Update on Joni. She is jumping in the Jeep now and really enjoying the rides. She is climbing and descending stairs like she has done it all her life. She can traverse slick floors easily now but still has a little trepidation at first but she gets over it once on the slick floor. As far as the crate is concerned, nothing has changed other than me not trying to push it on her. It's a nit at this point.
About a week ago, she started having runny poo and getting me up a couple of times a night. Plus she was scratching on occasion. The diarrhea was only a couple of days after she had all of her shots for distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvo, parainfluenza and bordetella and I figured that she was adjusting to the chemical concoction floating around in her body. She was scratching when I got her and the vet nor I could find any flees or bites so she said to try benadryl which I did for several days without change on the itching.
I did some research about food and allergens and decided to change her diet. I was feeding her Purina One Chicken and Rice kibble. After spending many hours online reading about dog food and another hour or two and the two local pet stores, I choose Pro Plan Focus Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice kibble mainly because they were one of the only brands claiming to have a formula for sensitive skin and stomach and called it out on the package. Marketing does work, lol!
So, due to time or the new diet, I don't know which, her poop firmed up and she is back to normal. I just bought a 5 lb bag so now I need to think about getting another bag of the same formula or look at other brands. Of course, I continued to research food and there is a lot of good information on this board but I also found the Dog Food Advisor site which only gives Pro Plan Focus 2-1/2 stars out of 5. After more reading about ingredients, I can see why the Pro Plan I picked may not be the best choice, but really, how bad is it?
Now I'm wondering, should I buy another bag of Pro Plan to keep things consistent for Joni and once it's almost gone, look for another food? Or should I switch to a better food on my next bag and switch sooner than later?
I'm leaning towards Taste of The Wild as it gets good reviews, is readily available locally and has decent pricing.
Here is another pic, the day after I got her. Funny how the camera angle makes her head look so huge