Does anyone know if there is a suitable homeopathic remedy to protect the stomach.  My dog has been waking up very early each morning with an upset stomach and is either sick or has loose stools.  She is generally ok and I'm wondering if it is caused by drinking out of mucky puddles and trees (stumps and spaces in lowest branches).  I always take out a bottle of water for her but she prefers to drink out of manky dirty things so I am looking for something protective that can encourage good bacteria.  she doesn't like yoghurt so i can't give her bio yoghurts.  any ideas?

Chamomile will help settle the tummy,you can either give it directly in the mouth or add some drops to the water bowl,homeopathic sulphur will help with the sloppy poops,my dogs wont eat yogurt either which is why i give them probiotic capsules,you can also get it in powder form :)

I'm not sure if tree barks powder would help but you can check it out at Dorwest herbs http://www.dorwest.com

thanks Frodo, she is such a scavenger and always grubbing about for something to eat. At the mement she is going out and eating lots of grass when she is feeling unwell but I would prefer to provide a prevention rather than her having to eat grass to ease it. 

hi.... a homeopathic remedy called nux vomica or nux vom may help digestive upsets :-)

Yeah i give nux vom when the dogs have 'overindulged' on too much food :rolleyes:

Mine are dreadful scavengers. I have found carob powder to be very good and easily accepted! They do also get live yougart which helps.

Try Acidophilus capsules - it is the good bacteria part of bio yoghurt, without the yoghurt. You can buy them online or in health food shops and they work really well. You put one in each meal or you can undo the capsule and sprinkle the powder over the food.

thanks everyone for your suggestions.  I'll get a selction of potential helpers in and see which is most effective for her.

Hi, it depends purely on what is causing the squits/sickness and what it looks like depending on which remedy to use. If it is just a general weakness of the stomach you could try and give your animal 'Slippery Elm'.(Herbal) The dosage will depend upon the size, age, weight etc. I do know that this works as I have tried it myself. If you  wish further info on homeopathic remedies email me and I will look it up in my medica.
Good Luck

Hi, does she have breakfast or do you feed her once a day. I would be tempted to split her meal into two so that she has breakfast an hour or two before her walk so maybe she doesn't scavenge quite so much?

Also what do you feed her on?

she is fed twice a day and the routine depends on the day of the week.  On weekdays she goes out for a pee and a poo with me before work and then gets breakfast and main walk with dog walker about an hour later and evening meal after her main walk from me after work.  at the weekends she gets a long walk first thing and breakfast when we get back and tea after another long walk.  I prefer to feed her after exercise rather than prior to it.
She is fed burns dry food usually with something in it (e.g. egg, mince etc) and it doesn't appear to matter if she is hungry or not she is always eyeing up the gutter for any week old kebabs or mushy rained on pizza boxes.  In the park she will even eat big lumps of bird poo and anything else which is lying around.

Hi Ali :)

have you had her vet checked yet to rule out a bacterial or viral cause?   Just that if this is a regular event it could be something is amiss :(    Although with persistent scavengers :rolleyes: it isn't easy knowing what's best I'm sure ;)

IMO if it were just one symptom (ie. sickness or loose bowels) rather than both it is more likely to be treatable by a late snack to reduce acid build up (often causes sickness on wakening) or slippery elm as already suggested is great for firming up loose stools.  But with any ongoing problem I'd want a vet opinion just to be sure that I wasn't masking the symptoms of something rather than curing it.

Good luck, Teri  :)

teri, I haven't gone to the vet as this seems to be a much milder version of what she had last year.  I don't know if any of the regular posters remember but my bitch had a terrible time last year and was referred to the royal dick hospital in Edinburgh to a number of different departments and was on lots of different medication which didn't seem to help. 
Last year her symptoms started after her first season and the vets put it down to that (she also had a phantom) but after being spayed she still had symptoms of constant sickness, dire rear, a weird snorting phlegmy thing and lethargy and was on anti-biotics almost constantly for 8 months.  Eventually I had enough of them treating the symptoms rather than the cause and asked to be referred to the specialists.  Anyway, it started last year in February and this year is much milder and hasn't started until May so I'm looking to go down the alternative route as I feel that the amount of anti-biotics she was on last year was not good for her.  I don't know if it is a seasonal thing but at this time of year when the juicy grass is growing she eats loads of it and I don't know if this is having an impact on her bowels and stomach. She is due her booster so I will mention the symptoms to the vet but I'm doubtful if they will give me any advice that doesn't involve another whopping great profit for them (how cynical!).  FWIW the original 'illness' cleared up of its own accord.

