Author Topic: sensitive tummy  (Read 1224 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline angiebaz

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
  • my sweet boy...Baz
sensitive tummy
« on: January 26, 2014, 12:49:06 AM »
I have 2 cockers...the older one has been on vets kitchen since day one..doing really well on it. The puppy has had diarrheoa since we got her from breeder on and off...came to us on bakers puppy...let her settle in and changed to vetskitchen puppy.had loose stools on both foods...stool samples all came back clear of parasites and bacterias...chicken and rice sorts it but as soonas puppy food is reintroduced...the stools get softer and softer by the day until its bad...2 different antibiotics and more chicken and rice..all ok until puppy food is reintroduced...round and round..a few days ago vet put her on royal canin gastro intestinal junior food and it has worked a treat...for the first time her stools are normal...she is now 18wks old....vet has said she can stay on this specialist diet indefinately..however it is rather pricey ( but if she needs it long term then no question we will buy it) but vet also said maybe we could try in a few months adifferent brand of dog food. Any ideas for which to try? Anyone have similar experience? It seems her tummy is sensitive rather than her having a medical problem.

Offline butterflywings21

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 649
  • Gender: Female
  • Tilly 10/02/2013~Jenson 09/01/2019
Re: sensitive tummy
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2014, 08:08:25 AM »
so sorry your having a bad time. Tilly was the same, from 8 weeks old on and off till it all came to ahead when she was around 9 months old. It got so bad that even the vets tin food that your on didn't work. She had liquid runs, I spent hundreds of pounds on tests, but nothing came back.
I was beside myself not knowing what to do or try. I googled dog food and finally settled on grain free food. I phoned Barking heads and I have to say they were amazing, so helpful. They sent me samples and recommended that because she had lost a lot of weight to go back to puppy food (so I put her onto the grain free puppy food).
The pet shop near me where I got the puppy food from were also fab and recommended a product called Stool Firm UM (which my vet OK) and I have to say within 24 hours her stools where backed to being formed but not firm and within 48 hours back to firm stools. I have not looked back since, she has gone from strength to strength and put her weight back on. She is a different dog now, so happy no skin complaints, shiny fur and no sign of an upset tummy.
She is just about (at nearly 12 months old) to be put onto the grain free fish delish adult food from barking heads and I'm going to do this over a 4 week period just to make sure no upset tummy. Always in the cupboard I have the Stool Firm UM product.
Tilly also has an inch cube of wainrights grain free turkey wet tray at lunch in her kong.
I hope you get your little one sorted.

Offline Abbi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 706
  • Gender: Female
Re: sensitive tummy
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2014, 08:36:18 AM »
Reading your post you sound as though you have the same issues we had with Abbi.. Our 5 year old cocker had been like this for the first couple of years of her life. We had tried various different foods, both dry and wet with very little improvement. We'd been to the vet numerous times and they had said it was colitis and suggested diet changes. Eventually they put her on Hills ID diet which was expensive but we didn't mind if it worked, but she wasn't great on that either. The last resort was going to be blood tests for intolerances to different foods. In the meantime, with the help of some of my COL friends, I had been looking into the benefits of raw feeding and how it has helped dogs with colitis. I mentioned this to my vet but he said this would be too rich and make it worse. I decided that I had nothing to lose, as none of the other foods were helping either and my vets bill was in the hundreds now. I switched her to a raw diet, ready made (Natural Instinct or Nutriment in our case) and within 2 days she was a different dog. This was 2 years ago and we have had no sign of colitis again. It used to be a miracle if her poo was normal but now this is the norm, and poos are far less frequent and tiny! Also she used to be reluctant to eat most of the time (probably because she knew it was going to have that effect on her) whereas now she wolfs it down in no time.

I know raw feeding isn't an option or choice for some people but just wanted to let you know how it has helped our cocker, with possibly a similar issue.

A lot of the commercial dry and wet dog foods have ingredients that a dog's digestion is not designed to cope with and this causes the upset tummies.
Have a look at www.whichdogfood.co.uk as this gives a good breakdown as to what is in each food and treat.
There is also a TV programme on Channel 5 this Thursday at 9pm which is covering what goes into our dog's dinners.

I do hope you can get your puppy's tummy sorted as I know how upsetting it is to see them like this.