I have a 12 week old puppy that has had problems with her tummy. She is still under the vet for this. We were feeding her iams, which is what the breeder was feeding her.  At the moment the vet has her on some recovery food for a week and then wants to see her again, he says that we may have to take her off the iams.  Somebody recommended that we try Chappie. Has anybody got any opinions on this ????

Chappie is often recommended for dogs with dodgy stomachs and bums, but it wouldn't be my first choice...  I once (long time ago) opened a tin and found a length of what looked like knicker elastic in it!!!!!!!!!!

If I were you, I'd try Puppy Nature Diet and see how she is on that: www.naturediet.net

Often with puppies these kinds of tummy upsets are not diet related - they are just part of growing and part of getting used to eating different foods.  They can also be caused by worms, so make sure your pup has been wormed with a vet prescribed wormer recently.  (Every 2 wks for pups as young as yours.).  Often puppy owners assume that the runny bum is due to the food they're feeding (maybe because that's what it usually is in humans, so they assume the same for their pup), when I think in pups that's rarely the case.  They then rush out and buy a different food, feed that for a couple of days - when that doesn't work, they rush out again and feed another - and so on.  And often changing food so much is upsetting in itself for the pup's rear end....

Of course, occasionally it IS the case that it's the food, but I'd assume it's not until everything else is ruled out.

But I do think you should take her off the Iams, because in my opinion it's not a good food.  If you want to keep feeding dry, try Burns or James Wellbeloved: www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk and www.wellbeloved.co.uk

If you want wet, try the Nature Diet.  Some people say is easier for dogs with upset tums to digest wet food rather than dry - that's just one theory and the jury's out on it.

Hi. thanks for that.  My cavalier puppy is 12 weeks old now and when we got her from the breeder, we had a worming certificate and it says that we dont need to worm her again until January, would this be right, I think it said that she had been wormed with Pancur ????   She hasnt been on the iams for over a week now, when we were feeding her that, she had blood and mucus in her poo, the vet said it was probably colitis !!!!!

I think your breeder would be wrong to say that you shouldn't worm the pup again till January.  Pups should be wormed 2 or 3 times before they leave the breeder.  They should then be wormed every 2 weeks until they are 16 wks old, when it changes to once a month.  At 6 months old, you can start worming once every 3 months.

Panacur is in my opinion one of the safest wormers to use with little pups, because it's almost impossible to overdose on it.  If your pup is below 16 wks, I'd get hold of some more Panacur Paste and give her a dose of that.  You can order it online from here: http://www.petvetcare.co.uk/acatalog/Panacur_Wormers.html  (The Paste is the easiest to give pups because you just squirt it in their mouth.)

If you find that doesn't work or your pup is 16 wks old or more, then I'd worm with Drontal +, because it is a better wormer than Panacur and kills a wider variety of worms.  Some very young pups (below 16 wks) have a bad reaction to it, I've found (vomiting it up) but she should be fine if she's older than 16 wks.  You can get Drontal + here: http://www.petvetcare.co.uk/acatalog/Drontal_Wormers.html

You should rule out worms before you think about it being anything else.

Colitis doesn't really mean anything - it is just a description of a symptom rather than what it actually is.  Like if I told you she had eczema - you wouldn't know for sure what was causing that - it's a description of a symptom only.  So don't start thinking colitis is a disease - it's not - it just means "runny poo with blood in it" !

Your puppy may have a problem with the food if, for example, it contains a large amount of poorly digestible protein; if her current diet is maize/corn based, this may be an issue.

The protein digestibility of grains is poor but maize comes at the bottom of the list:

Rice                                     
Oats                                     
Wheat                                    
Corn       

Also Corn does not contain lysine or tryptophan, two of the essential amino acids.

Therefore I would recommend Naturediet which contains meat, rice and carrots or Burns which is similar in content but a dry one. However be aware that dry foods tend in general to be lesss digestible than vacuum packed ones.

When looking at foods one must consider not only the ingredients and overall analysis but the digestibility/availability of the nutrients to the dog.

This is the first dog i have owned, its all very confusing.  I have a cat and she eats anything !!!!

I would recommend Naturediet too, especially given your dogs tummy trouble. I tried to feed Iams to my dog once (before I knew any better) and it give him a very runny tum. Ordainarily he has a stomach of iron and can eat anything so I stopped feeding it right away and the diahorrhea stopped too.

I keep tins of Chappie in stock for when mine get the occasional dodgy tum. I think it's one of the best. As for worming, I worm mine every month till they're 6 months then every three months thereafter.

I had a pup returned to me from my last litter. All had been weaned on Naturediet puppy and Burns minibites and were thriving. I had this pup back after 3 weeks with a very runny tum and discovered they had changed the food to Pedigree Chum dry and pouches (yuk!) and had also wormed him with Panacur (even though I specified to use Drontol because they had had a reaction to Panacur when I had used it at 3 weeks).

I immediately changed back to Naturediet puppy and within 24 hours his poo's were solid.

I would definitely recommend the ND puppy food.

Is it ok to feed chappie to a 6 month pup? I feed burns canine extra at the moment plus a variety of meat & veg. He loves his food & will eat anything at all but does get a lot of smelly wind, unfortunately for us as he sleeps in our room!!! Our GSD had a dietary problem & our vet suggested chappie some years ago but I can't remember what age, I know she was quite young. I don't really like to change the bulk of his diet without good reason but I'm wondering if burns just doesn't suit him. Our other dog can eat anything & luckily doesn't suffer with wind - he tends to burp in your face if he's eaten too quickly! 

What breed?  Most can change over from puppy diets at that age if on a good quality/balanced complete :)  Tinned Chappie is really whiffy IMO although great for occasional sensitive tummy upset and is a complete on it's own.  The dry complete made one of mine very gassy but others have eaten and done well on it before - so certainly worth trying.

Regards, Teri

Edited: ps. Burns didn't suit any of my dogs either (good food but they went from lean and dry to positively skinny).  I feed Wafcol Salmon & Potato now :)

Hi Teri
he's Utonagan. Like your dogs, he did lose weight so I contacted Burns for advice. They were very helpful & he is putting the weight back on but the wind - pooo! May look into Wafcol, thanks

I changed my 11 week old Cav puppy over to naturediet puppy last week and he loves it and his poo's are fantastic - firm and don't smell too bad! Another thing I have noticed, he has lost the 'doggy smell' he had when he was on Pedigree. I would definately recommend it.

Hayley x

We have just started changing her over to nature diet, and i phoned the vet today because she is having trouble going to the poo, seems to be straining and has runny poo again, when she manages to get any out, he said to put her fully back on the sesitive food we got from him and see how she is Monday.  Shes full of it in herself, just this poo problem

I would recomend the BARF Diet as  even for puppies.  Mine are fed on it straight away and i have never had a problem.  My dogs have never been so well or looked as fit as they do now.  I know there are ant Barfers out there but until you have tried it and seen the results dont knock it.