It sounds like good news. And you're welcome. I know what it is to worry about one of the dogs.

okay, he did go at 9pm last night and the first stool was more solid and the end was really soft. So food wise the night before he ate meat and rice and 1/2 cup of dry. and the next day (that's when he went at 9pm) he ate the same except for more dry about another 1/2 cup.

I forgot to mention when I gave him back the dry I used the one in question (lighter color one) just to make sure it is not the food. today I opened up the other bag and it is darker and the kibble is smaller, that is what I used before. So today I will use that one.

Hey, Middle guess what I did, I put some of the lighter color kibble in one bag and the dark one in another bag, then I took it to a friend of mine and ask him to smell both and see what he thought. I did it to another friend and ask the same question. Both of them said it is definitely different in color and they both said the lighter color smelled stronger. The third is my dog, which turned his nose up at it and ate the dark one. What do you think about this?

What's the expiration date on the bag? Did it by chance expire? Its also possible to get a bad bag of dog food, food that's gone bad. It happened to me once. Two of my three dogs ended up at the vets getting fluids amoungst other things. I was able to home treat my third dog. But as it turned out the food was bad. In my case the expiration date was in the future. But who's to say what happens to a bag of food once it leaves the manufacture and before it gets to you. Its just a thought.

I think your dog likes the darker kibble better. (That's obvious I suppose but I am tired.)

Thank you for replying, and the expiration date is good. I am sorry for driving everyone crazy, but I am trying to figure this out. What is driving me nuts is it's either the food or something else. But the only thing I know for sure is that something is different with this food. Well anyway I started feeding him the dark color kibble which I just bought a new bag of. My concern is that if he does even better how will I know if the bags are gonna be consistent and I may end up back to were I started.

Don't feel bad about asking questions. Clearly this is an issue we want to resolve. I'm not familiar with this brand but if you keep finding inconsistencies in the food I would suggest trying another brand.

HI Rose, I bought 3 small bags of this brand and two of them are the color I am used to and the other is the light color again, obviously this brand is not consistence as you mentioned so I am going to find another brand like you suggested. So I for now I am feeding the one that is the color I am used to and the dog is fine. So it turns out it was the food.
I am glad to have found at least 2 bags I can work with to do a transition.
Thank you
Joanne.

Yeah, sounds like you either keep getting food from the same "off" batch, or that food is having a manufacturing problem.

Good luck finding a new food. You might also want to give some probiotics, like the mercola pet products, just as a bit of a tune-up to hopefully help ward off future problems.

Thanks everyone! Lisa, I think it is a manufacture problem too. The nerve racking thing is finding another food and hoping it works. The one I am thinking about is holistic select lamb and rice and it has a lot of pre and probiotics in it. It states that it is for digestive health.
If anyone is familiar with this food I would like to hear your input. Or if anyone has something that works well I would like to know,
thanks.

I know little about the current dog foods since I try to stay away from processed food - went with a smaller dog for one reason so it would be easier to feed homeprepared. I do feed some processed food, but it's typically freeze-dried, dehyrated, or frozen, which is usually too expensive for a larger dog, and sometimes not satisfying enough.

A hint if you are asking about a certain food is to provide a link to the full ingredients which makes it easier for others to maybe look and provide input.

Hi Middle, yeah that is obvious, but most important it is different!!! Since this food is not consistent, I am getting another brand. Thanks again for replying.

Hi Lisa, I agree if my dog was small I would be doing what you are doing. Here is the ingredient's to the other dog food, I know it might look grainy, but I am trying to stick with something similar since I have to switch faster.

Ingredients:
Lamb Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Oatmeal, Dried Beet Pulp, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Carrots, Pumpkin, Cranberries, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Potassium Chloride, Apples, Peas, Organic Quinoa, Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid], Minerals [Zinc Polysaccharide Complex, Iron Polysaccharide Complex, Copper Polysaccharide Complex, Manganese Polysaccharide Complex, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Carbonate, Potassium Iodide], Papaya, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Blueberries, Pomegranate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Inulin, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Fennel, Ground Peppermint, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus oryzae Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus niger Fermentation Product, Lecithin, Choline Chloride, Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract.
This is a naturally preserved product.
Oh and I know a lot of people don't like beet pulp for fiber, but it works for my dog.

Lisa, now the dog has mucus and very loose stools. I don't understand this morning at 6am the stool was firm and brown at 4pm it is super loose with mucus please help!!

Are you still feeding the Beef and Rice or are you feeding Kibble. I am having a bit of a hard time trying to follow this problem your dog is having? Also didn't you post recently that your dog went to the Vet??

It started about 2 1/2 weeks ago with diarrhea, the vet gave me metro for 3-5days. here's what happened, I started dr Gary's august 8th slowly transitioning him. everything went well for a month on the food, so then I bought another bag and it was a different color and different size, I feed it anyway, but my gut said not to, then the first day of feeding it his stool was soft so I continued and it went firm again, but 2 weeks after feeding that bag it went to diarrhea. then the vet put him on metro, but it did not firm his stools. I gave him beef and rice for 2 days and he seemed better, I introduce the food (but new bag) and 2 days he was fine however today diarrhea again. I am calling the vet tomorrow, but in the meantime I am back to feeding bland diet. I am stressing out badly, because his stomach is so messed up that I can't try new food yet, unless maybe new food may help I don't know. He is hungry after he eats bland diet and I feel bad b/c he likes his kibble. I am not sure if I am feeding enough.

OK, as a person who has IBSD it takes a while for the gut to settle down after it has had problems. I had a female GSD who at one time had digestive issues, I fed Beef and Rice for over a month, not ideal but I wanted to make sure what ever caused her problems had cleared her system and then I slowly introduced a new kibble to her by adding a small about to her beef and rice, changing the amount every 3 days or so until she was on all kibble.

You need to do a comparison of the Foods you have fed to see if there is any ingredient that is common in all of the foods.

Another one of my females was always a picky eater, she would eat a food for a while and then stop eating. So I did the beef and rice and all was good. So with my comparisons of her foods I had an idea that she had a chicken intolerance. So I tested her with a 1 inch chunk of roasted chicken breast and Bang she had explosive diarrhea. It was difficult finding a food that didn't have chicken some where in the ingredients but I did and no more picky eater.

Having a dog that has developed digestive issues isn't fun. Have the Vet run a Fecal sample and see if there are any bugs showing in the system.

If not you need to start back with the beef and rice, I would also get a good Probiotic for your dog.

As far as amount, how much does you dog weigh and how much are you feeding?

Thanks you very much, he is about 85lbs and I feed about 1lb of ground meat along with 1 cup of rice. What kind of probiotic should I buy (name brand)?

You mixture is way to meat heavy. 1 cup of cooked and drained ground beef and about 3 cups of over cooked rice mixed together. I would probably start at 1 1/4 two times a day. Cheyenne was a big female and at her younger weight weighed just about what your male is. Any thing more than 4 cups a day she would get chunky.

I haven't purchased probiotics for a while and would have to do a search.