Hi, we've rescued a 4 year old JRT and have owned her for 3 months now.  She's a lovely little girl but has troubles with her tummy and I'd appreciate your advice .... sorry if it's a long post! 

Basically, before we had her she was fed any old junk :o( - we since found out she's allergic to beef and is prone to a bad tummy (though we didn't know it at the time).  We only had her 2 weeks and she had a nasty bout of colitis and was put on the sensitivity control wet food and, on the vets advice, put her onto turkey and rice JWB.  All seemed fine up until 3 weeks ago when she just stopped eating the food.  We took her up to the vets as I suspected she had a problem with her mouth - not the case - but when I mentioned that she had been eating A LOT of grass he thought something in her food hasn't been agreeing with her and suggested the sensitivity control chicken and rice again for a week.

We did this and the vet had told us to see how she's doing regarding eating grass and, sure enough, nothing changed.  Back to the vets last week and she had a full blood test along with testing the pancreas.  This all came back clear and he put her onto Eukanuba's fish and potato wet food and she seems to be doing OK on it.  I don't think she's eating as much grass as she was.  Sorry to be gross but her poos look a bit like sausages and are a bit greeny and a little soft.  The vet wants me to check in with him on Monday to see how she's doing and is mentioning maybe a laproscapy (sp?) and stool sample analysis if we're unhappy with progress.

Once this is all resolved, can you suggest a good food for her?  I'm a bit nervous that she just went off the turkey and rice JWB (I was told not to change to different varieties) - I'd tried fish and rice Burns but she hated it and even tried to roll on the food like she does on fox poo lol!!!  I can't spend a huge amount of money but realise that sometimes the dearer ones don't work out pricey as you don't have to feed loads and loads of it.  I won't use anything with animal derivatives - I like to know what is in the food.

Have any of you had dogs with the same sort of problems as Pip has had / is having - what food do you use?

Many thanks.

Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Re the tests, if a comprehensive range of bloods were taken and found to be clear of anything suspect then I'd await results from a faecal sample before going too far down the test route (TBH, I'd have expected this to be done if not before then at least along with bloods).

Your little one could have a minor ailment which may well be cleared up addressing diet alone after ruling out or treating medically for something like SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) or giardia (a parasite treated with wormers other than routine).

If food sensitivity is decided by your vet to be the most likely cause, it's not particularly easy to recommend specific foods with the absence of knowledge on what ingredient(s) is/are causing flares to her digestive system.  There are several fish based diets available in complete foods both moist and dry versions but it could be that the bulking agents (such as rice, potato or numerous cereals) prove to be problematic for this little dog or even certain types of fish - i.e. OK with say white fish but not oily fish like salmon or vice versa.

As to the appearance of her stools, (the 'sausage like' analogy) - don't worry, dog folks have no qualms about explicit poo descriptions :-D  If by sausage like you mean they appear to be covered in a skin - basically a mucous - then this is often a sign of an irritated gut and when the ideal diet in the ideal quantities is fed this will reduce however does require the GI system to be given time to heal.  As to them being 'green' as she's still grazing this is most likely to be down to the grass :)

I personally rest upset systems in adults by 24 hour fast since last episode of a problem then giving small quantities of a food known to be suited to the individual.  In the case of your dog of course your vet still needs to establish which ingredients (if any) need to be avoided.

When resuming or changing onto a food, adding a natural product such as Slippery Elm (or Dorwest Treebark Powder) to it can help naturally heal and soothe the gut although your vet may prescribe pro-kolin or similar to start her off at best advantage.

There is a lot of very good advice to be had on forum and when you have more info from your vet as to the cause there will be no shortage of suggestions I'm sure on what foods are available that don't require to be on prescription :)

I hope this info helps a little meantime - it is intended merely to avoid you being unnecessarily alarmed or disheartened at this little darling's problems - many of us have had similar issues at some point or another or know someone else who has!

very best wishes meantime,
Teri

 

Just spoken to our vet and updated him on Pip's progress.  I said her stools appeared better on her other food (JWB / chicken & rice sensitivity control - both of which caused her to eat grass), BUT she doesn't seem to be eating as much grass on this although stools softer/mucus as I said before.

He's prescribing some tablets to help with stool quality and I'm to report back in a further week and give her more time on the fish and potato diet and hopefully then she'll have improved more.  If so we can start looking for a suitable commercially available alternative so this is where I'll need your help please!  I've already emailed Arden Grange re their salmon range - their nutritionist was really helpful a few months ago and suggested this for colitis prone dogs, but I ended up with JWB as more readily available.

> JWB as more readily available

they do a salmon and potato don;t they?

Yes, AG do one but I don't think JWB do.

here you go

http://www.wellbeloved.com/products/natural_dog_food/fish__vegetable_cereal_free.aspx

or there is a rice one, how is she with rice?

