[Joyce B]

Hi Ryan! The link worked fine. Curious what the vet says about this, but if it were my dog, seizure wouldn’t come to mind. Licking lips is a sign of nausea, so is wanting to go out to eat grass. How much time since he last ate? By the way, he is adorable, and your house is not messy :).

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by Joyce B.

[joanne l]

I agree grain free foods are just a new way for companies to make more money. Dogs are not meant to eat BEANS of any kind. I know they should not eat grain either but something has to bind the food and grains are really not a problem for most dogs. If you think about it wolves eat grass and who knows wheat in the grass but never BEANS. And even when they eat the animals stomach contents, what animal eat beans?? If I ate chickpeas, lentils, peas I would live in my toilet. LOL but that just me and my opinion.

[Susan]

Hi Ryan,
is your boy on any medications for Arthritis pain, as these can cause stomach problems, ulcers etc?
You have to be careful you do “not” want to confuse your vet….
When a dog has a seizure they don’t respond while having a seizure, their body/muscles are all tense & tight, there’s no mouth licking or gulping they do not respond….
This is awful to watch but this is a dog having a seizure
the dog does not lick or swollow like when a dog has bad acid that has come up into the dogs mouth…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzZ-IgD7HXs

Yes, all vet diets are very high in omega oils, the Hills Z/D & Royal Canine Hypoallergenic skin wet & dry vet diet formula’s are VERY high in Omega oils for skin & can upset their stomach, Patch can NOT eat any vet diets or normal premium kibbles for his skin problems, most of the vet diets give him bad acid reflux especially when he eats a fish kibble, even the Intestinal Health vet diets wet & dry give him bad acid reflux 🙁 ….
After trying nilly all the vet diets, I finally worked it out, his acid reflux was from all the omega oils & I saw Dr Judy Morgan “Pacreactitis Again” video, Judy talks about her 16-17yr old dog who suffers with Pancreatitis & other health problems, she worked out her dog can NOT have any fish oils, the same thing happens acid reflux or a Pancreas flare…
I stick with dry foods that have Canola oil, Sunflower/vegetable oil or Flaxseed, Patch ends up licking & swollowing like you said around 1hr after eating these high omega oil foods & high carb foods, especially when you see a fish oil, flaxseed, corn oil, within the first 5 ingredients….
I feed tin pink salmon in spring water drain water add 1/2 boiled sweet potatoes, salmon isn’t as oily like Sardines are..your dog would like that as a small meal, see how he goes…

When I see Patch starting to do his swolling, licking mouth, or doing his weird mouth thing, this is when I give him 1/2 a ant acid quick eze berry chew & tell him chew chew & he chews the quick eze chew, then 20mins later he seems heaps better, they’re not that expensive at supermarket you can get the plain white quick eze lollie, there’s another ant acid chew/lollie a few people in the Pancreatis support f/b group use for their dogs when they’re having a licking swolling attack from bad acid reflux, they use Rennie tabs, I’d give one of these a try next time you see him starting to have an attack, probably will work better then the Sucarafate, the Sucarafate didn’t really help Patch, he wanted to eat grass after I gave him his Sucarafate slurry…
Something better then the Sucarafate tablets is Slippery Elm Powder, it stops nausea, acid reflux helps with stomach problems..
Get 1 teaspoon of the Slipery elm powder put in cup, boil the jug & slowley add boiling water to the slipery elm powder in a cup & stir till you have a thick slurry, put 1 teaspoon of the Slippery Elm Slurry on a plate to cool then see if your dog will lick it up, Patch licked it up once then didn’t again, so I had to get a 20ml syringe & pull up 5ml & give 20mins before he eats, then cover the cup with foil & put in fridge, it turns into a jelly slurry & need to be heated, takeout about 1 spoon put in the microwave or I just add some boiling water to about 1 spoon that you’ve taken out of the cup then when its can be pulled up into a syringe just use 5mls…

You still have to make sure what they’re eating isn’t too high in fat or omega oils & ingredients agree with your dog… Have you looked at the Rice dry formula’s?
It has taken me 5yrs to work out Patch..

His Sphincter flap from stomach to esophagus mighten be closing properly & the acid is washing back up into throat & mouth, you’ll need something stronger to settle this, if the Sucarafate isnt helping him… so he doesn’t end up with a sore throat & burnt wind pipe like Patch ended up with, he may have an Ulcer?? Ulcers happen cause of too much acid, you need ant acid blocker meds to stop the acid burning the ulcer & it can heal…

Sometimes no matter what Patch eats he just has a few bad days, sometimes it all starts again when I feed a wet can/sachet or the low fat vet diet for lunch, so I avoid the wet foods for a 3-5 days & just feed 4-5 small kibble meals…

With a dry food look for 10%-15%max-fat, sometimes a food will be 14.5% fat, that why I say 15% max fat, the lower the fat & protein & the higher the carbs, so you have to find a dry kibble that works for your dog..
Wet foods arent low enough that are sold at Pet Shops, you ned under 3%max fat in a wet foods, best to email the pet food companies ask what the fat when converted to dry matter fat & the MAX fat % you’ll have shock, some wet foods are high…

I have found the Large Breed formula’s work best for Patch, as they arent too high in carbs or fat, the protein is over 26% & seems to help reduce his acid reflux…. I stay around-13%-fat & 34%-protein.

Have you tried any of the Purina One formula’s a few people say their dog does well on Purina One formula’s here’s, but I looked & some are 16%, 17%, 18 % in fat, so way too high in fat for your boy, this Purina One formula large breed formula looks good, the fat is 13%, protein-26%, fiber is 4.5% the fiber is not too high & the carbs are about 40% carbs-
these ingredients are like the Intestinal Health vet diets minus the high Omega Oils….
https://www.purinaone.com/dogs/products/dry-dog-food/smartblend-large-breed-adult
or if you find a good brand you like just have a look at their large breed formula ingredients & fat protein %..

Most small breed dog foods are higher in fat & higher in Kcals per cup, so avoid all small dog foods.. Have you looked at Senior foods? they normally are lower in fat around 10-12% fat & higher protein…
With his skin, I know Patches skin would itch with some of those ingredients in Purina One BUT Patches vet always tells me, we fix his stomach problems first then we’ll deal with his skin problems, in the mean time continue his weekly baths to relieve his itch & use baby creams to relieve any itchy red skin….

Have you looked at the Nulo Grain Free Style Weight management formula.
MedalSeries High-Protein Kibble weight management chicken & sweet potato recipe
Just becareful with fish dog foods the Nulo Cod & Lentil formula didn’t do well & came back High in Metals & Process Contaminates in this last testings…
Most of the Nulo fish formula’s the Puppy & Small breed also came back high in metals & contaminates but they have good ingredient quality….just got a bad fish supplier 🙁

This will not go away over night, it takes time to find the right dry food, the right ant acid meds, the right routine & feed more smaller meals a day instead of just the 2 bigger meals a day..
I know your head is probably spinning with all the info, but there might be something I do for Patch that might also help your boy, all the things that have helped Patch & alot of other dogs…
By the way what is his name??

[Susan]

Hi Ryan.
Yes see vet & ask for Omeprazole (Prilosec) ant acid blocker & trial him for 14 dyas & see if he gets better, also Diet change, it’s making his acid reflux worse..
My Patchy was doing the same eating grass & anything in the yard to get the acid out of mouth & throat.. You could try an ant acid medication that isnt as strong as Omeprazole like Famotidine (Pepcid) take 30mins before meals twice a day or Ranitidine (Zantac) worked better with Patch, the Pepcid is an older ant acid drug…
I also was giving Patch Liquid Mylanta when he was waking up 3-4am having a licking attack then wanting to go outside & eat everything in the back yard, another thing that helps is a piece of white bread made into toast & give the dry toast cut in pieces, toast helps stop the gulping & licking…
I have found when Patch is eating a High Kcals kibbles over 370Kcals per cup the acid starts, also when he eats a high Carb kibble & high fat over 15% fat, he has to stay around 10-14%-fat & protein around 28-35% Look at the Large Breed diets as they are made to reduce digestive problems in large breed dogs….
I know you have a small dog same as Patch he’s an English Staffy but the large breed formula’s have the lower Kcals, lower fat & higher protein & are high in Glucosamine & Chondroitin, for their joints, Patch is doing well on Wellness Core Large Breed formula I buy the 6kg bag or look a Senior formula, they have lower fat, higher protein but I dont know if the Kcals are under 360per cup? you have a better range in America the higher the Kcals the more dense the dry kibble so harder to digest…..

STOP the wet can food ASAP this happened with my Patch at Xmas he got that bad the acid went into his wind pipe & burnt his esophagus & wind pipe I had endoscope + biopsies done the vet also said his Sphincter flap isnt closing properly from stomach to espohagus & the stomach acid is washing back up the wet can food made everything worse… now he only gets a little bit of wet food but its a low fat vet diet the fat is 1.7% & no gravy wet can foods the vet food has to be loaf style, the Hills I/d Digestive Care Low Fat Loaf or boil some chicken breast & bpil some sweet potatoes & you can freeze is small meals
Poor Bugger he’s the same age as Patch, its awful watching them suffer & you feel helpless the Omeprazole is excellent everything stopped & he got better until I moved last December & I started buying wet can foods that were 4% fat,
When convert 4-5% fat in a wet food to dry matter (Kibble fat) 4-5% fat is around 20 25% fat, Patch was already on Omeprazole 20mg had been on Omeprazole nilly 2 yrs but it wasn’t working as well no more or the wet can food I was feeding made everything worse, now Patch takes another PPI, Pantoprazole 20mg & the Pantoprazole seems to help the reflux & works better then the Omeprazole, vets in Australia only give Ompraozole 20mg so Patches vet writes me scripts & I buy from the cheap chemist $5.99 for 30 tablets, I also take Pantoprazole for my GORD but a higher dose….

I do not think he need to see a Neurologist like Anon ALWAYS recommends, first try the and acid blocker Omeprazole or Pantoprazole 10-20mg once a day in morning around the same time & stop feeding ant wet can/sachet food & look for another dry food that agrees with him better, avoid small breed formula’s as some are higher in Kcals & fat%..

[Ryan K]

I have a 9 year old terrier dachshund mix that goes through these weird days where he just suddenly starts gulping and licking his mouth and then proceeds to lick furiously at the floors and the carpet and then wants to go outside to eat weeds and grass. He winds up throwing it up eventually but not instantly. He has been doing this for about a year or so now. His first incident was scary with him eating several socks and throwing them up all night. I was lucky he didn’t have a blockage! I have had x-rays done and bloodwork with nothing really showing anything I would think is causing this. He did have high triglycerides but we retested and his levels came back normal. He had an elevated albumin in his urine so we have to retest that soon. Why does he keep doing this??? He is on Nulo Turkey and sweet potato as well as the packets of wet food that they have. Is this acid reflux? I can’t afford any expensive diagnostic testing at this time. I want to bring him to the vet again but are they even going to be able to do anything without wanting him to get scoped at this point? I can’t afford a 1k endoscopy at the time as I just lost my job and have no additional credit to even use for that. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas on what to do for this? I’m so frustrated!

[Susan]

Hi Kayla,
It sounds like your dog has Environment allergies & no matter what he eats he is itchy scratch, red paws, etc… it could be dust mites, human danger, a plant outside, it could be heaps of reason & its not what he’s eating…
Are you seeing a Dermatologist that specializes in skin problems, to work out why is his skin is dry & itchy?
Have you added fish oil to his diet or tin sardines or salmon in spring water, add 2 spoons a day to 1 of his meals?
Have you tried a Hypoallergienic vet diet?? this would be the best diet at the moment till your vet or Dermatologist works out why your dog is itchy & has dry skin?

I also have a 9 yr old dog, he’s a English Staffordshire Terrier, thay seem to be prone to allergies & food sensitivities. He suffers with Seasonal Environment Allergies, Food Sensitivitivies & IBD..
as they age they get worse with their allergies NOT better, normally thru the Winter months he does really well, as long as he isnt eating any ingredients he’s sensitive too but since moving last December this Winter has been a nightmare, I think he’s allergic to the grass in back yard & the big trees in neighbour back yard that hang over into my yard & drop these little yellow flowers….
Does your dog suffer with sloppy poos, diarrhea, gas/farts, vomiting etc this is a sign of food sensitivities?
Have you done a food Elimination diet yet? best to do food elimination diet in the cooler months when allergens aren’t as high, so you dont get confussed when the dog itches & its environment & not ingredient your adding to his diet…
Baths, are you bathing twice a week or weekly in a Medicated shampoo to wash off any allergens off skin & paws & put moisture back into his skin, I use Cucumber & Aloe baby wipes the days I don’t bath Patch..I also use creams to reduce any itchy red skin..
have you tried Apoquel or Cytopoint injections?

Here’s a really good f/b group you can join..
“Dogs, Allergies, Issues & other Information Support group” https://www.facebook.com/groups/240043826044760/

Here’s “Canine Skin Solutions group” run by 2 animal Dermatologist, take photo’s & post..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1563654607200747/

[Angela S]

someone on this forum told me to try upping fiber in my dog’s diet. my dog was having the same issue-she wasn’t having diarrhea. Her poop had shape to it, but it was too soft, would stick to the grass and it was difficult to pick up. i switched to a food with 6% fiber. she has been eating american journey salmon and brown rice. she’s only been on it for a month or less. her poop seems to be firm now most of the time. of course, now i’m wondering if i chose the right thing, because one of the main ingredients is peas, and i’m worried about what peas can do, as I’ve been reading there is a possible connection between peas in the diet and heart issue. i’m upset that there are so many controversial ingredients and no one can agree on what a good food is. it makes you wonder what is really good for our dogs??

