# Switched to Bil Jac - Puppy Started Throwing Up



## BTmomma (Dec 17, 2007)

We just bought a new puppy and the breeder was feeding the puppies Purina Puppy Chow.... I bought a bag of that so I wouldn't change her food... but when I went to buy that bag, there was a sales person selling the Bil Jac puppy food and they gave me a small bag sample of it. After two days of feeding our new puppy the same Purina Puppy Chow that the breeder fed them, i started to feed her 1/2 cup of this Bil Jac food. The next day she would burp and spit up clear liquid ALL day long... and it had a very very strong odor too it... It smelled very "minerally" like a bottle of vitamins does... (hope i can explain that right)... I kept her on that for 3 days and still the same thing (I thought if it was the food, that she would get used to it) but she never did stop the throwing up.... I put her back on the Purina Puppy Chow and no throwing up and we are back to normal...

Any thoughts as to why this may have happened? Anyone else have this problem? Could the Bil Jac be too strong for her belly?

BTW - we have a 3.5 month female Bull Terrier (in case you need to know).

Thanks for any info in advance


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## ChrissyBz (Aug 10, 2007)

When you switched, did you combine the First food with the second for a few days gradually decreasing the first and increasing the second? 

Some times dogs have trouble switching over all at once. They can gastroenteritis from the sudden change in ingredients.


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## BTmomma (Dec 17, 2007)

ChrissyBz said:


> When you switched, did you combine the First food with the second for a few days gradually decreasing the first and increasing the second?
> 
> Some times dogs have trouble switching over all at once. They can gastroenteritis from the sudden change in ingredients.



Yes but maybe I didn't wait long enough. I did it for 3 days...


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

Some dogs need a gradual switch to a new food, just like ChrissyBz mentioned. I also recommend you defintely find something other than Bil Jac - it's JUNK, even worse in quality than Puppy Chow...in fact you can't get any more bottom of the barrell when it comes to foods. 
Take a look at this website, look for a food in the 4, 5 and 6 category. Canidae is a good all life stages food, so is Natural Balance. 

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/


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## 007Dogs (Aug 22, 2007)

Funny you should bring that up. I was recently given 5 cartons of Bil Jac to try on one of my girls. And I did a slow change over, but had the same results you were talking about. We are back to Purina Pro Plan and all is well. I never been a big fan of BilJac, but thought since it was free I would give it another try. Still feel the same about there food, don't like it.


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## meoakley (Dec 27, 2007)

> Yes but maybe I didn't wait long enough. I did it for 3 days...


you are supposed to do this over at least 2 weeks, gradually substitute more new food with less old food.

some dogs are extra sensitive and require even more time.

in my experience (B.S. in animal nutrition), bil-jac is a great dog food in terms of ingredients, probably the best one available at large chain stores (ie. petsmart, petco, etc)...but it is terrible on the teeth. it's not crunchy enough by any means and tarter will build up FAST. i only feed it to puppies who don't have adult teeth yet, or seniors who have trouble chewing anyway.



> Some dogs need a gradual switch to a new food, just like ChrissyBz mentioned. I also recommend you defintely find something other than Bil Jac - it's JUNK, even worse in quality than Puppy Chow...in fact you can't get any more bottom of the barrell when it comes to foods.
> Take a look at this website, look for a food in the 4, 5 and 6 category. Canidae is a good all life stages food, so is Natural Balance.
> 
> http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/


i would take what that website says with a grain of salt. i could find no reference to any specifics about the people who provide those reviews (education, qualifications, experience, etc), plus i found several mistakes in their explanations.

just because you find it on the internet, doesn't make it true. be careful out there.


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## Renoman (Mar 20, 2007)

Whether the food is the most expensive out there or not, some dogs just cannot tolerate some foods. Just like people - you may love hot dogs and eat them 4 times a week, but I may not be able to eat one without it upsetting my stomach... 

Just may be the Bil-Jac doesn't agree with him..

Just MHO.


