It is an exhaustive process, for sure. There was a moment that I thought it could be the fat content of the food, but he had diarrhea with Natural Balance LID Fish and that has 10% fat. Normal-ish stool on Hills Adult light, and that has 9% fat. Obviously that 1% isn’t making that huge of a difference, so it has to be the fiber content.
We slowly titrated up to 3 TABLESPOONS of psyllium a day, which would cause major changes for a 200-lb man, and there was no improvement. All it did was give him gummy stool that he strained to get out, and it was still so mushy that his anal glands started bugging him.
Here are the Hills ingredients:
Chicken Meal, Pea Bran Meal, Whole Grain Sorghum, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Cracked Pearled Barley, Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Lactic Acid, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Oat Fiber, L-Carnitine, Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Beta-Carotene, Phosphoric Acid, Natural Flavors, Dried Apples, Dried Broccoli, Dried Carrots, Dried Cranberries, Dried Peas.
I’m trying to figure out which of the fibers in there is the magic bullet. If it’s the corn and wheat that helps his stool but makes him itchy, then that stinks! Beet pulp absorbs a ton of fluid (have experience with that as a component of horse feed), but I haven’t been able to find a quantity of beet pulp for purchase that’s less than 50 lbs.
I have no issue cooking a completely home-prepared diet for him, but if he’s going to need something like kangaroo protein, then a commercially available food is going to be more economical.
I am not a fan of probiotics. A two-week trial gave him explosive diarrhea; same thing with three of my previous dogs. Personally, I have an extensive GI condition, and probiotics have been the worst thing for it. I know some people and animals have great results with them, but that hasn’t been the case in my household.