[Susan]

Hi,
Doodles are known for skin allergies, are you on facebook? join this group a few Doodle owners are in the group, “Dog Allergies, Issues and Other Information Support Group”
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DogAllergiesIssuesandOtherInformationSupporGroup/

The only true way to test what foods your dog is sensitive too is to do a food elimination diet & do it in the cooler months, not Spring & Summer when pollens, flowers, allergens are high…
These Blood, Salvia & Hair/Fur test give false positives. My vet told me when some of her clients push to have the blood test done even thought she has told them you’re wasting your money, my vet said she has found the foods the dog is eating at the time will come up as a positive… When your dog had his blood test was he eating any of these ingredients rice, pork, peas & potatoes etc that came back positive?? if you do the blood test again it will come back with different food allergens & not the same ones, this is why it’s not realiable…. also as the dog ages their allergies get worse, my boy suffers with Seasonal Evironment allergies (Only bad Spring & Summer )& food sensitivites, he’ll be turning 10yrs old Nov & 2017 Summer till now which is Winter in Australia has been the worst year I’ve had with him, his vet told me it will get worse & wants him on Apoquel before Summer comes in a 4months, he reacted really bad last Summer Dec 2017 & had a really bad IBD flare which attacked his Esophagus, I nilly put him too sleep in Febuary this year but his vet begged me to please wait another month for Summer to finish…..Finally in April he started to get better after I started to feed him “Wellness Core” Large Breed dry kibble…

I’d say your dog is suffering from Environment Allergies in the Summer months & has food sensitivities, keep a diary & you will start to see a pattern as the seasons & years pass, he’ll be worse thru the hotter months, he’ll do better in the cooler winter months as long as he isn’t eating anything he’s sensitive too, it’s best to change foods etc when Winter is approaching when outdoor allergens aren’t as high & won’t interfer with your food elimination trial…

Have you tried a Hypoallergenic vet diet? you can do elimination food diet with these Hypoallergenic vet diets…once your dog is doing well on 1 of the Hypoallergenic vet diets & doesn’t have any skin problems this is when you introduce 1 new ingredient to his diet & introduce 1 of the foods that came up positive in his blood test, start him on Potato or rice, boil some potatoes & add 2 spoons potatoe with his vet diet meals or give the boiled potatoe or rice as a treat & see does he start reacting, it can take from 20mins up to 6 weeks for the dog to start reacting to an ingredient when he’s sensitive, my dog reacts within 20mins after eating an ingredient he’s sensitive too.. you fed either the rice or potatoes for 6 weeks only stop feeding if he reacts to the potatoe..
Its not the starches in the food he’s sensitive too its the protein in the food he’ll react too….
I nilly forgot “BATHS” weekly baths or as soon as he is itchy, rolling rubbing on grass, carpets, licking scratching give him a bath twice a week is best thru the hot months…
Baths wash off all allergens on skin paws face etc I use ” Malaseb” medicated shampoo its relieves itchy skin & paws..

Have you looked are “Freeze Dried Raw formula’s instead of dry kibbles?

* “Ziwi Peak”
https://www.ziwipets.com/catalog/ziwi-peak-dog-nutrition

* “Farmina” Natural & Delicious or the other Farmina formula’s
https://www.farmina.com/us/d-dog-food.html

* “Canidae” Pure Ancestral Raw Grain Free coated formula’s..
https://www.canidae.com/dogs/canidae-grain-free-pure-ancestral-raw-coated-dry-fish-formula-with-salmon-mackerel-pollock-whitefish-tuna/

Just make sure any grain free kibbles you feed are under 20% in Legumes or are Legume free.. Until FDA finds out why Lemuges is blocking Taurine….

[Lauren H]

Hello,

My dog, Tarzan, a 6 yr old 75 lbs lab mix was just diagnosed with Addison’s disease last week. I had been noticing signs of a decline in energy and overall health with him for the past year. I switched to raw 6 months ago hoping that would help. He did improve for awhile but he later declined in overall health and energy after a few months. Luckily we found the cause and he is acting like a puppy again! So happy to have my boy back.

I’d like to continue to feed him raw as I believe it does a better job keeping him properly hydrated and feel like it is the healthiest diet for him. My vet believes in a raw food diet but he thinks the food should come from a trusted dog food company that has been specifically processed for dogs to eat raw. Previously, I’ve been feeding my dogs based off of the prey model and adding about a tbsp of veggies to their meals. Sometimes, I’d even feed Tarzan whole rabbits, fur and all, which he happily ate, no problem. My vet doesn’t think this is a good idea to buy whole rabbits or to buy my food from a grocery store even though I buy high quality, organic, grass fed or pature raised meat. He’s worried that since my dog has a weakened immune system that his body might not be able to handful the potentially harmful bacteria that resides on grocery store raw meat.

I’m really not sure what to think. I want to do the best thing for my boy but there is so much conflicting information out there. Does anyone have experience feeding raw to a dog with Addison’s? Do you worry about their immune systems not being able to process all the bacteria that an average dog would have no problem with? How much veggies do you like to add?

Currently I’m buying either vital essentials or small batch prey model patties or chub and adding Sojos premix, about 2-3 tbsp per meal. He also gets turmeric, green mussel and fish oil each meal as well. This has become quite expensive and I’m not sure how long my husband will allow this to carry on….I could be spending half the amount I am now if I could go back to feeding him the whole rabbits, grocery store meat and fish.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jack R]

I have a 14 year old dog that caught kennel cough last summer. It seemed to pass within a few days, and all the other dogs are 100% recovered. Except for slowing down a little, he was fine over the winter, but since the start of summer, he’s had ongoing respiratory problems. It started with a URI in early June, which was treated with antibiotics without much improvement. That led the Vet to believe it could have been fungal in origin, but the antifungal meds made him very sick, so we were forced to discontinue it. I was given Veterinary permission to try echinacea as a last resort, which helped more than I expected it would. I started cooking for him too, but had to stop that because for some reason, he urinates rivers and was leaking urine in the house on a homemade diet – his kidney values were normal, btw. So he’s back on Purina and still hasn’t shaken off this infection 100%.

Now, I was recently told by another dog owner who thinks she Knows Everything that food is to blame and only expensive kibble with probiotics would cure him. I thought maybe the probiotics and “extras” might be a help in this instance, considering he’s old and his immune system seems to be run down. I started looking at dry food with pre/probiotics added, and realized two things.

First, many of the probiotics are not beneficial bacteria but aspergillus niger, which I know can balance out intestinal flora, but is essentially giving the dog black mold. Incidentally, the Vet believes the dog initially got sick in the first place not from kennel cough, but from eating sticks and grass growing in a section of my yard that became contaminated with green/black mold after a neighbor’s sick tree dropped mold spores on my property. This is a common cause of blastomycosis, in fact, which my dog was checked for. I can’t understand how giving fungus to a dog with a system overrun with it could ever be beneficial. I would even think it dangerous to give on a long term basis, lest an overgrowth ever occur. Secondly, I realized after looking through at least a dozen foods that every time one or more of my dogs had a noticeable change in temperament after a food switch (this occurred on three different brands over the years), it happened to be one that included pre or probiotics. Could there have possibly been a connection?

So my long winded way of asking a question is could a food change help a dog battling chronic systemic fungal infection, and would one with probiotics help or hurt this condition? Thanks!

[Susan]

Hi,
I would look for a limited ingredient single protein dry kibble, this Victor Active has 4 meats, excellent for a dog who has a healthy Intestinal tract..
My boy has IBD I had to start with a vet diet, then once we found a vet diet that agreed with him & firmed his poos & was doing 2 small firm poos a day “Eukanuba Intestinal” Low Residue formula he had to stay on Eukanuba Intestinal vet diet for 6-12months to strengthen his immune system (Gut), then after 9months, I started trying a new dry kibble but it had to have 1 single meat, limited ingredient kibble & he finally did well on Taste Of The Wild Pacific Stream, Smoked Salmon but in Australia our some of our TOTW formula’s do NOT have any Peas, Lentils Chickpeas like the America TOTW, we still get the old TOTW formula’s.. he did really well on the peas free TOTW Pacific Stream Salmon formula except he started vomiting back up the dry kibble, now I’ve learnt to stay away from any fish kibbles as they are higher in Contaminates & Toxins, I changed him over to the TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb formula it just has Lamb as meat protein & he did really well, no skin problems & firm poo’s, then I started introducing other foods in his diet so he’d get use to different ingredients, I even went thru a Animal Nutritionist & put him on a raw elimination diet, Kangarro & blended veggies, his poos were beautiful BUT he kept regurgitating back up water & some digested raw, then he was getting bad acid reflux & after regurgitating the raw the acid burnt esophagus so I put him back on dry food & started to cook the raw diet & feed it for Lunch & feed 4 smaller meals thru the day..

I would take baby steps, you will know once she has stopped taken all her meds…
Why does your 4-5 month old pup have UTI’s, she is so young?? also the pancreas test, you’d know if she had Pancreas problems, she’d be vomiting sometimes, eating grass & having pancreas pain & maybe sloppy poo’s, but her Pancreas would young & healthy??
I really think she is too young to be having problems with her Pancreas??..
What colour are her poos?? if her poos are yellow, smelly & sloppy look into Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth, S.I.B.O……while she was taking Metronidazole (Flagyl) were her poos better? sometimes they need to take the Metronidazole for 21-28 days to kill any bad bacteria in stomach/small bowel.. this is what Patch ended up having SIBO & Helicobacter-Pylori, it took a few years to get everything healthy aagain, now I can feed him any foods as long as he’s not sensitive to those ingredients, he does well on Chicken for stomach & bowel BUT not for his skin, he gets red yeasty paws & red skin around his mouth after he eats Chicken, Barley, Oats, Tapioca, Corn & cooked Carrots make his ears itchy…

If you can afford a vet diet that’s where I’d start, as Intestinal Vet diets have FOS, MOS, Inulin, Vitamin B, Beet Pulp, everything to help make the Intestinal Tract healthy, then once she is stable on a vet diet for at least 6 months then start her on a premium dog food that only has 1 meat protein & a few carbs..but slowly start introducing over 2 week period if you see her poos going sloppy while introducing new food, then stop new food & go back a few steps & stay on what she was doing firm poos on & keep a diary write everything down, food, ingredients, flea med, worm meds etc just in case you needs to remember certain things….I wouldnt give her any of those Flea chews yet, just use the spot on flea repellents for now till you work out her stomach bowel problem, just in case she has a very sensitive stomach/bowel, I just read a post on a Staffy f/b group, the lady gave her dog a Bravecto chew will the vet gave her dog the Bravecto chew & he’s been in vet hospital on a drip now for 1 week, dont ever vaccinate, worm & give flea chews all at the same time some vets do this on vet visits I know teh rescue vets do this & some dog can not cope always leave 1-2 weeks inbetween meds vaccination & flea repellents etc
How much does the bag of kibble say to feed her for the weight of your pup? maybe feed 3 smaller meals a day, thats what your suppose to feed a puppy 3 meals a day then they go to the 2 larger meals as they are older.. also have you tried boiled chicken or turkey breast & some boiled potato or try boil rice & see are her poos firm?? maybe for lunch over weekend try a small cooked meal, or a wet can vet diet the Royal Canine Intestinal low fiber is really good, some vet diets are formulated for growning pups your vet will know which ones Im pretty sure the Hills I/D Digestive Care wet & dry is formulataed for growing pups this way you”ll see does she do firm poos over a 2 week period? or try the single meat limited carbs next & see if poos are sloppy then try a vet diet.. Keep us informed with what happens with Zanya’s health….

[MJ E]

we got a foster dog (basset, clumber, cocker mix?) from a rescue that erupts in hundreds of pimples that turn into spots that are like quarter size patches of dried peanut butter that grow into huge weepy raw spots. Thousands of dollars later, no answers. His first allergy tests showed about twenty allergens including foods and environmental. Two years later a second test showed almost completely different results. A bazillion treatments later, nothing has worked to slow it down better than baths. He does not seem very itchy, and the sores do not seems to hurt. It starts at various parts of his body and does not go away until it has traveled all over his body, with the first affected areas healing spontaneously but with horrible dandruff as it goes. After it has covered his entire body, it goes away for a few months, then whammo. We keep him shaved. We have tried three vets, tried everything they recommended to no avail. No one has seen it before. No fleas. He is a happy camper, the horrible condition does not seem to phase him. 15 different foods, booties in the grass, nothing changes it, it is never worse or better. Tried vinegar, probiotics, fish oil, selsun blue. Nothing changes. When he is well he has no skin issues. Rescue tried to put him down so we adopted. Going broke, help.

• This topic was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by MJ E.
• This topic was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by MJ E.

[Ryan K]

Thank you again everyone!