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## raquyx (Dec 27, 2007)

meoakley said:


> in my experience (B.S. in animal nutrition), bil-jac is a great dog food in terms of ingredients, probably the best one available at large chain stores (ie. petsmart, petco, etc)...but it is terrible on the teeth. it's not crunchy enough by any means and tarter will build up FAST. i only feed it to puppies who don't have adult teeth yet, or seniors who have trouble chewing anyway.


Um... what? First ingredient is by-products, second is corn, which you should know is not able to be digested by dogs. Even stores like Petsmart sell better food than that.


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## London Calling (Dec 27, 2007)

When i got my Mini Schnauzer she was on puppy chow i then switched to Taste of the Wild.I use Pacific Stream.At first she had a lil runny stools but that cleared up. I mixed at first more puppy chow than TOTW then each day increased the amount of TOTW and deceased the amount of puppy chow.Took about 4 days. Also i use the food as treats for training.She loves it.And its pretty good food also.
Site to look at for food info what stuff to avoid at The Dog Food Projecthttp://http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients
You can compare this list to whats in Bil-Jac http://http://www.biljac.com/store/products/DSelM.asphere and you will see a few red flags right off the bat. Corn meal, brewers yeast,Chicken by product meal,and cane molasses are ones that you see right in the first 10 ingredients.
Just a lil food for thought.(wow a pun!)


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## mrblackpants (Nov 25, 2007)

> :
> Originally Posted by meoakley
> in my experience (B.S. in animal nutrition), bil-jac is a great dog food in terms of ingredients, probably the best one available at large chain stores (ie. petsmart, petco, etc)...but it is terrible on the teeth. it's not crunchy enough by any means and tarter will build up FAST. i only feed it to puppies who don't have adult teeth yet, or seniors who have trouble chewing anyway.






raquyx said:


> Um... what? First ingredient is by-products, second is corn, which you should know is not able to be digested by dogs. Even stores like Petsmart sell better food than that.



i have to agree with meoakley. i have been feeding my lab bil jac for about 3 weeks now and i have noticed an increase in his health and coat since i started him on it. he has more energy for longer, and no throwing up or soft stool. i was feeding him pedigree complete nutrition, talk about a lot of corn in a dog food!! 

a lot of people put down bil jac because they believe it to be an inexpensive food, which means it must not be good for the dog.


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## Kari's Mom (Dec 5, 2007)

People do not put down bil-jac because it is inexpensive, they put it down because it has byproducts, corn and forms of sugar. I personally do not feed my dogs anything with by products, corn (not digestable!) or that has added sugar (dogs love the taste of meat, if there is enough meat in a food they will gladly eat it!) If you are going from one low food to bil jac your dog will be much healthier. Also some dogs can do well on crappy food, some people can live on mc donalds or burger king and be reasonably healthy. But most cannot or should opt for a better choice of diet. In a perfect world all dogs could eat a food that is more close to what is 'natural' (ie a freshly killed raw diet with a small amount of scavanged vegatables/fruits) Perferably a diet with no grain, high protein and mixed in veggies/fruits. This isnt always possibly so finding a kibble that is high quality is a reasonable substitute.

To the OP: I'd probably try to find a food thats a better quality food and mix it very very slowly, puppys tend to be very sensitive to a food change and puppy chow is very low quality, I don't normally suggest this but sometimes it helps to switch to a medium quality food (like purina pro plan/one) for about a month and a half and then to a much higher quality food. Sometimes it helps the dog cope to getting a higher protein/in the end easier to digest food. But every time you switch you should always take about 2 weeks of transitioning time, although some dogs can switch fast, I'd always take it slower than shorter.


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## digimom (Dec 10, 2007)

OK, I'm totally confused now. First I learned that I shouldn't feed my schnauzer "any" raw meat, fatty pieces, etc. no matter how lean as schnauzers, especially, are more prone to pancreatitus. We would "every once in a while" feed her a small piece of chicken or steak when cooking. Also, might put a tablespoon of milk on her dry food, etc. But she had a "dietary indiscretion" episode about 2 weeks ago. Not sure what she ate or if it was accumilative, but she ended up on IV overnight after diarreah and throwing up for two days. I don't ever want to go through that again.

