Tango, my nearly 12 y/o show cocker, has a history of tummy problems which have been called IBS or pancreatitis by various vets.
He's been on a variety of the low fat foods for years but invariably gets bored with one so we switch to another brand. I've tried feeding wet, dry and a mixture of both. Over the last few months though his diarrhoea flare ups were getting more frequent so the vet did blood and stool tests, both of which came back all clear. I have never seen any blood in the stools or when he has a flare up and he doesn't vomit. She suggested trying hypoallergenic instead of gastrointestinal food, which I did, and at this moment tango currently has a mixture of the EN and HA kibble which has reduced the amount of stools each day but also generally made them firmer, which is good, and I've only had one flare up (completely out of the blue) in the last two and a half weeks. I have temporarily stopped the wet food as he really didn't take to it and, as I said, his stools seem firmer since I cut it out. He's not overly fond of the 'kibble only' diet either though if I'm honest so at the moment I do put a very small amount of tuna on it to make it more flavoursome. I'm worried though that he isn't eating enough as his weight was down when I went to the vet earlier this week. He's fine when we have our walk and I realise that, as in human years we're about the same age😂, he's allowed to be quite slow around the house!
The vet has basically said that as the various tests showed nothing untoward this might just be how he is now with his stomach but I just wondered if anyone else has any similar experience or has any suggestions as to how I can make the bland kibble only diet more attractive. I'm tempted to put a bit of chappie with it but am worried it might upset his system again! She did suggest a scan but I'm holding off on that for now as I'm not convinced.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Kevin