I had a rough night with him. I gave him too much of the science diet sensitive stomach and skin and he spent the whole morning crazily scarfing Down weeds like a maniac and attempting to hack them up. I should have also mentioned in previous messages here that my vet suspects possible tracheal collapse in him. He has hacked a lot since he was about 6+. It’s just gotten worse in the last year or so. I gave him a Pepcid and it seemed so kind of settle his crazy grass/weed eating. I didn’t see him actually vomit though. I am just a bit confused as to how to feed him kibble now since he truly hasn’t been on any REGULAR kibble diet in months. So, would I just do the bland diet of boiled chicken and rice and then gradually add kibble in small amounts? I keep making things worse for him with this insane kibble swapping. I need to settle on one TODAY! Very frustrating.

[Saundra H]

Hi, Patricia. My dogs never actually get sick, they just eat grass to calm their stomachs. So I think it is more of a sour stomach than an actual upset stomach. They are basset hounds and produce a lot of bile on empty stomachs so they are fed 3 times a day. I returned the Arcana and am going to transition them over to Merrick Grain Free Chicken and Sweet potato. I was telling my ex-husband about the temp requirements of 50 – 70° and he said in all his over 2,500,000 miles of driving semi delivering cross country he has never seen dog food delivered in a climate controlled truck. That there is no way it would be delivered in the summer and meet the 70° requirement. I voiced my concerns to Champion but they were not able to offer any assurances that these temperature requirements are being met.

[Patricia A]

When my dogs start eating grass it is always followed by vomiting and then not wanting to eat the food. Then it’s a vicious cycle of empty stomach and vomiting bile. I would say the switch but since it’s been months they are used to the food. Maybe in the long run its’ too rich for them? Maybe it’s time for some boiled chicken and rice to get their stomach healed and then slowly introduce the food again. I know I can take back any food at my pet supplies store and they give me full credit. Maybe you can buy a smaller bag and try to introduce the food again just in case it did go rancid. If the grass eating starts again maybe a new food search is warranted.

[Susan]

Hi Robert,
have you tried any puppy formula’s that have 1 single meat protein & Sweet potatoes or Potatoes, also adding boiled pumkin to his meals & see does he need a higher fiber diet?add 1 spoon of boiled pumkin to his next meal & see how he goes…
Pumkin can be boiled then frozen, it freezes ok same as sweet potato..
Potatoes & Sweet Potato seem to help dogs with gastro problems..

“Natural Balance” LID Potato & Duck Puppy formula, fiber is 4%
or there’s N/B Potato & Duck Adult & fiber is lower at -3%
https://www.chewy.com/natural-balance-lid-limited/dp/126515

or try the N/B LID Sweet Potato & Fish formula fiber is 5%, pea free, chickpea free..
You have to read all the Natural balances LID formula’s ingredients as they all vary

or try the “American Journey Limited ingredient Lamb & Sweet Potato formula, the fiber is 7%, the peas are 4th ingredient instead of being 2nd or 3rd ingredient like the other American Journey LTD formula’s are.
Here’s the American Journey LTD ALS Lamb & sweet Potato link.
https://www.chewy.com/american-journey-limited-ingredient/dp/148425

The Hills I/d prescription formula you’re feeding now is low in fiber 1.7% so maybe try a higher fiber diet……
also you need to find out WHY this happening? what does the vet say??
he’s young so he cant have IBD yet but if he continues with his diarrhea & sloppy poos he will end up with thickening of the bowel, when I got my boy he was a rescue & 4yrs old so I’d say someone just kept feeding him the cheap food that irritated his bowel & casued his IBD he has now… the Eukanuba Intestinal Low Residue dry vet diet formula was to only vet diet that ended up working for my boy, its low in fiber, my boy doesnt do well on high fiber diets….

Take back the Hills I/d Digestive Care vet diet that isnt helping him, vets diets are money back guaranteed & ask vet nurse can you try either the Royal Canine Gastrointestinal Puppy formula or Gastrointestinal Fiber response the fiber is 12%
Have you tried the Purina FortiFloria probiotic?? strengthen his gut?

Also reassure him when he is stressing out, tell him it’s OK, calm down down & stroke him & calmly speak, settle him down, also he may need to start gaining confidence, he may have low confidence, I rescued a dog she had very low confidents she had to go to puppy school & learn how to met other dogs etc…also never get cranky with him if he has an accident in house etc, whoever owned my boy must of belted him as he is so paranoid about pooing, it has taken me 4 yrs & Patch now FINALLY poos on grass BUT only if he knows he’s doing a firm poo, if he knows his poos is going to be very sloppy he wont poo on grass he holds it until he finds a bush or somewhere he can hide his poo.. I’ve reassured him & told him it’s OK Patch but he still starts to panic if he’s going to have diarrhea, as soon as he does do his sloppy poo or diarraha I praise him & tell him GOOD BOOOOY, you got it out, that after he has ran & looked & looked & panic stressed himself out, Im just relieved he fianally did his diarrhea lol
Here’s Royal Canine Digestive foods see which one is different to the Hills I/d formula he’s eating now, there’s also a Gastro Intestinal Kit

https://www.royalcanin.com/products/vet/digestive-support
keep me up dated what happened?

[Saundra H]

I switched my dogs over to Acana Regionals Meadowlands a few months ago. They responded very well, their coats have never looked so good. However I noticed that they started eating grass, not after each meal but often enough to know it was not normal. I cut out all other foods/treats and only gave them the Acana and the grass eating continues. I checked the Champion Foods website and recommended storage for their dog food is “the best storage is in your home in a cool, dry place with a temperature maintained between 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit.” I made a mistake and left two bags in the back of my SUV in the barn for the past 4 days with temps in the 90’s. So I messaged Champion on Facebook to see if this was a concern. Here is their reply “High temperatures can negatively impact the nutritional integrity of our foods. It is difficult to say whether your bag of ACANA Meadowland would still be okay to feed. Depending on how warm the bags got while in your car, it could cause digestive upset.” So my concern is how this food is transported and how it is stored in my local store. I know that there is no place in my house that is between 50 – 70°. My air is set on 75°. And I am quite sure that the local pet store does not set their air that low either. So are my dog’s having intestinal distress because Acana food needs to stay below 70°? I am waiting for a call back from their customer service.

[Michiel N]

How about Earthblend? Seems like a great food. If it doesn’t meet your criteria can you tell me if it would be a good food for our Bullmastiff puppy. We’ve been feeding her Victor Hero with Chondroitin/Glucosamine but her stools are very soft. Thanks for any input.
Here’s a list of their ingredients from there website:
Earthblend Super Premium Natural Dog Food™
Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Oatmeal, Barley, Millet, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Fish Meal, Beet Pulp, Carrots, Peas, Sweet Potato, Natural Flavor, Sun Cured Alfalfa, Brewers Yeast, Dried Kelp, Flaxseed Oil, Potassium Chloride, Blueberries, Cranberries, Spinach, Pumpkin, Broccoli, Choline Chloride, Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid], Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Mangenese Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide), Fennel Seed, Parsley, Garlic, Barley Grass, Thyme, Burdock Root, Red Clover, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Beta Carotene, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, Dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, Dried Bacilillus subtilis fermentation extract, and Rosemary Extract

[Joelle V]

A bit of trial and error, and making sure your dog is not eating grass or mulch or dirt! I am using First Mate fish based canned dog food with Fortiflora on top, and Thorne Baccillus Coagulans capsule with each meal, twice daily. My Portuguese Water Dog has an extremely sensitive stomach. Good luck!

[Susan]

Hi Baileys Mom,
Join this face book group, link below, 2 Dermatologist frequent this group + 1 of the Admins dog suffers with Yeast, her dog is allergic to her own yeast, it’s rare but it happens… https://www.facebook.com/groups/240043826044760/
As they age their allergies get worse… Are you seeing a Dermatologist?

My boy also gets yeasty paws, red around mouth & yeasty smelly skin but only when he eats certain ingredients he is sensitive too & when he walks on grass & wet grass..
He suffers with Food Sensitivities, Seasonal Environment Allergies & IBD, this last Summer has been his WORST Summer he has ever had in the 5 yrs I’ve owned him.
I live Australia & we did not have a Autunm this year, it went from hot Summer straight to cold Winter, my vet also said she is seeing heaps more dogs suffering with Environment Allergies last Summer 2017-2018….. Cause of climate change & our Summers are getting hotter & hotter, animals, plants etc are all suffering…

Make sure when you cook or do a raw diet it’s balanced properly & is high in Omega 3 oils, as Omega 3 is Neutral anti-inflammatory. Here’s “Balance It” site, https://secure.balanceit.com/

*also have you tried “Rayne Canada” vet diets? http://www.raynecanada.ca/canine-diets/
Ranye has Kangaroo, Crocodile & Rabbit formula’s, ingredients in Rayne formula’s seem a bit better
….also did you try the TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb that’s what Patch ended up doing really good on for 2 yrs then he became very unwell last Novemeber after I moved he stopped eating his TOTW… listen to your dog if he doesnt want to eat something, dont feed it, return the food & get a refund….We have just had a heap of dogs die & get Megaesophagus in Australia from the Advance Dermocare formula.. Test that were done found very high in toxins, everyone is still waiting for test results…the poor Police dogs are feed the Advance Dermocare or Advance dog foods..
Patch never did well on the Australian prescription vet diets for his skin, they would clear up his skin problem but not his red paws & then he’d start reacting with his IBD cause the fat was too high.. One good thing the Skin Vet Diets are very high in Omega oils, but this upset Patches stomach, he gets bad acid reflux, I wonder if that’s why Bailey is feeling yuk & miserable..being a Shih Tzu mix, they can suffer from Pancreatitis, so be careful with high fat diets, we don’t realise cause we just want them to stop their itching & scratching it drives me nuts so imagine the poor dog feeling so itchy 24/7..

I use “Sudocrem” on Patches paws & around his mouth & anywhereon his skin that’s red, Sudocem is a anti-fungal, anti-bacterial healing cream for Dermatitis, Eczema, Nappy Rash, Pressure Sores, I apply every night before bed so he has a good sleep & in morning on his paws before he goes outside for his walk, the Sudocrem is a thick cream & also protects their skin & paws from allergens.

Also “Canine Skin Solutions” on FaceBook is Dr Karen Helton Rhodes, DVM, DACVD & Dr Terri Bonenberger, DVM, DACVD both are Veterinary Dermatologists. Good site with true information..
https://www.facebook.com/CanineSkinSolutionsInc/

* Here’s their “Facts & Myths about Yeast Dematitis in dog”s..
http://www.healthyskin4dogs.com/blog/2015/9/8/facts-myths-about-yeast-dermatitis-in-dogs

There’s alot of bad information on the internet about why dogs get yeasty, smelly, itchy skin, ears, paws etc potaoes, high carb starchy foods, high sugar diets are suppose to cause yeasty smelly dogs….Not true… its only when your dog is sensitive to certain ingredients they will get yeasty itchy smelly skin, ears, paws…. Patch can’t eat rice, oats, barley, tapioca causes red itchy paws & smelly yeasty skin, bad farts sloppy poos & carrots cause very itchy ears & he shakes & shakes his head/ears..

The only way 100% to find out what foods Bailey is sensitive too is to start a food elimination diet BUT cause he probably has environment allergies as well it’s hard cause you might feed him say rice & then he starts scratching 20mins after he has eaten the rice or new ingredient your testing but he might be re acting to tree or flower pollen from outside in garden?, so I always recommend you do your food elimination diet is the cooler months, Winter when allergens aren’t as high, as they are in Spring & Summer months…
Patch is at his worst every March just when Summer has finished also keep a diary & you will work out what months seem to be the worst for Bailey. Patches vet said she sees Patch every March when his IBD flares up really bad cause his immune system goes into over drive & Patches IBD flare up really bad also high potency Vitamin C is good, also probiotic to strengthen the immune system… Prednisone is a bandaid as soon as you stop giving the Prednisone the itchy skin all comes back…. have you tried Cytopoint injections yet? this is why it’s best to join the “Dog Allergies, Issues & other information support group” right up the top is their link…

[Susan]

Hi Pennelope,
I use to have a Boxer her name was Angie, she was a white Boxer with a tan Patch over her left eye, she was the most beautiful dog I’ve ever owned, a real lady she was, so gentle, now I have a 9yr old English Staffy another rescue pound dog, he’s very friendly has to talk to everyone when we go out & has to tell people when he has his sore stomach, he starts whinging then he lifts his right paw up so they rub his stomach, where Angie, she kept to herself when we’d go out….
My boy has IBD-(Stomach, Acid Reflux, 20mins after eating meal food/water comes back up into mouth, his Sphincter flap in Esophagus doesn’t close), Food Sensitivies & Environment Allergies…
Last Summer I thought he had EOE (eosinophilic esophagitis) vet did Endoscope + Biopsies & said no to the EOE.

Salvia, Fur & Blood testing gives false positives, the only true way to know what foods your dog is sensitive too is to do a food elimination diet or feed a Hypoallergenic vet diet, after eating vet diet for 6-8weeks & your dog is doing well, not reacting, then you start adding 1 new food to his diet for 6 weeks to see does he react, if he reacts stop the new food, start keeping a diary & write down everything…

There’s a few Canine ME groups on facebook, you’ll met alot of pet parents who are going thru what you’re going thru everyday….

