So my berner puppy is about 6 months old now and I've had him on Science Diet since I got him. He's had no problems and is growing beautifully. However, I've recently had some issues with diarrhea. A few weeks ago he broke with diarrhea, but it was kinda odd because he only had it overnight (getting me up every 1 to 2 hours to go out), and he did have occasional normal bowel movements. I took him to the vet and they did a fecal that was negative and just told me to give him yogurt with his food to balance his GI bacteria. I did this for a few days and it made no improvement. He had diarrhea for over a week at this point and I was worried about dehydration so I took him for a second opinion. This doctor gave me a medication that would balance the gut flora, and after a few days on that he did go back to normal. I finished his yogurt and stopped the meds after he was normal for 3 days and he stayed normal. That was a few weeks ago, but last night he started with the acute onset diarrhea again.

I guess all that was leading into a question about his food. Has anyone had issues with berners in science diet? I've used it for all my pets for years and never had a problem, but I'm not opposed to switching foods if that's the problem. I want to make sure it isn't something else first though so I don't make the diarrhea worse by switching foods. I'm pretty upset that the vets didn't do more or really seem that concerned about it. It might not be terribly bad for him to have occasional diarrhea, but I get no sleep and end up cleaning out his kennel 3 or 4 times a night if I don't wake up fast enough to get him out. Nothing else has changed in his routine lately (no new toys, treats, environmental changes), and the only symptom is the diarrhea. If anyone has had experience with this or knows about the foods please let me know. I need a solution soon because not sleeping is not going well for me.

here's a review on science diet from dogfoodanalysis.com

The primary ingredient in the food is a low quality grain. Corn is a problematic grain that is difficult for dogs to digest and thought to be the cause of a great many allergy and yeast infection problems. We prefer not to see this used in dog food, yet it is the primary grain in this food. Corn appears a second time, third on the ingredient list, this time as gluten meal. The AAFCO definition of this ingredient is "the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm". In plain English, that which remains after all the nutritious bits have been removed.


The second ingredient in this food is by-products. It is impossible to ascertain the quality of by-products and these are usually products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of chicken by-product meal is “a meal consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”


Beet pulp is further filler and a controversial ingredient – it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.


Animal fat is a further low quality ingredient and is impossible to determine the source. Unidentified ingredients are usually very low quality. AAFCO define this as "obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words "used as a preservative". It is a concern to see a fat as the fourth ingredient. Research at Purdue University has identified fat in the top four ingredients of a dry food as a factor that increases the risk of bloat in large breed dogs. Smaller breeds are untested.


The food uses artificial flavour, and brewers rice which is a low quality grain and by-product.


if i were you i would gradually switch to a higher quality food. especially with the problems in berners (cancer, skin issues, digestive issues) i would feed something that has ingredients similar to the good meats and veggies we eat. look for actual meat as the first ingredient and then some good veggies like carrots, spinach and fruit like berries and apples. hope this helps!

Hi,
I have a 6 month old Berner also and he had diahrrea issues as well. Here's what I did: make him some brown rice and a bland mixture of boiled chicken, potatoes and carrots. Feed him that until it goes away. I also gave my guy some Pepto Bismol and it really helped him as well.
As far as food goes, I've looked into this alot. There are alot of bad foods out there. We feed Wellness adult. It's a great food, no preservatives etc. Check them out. When you do go back to kibble or switch foods do it slowly so your dog can get used to it!

I guess I should have mentioned that I am Licensed Veterinary Technician, so if I decide to switch foods I definitely will do it safely! What I'm still looking for is other peoples experience with Science Diet and if switching foods helped. If I switch foods, I still need something that is sold many places because my husband is in the military and I don't want to switch foods everytime we move. What kinds of foods are working for people (I do not want to do a raw diet)?

we also feed wellness and it's worked out very well. our dog keeps a very healthy weight and never has diarrhea anymore. I tried Innova but i think it was a little too high in protein so that also cause diarrhea. be prepared to spend over $50 for a 30lb bag, but it's worth it since the dogs do so well and i've seen it at most pet stores except petsmart. it seems petsmart doesn't carry any high end food.

My berner had diahrrea for about 10 days. i put him on rice and boiled gr. beef. This made a slight improvement only. He has always had softer stool. I went to the health food store and bought him Probiotic 8 Plus (probiotics, enzymesand fiber) and some psyllium husks (natural fibre). I also took a can of pure pumpkin (not pie filling, no spices) and mixed it with rolled oats, formed it into cookies and baked at 350 degrees for 15 min. I put both the probiotics and the psyllium husks in his food morning and night. I split the doses. and he gets pumpkin cookies 2x a day. His bm have finally firmed up and are almost normal. I have been doing this for about 10 days.
He had no parasites or other issues.
Just to not my boy doesn't do well on chicken. We feed a lamb and rice kibble.

Hi
I now have my 3rd bernie and i dont remember every having one with "solid" stools, they have always been softish.
Dont forget most dog food is now owned by pedigree now, i fed James wellbelloved for years and pedigree own that now.The ingredients have changed slightly but i havent noticed any change in any of my dogs (i have 2 others, not bernese). Ideally the first ingredient on the list should be meat, the first one is the one there is most of.
I have also just had a discussion with a local pet shop recently regarding protein levels, all large breed dog food is high in protein.I do not understand why? Bernese do not need high protein.I still get on well with James.
Also my bernie now has an allergy to chicken That helps when its suppose to settle the stomach
Good luck and i hope it all works out ok for you
Karen

Thanks everyone for your advice and stories! I've switched Loki to Eagle Pack, which seems to be more meat based than Science Diet. I'm still in the process of switching, but he hasn't had wake up in the night diarrhea since I started except for once. I noticed that I had given him a peanutbutter kong that day too. I haven't given him peanutbutter since and he's been great. Maybe he's just not able to do peanutbutter...what else can I fill a kong with? Anyway, doing much better!!

My berner began having diarrhea issues at around 6 months. I was feeding him Iams so I switched to a grain-free diet of Nature's Recipe. That worked for a while, but his skin started getting really dry and he began shedding terribly. So I switched again, this time to Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream. This food has been fabulous for him. I was supplementing the food with omega-3 fish oil and vitamin E, but when I ran out I just stopped giving him the supplements. Even without them, his skin and coat look great and he hasn't had diarrhea in many months. My vet told me that dogs allergies can kind of switch from one thing to another and that a protein allergy is very common in dogs. She made it a point to tell me to limit the food to one protein (in other words I don't give him salmon AND duck, I just stick to salmon). My first vet had told me that she wanted to send him in for an endoscopy at $500 plus and my second vet wanted to give him the supplements that add flora and all this other stuff. I just opted to switch the food on my own, I put about 1-2 tablespoons of pumpkin in his food and 1-2 tablespoons of yogurt in his food each day. Doing so had the same effects as if I would've spent all that money at the vet and it was so much cheaper and really easy. My best advice is to try some different things, ask a lot of questions, and don't let your vet let you think that there his way is the only way. I had spent several hundred dollars that should've never left my pocket and in the end I figured out the problem anyway. My current vet is a life-saver in the way that she will tell me cheaper options that do the same thing as the more expensive products.