Welcome mumofpip.

Absolutely spot on advice from Teri - you couldn't have asked for better.  One cheap and cheerful food that many folk find settles the gut is Chappie.  You could try a little tinned and see how she deals with it.  Lots of people on CD have used it when they have been at the end of their tether with a problem, and you have nothing to lose by trying. 

I have a Border Collie boy who I thought I would never get a normal poo from!  I feed wet and dry mixed, and he has his Chappie with James Burgess Supadog Sensitive.  It may mean feeding different to all the others, but worth it to me, after all his problems.

Good luck, and well done you for giving this girl a loving home.  :-)

I hope your little girl is feeling better soon. At least it seems like you are starting to get to the route of the problem now.

The only thing to be wary of when looking for a fish based food is that a lot of the foods still have ingredients from other protein sources as an ingredient. For instance the Arden Grange still contains Chicken fats even though it is a Salmon product. You need to get a species specific food if you are to avoid this so check the ingredient analysis on whatever you decide to feed.

Good luck.

Alex

I've had lots of digestive problems with one of my girls and have had endless excellent advice from CD'ers. :O)
One food that does seem to suit is Wafcol salmon & potato complete dry. I mostly have mine on Hills prescription z/d and d/d now as these do seem to help her the best but she does go off them from time to time so have to find something to stimulate her appetite. i can't afford to let her lose weight!!
I did buy a bag of JWB fish & veg whilst at Crufts but haven't ventured to use it yet.
good luck with your little one
Anndee

or there is a rice one, how is she with rice?


She seems OK with rice - or at least I think so!  Confusing business isn't it! 

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.  Anndee, I'd heard Wafcol salmon & potato is pretty good too, worth investigating further.

plenty more options for you at least :)

i really hope you find something suitable soon

Hi again mumofpip,

re alternative fish based completes have you considered moist completes at all?  IMO these are generally more gentle on sensitive systems

Natures Harvest do an ocean fish with brown rice version;

Nature Diet do two different fish or seafood combos with

Wainrights do a fish and rice tray

The bonus is that all of the above are readily available via Pets at Home :)

Alternatively on-line sources are

Burns Moist Range includes a fish based recipe

Arden Grange also do a few tinned completes

As an aside I've also used Wafcol Salmon & Potato dry complete in the past with good effect on a young dog with sensitivies (out grew the problem thankfully! but a fairly good food IMO)

HTH a bit (or maybe just completely confuses the issue :-p
Teri

Re. the grass eating -I used to work as a vet nurse years ago and each and every time a dog owner came in and said their dog ate grass the vet checked the tonsils and  99% of the time found the dog had tonsillitis. They were eating grass in an attempt to kind of relieve the soreness/itchiness. I know when I get a sore throat my ears start itching inside. Furthermore all these dogs had one thing in common: being fed dry complete food DRY rather than soaked in warm water.

Nature diet is very good. My Lab who had severe collitis used to firm up very well when fed on this.

http://www.naturediet.co.uk/products2.html

Well, my two eat grass for two entirely different reasons.

If Rudi eats grass it is soley to make him vomit because he has an upset tum.

Abby always eats grass - but only the tips - apparently they are very tasty and make a nice snack  :-)

Wow, so many responses - thanks everyone, I'm so glad I joined here :-)

I do like the look of Nature Diet and it looks like lots of people use it to help dogs with sensitive tums.  I'm certainly not averse to the idea of moist foods.  This morning what she 'turned out' iykwim looked normal, a little soft maybe, but maybe the tablets are kicking in to help her gut. The tablets are called Metron, don't know if any of you have heard of them.

Honestly, I go around analysing the dog's poo, then go around checking the contents of my son's nappy to make sure he's OK (he's 2 and prone to getting bunged up, poor love) so it's all very poo orientated around here lol!!!!

Thanks again!

> it's all very poo orientated around here lol!!!!

lol I know that feeling well, after un blocking the septic tank, emptying the cat litter tray, picking up the dog poo, then cleaning out the chickens!! OH comes home and asks if I`ve had a nice day my reply...Yeah its been a load of s**t. lol lol

Hi mumofpip
Just to say my girls are on JWB fish and veg no cereal and are doing very well on it.
I do have to becareful as they both have sensitive tums,but this suits them both well.
I mix it with a small amount of nature menu or nature harvest.

Dallie with sensitive tummy and some allergies on JWB fish and veg or lamb and rice he is in lovely condition now.

Just had a chat with my vet as Pip's stools, although formed, are still very on the soft side compared to how they were with JWB.  What he's now suggested is that we use the wet food and add in some chicken for a couple of days and then if all OK start to slowly reintroduce turkey and rice JWB.  I'm going to get some slippery elm too from a health shop and add that to her food to help her.

Wish me luck!