This year I started feeding my boy “Wellness Core” Large Breed, Patch seemed to be reacting to everything last Summer, Patch also takes a Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) started taking 20mg Pantoprazole (PPI) in March this year after I nilly put him to sleep, 2 yrs ago he started taking Omeprazole (Losec) & he did really well, he stop burping & stopped food coming up & stopped his acid reflux, then around Xmas 2017 Patch went down hill after we moved, his vet said his allergies are really bad making his immune system go into over drive causing him to have a IBD flare, it was awful watching this once happy go lucky dog go down hill so quickly, he just gave up, his food just kept coming up he can not eat any wet wet foods, only dry kibble seems to stay down the best, I feed him 5 smaller meals a day, 7am & 9am-1/2 a cup kibble both times, 12pm – a wet vet diet Royal Canine, Gastrointestinal Low Fat, 1/3 of the can or Hills I/d Digestive Care, Chicken, Vegetables & Rice Stew a small can, I have to remove all the carrots & boiled rice, Patch can’t eat carrots he starts getting itchy ears & shakes his head & scratches his ears & the boiled rice goes thru Patch, boiled rice irritates his bowel, he gets rumbling, grumbling loud noises whe he eats boiled rice…5pm- 1/2 a cup kibble & 8pm-1/3 cup kibble..
I have found Sweet Potatoes & Boiled Potatoes are excellent with Patch also alot of dogs with ME & IBD do really well on boiled potatoes/sweet potatoes or a dry kibble that has potatoes/sweet potatoes…
I wouldn’t put all ur eggs in 1 backet with the allergy test your dog has had done, what ingredients was he he eating when he got this test??
My vet said normally the ingredients the dogs are eating at teh time of theses allergy test will come up high, when I asked for a blood test years ago, she wouldnt do it, she said, I’m not wastiing your money & said we’ll started Patch on the “Royal Canine” Tapioca & Duck vet diet its gluten free or she said, cook him lean turkey mince & boiled potatoes & start the elimination diet…
Have a look at “Natural Balance”LTD Sweet Potato & Bison or Sweet Potato & Fish” or
“Wellness Simple” Salmon & Potatoes but I think all Wellness grain free dog foods have peas??
This is where you’ll need to start a proper food elimination diet & test the ingredients that the allergy test said your dog is sensitive too.. most grainfree pet food have peas & the grain kibbles normally have rice, so the only option is to feed a vet diet, look at “Royal Canine Select Proteins” PR-Potato & Rabbit wet & dry formula’s or there’s PW, Potato & Salmon aswell, or Hills has their Z/d or Potato & Duck or Potato & Venison formula’s or look at the “Ranye Canada” vet diets http://www.raynecanada.ca/canine-diets/
Rayne has Kangaroo, Crocodile & Rabbit wet & dry formula’s but you’ll have to be careful with the fat, it needs to be low/med, carbs need to be low & protein high….
The Royal Canine Select Protein vet formula’s may be the best to start your dog on.. he doesn’t have to stay on them long term, just till you work out what foods he can & can’t eat, it can take 20mins, 1 day up to 6 weeks for a dog to show symptoms & react to a certain food ingredients.. Takes Patch 20mins after eating a food he’s sensitive too & react, his paws go red & hot,
For his environment allergies, it’s best to bath them twice a week or weekly, to wash off any allergens on skin & paws, I use “Sudocrem” cream, it’s a Anti-Fungal, Anti-Bacterial Healing thick white cream for Dermatitis, Eczema, Nappy Rash, Pressure Sores etc, it stops itchy skin, reddness, yeast, every night before bed I check Patches whole body & I apply the Sudocrem or Cortisone 1% cream when his paws are really red, this normally happens after we have had rain for a few days & he walks on wet grass or the wet morning dew on grass of a morning, Ialso use teh Huggie Baby Coconut baby wipes & wipe Patch down after we have gone for a walk or he’s been outside & I dont want to bath him after he has rolled & rub his whole body on the grass..
Once you get into a routine, routine makes life easier.. plus dogs love a routine they feel safe & stable…
If your on face book put “Megaesophagus Canine groups” in Search bar, I’ll probably see you over there..

[Susan]

Hi emmygirl,
sorry my post is so long but as I’m writing I’m remember heaps of information & what I did with Patch….
You have written everything I have been thru with my IBD boy Patch who is nilly 10yrs old, I nilly put him to sleep in January, instead we did another Endoscope-Biopsies on esophagus & stomach, I thought he had stomach cancer…
Find a vet that does Endoscope + Biopsies & a vet that knows about IBD, you must get the biopsies done if you ever do Endoscope, some vets dont think to do the biopsies when looking at the stomach & small bowel, these vets are lacking experience in IBD, Patches stomach looks perfect when he had his 2 Endoscopes but his the biopsies told a different story. Biopsies tell the vet so much information what is wrong with your boy intestinal tract….Ultra scan was a waste of money, you cant really see the stomach & the vet can see the bowel but only if the bowel is thickening, vets thought Patch had thickening of the Bowel but he didnt, this happens after the dog has diarrhea for years, I wouldnt like to be a vet, 1 dogs cant talk & tell the vet were is sore what hurts etc, so vets have to do alot guessing sometimes when test come back OK.

*Food
Over the years my good vet told me to keep a yearly diary, cause you cant rememeber every single thing you’ve done & they have done.. now I look back thru Patches diaries when I need to remember what was Patch eating when he was doing so much better, write what your feeding, times, meds, what were poos like when he’s eating ?? etc
Is he doing OK when he’s eating the cooked Turkey, Squash & Oatmeal, how are his poos? one of Patches first vets told me in the beginning, to look & see when dog is pooing, does the poo come out of bum properly formed poo?, then when it hits the ground it turns to slop cow patty poo? the vet said this is OK as long as poo’s are formed when its coming out of the bum & as long as the dog is just doing his normal 1-3 poos a day & is not pooing at all thru day & night at all hours, vet said to me this might be as good as your going to get Patches poos, he was eating the Royal Canine Hypoallergeniic dry kibble… but I ended up getting Patches poos firmer when he started teh TOTW kibble & I ended up trying the Royal Canine Hypoallergenic wet can food last year it was better then the dry R/C HP kibble, then after trying all the Intestinal vet diets Hills, Royal Canine & Eukanuba Intestinal Low Residue worked the best but Patch skin was yeasty itchy & smelt bad then after joining the Canine EPI f/b group dogs were doing really well on TOTW or the Kirkland Signature, Natures Domain, Turkey & Sweet potato & Salmon & Sweet potato formula’s so I started Patch on TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb & the Pacific Stream Salmon but teh Pacific Stream Salmon made him vomit he does firm poos but kept vomiting up the TOTW Smoked Salmon later I seen TOTW Pacific Stream Salmon is very high in toxins & another 2 fish formula’s brands Patch kept vomiting are very high in Toxins after being tested, then 3 yrs later Patch refused to eat his TOTW Roasted Lamb kibble, something had changed with TOTW kibble it smelt different, looked different & kibble size became very small….so now it makes me wonder if these kibbles are high in contaminates & toxins making my boy IBD have a flare??? thats why its best to cook their meals or find a really good dog dehydrated dog food that uses human grade ingredients.. as Patch has gotten older his acid reflux has gotten worse so he cant eat kibbles that are over 15% in fat now..
loow for lower fat around 10-13%-fat & low carb diet higher protein

Have you tried adding scramble egg with his meal? also the egg shell dry it out & crush & add 1 egg shell 1 teaspoon egg shell to one of his meals a day for his calcium, slowly start adding the egg shell if you fed home cooked diet……..Patch cant eat any kibbles that have fish or salmon oil in them he gets bad acid reflux from the fish oil also the fiber is very low in those Farmina vet kibbles 1.10% -fiber…Patch would be doing sloppy cow patties eating the Farmine vet diets that are very low in fiber..

When I read your post about your dog can’t eat most ingredients I knew its more then just the ingredients he is reacting too, sometimes it’s not the ingredients they cant eat, it reminded me of Patch when I first rescued him, he does have food sensitivities that I worked out BUT later I worked out there’s In-soluble Fiber, Soluble Fiber, Crude Fiber & Dietary Fiber, dogs with IBD need to work out what fibers agree with them & there isnt that perfect dry kibble diet for our dogs even vet diets dont help Patch or if a vet diet did help Patches IBD he gets his itchy smelly yeasty skin paws & ears.

Have you tried Royal “Canine Gastro Intestinal Low Fat” wet can food??? I bought a 12 can pack last week I had credit from a pet store I had forgotten about & at Lunch time if I think Patch doesnt seem well I open a can of R/C Gastro low fat & I take out the meat loaf from the can as it has heap of oil in the can so I pat dry the loaf with paper towel then I cut into 1/3 & he gets 1/3 of a can & I put the rest in bowl cling wrap bowl & put in fridge Patch does firm poos on the R/C Gastro Low Fat wet can & 5 yrs ago when he ate the R/C Gastro Low Fat he had diarrhea, so sometimes you have to re try foods or wet can or kibbles again cause sometimes its not the ingredients they are reacting too… its something else wrong either their small bowel or large bowel in the beginning it was Patches small bowel S.I.B.O now its his large bowel….
I would start the B-12 weekly injection ASAP you can buy & do yourself, if you join “EPI” Canine face book group they can help & tell you which B-12 tablets to get from chemist & where to buy the B-12 liquid for injections, you can never over dose your dog with B-12′, if they’re feeling crap or have had diarrhea the B-12 can really help them feel heaps better, alot of the EPI dogs take B-12 injections or tablets, I was going to get the tablets for Patch as B-12 is good for them & us humans when we are run down & unwell…..

Try & work out does your boy do better when you cook & add pumkin a soluble fiber soluble fiber is very easy to digest & dissolves in water or does he do better eating Lentils & Chickpeas they’re Insoluble fiber & Soluble fiber food? My boy doesn’t do well on Lentils or Chickpeas he gets instead dirrahea that night if he has ate a kibble with lentils..
google foods that are soluble fiber & foods that are insoluble fibers?

Try & stay feeding the home cooked diet or try a limited ingredient Freeze Dried raw if you I’m slowly introducing a new freeze dried dehydrated raw free range diet we have in Australia called “Frontier Pets” they’re small balls & you add warm water, so many dogs that can’t eat & have IBD symptoms are doing really well on this free range, dehydrated Frontier Pets dog food, it has no lentils, no chickpeas like most of these new grain free foods have now & my Patch is doing firmer poos then what he does when he’s just eating his Wellness Kibble…
I have to feed my boy dry kibble for some of his meals cause his sphincter flap isnt closing now & his food comes back up his esophagus into his mouth causing bad acid reflux, then sometimes the acid goes into his wind pipe & he becomes so unwell, cries, whinges, its awful to watch him when he becames so unwell, I wanted to put him down in January out of his pain, these last 5-6 yrs Ive tried everything & something always seem to work, I had him on Taste Of The Wild, Sierra Mountain, Roasted Lamb the Australian formula, has no chickpeas or lentils like the American TOTW formula’s have…. I could always fall back onto his TOTW if he started to do cow patty poos again when I was rotating his kibbles his vet said cow paddy poos is the large bowel where yellow sloppy poos is a small bowel problem but when he stopped eating it in December I had no kibbles that I knew worked & didnt iratate his IBD, his vet said please wait 1-2 months before we put Patch to sleep, his environment allergies are real bad at the moment & have put his immune system into over drive, we had just moved as well, so I didnt put him to sleep plus I couldnt do it, I just wanted more help, I wanted a miracle but vets cant always help the dog sometimes no matter how good my vet is, she always tells me Patch is her favorite & she always thinks & wonders how is he going when she doesnt see us but she said she knows he must be doing better cause I havent come…
Have you tried Metronidazole (Flagyl) tablets when he become unwell with vomiting & diarrhea/sloppy poo’s, I have Metronidazole in the cupboard with repeat scripts so I can just go chemist & get them out if I need them saving at $60 vet visit & as soon as I see he’s becoming unwell doing sloppy poos, vomiting or when Im introducing a new food, I put him on the Metronidazole for 14-21 days it helps him, Metronidazole has an anti inflammatory & antibiotic in it, so it helps a few health problems…
With a dry kibble, I’m feeding Wellness Core Large Breed at the moment even though Patch isnt a large breed dog, he’s a senior & when I email Wellness they said yes their Large Breed formula’s are OK to feed a senior dogs, they are high Glucosamine & Chondroitin for their joints & high in DHA, Patch is small to medium English Staffy weights about 40lb -18kgs, the Wellness Core Large Breed formula is high protein-34%, Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, then potatoes, peas, Patch can’t eat chicken he gets red paws but I had no other kibbles left to feed him & the man at Pet Barn said, if anything happens just bring it back all dogs food are money back Guaranteed, I got the 5,4kg bag 1/2 price $40 so I tried it, Patches paws went red but his stomach became better, he had no acid reflux, poos firmed up not 100% firm in the beginning but better then when he was eating a kibble that had grains, I can pick his poos up now on our walk & not leave a poo stamp on the grass, Wellness Core Large Breed is low-med fat-13%max, low Kcals-345 per cup, carbohydrates are 31% you must read the Kcals per cup when looking for a kibble, stay under 360Kcals per cup the higher the Kcals the more dense the food & harder to digest…
also have you tried giving your boy a acid reducer? Patch was taking Losec-(Omeprazole) for 2 yrs then this year I change it to Somac (Pantoprazole) what i take & he stopped eating grass everyday so he mustnt feel sick as much now, sometimes you have to do things yourself when you know in your heart what the vet is doing & advising you isnt helping your dog, & I saw my vet & she now wrote me repeat scripts so I can get the Pantopraozole from chemist cause the vets dont have Pantoprazole in Australia, Pantoprazole is used by American vets… but know if my vet & Patches other vet that does his Endoscopes & Biopsies see a dog like PAtch & cant work out what to do with the dogs bad acid reflux they can rememeber what we did with Patch & touch wood he seems to be getting better he has some bad days but I have his acid reflux under control no & I really want him on this Dehyrated free range, grain free food..
Try the new food just for 1 of his meals, thats what I do now, I feed new food for his lunch 12pm this way Patch has his kibble from breakfast 7am in stomach & small bowel then he eats something different for lunch a small meal then he gets his dinner 5pm kibble again & it seems to work for Patch when Im introducing a new food he gets it at luch time cause you can’t mix kibble & dehydrated raw wet food with a dry kibble, it would probably upset Patches stomach & the Holistic Vet Kathy that help formulate this new Frontier Pets dehydrated raw dog food droped off Patches new food + some samples to try & she said take baby steps, it took 1 of her patient dogs Bernie 6 months to get him onto the Frontier Pets, he was doing well then when down hill but yiou just restart again she said search for “Frontier Pets” on facebook & scroll down, look for Bernies Story” Italian Greyhound story, it will give you some hope…

