Blue Great Dane - Underweight

Question
I have a six month old blue dane that weighs 70 pounds.  We fed him eagle pack extra large breed puppy formula up until he turned 5 months, then we switched to adult formula. We feed him twice a day, 5 cups.  My vet says he is healthy. I recently took him to get neutered at another vet's office and he checked him for worms and he came back normal.  This vet believes he is underweight and should have his blood tested. This vet who is doing the neuturing suggested that he take his blood before he gets neutured.  He says that if there is something wrong before the procedure, he wont heal properly. His breeder said that he is in the normal weight class for a six month (65-100).  We have tried to change his food to Innova, but he got diarahea.  Any suggestions would be helpful.

Answer
Kim,

I am not really an advocate for Eagle Pack food. I think it has too many fillers and other ingredients that are not really healthy for any dog. As far as the blood test is concerned, are you sure that the vet is not just telling you to run a blood panel? This is a CBC and basically it will tell you if there is anything underlying that you cannot see from the outside, typically they do it for older dogs, or dogs that have another condition such as a heart murmur. I know that some friends of mine who have gotten their Danes ears cropped also do blood panels. This is really to ensure that it is safe to put your Dane under anesthetic. As far as food is concerned, you have a few options. Like all foods. Make sure that the protein content is no more then 24-25%. You want a food that has some sort of meat as the main protein, chicken, beef, lamb, salmon, venison, bison ect...NOT chicken meal, lamb meal or by-product. Here are some of the foods you have to choose from.

If you decide to use the pet stores here are the brands that will work:

These are the foods you can buy at Petsmart:

Blue Buffalo Longevity for Adults
Nature's Recipe Farm Stand Selects


Along with the foods listed above, you can also try one of these at PETCO:

Pinnacle Holistic Duck & Potato Dry Dog Food
Pinnacle Holistic Chicken & Oatmeal Dry Dog Food
Pinnacle Holistic Trout & Sweet Potato Dog Food
Solid Gold Holistic Blendz Adult Maintenance Dog Food
Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken Adult Maintenance Dog Food
Solid Gold Millennia Beef and Barley Formula Adult Maintenance Dog Food
Solid Gold Wolf King Large Breed Adult Dog Food
Wellness Simple Solutions Rice & Salmon Dry Dog Food
Wellness Super5Mix Complete Health Dog Food
Wellness Super5Mix Complete Health White Fish & Sweet Potato Recipe Dog Food
Wellness Super5Mix Lamb, Barley, & Salmon Complete Health Dog Food

You can also try Fromm here is FROMM's website, you can find a store near you on their locator.

http://www.frommfamily.com/

These foods will take a little time to transition to, so you should begin switching once you are down to about a 1/4 of your bag left. Then you need to follow the directions to properly switch your puppy over. The better you follow the directions, the less likely you are to get diarrhea.

If you decide to do the ordered food here is the website:

www.thepetpantrync.com

The TWO formula's you can buy there are:

Holistic Chicken and Rice Active Adults, Small Breeds and Large Breed Puppies
http://thepetpantrync.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FYP&Product_Co...

OR this company does make a Formula specific to Large Breed Puppies because of the protein and fat content and that is

Holistic Life Canine Large Breed Puppies and Adult Dogs...
http://thepetpantrync.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FYP&Product_Co...

If you prefer a food with fish:
Holistic Salmon and Potato for Active dogs and Dogs with Allergies, this is what two of mine eat.
http://thepetpantrync.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FYP&Product_Co...

I would suggest that you buy at least 120# at a time and that will last you about 3-4 months. Just make sure you keep it in an airtight container so that the food remains fresh.

This food is NOT available in stores, so it is something that you would need to continue to order and I would recommend so that you don't run out you order when you have about 15 pounds left each time.

Transitioning a puppy onto this food should only take about 2-3 days and sometimes even less then that. But if you can help it do not go back to a worse quality food after you feed this because it will most likely cause massive diarrhea.

Let me know if you need anything else and what you decide to use!