# Bil-Jac Food causing dog to vomit? Food questions and concerns.....



## aimcat (Apr 28, 2011)

Hi...need some help here....I have a 4yo Mini schnauzer and 3yo Boston terrier. They have been on Iams Small Breed food for their entire adult lives. A few weeks ago a friend and vet said that a higher quality food for my schnauzer would be good because we thought she was getting a few bumps on her skin due to the Iams and more bi-products etc.....so just a week and half ago switched to Bil-Jac. One thing I noticed is the food is like pellets which I wasn't crazy about because I would like to see my dogs work their teeth a little for dental/teeth cleaning purposes. 2nd thing was it stank! But I didn't think much of it, I noticed that my dogs when given this food over Iams just gobbled it up quick! Well the 2nd night of the food change my Boston Terrier vomited on our bed, it was clear that the vomit was the food, it looked and smelled just like it. Just had one more small incident the next night, but has had a week doing ok and then vomited again last night. I DID at first mix the iams I had left with the new food for a slow change...but apparently that did not work. 

Therefore....I want to know opinions.....should I change the food, if so to what? We wanted to move them to a higher quality food but without paying 40 dollars for a small bag that lasts 3-4 days. 
Any other people had issues like this with Bil-Jac?

Thanks


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Not specifically about Bil-Jac but maybe this food doesn't agree with your dog(s) or they are eating too fast or you are feeding too much.

There are a few good or great foods that won't cost you $40 a month let alone 3 or 4 days. I have rotated a few foods with my dog and it is a lot easier to get a mid price quality food then it used to and probably easier to get a better quality food then Iams and Bil-Jac.

I would look into 4Health which can be purchased at Tractor Supply or their equivalent Diamond Naturals although a lot of people don't like Diamond products due to all their recalls; the 4Health grain free is not made by Diamond. People swear by Orijen and Acana but they are high protein/high calorie foods so you really need to feed less. I have tried Victor and my dog loved it but it is considered to be high in ash. I have fed Pinnacle and it was OK ... a little expensive for what you get IMO. I am feeding Annamaet at this point and people who have used it for their dogs seemed to like it; I just paid $29 for a 20lb. bag. Another brand being mentioned a lot is Dr. Tim's - they are about $25 for a 15 lb. bag. Just as a reference I have a 35 lb. dog, feed her 1 1/3 cups a day and a 15 lb. bag lasts about a month.

Something that I was hesitant to do which I just did for the first time is ordering dog food on-line and it was a great experience; I ordered from Chewy . com and would recommend it.

The last thing to consider is if your dog(s) are OK medically or if the food itself may be bad which can throw everything else out the window.


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## aimcat (Apr 28, 2011)

I was not feeding too much at all I know that. What would be some good choices of food that I can get at Petsmart? I wanted to feed Royal Canin but its pretty high cost wise.....


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

aimcat said:


> I was not feeding too much at all I know that. What would be some good choices of food that I can get at Petsmart? I wanted to feed Royal Canin but its pretty high cost wise.....


Unfortunately Petsmart doesn't really sell high quality foods but if that's all you have then I would try their own brands - Authority and Simply Nourish. They do sell brands like Wellness, Blue or Castor and Pollux but they are considerably more expensive.

Honestly looking at the Royal Canin the two brands I listed seem to be better foods by their ingredients list so you'd be saving money and feeding the same quality foods

I fed my last dog Authority for a while and she did OK on it but with Zoey I realized there are better foods for the same price or cheaper. I was paying $36 for Nutro at Petsmart for our last dog but paid $38 for Orijen and $20 for 4Health for Zoey and both are much better foods: I paid $29 for 20 lbs. of Annamaet and $29 for 15 lbs. of Victor grain free and both are supposed to be much better than then the foods at Petsmart that I listed and cheaper in the long run. Petco seems to sell better quality foods but it is more expensive then Petsmart.


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## Woofie2 (Oct 5, 2013)

I pay $40 for a 15lb bag of Acana, but it has lasted my puppy over 3 wks thus far. She's an Australian shepherd puppy in the prime of her growth phase, eating 3 cups of food a day. 

You can definitely find a food at or below that same price range & it should most definitely last longer then 4 days, unless you're feeding a Great Dane or Bull Masta puppy. 

Bil-jack doesn't settle with a lot of dogs; and I'm questioning whether it's actually any different of a level of quality over Iams or not. 

There are a lot of good middle of the road foods; i.e. Merrick dry foods are good, IMHO for the price and are available at some Petsmarts and Petcos. For a puppy, Merrick has an all life stages puppy formula with chicken, peas, barley, etc it does not have chicken by-products and settles with a lot of dogs' systems. 

Here's a link to it, you can safely feed this food to both dogs, as it's an *all life stages* food, meaning young, middle aged, older can eat it too. 

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/consu...=Dog-Classic-Recipes-Dry&age=Puppy_All_Breeds


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

I didn't really think Bil Jac was a good quality food, either, from what I recall but maybe I'm wrong. lol. 

I like Royal Canin. As far as foods available at Petsmart that come from a trustworthy company/source, they are one of the only ones I'd trust. Sure the ingredient list isn't as 'fancy' but it works well for a lot of dogs. Some formulas are better than others imo. It is pricier though which is my only complaint. Although their small breed foods are the only ones obnoxiously high in $$, their medium bags (6-15lbs) are pretty average.


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