[Colubridz]

Hey guys,
I was hoping someone could give me a bit of help with my current situation. I brought home Duke, my now 14 week old Rotti/German Shepherd/ Collie puppy home about 4 weeks ago and he was originally on a very crappy diet of Nutrience and Gensis puppy food. I wanted to switch him onto something good and after doing much research on different brands and specific ingredients I decided Wellness which I was already feeding my cats was my best choice until he was older and would then consider a raw food diet. I tried to switch him over slowly over the course of a week starting off doing 1/4 Wellness and 3/4 Old stuff for a few days and then moving to 1/2 Wellness and 1/2 old stuff for a few more days and then to 3/4 Wellness and 1/4 old stuff until he was eating just Wellness. As I expected the first few days his stools were very runny and poor however they began to improve. Then just as quickly as it seemed they were getting better some trips to bathroom resulted in extremely runny/ soft stools while some where perfectly fine.

My vet gave Duke something to settle his stomach which dramatically helped improve his stools however once he was done the week treatment for upset stomach they went back to very runny/soft again. This leads me to believe his system simple isn't digesting it but I really don't want to switch down to a crappy lower food. I tried asking my vet about it but she just tried pushing hills on me and told me Wellness was very poor in comparison *cough cough*, which dosen't surprise me as most vets I have ever delt with seem to know surprisingly little outside of medical conditions.

Could anyone maybe suggest me some other high qaulity brands that I could try without going to a crap food that he might have a better time digesting? I want to look into feeding raw when hes older, hes just going to eat so much over the next 7-8 months that it'll be to costly to keep up and would rather wait till hes full grown and wont need as much.

I've also heard adding fresh pumkin can greatly help adjusting to a new food, I actually have alot of fresh raw pumkin in my fridge from halloween that weve been using for pumkin pie, can i add this to his food or do I need to bake it and then add it?

The ingredients for Wellness are listed here incase it helps.

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Salmon Meal (natural source of DHA-Docosahexaneoic acid), Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of vitamin E), Ground Brown Rice, Tomato Pomace, Rice Bran (from brown rice), Tomatoes (natural source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Rye Flour, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Ground Millet, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride.

Minerals
Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of zinc), Iron Proteinate (a chelated source of iron), Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of copper), Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate (a chelated source of manganese), Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

Vitamins
Beta Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin C, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Chicory Root Extract, Garlic, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus

WellnessŪ uses ethoxyquin-free protein sources.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein Not Less Than 28.0%
Crude Fat Not Less Than 17.0%
Crude Fiber Not More Than 5.0%
Moisture Not More Than 11.0%
Calcium Not Less Than 1.30%
Vitamin E Not Less Than 150 IU/kg
Omega 6 Fatty Acids Not Less Than 3.0%
Omega 3 Fatty Acids Not Less Than 1.0%
Beta Carotene* Not Less Than 5 mg/kg
DHA* Not Less Than 0.13%
Lycopene* Not Less Than 0.25 mg/kg
Taurine* Not Less Than 0.09%

Thanks alot
Kayla