[Lindsey T]

Updating and hoping for more experience and advice.
We completely transtioned to the Science diet I/d (please spare me the “its trash food-its temporary to fix the digestive issues). He has been on it 2 days and still very soft stools. It comes out formed, but I cant scoop it off the grass without keaving a mess. When I contacted the vet about it he suggested giving it a couple more days to see if he adjusts and show improvement. If he doesnt, he said he wants to do a 10 day course of panacur and tylan (an antibiotic I believe) in case there is giardia or any other worms or parasites that the fecal just isnt picking up. He is continuing to gain weight throigh all of this, so that makes me feel a little better. But soft stools so often just makes me think things are not right, so trying hard to get to the bottom of all of this.

His poop has never been watery or bloody, and the fecals are only showing a slightly eleveated bacteria count despite the flagyl treatment we just finished.

Just looking for more direction on what more we can try, or what to ask the vet about. Vet still thinks this is food related which is why he wants to give the gi care food a bit more time. I’m just impatient since we have been dealing with loose poops for 3 weeks now

[Ann R]

Hello everyone…. YES stop the awful food now!
I gave the food to my Brussels Griffon thinking it was a much better food out there but since dog food isn’t regulated it just has less of all the crap that will eventually make our dogs sick!
My dog has always been a good eater, extremely healthy but noticed he was showing signs of being poisoned so I changed his food to the Rachel Ray Nutrish and after a year or so my dog ended up looking like he had been poisoned again! I live in a great community so no my neighbors would never try to poison my dog! I also added a rescue dog and noticed that she will not eat the dog food anymore as in the beginning she was but its obvious to her that it’s harmful food to her! They both have had upset stomachs with eating grass outside trying to find comfort! Then my Brussels Griffon threw up all blood all one night, lethargic, weak, with black tarry poop for two days! I have put him on a rice chicken diet and has recovered and is back to himself! Thank God I caught it again for the second time! It’s extremely sad to me to see so many pets have died over this awful issue! Our fur babies food should be regulated!!!!! I wish we could sue all these companies and shut them down!

[anonymous]

“We were considering going back and pursuing a request for a dermatologist, or at least restarting the Cytopoint injections”.

Sounds good. Best of luck

PS: The grass eating may be related to his environmental allergies. Environmental allergies can also play havoc with the gastrointestinal system. He is probably eating the grass in an attempt to alleviate an upset stomach, nausea and such.
Also, most supplements are a waste of money.
Regarding that solid gold supplement, did you read the ingredients?
A fish oil capsule would do the same thing (check with your vet first)

[Charles B]

Wow my spelling was horrible in my first post… Blame my phone.

Anyway, Tex has always been a grass eater. And he has a stomach of steel. We don’t believe he has stomach upset. Ive treid giving him some doggie supplements to help regulate him, but saw no change at all. We actually just tried the SeaMeal from SolidGold, and that makes his allergies much much worse.
https://www.solidgoldpet.com/product/seameal/

When we first took foster the vet perscribed us creams, cleaning wipes, and powders for him. When we cleared his infection we went through a different allergy med every 3 weeks for about 3 months. We did get a Cytopoint Injection. It lasted for about 2 weeks and then we were back to severe itching. On the injection the itching never fully subsided, but i was improved. The Apoquel works, and it works very well. He does get blood work every 6 months to monitor on it.

We were considering going back and pursuing a request for a dermatologist, or atleast restarting the Cytopoint injections.

[Susan]

Hi Charles,
sounds like my boy he’s part cow as well, Patch has IBD, Evironment Allergies & Food Sensitivities, Patch has stopped eating heaps of grass these last 2months since I changed his medication for his acid reflux, I think the Prilosec was making him feel sick & then he’d eat & eat grass, also after he ate certain kibbles like TOTW he’d go outside & eat heaps of grass, since I changed his diet most of the grass eating has stopped, his vet said only let him eat about 1 min worth of grass then stop him, when he eats too much grass it was causing diarrhea, the grass clears him out also too much long grass can get tangled causing a blockage, I watch a Vet TV show & there was a Labrador he did the same would eat & eat grass all day long then 1 afternoon the dogs mum came home early from work lucky cause she noticed her dog he didn’t come to great her like he normally does when she comes home, she found him in real bad pain outside, she rushed him to the vets & he had bloat, when vet operated he found what look like a big ball of wool but it was a big ball of grass all tangled together in his bowel vet removed it…..
now I make sure Patch doesnt go over board with his grass eating, he only eats & eats grass if something is really wrong with his stomach/bowel then I bring him inside & give him 5mls Mylanta or a Quick Eze & he feels better then goes to sleep, are you sure your dog isn’t feeling unwell in stomach? has he always been a heavy grass eater?

I have found baths the best as soon as Patch is really bad with itchy skin & red itchy paws normally around every 5 days thru the hotter months he gets a bath in Malaseb medicated shampoo, the bath & Malaseb relieves his itch & washes off any allergens on his paws & skin, when I dont feel like bathing him, I ge the baby wipes Coconut Oil or the Cucumber & Aloe wipes & wipe him down & wipe his paws, this Summer in Australia was the worst Summer I’ve had with Patches allergies, I dont know if its cause we moved, vet said it is & we dont have CADI injection yet in Australia…..
Have a look at “Cytopoint Injections” given every 4-8 weeks depending on dog & his allergies, Zoetisus are the makers of Apoquel make Cytopoint after so many dogs were having side effects with the Apoquel, Cytopoint is suppose to have less side effects, you could give it a try & see..
https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/cytopoint/

[Charles B]

Over the past year we have fostered and adopted a Golden that’s got some pretty nasty allergies.

We have him eating Zignature Kahatoo and Venison. I see that a Goat and Quail just came out. Hoping to try theses as well.

Anyway he does have some food sensitivities, and when he came to use on Kirkland Grain Free Chicken he was a walking Yeast infection. We got that sorted and after lots of trial and error got him on his current food. It’s still not perfect, and if we give him the wrong treat he’ll start kicking st his face and lick between his toes till they bleed.

He loves being outside sun bathing in the grass. He also loves to eat grass. He’s part cow. He will bathe, grab a mouthful of grass, then roll on his bag chewing till he’s ready for some more.

He’s been on Apoquel for 7-9 months now off and on. On a good day we can give 8mg and be fine. On a bad day we are on 32mg a day. Now that spring is here we are on 16 morning to deal with the allergies.

Is there another route we should be perusing? We can’t force him to stop eating grass so we would like to figure another way around it.

Apoquel is $2.39 a day for us, do $71 a month in pills.

[Susan]

Hi Patty,
are you walking her daily, throwing a ball in the yard or park for 20mins X 3 times a day? Excerise will help her lose weight, get her into a routine with her excerising, eat meals the same time, feed 3 small meals a day, if she is hungry then start adding beans with her raw food or as a treat, buy the frozen beans, make sure she goes on daily walks, same time everyday…
A raw diet does make the dog lose weight, cause they are not eating all those carbs that’s in dry processsed kibbles, they are eating what their bodies have been build to eat, raw food, a dog has a short digestive tract made to quickly digest raw meat & move quickly into the small bowel before any bacteria starts to breed, the raw meat moves thru the stomach quickly into the small bowel then large bowel then poo…
A raw diet is healthier, higher in protein & higher fat what a dog needs….
I’ve just started my 9yr boy on Dehydrated Raw Diet. “Frontier Pets” due to declining health, I have to try everything before I put him to sleep, I just wish I started him on this dehydrated raw diet earlier when it came out… I know in the past my boy lost weight when he was eating a home made raw diet, I didnt want him to lose weight, I had to increase his raw diet to keep his weight on, the home made raw diet stopped his yeasty smelly skin, stopped his red paws, then I started a raw elimination diet & found he can not eat chicken, it was the chicken causing his red paws & itchy smelly skin, he also suffers with Seasonal Environment Allergies as well Spring & Summer & baths are best for environment allergies, you wash off the allergens that’s on their skin & paws……
Are you bathing her weekly or twice a week? or as soon as you see her really scratching, rolling around on carpet grass scratching herself give her a bath in a medicated shampoo, it will reduce her itchy skin & paws. I use “Malaseb” Medicated Shampoo for Patch, the Malaseb kills any bacteria or yeast on his skin & paws, relieves his itchy skin & red paws, puts moisture back into his skin & leaves him feeling so soft & silky.. Buy some Malaseb shampoo & start bathing weekly or every 5 days especially now Spring is here….
Look for a raw wet diet or dry air dried raw diet or dehydrated raw diet & stop the Wellness Core dry kibble, if you have 1/4 to 1/2 a bag of the Core then take it back to pet shop & buy her some more raw food, just feed her the raw diet for 1 month & you will see a difference, have you looked at Ziwi Peak air dried & wet can food raw? Ziwi Peak has limited ingredients & good for dogs who have food sensitivities & environment allergies, You don’t need to feed as much as you do with the dry kibble, the 1/2 a cup comes in the Ziwi Peak bag, here’s their site https://www.ziwipets.com/ contact Ziwi Peak if you have any questions.

[Ryan K]

Hello!

My 8 year old dachshund/terrier mix has recently had a bout of bad vomiting that I wound up bringing him in to my vet for. He has been acting so strange for about a month now. I started him on Royal Canin HP and despite it working so well for his skin I almost instantly noticed him acting super unlike his normal self. He seemed…agitated and his stomach would be audibly grumbling. Well, I switched him off of that and didn’t transition slowly…I wound up putting him on Tuscan Naturals Chicken Meal & Rice recipe…he ate it but wasn’t thrilled so I switched him right away to Zignature’s Catfish recipe…this was the day the vomiting began. I did do something a little unusual when starting this food in that I put the kibble in warm/hot water to soak it in and make it more appealing. Well, He wound up throwing up once earlier in the day and then a second time later on in which a ton of liquid and balled up grass he had been eating in the yard came up. The vomit smelled slightly foul…far more pungent then normal vomit…so I brought him in to the vet. They did an x-ray and said they didn’t see anything. I mentioned that he had also been “wretching” and “gagging” a lot lately so they examined him for Kennel cough but said it seemed super unlikely since he hasn’t been around any dogs and he wasn’t responding when they pressed into his throat. They told me to put him on a bland diet which I have had him on for 2 days now. He hasn’t thrown up again but I have noticed him doing the “gag-cough” thing and he still seems…unhappy. Just so you know, the cough he does looks and sounds just like what I have seen on youtube for kennel cough but my dog truly is never around other dogs so I have no idea where that could come from if it WAS that. Should I be concerned about Heart disease? I remember my Australian shepherd growing up had that and was always coughing when he got excited. My little guy now just seems to randomly hack for no reason. How concerned should I be? Could this just be a case of me being really bad about the transitioning of the foods and making him sick? Should I get blood work done? This vet (she’s not my normal one-my normal vet was out of town) didn’t seem concerned about that being done but I was nervous that maybe it was his pancreas or something else that would cause vomiting that could be seen in bloodwork. Am I going crazy or should I just let him adjust some more to bland food? Is he just sensitive now that he’s a senior dog?

Side note about my dog…he slipped a disc last year and I did at home treatment to get him better. The surgery was far too expensive and I was just not able to come up with the cost of it. Luckily, keeping him bedridden for 2 months worked and he went from fully paralyzed in the back legs to walking within a week and has moved fine since with the help of laser treatments for a couple weeks and keeping him totally confined. But, during this event my vet and I discovered that he is SUPER sensitive to any pain meds and to gabapentin and all those things that he NEEDED during this period. He actually developed CRAZY pica and wound up scarfing down 3 full tube socks when I wasn’t looking. He threw them up whole. I had to leave him there to make sure he was ok for a whole day after that incident. He just gets really sick on those drugs. Had to share that bit of history about his stomach issues.

