# switching to Orijen - very soft poop



## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

Hi,
My dog's been on Fromm for a while, and he did really well on it. We started adding Orijen a few weeks ago. At first, just 25%, and he was fine. After about 2 weeks at 1/4 cup, we increased it to 50%. We tried to adjust the measurement to take into account of the different suggested feed amounts between Fromm and Orijen.

When the Orijen was increased to 50%, his poop started coming out really soft. From the poop chart in my signature, his poop went from 3 to a 5 (first chart).

3 = log-like, moist surface, holds form when picked up
5 = very moist, but has distinct shape: present in piles rather than as distinct logs; leaves residue, and loses form when picked up.

I'm not sure what to do. Should we back off the Orijen a bit? I thought two weeks would long enough at 25% for him to acclaimate. Or is this something else? He's been eating a lot of bugs lately now that it's warm. Can bugs cause soft stool?

He's a 1 year old collie/sheltie/shepherd mix. Health wise, he seems to be doing very well. Shiny coat, not excessive scratching. I don't have very much experience with dogs (this is my first), but I don't think he has any allergies to what is being fed. We wanted to add Orijen to his diet so he doesn't always get Fromm all the time.


----------



## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

There are some foods that, while they are very good foods, don't work well for some dogs. If I had a dog on a food that worked really well, and changing foods gave him soft stools, I'd probably go back to what worked well for my dog. Doesn't Fromms have a variety of formulas? (BTW, my dogs looked just awful on Fromms. I don't think it's a bad food - know people who swear by it - just not a good match for my dogs.)


----------



## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

I don't think you switched over too fast, it just sounds like the food isn't going to work for him. Fromm 4 star is a GREAT food.


----------



## Indigo (Mar 31, 2011)

As already said, some dogs don't do well on some foods. My last dog was sensitive to certain foods but not others... We switched brands a couple of times and even with gradual switching my dog had the runs for a couple of days at first. Plain cooked rice or pureed pumpkin helped him firm up, then he was fine after that. YMMV.

May I ask, what is the purpose of switching the food?
I'm not sure which Fromm formula you're feeding now but I think Fromm has grain free varieties now if you're looking for that.
If you're just looking for some variety in his diet, you could try switching within the brand instead of going to a different brand, or adding canned food to the kibble. You could also remain at 25% Orijen if it suits you.

How long has he had Orijen now at 50%? 

It's also possible something else he ate has given him softer poops.


----------



## SOKAIBA (Aug 17, 2010)

I had the same problem with Orijen. It turned out to be too rich for Hank so I switched him to Blue Buffalo Wilderness and he has been fantastic on it. Good luck.

Kai


----------



## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

Indigo said:


> May I ask, what is the purpose of switching the food?
> 
> How long has he had Orijen now at 50%?
> 
> It's also possible something else he ate has given him softer poops.


Thanks all for your input. @Indigo, he has been on 50% Orijen for about 1 week now. The main motivation for switching up food is to give him more variety, and get him to get used to different types of food. In the past, I've tried Taste Of The Wild (Sierra Mountain) variety, but he started drinking lots of water and had larger (but good consistency) poops. I guess I didn't really like the idea that my dog is so tied to one brand ... seems weird.

I don't really understand what about new food causes poop to be watery. For that matter, I don't know why people's poop become watery either 

Do the dog's intestines have to take time to develope the right bacteria to digest new proteins and carbohydrates?

For the people who have successfully switched, is it a all or nothing kind of situation? Like it either goes well right away, or will never work? I hate returning food, I just feel like Chuck and Don's has a pretty nice policy, I just don't want to take advantage of it since I did it with the Taste of the Wild a couple months ago.


----------



## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Perhaps you're overfeeding a bit. With grain free, high protein foods like Orijen or EVO, it's very very easy to overfeed and often it causes soft poops. Try cutting down the food daily intake (a little from the Fromm, a little from Orijen) and see if that helps. or you could try adding a tablespoon of low fat, natural yogurt. I recommend trying lowering food intake first though.

All 3 of ours have iron stomachs and we can feed any brand cold turkey with no problems. Our other 2 are on Orijen right now and mine's on Acana but neither have any problems and we didn't do it gradually because they just pick out the new food and spit out the old anyways so it's pointless lol.


----------