We have fed Brandy Iams for her 5 years of life. I just found their "Natural" formula and she seems to do well on it. I do look at labels and look for meat as the first ingreadient. I've considered the rice ingredient over wheat and corn. But I can't remember (I don't have the original bag on me) what the carb is in Iams Natural. 

The puppy is currently on Science Diet at the breeder so I bought a 5lb bag of this to eventually transition over to our feed of choice. I went to the Canidea web site and found a dealer about 25 minutes away. We as a family have personally tried to cut out things like partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, etc. So why shouldn't I try to find the healthiest food for my dog? But with the conversations going back and forth, I just don't know. I hear Science Diet is "terrible", Purina is bad, Iams is bad, Bil-Jac is bad. SO? Who is "good"? Our farm dogs growing up had Hi Protein Purina Dog Chow with about 1 cup of fresh cow cream on top almost every day (we had a milk cow that had milk with lots of cream). Our Irish Setter had "beautiful" coat and lived to be 12. But our schnauzer died at 8 years, not sure if it was heart or diet related. Back then you just didn't have the research resources we have now.

So who's right, what is the best food out there?

Karen


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## raquyx (Dec 27, 2007)

digimom said:


> OK, I'm totally confused now. First I learned that I shouldn't feed my schnauzer "any" raw meat, fatty pieces, etc. no matter how lean as schnauzers, especially, are more prone to pancreatitus. We would "every once in a while" feed her a small piece of chicken or steak when cooking. Also, might put a tablespoon of milk on her dry food, etc. But she had a "dietary indiscretion" episode about 2 weeks ago. Not sure what she ate or if it was accumilative, but she ended up on IV overnight after diarreah and throwing up for two days. I don't ever want to go through that again.
> 
> We have fed Brandy Iams for her 5 years of life. I just found their "Natural" formula and she seems to do well on it. I do look at labels and look for meat as the first ingreadient. I've considered the rice ingredient over wheat and corn. But I can't remember (I don't have the original bag on me) what the carb is in Iams Natural.
> 
> ...


Cow's milk is very difficult for a dog to digest. I have a hunch that's what led to your dog getting sick. Lean cuts of raw meat shouldn't do anything to your dog as long as she's kept trim and well-exercised. What does cause pancreatitis is stuff like cow's milk. I'm almost certain that's what your farm dog died from, if he/she was being fed a cup of cream every day.

It's a safe bet that most of the popular brands of dog food are bad. Canidae is a very good food, I would stick to that if you can. There's really no "best food" out there. For example, for adult dogs, grain-free food typically is the best choice, but I wouldn't feed it to a puppy as it contains too much protein. Other choices you could try are Wellness and Innova. Though there are separate threads that could give you much more information.


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## digimom (Dec 10, 2007)

raquyx said:


> It's a safe bet that most of the popular brands of dog food are bad. Canidae is a very good food, I would stick to that if you can. There's really no "best food" out there. For example, for adult dogs, grain-free food typically is the best choice, but I wouldn't feed it to a puppy as it contains too much protein. Other choices you could try are Wellness and Innova. Though there are separate threads that could give you much more information.


Reading about the Canidae, it is the same for puppies "and" adults. No puppy food. Just feed them "more" of the food. Is this correct?

Karen


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## Pawper (Dec 28, 2007)

I have to agree with Raquyx...Bil Jac is an inferior food. The ingrediants are subpar, and mainly consist of things that dogs do not need, or should not have. But in my experience (DMV) I will say that some dogs breeding will overcome poor quality in food, just like some humans can eat horribly but are healthier than nutrition nuts. Its all in the genetic make up, but just as with humans, this is the exception, NOT the norm. Good nutrition is A MUST and almost every ingredient in Bil Jac should be avoided.

Just with everthing else out there, ask one question and get 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 answers, and all, OF COURSE, the right one.  If you really want to get confused Digimom, get really hot and heavy into the raw food/BARF debate.....and that last post was posted by my brother (DVM) in respone to an earlier discussion on Bil Jac....


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