Sorry this post was so long. I’m rambling. I wanted to fit a lot of his recent medical history in here. I am probably missing something though. Haha

[David M]

Hi All,
Our 3 year old mutt named pepper has been dealing with the gulping episodes for several years now. We are fairly certain its psychological/anxiety issues. The episodes almost always happen at night around 1-2 am and are random every few months or so. However today she had one at 5pm before dinner and another just now at 2am. I haven’t tried anything in terms of antacids, i honestly didn’t know dogs could eat them. often she just eats grass for 45 mins and settles down. We have her annual check-up tommorow and ill be sure to mention many of the things listed in this thread, big thanks in advance, glad to know we aren’t alone!

[Holly D]

Further on above post… Rooney got up and was heading into that full blown gulping panic to get out and eat grass. I read that Omeprazole can take a while to act but Pepcid can give relief in minutes so I gave him a Pepcid, a couple of pieces of kibble and a couple of spoonfuls of the gravy from the ID food. I let him eat a little grass but he did not vomit this time.
Thinking how when I have my migraines, I massage the acupressure points that associate for headaches I thought maybe there could be something similar for dogs…and, yes, there are charts for dogs. Figured it was worth a shot.
I started to massage where they said – on the outside hind leg, just below the knee, in a clear depression in the middle of the muscle toward the front of the leg – and the minute I started, Rooney let out a big burp! Maybe it helped a little?
He’s still having little gulping spurts but I’ll see how he is this morning and probably still take him to the vet later today.

[Holly D]

I am so glad to have found this post! So much helpful information.
Rooney had an episode of the gulping, frantic grass eating and vomiting about a year ago. I noticed for about the last week he would gulp every so often then Monday night (it is now Weds morning) he had a full blown episode! I gave him Omeprazole right when it started and another yesterday and this morning but the vomiting and some slight gulping has been going on since. I gave him a little rice with a bit of sensitive stomach ID canned food last night but he threw it up around 4am this morning. Not sure if I should feed him or not this morning. Fortunately, he is not frantically eating grass and seems calm now but he has not been able to keep anything down since and still has the gulping every so often. He still wants to eat, is drinking water and pooping normal. Figured I’d take him to the vet today just to be on the safe side.
He is a basset hound and tends to eat anything he can find! I thought maybe it was prompted by something he ate…but, he was also on a round of antibiotics a couple of weeks ago for an ear infection so I though maybe his stomach flora is messed up.
Also – he is on Apoquel – is anyone else’s dog taking this for allergies? I was wondering if that could be causing a problem??
It is so horrible to watch them go through this and I hate to see Rooney so uncomfortable! It’s a been a rough couple of nights up and down and out at all hours. I’ve been up since 4 this morning and guess who is back curled up and sleeping soundly in my spot in the bed? 🙂

[haleycookie]

Hate to tell you this Shiloh but that’s just not possible. Unless the food is being exposed to of the worms while you’re storing it. Your dog likely has fleas. Or if you treat your dog and are absolutely positive (get flea comb and check to be sure) they don’t have a single flea on them then your neighbors pets has fleas and they’re in your yard and your dogs while outside pottying are licking the grass or licking something with the eggs on it. The eggs can’t live through certain conditions so they would die after packaging due to the conditions most foods are bagged under and they aren’t in the food because kibble is cooked at insane temps killing pretty much any nutritional value and any bugs that may be in it.

[GEORGIA T]

Congo is a Canadian company (and as far as I know only sell to Canadian retailers) and they are using locally sourced food. The meat for the beef, chicken and lamb are raised on local farms and grass fed, rather than grain fed.

I use the blend not the dinners since I cook or steam vegetables for my dogs and always add fresh fruit to their diet. I have been using Congo raw for 7 months and all my 3 Shepherds love the food. As for bones, they recommend lamb necks (comes in 2 or 4 lbs bag) since they are a lot easier on the dog’s teeth than beef bones. One of my dog is 12 years old and her teeth are worn down so I buy the frozen chicken necks for her to achieve a good meat/bone ratio.

[Christian C]

Hi Susan, thanks for the reply. I’m sorry to hear about patch, and I hope all is well with both of you! My girl is a border collie pit/lab mix. She is my everything. and is around 50 lbs. to break it down a little more, it started around the time I switched her food for the first time, I switched her to originally Simply Norish, but after finishing about 1/3 of the bag and her not eating her food, I discovered there were bugs in her food! I was horrified. They were little flying bugs so I immediately had to switch her food. I switched her to crave and stuck with that for about 2 months, but that’s when the throwing up started happening more often, only in the morning or at night. It went from happening about once a month to happening about once a week and these past couple of weeks she has thrown up bile multiple times a week. Only yesterday was the first time anything serious happened but she wouldn’t eat all day which is a first, not even treats or rice and chicken when I first put it down but later that night she gobbled everything down that she could. Also while she was laying down she let out one random yelp of pain and I have no idea why. I’ve been feeling her stomach and it doesn’t seem to bother her, especially today. She loves eating the rice and chicken but she’s been avoiding drinking water. Idk why but it got to the point where I had to force her to drink by putting water in a baby syringe and let her drink it from there. But she went out and excersized like normal today, she has lots of energy so she was running for quite some time. she doesn’t eat grass when she’s outside or anything. I’ve noticed that her mouth sounds very loud lately. I can’t tell if it’s dry mouth or extra salivation but it’s loud, and she often smacks her lips. I’m gonna try cutting all treats out for s little while as well but that hasn’t helped yet. She seems to be doing well on the bland diet but it’s only been one day so I can’t tell

As for the endoscopy, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford one of those. I read online they were very expensive. It would be my dream to have one of those done just to know my baby is okay, but right now my options are very limited. I don’t know anyone who can loan me money and my family is pretty lower income so they wouldn’t be much help either.
I wish I had the resources or people to start a donation page but I don’t 🙁 I live in the city, so there are plenty of vets near me but I haven’t found a single one that does payment plans. It breaks my heart. Me and my mom applied for care credit but both got denied.
I scrapped every penny I have together and am going to take her to the vet again on Tuesday but it seems I’ll probably only have enough for blood work.
I certainly am going to switch her to natural balance Lid, not sure which formula yet but certainly the lowest fat and protein
formula. I’ve given her fresh pet before and she loves it, I will certainly add it to her diet now that I know how good it is. But cooking fresh food every day would be quite the challenge as I am in school and my mother baby sits most of the day.

I am praying to god it is something easily fixable that can be treated at home, if not I don’t know what to do. I’ll have to ask every vet around about payment plans. This is a very stressful
situation, I can’t find much help online for assistance with the bill and most of the places around here that I call are jerks and don’t offer help to anyone who asks. I’ve never worried about it this much in the past because she always acts so normal after but yesterday got me very scared, it seemed Pepto Bismol and Pepcid did make her situation worse and I won’t be trying them again.

What were your exact recommendations again? I’d like to have a full plan to discuss with my vet when I go. What medications? I am already feeding her 3-5 times a day depending on her activity level etc.
her breed is very enertic but some days I cannot afford to take her to the dog park where she can truly let off all her steam, she is an emotional support animal, so I take her a lot of places. Thank you Susan, you’re so kind

[Susan]

Hi Christain,
I would try “Natural Balance” LID Sweet Potato & Bison look at all the N/B ingredients, a lady told me the Sweet Potato & Venison has gone up in price so maybe pick the Sweet Potato & Bison or Potato & Duck instead read ingredient list & see which will be best…
the fat is low 10%min in the N/B & teh protein is law as well…
Why I dont recommend the fish formula’s no more as its higher in omega fatty acids this is excellent for dogs BUT Patch deosn’t do well with his acid reflux when he eats any fish kibbles….
Do you live at home with mum, it would be good if she cooed & froze the meals?? what breed is your girl?
It’s best feeding 3-4 smaller meals a day & cooked meals would be better then dry kibble, lean low fat cooked meals, also look for the “FreshPet” loaf in the fridge section look for one with the lowest fat% & try the Freshpet loaf or another brand that has good ingredients & the fat isnt real high best to stay under 6% fat, when you convert 5% fat to dry matter fat (Kibble) for wet tin food, the dog loaves, raw dog food, 5%min fat is around 20%min to 26%max in fat…So best to feed lower fat for Acid reflux kibble is higher in carbs so this can make teh acid bad as well but once you do find a kibble that agrees you’ll be OK but what I found I need to rotato foods with Patch breakfast he gets kibble lunch he wetsa cooked meal the dinner 5pm 1/3 cup kibble then another small meal 8pm sometimes a cooked meal what I ate for dinner as long as it has no onion & isnt a hot curry/spicey meal or he gets 1/3 cup kibble, it all depends if he seems unwell then he gets the cooked meal I freeze small meals,
Do you have more then 2 vets in your area? what about if you drive to the next suburb I’d ring around all the vets in your areas who are within 40 mins drive & id’ask do they have the Endoscope machine ? if they say yes ask whats the vets name that does the Endoscope + Biopsies ?? write his name down he should know alot about the stomach small bowel etc…
Patch just had another Endoscope + Biopsies, he had Endoscope + Biopsies done 4-5 yrs ago vet just found teh Helicobacter was bad he was treated with Triple therepy meds & later put on Losec (Ranitidine) 5yrs later this time I thought he’s has stomach cancer as he went down hill so quickly, he had very sore throat, Simon (vet) is Patches second vet he specializes in the IBD & other health problems, when Simon looked down Patches esophagus he saw his wipe pipe was very red & inflammed the acid had come up his throat, our brain sends a msg to close the esophageal spincter (Flap) to the wind pipe but Patches brain isnt doing this & the acid was soo bad & coming up his throat then going back down into his wind pipe, I still havent picked up his biopsies results, after when the bisopies result came back Patch also had mild Helicobacter, Im wondering does your our have the Helicobactor cause you say she has gotten worse this is what happened with Patch just after Xmas, all dogs have the Helicobacter Simon said but its healthy, but Patches helicobacter has taken over & is living him his stomach walls, this is way he’s always hungry, first sign of helicobacter they have a big appetite, acid reflux, eating grass, vomiting acid up this is when their throat gets burnt from te acid best to give liquid Mylanta 4 mls in a syringe I dont know if you have Mylanta its á white liquid & coats the esophagus, their aci is often bad first thing of a morning, best to let them eat some grass not too much about 1min then vet said stop PAtch they will vomit from eating just 2-3 picses of grass Simon said a dog can make himself spew they dont even need grass to speI didnt know that I wish Patch would spew the acid up its better out then in, we do not use Pepcid (Famotidine) in Australia no more, its an old drug the chemist lady said, you can get the liquid “Pepto-Bismol” its pink this helps kill the Helicobacter my vet said but it seems to make Patch symptoms worse & I havent given him the Pepto-Bismol again since I bought it 1-2 yrs ago, I keep it in the fridge same with the liquid Mylanta so when it goes down their throat it cold & soothing, the vet put Patch on the Triple Therapy meds again 1 week ago, Metronidazole-200mg, Amoxcillian- 400mg & Prolosec-20mg, taken every 12 hours with a meal for 3 weeks, the Losec is only given in the morning once a day but cause your dog is so young you do not want her on prilosec yet full time like Patch is on & after 1 yr it doesnt seem to be helping him no more, he’s just turned 9yrs old so its OK giving him a PPI but being young únder 4yrs old there’s other ant acid meds, Losec is a Protein Pump Inhibitor (PPI) once you start taking a PPI for more then 3 weeks you can not just stop taken it very bad side effects, while taking the PPI the brain stops you making stomach acid or not making as much then if you just stop taking the PPI Losec your brain releases the stomach acid & from what the vet said its too much stomach acid until it gets back to normal again so you need to slowly stop the PPI-Losec.. I tried all the ant acid meds then Patch stayed on Zantac (Ranitidine) 1/3 of a 150mg tablet 30mins before food for a while then the Zantac didnt seem to work no more, so vet wrote Patch out a script for 20mg Omeprazole-Losec heaps cheaper from a chemist then a vets, I started giving Patch the Losec for 3 days when he was bad then i’d stop Simon said yes thats what he does takes the Losec for 2-4 days then he stops then I found while Patch was on the Losec he was HEAPS better, no eating grass as soon as he woke up, no vomiting, no whinging all the time, he was sleeping thru the night not getting up 5am wanting grass..so I put him on the Losec full time around May 2016, now I want to try another PPI Somac (Pantoprazole) 20mg what I take for my GORDs.. cause why has Patch gotten so bad where now, his acid has inflammed his wind pipe? the losec isnt helping him no more he needs to try another PPI, Ive changed his food to a lower fat 9%min & Im cooking for lunch & second dinner 8pm meal & kibble for his other meals..5 meals a day…
You’re lucky you can get the Natural Balance heaps of dogs with IBS, IBD, Pancreatitis, are all doing really well on the Natural Balance formula & some of the dog owners cook meals as aswell so their dog isnt just eating a dry processed kibble..
Another thing make sure you read what the Kcals per cup are & stay UNDER 370 Kcals per cup best to stay under 350Kcls per cup, the higher teh Kcals per cup the harder teh stomach has to work digesting the kibble…

