Is it because he is hungry?

[Holmes]

Over the last week Sherlock has been a nightmare. In fairness he has been ill, he has colitis     Therefore he has been on chicken and rice for the last four days, and antibiotics since Monday and this morning his poo was much better than it has been so he seems o be on the mend.  However  since he has been on it he has been barking like a mad dog. I assumed it was because he was hungry as I read on here that other dogs seemed ravenous when on C&R, and so on the Monday night I gave him a second smaller portion, which he the proceeded to throw up  . He was taken to the vet on Monday, who advised to give him lots of smaller meals rather than the three we usually give him. I have been doing that, but he is still barking at me like crazy in between meals.

When I have tried to focus him through training, he is not performing his usually 'tricks', he clearly justs gets frustrated and starts barking at me. I've just got back from work, to find him barking (he was alone two hours) I thought it might be the toilet he wanted but he has not yet done anything outside so don't think he needs it.

Do you think it is anything to worry about, or is he just hungry, and so will return to his dopey lovely self once we resume normal meals? Im even more concerned as our neighbour totally ignore me in the street the other day and instead just threw Sherlock a look of death  , so Im worried he has been barking a lot for a while now (though up until today he has been sleeping every time I have arrived home, so wouldn't know about it unless she told me).

Anyone else got a loud barking frustrated doggy?

[piph]

No idea about the barking - why don't you just ask your neighbour if he's been barking a lot while you've been out.

As to the chicken and rice - Ozzy always acts as if he's starving on the two occasions that he's been on it.  When he had colitis the vet said to put him on Hill's i/d prescription diet - cost a fortune, but he was only on it until he finished his antibiotics, then I slowly introduced his normal food over a period of days - he wasn't so hungry on the Hills.

[Holmes]

Thanks Piph,

The vet also gave us some Royal Canin sensitivity control kibble, which they said we could use as treats but didn't say anything about using it for his meals 

He has now finished his course of antibiotics for colitis, but she rang last week to away they he found Giardia in his sample so he had to have treatment for that, which he has now finished. She then rang again on Saturday to say they had found a second bacteria, and we are picking up the antibiotics for that this afternoon. Poor Sherlock, he is desperate for a proper meal again, though he loves his C&R I just think he wishes he could have MUCH MUCH more of it 

Will ask about when we can start to switch him back at the vets this afternoon.

Can anyone help me re:poo  Since his C&R it's consistancy has improved a lot and is now normal, but it has been bright yellow, and he has been going only once a day. Is this normal or a sign he has not yet began to recover. He seems much more himself these last few days so we were hoping he was on the mend, nd this last lot of antibiotics will just assure us. The vets said that most dogs carry all three of these infections and do not show symptoms, therefore as we can't know which one was causing Sherlock's stomach upset we have to treat him for all of them.

[piph]

Ozzy's poos were also bright yellow during the colitis, but that's not surprising as the antibiotics were yellow and the Hills Prescription i/d food is also quite yellow in colour.  When he was just on fresh chicken and rice during his last bout of the squits, it was also yellow.  It has only really changed colour this week, and it's 10 days now since he last had chicken and rice, he also only went twice a day while on the c & r, and he usually goes 3 times.  I think this is probably because there is less waste while on the c & r.

[Holmes]

Thanks piph, we actually had a big brown poo this morning  wonder what we will get tomorrow, pink, purple, oooooh maybe blue 

[Honormum]

Can you leave the radio on for him, and a Kong with extra food in it so that he s eating a bit more but over a longer period of time?

Bless him, I suffer from Crohn's so I can relate to his upset.

[piph]

Thanks piph, we actually had a big brown poo this morning  wonder what we will get tomorrow, pink, purple, oooooh maybe blue 

 

[maddy74]

Awww poor Sherlock. Willow had colitis as a pup and we were constantly having to give her chicken and rice, back to kibble it would flare up again and repeat the cycle. She was never given anti biotics for her tum but her stools were a mustard colour but the vet said that was due to the C and R. We were advised to give her 6 small meals a day when she had bouts of it rather than 3 normal sized portions. This seemed to suit her better 

She was given the Royal canin sensitivity control to replace her previous kibble and it worked wonders. We continued with it for about 3 months and her stools were normal at this time. She would often have tummy upsets if she had eaten something nasty whilst out on a walk but weve always kept a tube of pro kolin in for that. When she was about a year old we swopped her kibble to Barking Head Fusspot (salmon and potato) and weve never looked back. Due to her tummy problems as a pup on the vets advise we kept her on 3 meals a day until she was well over a year old before finally reducing her down to 2 meals a day.

In terms of him barking, Willow went through a phase of this at about 7months, the neighbour told us, we changed how we left her at that time. She was crated and we changed it to her being in the lounge uncrated.I have to say weve been lucky as she has never been a chewer. I think if it were me I would ask the neighbour about his barking whilst you have been out. I also used to use my camera to video Willow when left to see her actions when I went out, I thought this was helpful.