another food question

Bassets are much better off being a little on the thin side because of their tiny legs in the front. There will be less joint problems and less health problems overall if your basset stays trim. If he's energetic and his coat looks good, I wouldn't worry too much. A healthy coat tells a lot about the animal just like healthy hair on humans. If you introduce a new food, make sure to do it gradually, mixing the two together in increasing increments. Otherwise, his tummy will be a mess.

Louie has to eat Hill's z/d diet because of his allergies. Although I have to admit, he lives to eat. The vet weighed him in at 68 lbs this week, down 3 lbs from three weeks ago.

We changed Bogie over to Innova Adult Dry dog food about three months ago. He loves it, and the vet says he is in excellent health and has a beautiful coat. It has 24.0% protein and is chicken and turkey based. Here is a link to their site on the internet: http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?id=1
Bassets are better off on the lean side to help prevent back problems down the road. They are food motivated, and with those sad begging eyes it's tough to resist spoiling them with treats. Bogie is two, and weighs 54 pounds. Bubba, ATB, was a larger boned Basset than Bogie and he weighed 65 pounds. Bubba was not fat, had a waist, and his ribs could easily be felt under his skin. Each one is different.

What did the vet say about the limping? Young male Bassets often get Panosteitis, which is transient limping, painful, treated with crate rest, pain meds, and usually outgown by two years of age. Use the search engine on the forum, and you can get more info on this.

We feed Innova products to our dogs and cats. Everybody does great on it, and it appears to be a company with great integrity. Check out the web site. There's no way to be sure if diet is the cause, but both our dogs stopped having anal gland issues soon after starting them on Innova Evo. No diet works for every dog, but I feel these are good products.

Thanks for all of the responses.

About his limping, the vet felt both of his rear legs and moved them around, he thought that everything was ok and that he probably just twisted something a little. He put him on some pain meds and told me that if I didn't see any improvement over the next week I should bring him in for X-Rays. He has been walking a lot better lately but is still favoring his right rear leg sometimes.

Regarding the food, everyone I talk to about evo says it is one of the best dry foods you can buy. My question now is he too young to be on this food or is it ok at this age? He looks healthy and has a nice shiny coat. This is my first basset and just looks thin compared to others I've seen as well as some of the pictures that I see here.

I could be wrong, but I think at the age your basset is many tend to be thin. I still look at mine (coming up on a year) and think she is a little thin. I have to admit I would love to have a big basset, but she is healthier as is.

I have heard that they grow till they are one (and can be someone thin) and then fill out until they are about 2.

Does your vet think he is thin? I'm sure he would have mentioned it if your dog was thin and unhealthy.

My vet thought he looked great. He abosuletly loved his color.

Charger is 7 1/2 mos and is thin. Like you, our vet thinks he's the right weight. I do expect him to grow and fill out more over the next year, but will work hard to keep him lean.

My basset is also on the thin side. He just turned 2 last week. We actually had the problem of him getting picky and not eating. We've now taken care of that problem, but he is definitely still thin. However, my vet is not concerned about that at all, as long as he is eating regularly. By the way, he's about 42 lbs.

Fred is 11mths (he will be 1 on July 31) and it took me a while to find the right food for him. Fred was on the thin side as well. He was on IAMS, but it just wasn't a good food for him. He kept loose stools and he just wouldn't eat IAMS very well. I switched him to Nutro and he was still having the same problems as he had with IAMS. I did some research and I discovered that Eagle Pac was a great dog food, so I decided to try it. I weaned Fred off of Nutro and switched him to Eagle Pac. He has been doing good ever since. It has 25% protein and it has Lactobactillius acidophilus which is GREAT with digestion. He hasn't had any loose stools since I switched him to Eagle and his coat is shiny and beautiful, with no dry skin. He weighs 44lbs and the vet said he is very healthy and his weight is excellent for his age and breed. (hounds are known to be overweight)

Here is their site if you want to see the high nutritional value of Eagle Pac Dog Foods.

Visit My Website