Hi Janet, sounds like acid reflux, my boy also a rescue that I rescued 3 years ago, started doing the licking & swallowing around 11pm at night, he was on Royal Canine vet diet Hypoallergenic for his skin, he came to me in very bad condition, the fat was too high at 19%, so vet changed his kibble too a lower fat kibble 10% this did heap but it was a vet diet with corn etc no good, he still would have these licking & swallowing episodes, lick my sheets, lick & lick his front paw, the vet said when they lick & lick they can be in pain & the licking sets off their Endorphins, he’d eat grass, feel sick, vomit, he’d grind his teeth, in the end I had an Endoscope & Biopsies done & he had the Helicobacter-Pylori & IBD, he’s also a stress head & causes his acid reflux sometimes. We went away for Xmas a 2 hour drive, I had started him on a new kibble a month before just Fish & Rice, no other ingredients & the fat % is 12%, he was doing real well, no acid reflux, I cook as well, then I brought out my suit case a week before we were going away & I started putting things in so I didn’t forget them, I even got him his own bag & put it next to mine & put his toys, an old bowl he doesn’t use no more, then he started following me everywhere in the house, he became my shadow again like when I first rescued him, he wouldn’t let me out of his sight, then he started getting his acid reflux again, he grinds his teeth & swallows, so out came the liquid Mylanta, I keep in the fridge, keeps it cool, so when I give it to him, it soothes his throat, the acid comes up into his throat, sometimes he has had a real sore throat, I give 4 mls in a syringe of the liquid Mylanta & it works the best with him, Zantac works OK but the liquid Mylanta settles the acid straight away, vet did not want him on a Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) Prilosec-Omeprazole, Somac-Pantoprazole etc you can’t not just stop taken a PPI after you’ve taken it for 15 days need to be reduce…..
Can you buy chicken breast or lean Turkey breast mince & just bring to the boil & take off stove as soon as its cooked, with the chicken breast, I cut up into chunks & remove any fat & as soon as it’s about to boil, I remove from stove & empty out all the water, all the white frothy fat comes to the top, I boil the jug & rinse the chicken breast pieces with the boiled water, let it cool or run cold water over chicken pieces, then I make up 1 cup sections in freezer bags & freeze I put 2 bags in the fridge, I also boil, 1 potato, 1 zucchini, some broccoli, sometimes a bit of pumkin, I put in container in fridge, then I put in a blender a 4-5 pieces of boiled potato, some of the broccoli & 1/2 a cooked zucchini….
The fat in the wet tin foods is high if it says 5%-fat when you converted to dry matter (Kibble) 5%fat is around 22%-25% fat if it was a kibble, so you need to look for wet tin foods that are around 1-3 % fat only & limited ingredients no corn, no wheat, no by-products etc…… when you cook, you know what they’re eating, you can control the fat & it works out cheaper then wet tin foods also the kibble made Patches acid reflux worse, so I started to I feed just the cooked chicken & potatoes etc for 1-2 months & let the stomach rest. I do add cooked kangaroo rissole sometimes that I bake or 1/2 tin of salmon in spring water & drain all the spring water, I also add 1/2 teaspoon DigestaVite plus-100 powder it’s vitamins/minerals, prebiotics for the stomach skin etc but at first I only feed Chicken Breast & some sweet potatoes then I slowly started adding 1 new ingredient each week & watched it didn’t give his acid reflux, find a limited ingredient kibble that’s just Fish & Rice no peas, no lentils, nothing that can upset her stomach, or Fish & Potatoes but the grain free kibbles normally have peas tapioca, lentils etc change her diet to a lower fat diet 10-12% fat, I also feed 4 small meals a day, 7am, 12pm, 5pm & 8pm…at 7am & 5pm is the cooked meal & 12pm & 8pm is his 1/2 cup kibble… you will find what works for your girl, if you do have the Endoscope make sure you get the Biopsies as well, when the vet looked down Patches throat into his stomach everything look excellent, I was waiting to pick Patch up & I can still hear 1 of Patches vet saying, everything looked good, see I told you, we need to cut him open & look at his small bowel, I said we still have to wait for the results from the biopsies & I kept saying it’s Helicobacter cause I’ve had the Helicobacter twice when I was younger & it makes you feel awful & you have stomach pain, bad acid reflux, it’s awful…. I feed kibble that have prebiotics, no Probiotics, Probiotics made Patch worse I don’t know why…. vet said prebiotics are better for the stomach & small bowel….