Sorry she's been there before Ali - can see why you wouldn't want her on months of ABs :(   Perhaps try offering her a small snack late on and see if it helps her feel better on wakening - if she's grazing due to acid in her tummy then spring grass could loosen her bowels too so I guess it could be a vicious circle.  The Slippery Elm is certainly very effective -  best thing I've ever used on any of mine for dire rear and all natural too.

Sorry can't be more helpful, :rolleyes:, good luck anyway, Teri ;) 

Ali not sure if anyone has mentioned probiotics,havnt had time to read the whole thread,but if she had been on antibiotics for so long,i think  a good dose of probiotics is in order,this will replace all the good bacteria in her gut that the A/B destroyed,it will also help alot with the diarreah.

You can buy the probiotic capsules or powder at any good health food shop,in the fridge. You cant overdose on it,and you have nothing to lose,i would definately give it a try ASAP :)

Thanks for that Teri, I wasn't aware that grass could loosen bowels but now I think about it as roughage it would (doh!).  I'll try a snack before bed and will invest in some slippery elm and some probiotics (thanks Frodo).  Champdogs is so much more pleasant than a trip to the vets!! (also far cheaper, more balanced and openminded - anyone here do cyber boosters and I can ditch the vet altogether (joke!)

Just a thought, one of my dogs scavenged like mad for anything, even empty fish and chip paper, when he was fed on Burns, I have also heard of other dogs doing it. Since I took him off it he has never scavenged since, well unless there is a pile of something like fresh chips under his nose and then what dog could resist that?! :p

If I'm not quick enough she will lick the tomato sauce off empty chip wrappers.  It is like I don't feed her.  this is controllable when she is on the lead but off lead I find it difficult to manage.  I don't know how much of it now is related to what I feed her and how much of it is a bad habit that I will have to attempt to break - or maybe accept.

Any advice about how much slippery elm to give an approx 17 kilo staffy.  the only stuff they had was a powder to mixed in to a drink.  I also got acidophilus capsules and will give one of these a day.  All advice gratefully received. Thanks

Hi, I only used slippery elm in capsule form. I used 1 a day for a 4mth old Bull Terrier for 3 days. It worked fine. slopped the squits etc. I used it to put a lining on his tummy as he had a weakness at the time, similar to yours eating crap when he went out, picking bits up  etc. There was possibly 0.5g (half a tsp), see how it goes.
If you want to use a homeopathic remedy I would probably use Arsen Alb 30. This is for stomach upset, usually caused by eating rancid food. If your animalhas the squits/vomitting I would also give tissue salt combination to replace all that is being lost.
Good Luck
Ellie

Hi Ali,

For a similar weight pup to your own, I used a level teaspoon mixed into a revolting thin drippy texture (looks a bit like snot :rolleyes: - bit graphic?  OK, will go with wallpaper paste :P :P :P )  Have heard some people boil it up but I only used cooled down to hand hot temp of pre-boiled water  ;)

Regards, Teri

thanks, I gave an acidofilus capsule poured into food last night and no midnight poo and another at breakfast and back to normal poo consistency.  she also seems a bit more relaxed in herself.  thanks for info about slippery elm, don't think i'll forget snot like consistency as a reminder of what texture it should be and will probably keep that in reserve for next time she's out scavenging.  thanks to everyone who contributed advice, as ever its much appreciated.

Just a thought but do you think she may need more veg material than is present in the Burns? Hook ate so much grass I thought he would Moo but a change of diet seems to have reduced that. 

she gets carrots, apples, will eat bananas if they are not too ripe and loads of other fruit and stuff she mooches when I'm preparing meals.  The probiotic capsules seem to have sorted her out so far which is great, i've had 2 nights uninterupted sleep without having to get up and walk the streets (no garden) at 5am so she can poo.

Isnt it amaizing who you see when you are out in your PJs with a dog in the early hours ;)

>The probiotic capsules seem to have sorted her out so far<

Yeeha i'm glad they worked,i'm never without a bottle of probiotics in the fridge, they have a multitude of other uses :)