjoyed some cat poop in the vegetable garden last year. That only gave him dirty teeth but could easily cause a severe stomach ache. The only time my dogs have had an event like that was from eating a fast food hamburger. I treated it with a short fast then many tiny low fat bland meals of boiled chicken and rice then adding back in the usual kibble and all was well just like you are doing.


----------