I would change your girl food, do live at home with mum? cause cooked meals would be heaps better then dry processed kibble, or have a look at those “Pet Fresh” loaf in pet fridge section at pet shops or supmarkets, look for a loaf that has the lowest amount of fat % around 3-5%-fat & start feeding her 4 smaller meals a day breakfast lunch & 2 dinners I do 5pm-kibble & 8pm-kibble or cooked meal, if your not home get one of these kibble machines that will give her 1/3 to 1/2 a cup for lunch & dnner….. Do you belong to any face book groups “Canine Pancreatitis Support Group” Canine IBD group? I wonder if you ask does anyone have a kibble machine they dont use any more & if you could set a up a donation account once you find a good vet then you give the new vets account details & people can start donating money so your girl can get an Endoscope & Biopsies done, no point in doing an Ultra Scan it cannot see the stomach properly or do teh biopsies there’s another test the dog drinks a solution Barium meal test but you need bipsies done once you get biopsies your vet will get some answers, even if she has ulcers teh endoscope will see teh ulcer of if she has scarring form old old ulcers, this is if only after changing her diet & you have tried Zantac (Ranutdine) twice a day before feeding main meals even thought your feeding 4 smaller meals 2 of the meals are just a bit bigger thats why I asked what breed is your girl??? is she small or a bigger dog, theres so much’info I probably have forgotten, so keep CockerlierMom & me posted please…
Have you tried the “4Health” Special Care, Sensitive Stomach, its Potato & Egg kibble Potato & Egg is really good to cook as well, I always make Patch a scramble egg when he’s unwell dont add any butter or milk you just scramble the egg & use a non stick frying pan or do in the micro wave but if you cook too long in micro wave you can get rubber scramble egg.. also boil soom potatoes leave in air tight container & add to some chicken I often buy the reduced BBQ chicken I eat the fatty part of teh chiken & give to the cat & I give Patch the breast section & freeze any left overs for next time, also tin tuna in spring water with boiled potato is also another good easy tomake meal for your girl instead of feeding her the kibble also look for wet can foods but tehfat has to be #% & under best to email teh pet food company & ask what is the fat% when converted to dry matter the max fat % you’ll be shoked sometimes you see 55-fat after you contact the pet food comany they tell you its 26% fat so be careful with wet can foods,
With Probiotics they seem to make PAtches acid reflux worse I do not know why?? neither does teh vet also stay with loer fiber lower carb kibbles as teh higher fiber 7 higher carbs make teh acid worse, I just hoping it’s just teh brand of kibble your feing & thats the problem an ingredient or the kibble has fish/salmon oil that is causing the aid reflux with your girl cause after eating a cook meal she is better so maybe she s better off eating a balanced cooked meals but dont wory yet about balancing het dietyet she is OK for 2 month with out her diet being balanced just work out this problem first & how can you raise money to get Endoscope & biopsies if it all continues.. finger X it doesnt… she is young hopefully she’s just eating the wrong food..

[Susan]

Hi LC,
Do you rotate between kibbles, raw, wet can food, cooked etc in the same day?? I feed one brand kibble for breakfast then for lunch & dinner he gets something else never eats the same thing that day, I ask Patch which 1 (kibble) & I put 1 brand kibble in one hand in between my fingers then I’d get another brand kibble that has a different meat protein & put that kibble inbetween my fingers & I ask Patch, “sniff” let him sniff both kibbles, then I ask Patch which one do you want to eat & he’d takes the kibble he wants to eat for that meal, (Patch suffers with IBD & stomach pain & I normally ask him “which one do you want to eat that doesnt give you sore stomach & make you sick” this is how this all started with him picking a kibble) also I cook & make small meals & freeze them & I buy wet tin food, do you know dogs aren’t ment to eat the same dry proccess food (Kibble) every single day 24/7, the pet food companies brain washed us back in the 90’s in believing a dog has to eat their food 24/7 or they will get stomach upsets sobest to stay with the same food their food, I admit some dogs do get sloppy poo/diarrhea when quickly changing foods but once your dog has a healthy gut this shouldn’t happen. Rotating foods is very healthy for a dog if one brand kibble isnt balanced properly then your dog isnt eating this kibble or wet can food 24/7 cause you’re rotating with something else…
I have a question, is your dog a grass eater?? especially when he wont eat?

Start buying wet can healthy dog foods, tin sardines in spring water, tin salmon, tuna in spring water, boil some potato or sweet potato drain the tin tuna or salmon & mix more tuna then boiled potato & see does he like this meal make it small about 1/2 a cup, with the tin sardines add 1-2 sardines to one of his kibble meal mash 1-2 sardine pieces thru his kibble, sardines/salmon are VERY healthy & have everything he needs especially when he’s not eating, put the rest of the sardines in an air tight container & put in the fridge, next day ask him does he want a sardine see does he lick it or turn away, this way he’s getting his omega fatty acids for his skin, coat, brain etc have you tried freeze/air dried foods like “Ziwi Peak Air Dried & their raw wet can foods? email Ziwi Peak & ask them can they please send you some samples of all their air dried formulas & explain to Ziwi Peak whats happening, my cat inhales Ziwi peak the air dried & the wet tin foods https://www.ziwipetscom/
When you have cooked a meal that is not hot spicey have onions etc give him some of the left overs, this is what dogs ate back in the 50’s, 60’s,70’s,80’s & they lived longer & were healthier back then, now our dogs are dying from cancer & other diseases, what happen? Dry Kibble that what happened, toxins in the dry dog food…
I cook more if Im cooking potato or sweet potato & if Im cooking steak I cook Patch some aswell but I bake Patches in the oven in a small casserole dish, I thinly slice potato, carrot & sweet potato & thinly slice the beef rump steak, I put the steak on the bottom of dish, then add thinley sliced carrots & sweet potato then the potatoes, I chop some fresh parsley & add about 1 teaspoon parsley mix in with the boiled water & pure water onto everything in dish just till it overs the potatoes on the top & bake in oven till ready, as its cooking the house smells of food & tell your boy, look what Im cooking for you, my Patch waits then sleeps, comes checks the oven like a kid, is it ready yet mum, I say no it has another hour Patch go back to sleep.. I involve him with the whole process from when I bring home the meat veggies as soon as I bring in the shopping bags he looks thru my shopping bags, I show him what is his, this all started when I rescued him he couldnt eat anything except vet diet food cause of his IBD, I felt so bad for him so I’d bring him home toy, squeaky ball etc & he’d look thru the bag for his toy I bought him, now he looks for food & whats his, when I start to cooking I show him look what your getting for dinner…then any left overs I section & put in those clip lock plastic sandwich bags & freeze dont bring that meal out again till the end of the week put in fridge to thaw for the next day & show him do you want this or get some dry kibble or do you want his & Patch licks what he wants…
Honest Kitchen has base formula’s you just add your own cooked meat….
Start making him excited with foods different healthy whole foods, do you have another pet, a cat etc that comes in the same time to be feed? maybe the competition with a rescue cat eating at the same time might make him want to eat…
Dogs normally love their food, thats why I’ve asked is he a grass eat?? first thing of the morning after eating he eats grass?

[Susan]

Hi Mike S,
My Patch went down hill real quickly after we had moved 2 months ago so he had an Endoscope + Biopsies last Tuesday, his biopsies results said he has Spiral Helicobactor-Pylori back but mild this time, he has Gingitivis back molars so he had his teeth cleaned while he was under to have the Endoscope done, he has Gastritis, he has red inflammation down his wind pipe, the lower esophageal spincter flap that closes to the esophagus & wind pipe isnt closing, I’d say this is what might be happening with your boy & there’s nothing that can be done my vet said except keep Patch on a Protein Pump Inhibitor like Omeprazole or Pantoprazole, I asked my Dr when I seen him the day after Patch had his Endoscope & my Dr said you can not do anything except take Somac or Losec one of the Protein Pump Inhibitors that have long-lasting reduction of stomach acid being made & coming up the esophagus into the mouth, this taste awful when te acid comes into the mouth, the Holistic Vet came into the Vets room I was in to tell me have I tried Carafate made into a slury you break half the tablet & add about 15ml water dissolve carafate in bowl then pull back up into syringe & give to the dog this didn’t seem to help Patch when I woke him up 6am to give to him before he eats breakfast, he got up went outside did his wee then he started gulping grass this was before he had the Endoscope done I tried Carafate dissolved in water, the Holistic vet has a pug who has similar problems to Patch gulping etc her dog was finally put on Losec & is getting better with her gulping episodes & she gives her the Garafate made into a slurry to soothe the throat & esophagus…

Patch has been on the losec 2 years this April 20mg every morning same time, are you still giving your boy the Prolosec every day in morning?? it can be giving with food its not like pepcid, Losec (Omeprazole) works differently & is heaps better then the Pepicid (Famotidine) we dont have the Famotidine in Australia no more, Pepcid is an old ant acid drug & needs to be given before food, Im changing Patch from his Losec to Pantoprazole (Somac) thats what I take I have Non Ulcer Dispepsia where the flap doesn’t close when the brain sends the msg for flap to close, I have tried a few different Protein Pump Inhibitor medication then I got a new Gastro Dr when I moved back in 2001 & he said start taken Pantoprazole (Somac) it’s the best drug for Esophagaeal problems, I have C.R.E.S.T & C.O.R.D I get heartburn/acid reflux coming back up into throat/mouth & got better after being put on te Pantopazole (Somac) even stopped my Nuasea, now I really want to try the Pantoprazole with Patch but the vet thet did Patch Endoscope & Biopsies rung me last night & he said he has been looking at all the research & there’s not much scientific research on Pantoprazole with dogs & he said the Paantoprazole is very similair to the Omeprazole (Losec)… Patch is taken the Triple Therapy again Metronidazole, Amoxicilian & Losec again for 3 weeks to get rid of his Spiral Helicobacter & the vet is hoping this will stop the acid coming up into Patch mouth he said we may never fix all Patches health problems just control them, need to find a diet that agrees with him & stick with it but the problem is I do that & then Patch starts reacting to the food he’s been eating 24/7 sometimes I think vets do not have enough research & studies on certain health problems & they dont know what to do, its best to join facebook groups & ask people what did you do with your dog, what worked? what did he eat??
I feed baked beef rump, sliced potato, sliced sweet potato, carrots not much put it all in a baking dish added water till it was everything was covered put in oven for 3hrs then I put thru the blender & Patch seems so much better then I gave him some kibble later on for his next meal he eats 4-5 meals a day & he started with his mouth licking & swolling, I really think 100% that kibble is the problem…
Have you tried Royal Canine Gastro Intestinal Low Fat wet can food? in Australia we have been having problems getting any Royal Canin into Australia, apparantly R/C didn’t fill out the importation/custom forms out properly so our Royal Canine cant come into the country, the R/C Intestinal Gastro Low Fat wet tin food has different ingredient now theres no rice or corn just meat & animal derivitives, cereals derivitives of vegetables orgins, mineral, oils & fats, yeast etc Patch did real well the first can I feed him then I went back to the vets 3 days later & bought 2 more R/C Gastro low fat canned food opened 1 can gave Patch 1/2 the can then he has gulping swolloing I thought whats has happened he ate it the other day & did well then I reliesed Ive gotten cans from another batch of R/C Gastro Low fat & it had orange oil 1-2cm bottom of the can so this batch had heaps of oils, Patch cant have fish/salmon oils so this is when I bought the Rump beef steaks & started baking it with the Potato & sweet potato trying to do what teh R/C gastro canned food has but as for the Cereal I dont know what they use this R/C food comes from Europe..

I hope something in this long post helps your boy, something I’m doing or what Im trying you try helps your boy, but if your boy isnt on a Protein Pump Inhibitor please ask your vet can your boy try either the Omeprazole or the Pantopazole & see how does he go & start an elimintaion cooked diet this way you can control the ingredients if you can stay away from high fat, high carbs, high fiber kibbles… Good-Luck if you do try something & your boy gets better please post a really good group I joined years ago I dont even know if its still going it was a Yahoo group called “IBDOGS” there was a lady that knew alot about IBD & told me to do Endoscope & Biopsies on Patch like Patch vet told me lst night he said we will never fix Patches health problems but we can control them & try & make him comfortable & find foods that agree with him….Metronidazole seem to help when all this happens the Metronidazole kills the bad bacteria in the stomach & small bowel & the Losec seems to keep the stomach acids down as long as he doesnt eat anything that doesnt agree with his but like you your been feding a food that agreed with him then all of a sudden its back??? I find when I rotate with a few foods Patch does ghis best this time I tried a kibble with Beet Pulp I dont know if thats what made Patch go down hill or was it STRESS??…

[Jenny W]

My 3 yr old beagle gets upset stomach and need grass which we don’t have in yard only gravel so take him out to eat grass then he vomits or goes poo loose and then feels better. Feed him Stella & Chewy’s, Chewy’s Chicken Meal Mixer with steam white meat chicken that I cook from the grocery store. Actually he gets quit a bit of the home cook chicken and probably two scoops of the chewy’s chicken meal mix twice a day. He is not over weight at all like my other 3 beagles I have had through the years. He weighs 17 pds. and nice and trim

[Susan]

Hi Deb,
I too live Australia & was having no problems with TOTW Lamb formula it actually seem to be the best kibble for Patches IBD when I started feeding Patch about 2 yrs ago until this last bag of TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb 6kg bag I ordered my pet food thru Pet Circle (Pet Circle is excellent & quick for delivery they dont use Australia Post they use Couriers Please) I opened the TOTW Lamb bag 1 month ago & the smell seems different now also the kibbles were really small 1/2 their normal size, I thought OK the smaller kibble will be easier to digest when he doesn’t chew his kibbles & swollows them, Patch eats 4-5 meals day cause of his IBD after he ate his cooked meal or another brand kibble he wasnt eating grass or looking ill & whinging but after eating the TOTW kibble Patch kept eating grass & seem very unwell cause I had just moved I thought he’s a bit depressed & his IBD is playing up from all the stress of moving then one morning he just refused to eat the TOTW, in the whole 5 yrs I’ve owned Patch he has only refused to eat 2 times the first year I rescued him when he became real ill with Colitis & Pancreatitis, he always eats even when unwell, I contacted Pet Circle & they are really good they refunded my $70 & said to give the remaining 5 & 1/2 kg of the TOTW to rescue/pound or a friend then at the end of our conversation the lady said maybe throw the whole bag of TOTW in the bin & she wrote everything down & was sending it off to TOTW Australia.

