Please can anyone help, we have recently taken in a rescue DDB (2 weeks ago) who was very thin due to recovering from Colitis, he completed the antibiotics he was given for this a couple of days after moving in with us and he has been fine up until Saturday when he was sick a couple of times and also had diarrhoea, so we starved him on saturday and then yesterday we only fed him a couple of small meals of chicken and rice.  He ate this no problem and has not got an issue with appetite.  However when we came down this morning he had had a couple of accidents and it was a bit slimey (sorry but cant thin of a better way to describe it) and he had also been sick again, although this was mostly bile.  Normally I would take a dog straight to the vets, but when we took him last week for his vaccinations we found out that the reported dislike that he has for the vets is a lot stronger than a dislike and I dont think the vet would be able to examine him in any way (we are waiting on a muzzle to allow vet visits, but due to his size this had to be ordered from america and is currently in the post).  Other than continuing with plain foods such as the chicken and rice and maybe some scrambled egg, could anyone please give any advice.  I am assuming that it is not his colitis flaring back up due to the vomiting.  Obviously if this continues I will take him to the vets and see what happens but am just looking for any advice in the mean time.
Thanks

I think a phone call to the vets given his circumstance is the way i'd go and see if they can advise.

Normally I would starve him for 24 hours then start with mashed potato (No milk or butter in it) and a little boiled white fish or chicken. However if he is really thin then try him on a couple of small meals today. Alternativly boil some potatoes and strain off the water and give him that for 24 hours in frequent small amounts and start the solid food tomorrow. If you are really worried about him then a trip to the vet is needed I am sure they must have a way of muzzling him as not many people keep a muzzle so they must be used to dealing with it.
Aileen

thanks for your advice, will try him with some plain food today and see how he is tonight, if he is still bad I will phone the vets.  They did have a large muzzle ready when we arrived last time (they had his previous vets notes and knew more than we did about his reaction to vets), but the muzzle wouldnt come anywhere near to fitting him, this is why we have had to order one from america as we couldnt find one in the UK that would fit him.

Some dogs can't tolerate rice and some can't tolerate potato in any form either -I have two like that, so I'd stick to just chicken and/or fish.

If you need to see the vet, can't you use a bandage as a temporary nuzzle? That's what was always done with the vet I worked for. I can't find any description of it on the internet but you loop the bandage around the dog's muzzle from below and tie it once on top of the muzzle, next loop it below the muzzle and tie once more, then take the two ends and loop behind the neck and tie there.

Poor thing - hope he's ok soon.
My dog, over the years, has often suffered from an upset tummy, he seems quite delicate when it comes to food - thankfully he's ok at the moment. However, when he is ill I've learnt not to give him chicken/rice etc. It obviously suits many dogs but certainly cooked chicken goes right through him. Since his last really bad episode (he had pancreatitis and was very ill) and a struggle to get him to eat afterwards, the vet sugggested tinned Chappie. Now I know some people on here will tell me all sorts of things about the ingredients but he's doing so well on it. It's low fat, seems very gentle on his tummy and as it smells a bit like fishy cat food he loves it !. Your boy, being such a big dog probably brought up bile because his tummy is empty. I think it can be a vicious circle sometimes......they are ill so we starve them or feed small amounts of chicken etc but then the horrible feeling of being hungry can make them feel worse. If he seems hungry and wants to eat maybe regular small meals of something like Chappie will settle his tum. Just an idea, hope you don't mind.
Hope he's better very soon.

Bandage muzzles are fine on long nosed breeds but not so effective with a DDB. Better then nothing in an emergency though. :-)
True he could be allergic but it would be worth a try. Not used to allergies as my lot are not upset by anything..
Aileen

I can't help on his condition or anything but I believe in honey as a good source of help.  it can help with queezy tummies and settle any vacteria in the gut/colon.  I usually mix it in the drinking water or give a spoonful.  Please take advice first though with colitis being present that it doesn't cause upset but not known it before.

regarding visit to vet. he might react better examined in their car park with a vet minus the white coat .

Totally in agreement with arched.

Having owned a dog with intestinal damage when he arrived as a pup, I cannot praise tinned Chappie enough.

And a Toy Poodle with pancreatitis loved her Chappie. 

Thanks everyone for your advice, his muzzle arrived in the post yesterday afternoon so we managed to get him to the vets last night.  Having the muzzle on him made such a change as the vet could give him a really good examination.  He is now on id dry food with some additional binding agent and we are going to see how that goes for a couple of days while we take some samples (lovely) to be analysed.  Due to him being a rescue dog with only a partial vet history we are going to get some analysis done on the samples rather than take it that because his last vet (who couldnt get near him to examin him due to his fearful agression towards vets and having no muzzle that would come anywhere near him) guessed it as being colitis that this is what is causing the problems.
Hopefully we can get this sorted once and for all and I will definately keep the idea of Chappie in mind, although I might buy some shares in the company before I start to buy up shop's stocks of the stuff - he is seriously underweight at the minute, yet still topped the scales last night at 51kgs (abut 8.5 stone in old money) so I wouldn't like to gues how many tins he should be eating per day.
Thanks again for all your help and advice
Lindsey

hope you get to the bottom of it.  Fingers crossed its not colitis and something treatable that will stay away.

I was glad to see that you posted after a vet could actually examine your boy properly.  Poo sampling is not my favourite job,  but it will hopefully get you some answers.

I wish you luck, and don't forget to let us all now how things progress.

Jean