Feeding Blue Heelers...ideas???



Barked: Thu Mar 11, '10 10:38pm PST 
We have a beautiful Heeler, Hooty. He's a very typical Heeler, active and playful. We're having a hard time deciding what would be the best food for him. He came to us from a shelter where he was being fed Science Diet. That ended up making him sick with diarrhea and vomiting, plus his bowel movements were irregular. We have now switched him to Iams, and he's having BM's 3-4 times a day. What is the best food for him and how often should he be going number 2? Any suggestions??

Devil Dog
Barked: Thu Mar 25, '10 10:56pm PST 
I had the same issue with Joe. I had him on Puppy Chow, but he ended up with diharria from that as he got a little older. We have moved him from all brands, trying to find something he likes the best...but the one thing that hasn't changed is the number of poopies he has in a day. I never knew it was possible for a dog to poop so much! He eats a lot, which would hopefully mean he'd poop a lot, but then if you look at it from a scientific POV, it all makes sense. Blue Heelers have soooo much energy, and assuming so, a very high metabolism because of that. And high metabolism means a fast break-down of food, which means a lot of poopies. So all in all, I think they are healthy! Just as long as Joe keeps drinking enough water to keep up with his food consumption, I think he'll stay healthy.

Barked: Sun Mar 28, '10 6:59am PST 
really the massive pooping is the food not the dog. Cheap store brand foods like puppy chow as well as many 'vet recommended' (science diet, Iams, etc. ) have too many fillers so the dog eats a lot to get all the nutrients they need but then they poop all that out too. We are on a budget so have to meet a middle ground with our food. I would love to feed ours some of the organic high protein etc, but we have found that the Kirkland signature brand at Costco has a bunch of great ingredients, their coats are great and they feel great, but because of all that good stuff they also get gas a bit more than other foods. Check out the feeding forum and you will get the full spectrum of peoples opinions and then weed through the massive overload of info and gain some grains of good info. They compare ingredients lists and explain some dietary needs that most don't realize and it will help you find a better food. Then you can feed less so less pooping.

Edited by author Sun Mar 28, '10 7:05am PST



I'm not just a- pet, I'm an- ATHLETE.
Barked: Sun Apr 11, '10 6:31am PST 
I have 3 Blue Heelers (AKA Australian Cattle Dogs), and they're all extremely active. We hike for atleast 2 hours on the average day, compete in Agility as well as attend Agility classes, and are always doing something. We choose to feed a very high fat/high protien dry food - actually, it's the highest fat/protein percents I've found in any dog food. We feed Natura EVO dry foods, and add in wet food or fresh foods daily to their meals. My 55lb male eats less than 2.5 cups a day, while the 35lb female and other 40lb male do well on only 1.5 cups a day. Vista (the female) poops maybe 2-3 times a day if that, and the boys poop upwards of 5-6 times a day simply from being silly active boys that get "stirred up" I suppose. All dogs are different! This food is only food that I've found that can keep the weight on Remington (my 55lb male) without having to feed him an absurd amount of food. On Wellness Core and Merrick BG he lost a significant amount of weight feeding nearly 3 cups a day.

So all I am saying if you deffenitly want to go for a good brand of food, but how much you feed and how your dog will do on it will be different for every dog. I suggest trying different brands/amounts for several months at a time - if you're liking what you see, continue with the food, but if you're not then switch to something else. As a general guideline, you probably don't want to feed a food you can get at your local supermarket - they (usually) carry the cheap brands stuffed with fillers, by-products, chemicals, and other crap you don't really want your dog to eat. However, if that is all you can afford then try around those foods the same way. I would rather people feed their dog crappy food than give up their dogs to a shelter, or worse, not feed them enough.

Best of luck! If you need anymore help feel free to PawMail me!

Queen of this- house
Barked: Thu Jul 22, '10 5:21pm PST 
A Heeler mainly needs a food over 20% if their active and they do pretty well on it lacies had it since she was a puppy and never a sign of dirreha