There is a place in the world for food ingredients processed within an inch of its life. My grown -up daughter has Crohns disease, aka inflammatory bowel disease, so unlike a poorly pooch she can describe what happens with everything she eats. She has to have white bread, white pasta and rice, all veg and fruit cooked and skin removed, and no seeds , nuts or hot spices to irritate the bowel lining. Anything high fibre results in agony. She could have have chicken and fish if she wasn't a veggie. My point is that a delicate gut needs mushy, nutritious digestible food. Whatever suits one person/dog is fine if it works and the more flavour the better.
Phoenix
I'd draw a distinction between a dog and a human, even where both have related problems - i.e. inflamed bowel of some kind. The simple difference is that humans are designed to digest complex carbs, but someone with your daughter's condition is helped, as you say, with the carbs being highly processed to avoid further inflammation. Dogs aren't designed to digest complex carbs, so the whole rationale for over-processing them is to make them what I'd best describe as "artificially accessible" to them. If the dog's bowel is inflamed, and commercial foods, even Chappie, aren't helping, then I'd still recommend to anyone to look into BARF.
Ellie/Max (sorry - don't know your name) - the desperation for food which you describe is exactly what Paddy suffered from - and I would put it down to malnourishment due to malabsorption - the diarrhoea and bowel inflammation stopped him from absorbing all the necessary macro and micro-nutrients. He was always desperate, manic almost, for food - beyond usual doggy/Cocker enthusiasm and begging. It was distressing for him and for us to watch. Once we sorted out his diet (and you may find a processed food which suits him - we didn't, but there are plenty of people I've met who've found other solutions), the "manic" element disappeared.
I'd discuss with your vet possibly using an anti-biotic called metronidazole (or is it metronizadole?
) - it's often used for bowel inflammation because one of its side-effects is that it soothes the digestive tract. Ask for ten days' supply - five days' worth works but isn't long enough to let the bowel really calm down. If your dog's hyper attitude to food settles down, it indicates some kind of bowel inflammation.
Do you mind me asking where you live? Someone on here may be able to recommend another vet (I've used a homeopathic vet - always thought homeopathy was mumbo jumbo but it genuinely seems to have helped Paddy) near to you.
Keep us posted on progress - fingers crossed for improvements.
Denise