You are better off feeding Australian made & owned brands like “Meals For Mutts” “Ivory Coat” Ivory Coat is Australian made but has just been sold to a big Chinese company that’s still making the Ivory Coat here in Australia & taking Ivory Coat to America & all over the world, probably cause its Australian made & the Kangaroo & Lamb formula will reall sell dogs love Kangaroo its a very strong rich meat, the Ivory Coat has proper Kangaroo Meal in it the American made Kangaroo formula’s write “Wild Kangaroo” we dont eat our wild Kangaroos they are full of disease & parasites & they add Lentils to up the Protein % & add less kangaroo, the Ivory Coat will be heaps better Kangaroo pet food when does come to America, but I’d say it will be expensive unless the Chinese start cutting corners & change the ingredients & start adding Chickpeas & Lentils to up the protein% & take away some of the Kangaroo Meal & Lamb Meal, we’ll have to see what happens with Ivory Coat …
MfM is a really good kibble also sold oversea to asian countries, “Canidae” is really good, Candiae is American made & they grow their own veggies & source from local farmers like some of our Australian made pets foods do, look at their “Canidae Pure” formula’s & “Canidae All Life Stages” formula are really good & sell out by the end of the month, you can get a 20 kg bag for $99.95 of the Canidae All Life Stages formula from Pet Circle it’s on Special at the moment, here’s the link
https://www.petcircle.com.au/product/canidae-all-life-stages
also look for “Canidae Pure Meadow” Senior formula for your 9yr old dog, it has all the supplements needed for aging dog, the Pure Meadow is excellent, I’ve put a few eldery dogs on it where I use to live & they went from a itchy, dull coat, sick looking, stiff old dogs to dogs that think they’re puppies again, there was very big improvements with these dogs, they were eating cheap Aldi & Supermarket cheap kibbles, My Pet Warehouse sell the “Canidae Pure Meadow” Senior it’s new it came out last year there’s Pure Wild Boar & Pure Resolve weight management formula’s came out aswell….
Look at “Nutro” new grain free formula’s & their Frontier formula’s they are made in Australia they look pretty good theyre on the Pet Circle link above, I quickly had to order a another food when Patch wouldn’t eat the TOTW & the Nutro Essential was 1/2 price $18 so I got a bag it came the next day & Patch loves it & no eating grass & there’s been no following me & whinging. Im buying a bag of “Meals For Mutts” new CN Vital Health Hypoallergenic Holistic Remedy Diet Turkey & Veggies today too try, Patch was feed TOTW & I’d rotate with other brands, TOTW was his go to food if poos went sloppy etc now I need a new go to food if Patch becomes unwell with his IBD.

Canidae & TOTW & a heap of other best selling Amerian pets foods & treats were tested for Contaminates & 130 Toxins last year, Canidae did really well & so did their other brand called “Under The Sun” But TOTW did poorly with a few of their formula’s, their Pacific Stream Smoked Salmon formula & their High Prairie formula were very high in contaminates & toxins, I’m not allow to post their link or mention the company name on this site but if you google “Toxins in pet Foods” you’ll see the site click on it & look at the American pet foods we get over here in Australia, Holistic Select, TOTW, Wellness, Earthborn Holistic they all were very high in toxins they were on the worst top ten dry dog foods back in March 2017 testings & some of these brands formula’s were in the August testings last pages with 1 star for being very high in toxins again….

Go onto the Australian “Pet Food Review” site he reveiws all our dog foods that are sold here in Australia & he post the name of the company that tests Pet Foods & Baby foods in American, I think it’s really good its about time we know what pet foods & which treats are high in Toxins & Contaminates, he also tells us when there’s a problem with certain pet foods & writes in RED warning us when a pet food is BAD like “Baxters” kibble & treats from Woolworths is killing dogs & Woolworths wont remove it from their shelves they have only removed a few formula’s but they left the Senior & Adult Baxter formula, healthy puppies & adult dogs died within 24-48 hours of being feed a new bag of the Baxter dry dog food, he also posts information on his “Dog Food Review” Facebook page…

[Susan]

Hi Cheryl,
I have a stressful Staffy I rescued 5 yrs ago, he was dignosed with Colitis & anixietys then 1 yr later he had an Endoscope & Biopsies done, cause I wanted to know what is causing his problems, the only way the vet can really know what is happening in your dog stomach & bowel is the biopsies, biopsies results tell a vet so much information plus they look around the dogs stomach etc, Patch has gotten heaps better these last 2-3 yrs he’s in a strict routine, feed same time every day & feed 4 smaller meals instead of 2 large meals a day, I try & not change too much in his life, (BUT we have just moved)
Patch no longer shakes & trembles when there’s a thunder storm, we had bad thunder storm last night & what I do now is Patch the cat & I all get into bed, I turn on my TV a bit loader then usual & when it thunders I look to the ceiling or out the window I point & say go away naughty thunder, go away also the thunder doesn’t seem to bother my cat & I tell Patch look Indy isnt scared, he looks at the cat & see’s her nice & calm, what happens after he has his stress attack (Anxiety) this is when his IBD starts to play up, I’ve been in Hospital the last few days & Patch had to stay at my daughters place & his routine was put out he was whinging & crying waiting for me at her front door, I told my daughter just get him into his routine as much as you can, I came home yesterday afternoon from hospital & today Patch is eating grass & not his happy self, so he must of really stress while staying at my daughters place & since I moved here 1 month ago Patch has been getting up thru the night, tippy toeing thru the house it’s a wierd thing he has done since I got him 5 yrs ago, he tippy toes some night he gets up he walks so slow on his toes so he doesnt wake anyone up, I’d say he has some discomfort & can’t sleep & changes beds, he reminds me of Goldielocks & the 3 bears, as soon as Patch seen me packing boxes to move he became unwell & anxious all over again the tippy toe thru the house re started his Poos are fine nice & firm he has started having his stomach pain again his acid reflux is going good, it depends what I feed him with his acid reflux playing up he’s on 20mg Losec every morning for his acid reflux which has really helped him, wet canned foods all seem to give him acid reflux so I cook & freeze small meals, its ends up being cheaper then buying the vet diet wet canned foods, sweet potato & pumkin is very good for stomach & bowel, I boil sweet potato & some pumkin first I peel & cut in small pieces boil then cool then I freeze them, Sweet Potato & Pumkin stay OK when frozen & you take a piece out & it thaws pretty quickly, I also make rissole balls lean turkey mince or lean beef mince add 1 whisked egg & some chopped parsley mix all together & make 1/2 size rissole balls & bake on a foil lined baking tray in oven turn over 1/2 way & drain any fat water that comes from the rissoles at the moment he’s eating “Nutro Essentails” Lamb & Rice Weight management kibble cause the fat is 9%min & he does good on Lamb, Nutro Australia has reformulated their formula’s the Nutro is on Special & 1/2 price cause its new so I thought I’ll give it a go, the Nutro has sought of constipated Patch, cause he eats 4 meals a day Im feeding 2 of the larger meals the Nutro Kibble & the other 2 meals are smaller & I’m feeding him his cooked meals Rissoles with the Pumkin & Sweet potato all mashed together & this has fixed things up in the poo department, he’s doing 1 poo morning & another poo in the afternoon, I never thought Patch would ever get constiped, normally he has the opposite problem Diarrhea, before I moved I was feeding him a kibbles with the fat 15% & under, but since moving he has started doing his mouth suckling noises & I do not know why he makes this sound & what is wong with him?? in the past he has done real WELL on “Canidae” All Life Stages Platinum, Canidae Pure Wild Boar & the Pure Meadow Senior formula is pretty good aswell, the max fat is 10.80% in the Pure Meadow Senior dry formula & it has everything an aging dog needs, I emailed Canidae & they give you max % on fat protein etc….all ingredients are source from local farmers & Canidae grow their own veggies, here’s Canidae’s site scroll down a bit look to your eight & you’ll see the pages the Platinum is on page 5, there’s also their “Canidae Pure Petite” Small Breed formula it has low fat low protein & only 5 ingredients..
https://www.canidae.com/dog-food/products
Patches vet has put Patch on “Gabapentin” 100mg last year for his IBD & Anxieties, I open the Gabapentin capsule & tip out 1/2 the Gabapentin powder as it seems to drug Patch up a bit so I make it 50mg instead of 100mg capsule, the vet said Gabapentenin is good for Anxieties, IBD, IBS & other health contions & this drug does not irratate the stomah or bowel like other medications can do, she said this is why is very good for dogs with IBD you could ask your vet about the Gabapentin 50mg & do what I do open capsule & tip some powder out into a empty capsules you buy empty capsules at te chemist, it makes Patch sleep thru the whole night & he doesnt move & doesnt get up & change beds through the night but the next day he seems very washed out & I dont like seeing him lik that so I dont give hime what the vet recommended 2 times a day poor dog would be too drug up need to get my scales out & weight the capsule & give him only 20-30mgs only when he really needs some pain relief & your girl is very small so she’d need a lower dose then Patch weights 18kgs around 40lbs….

I’ve looked at the new Hills I/d Stress wet & dry formula’s when it first came out & I do not know how these ingredients would reduce stress in a dog???, it would make the dog do firm poos but that doesnt mean you have reduced the stress in the dog? Has the I/d Stress made your girl any better Stress wise since she has started eating the I/d Stress?? is she eating the wet or dry kibble I/d Stress formula?? When I looked at these are the ingredients below in the I/d Stress formula the “Beet Pulp” helps firm poo’s up, the Ginger for Nausea, the Vitamin B12, the B-2 in the Riboflavin & B-7 in the Biotin is good for skin & nails… B vitamins, and specifically biotin, help keep your skin, hair, eyes, liver, and nervous system healthy, so its probably the B vitamins reducing the Stress ….
You can give your dog vitamin B yourself, there’s the B-12 liquid you inject weekly or you get the Vitamin B capsules, if you go onto Face Book, put “EPI Dogs” in the search bar & there’s only 1 EPI group it should come up, if not I’ll give you the link, the ladies are all very helpful & know which brand to get, which brand is the cheapest & where to get it from….
I/d Stress ingredients
Brewers Rice, Corn Starch, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Chicken By-Product Meal, Flaxseed, Cracked Pearled Barley, Whole Grain Oats, Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Pork Flavor, Lactic Acid, Ginger, Soybean Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Citrate, Pork Fat, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), L-Lysine, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Hydrolyzed Casein, Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine, Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Natural Flavors, Beta-Carotene.

I think with a dog who is very stressed out she needs a quiet environment, a strict routine, walked & I use to go to the dog Patch & sit on a seat & let Patch watch teh dogs all playing from afar we also would sit at te beach as he was scarred of the waves in the beging now I cant let him off his lead he’s a nut & loves teh ocean & just runs & runs along the sand & I cant catch him so we stop goingto the beach I ended up having anxieties I’d try the Vitamin B ask your vet & try one of the Canidae formulas, another brand I see people saying their dog who has stomach/bowel problems doing really well is the “Purina One” formulas.. I think you buy from supermarket… also there’s teh “Rescue Remedy”drops you put 1 drop on her tongue morning & night & 20mins before she is going to do something that will stress her out a lady that use to come & bath Patch said her 10yr old dog has really bad anxieties & the Rescue Remedy drops really works for her dog, she just feeds her dog supermarket dry kibble & raw meat…also have you tried teh “Freshpet” rolls & dry food? Ive also red people saying their dogs is doing well on the Freshpet roll..

[Susan]

Hi Misti,
yes start with a Limited Ingredient food that has 1 novel protein & 1 carb she hasnt really eaten before there’s “California Natural” Lamb & Rice it has just 3 ingredients or there’s “Natural Balance” Sweet Potato & Fish or Sweet Potato & Bison, Sweet Potato & Duck the NB is very similar to the Vet diet Hills D/D Potato & Duck or the D/D Potato & Venison also Royal Canin has their Select Protein formula’s Potato & Rabbit, Potato & Salmon but the Natural Balance is cheaper then the vet diets, or look at “Canidae Pure” formula’s the Pure Sea is really good for skin problems, it’s high in Omega 3 fatty acid what’s needed for the skin problems..
The vet will probably put her on a steriod (Predisone) this is just a bandaid as soon as you stop the steriod it will all come back & he’ll probably put her on a vet diet & a medicated shampoo so maybe first try the LID Premium dog food, do weekly baths in Malaseb shampoo & wash her paws twice a week in the Malaseb & use the Sudocrem morning before she goes outside & at night before bed I also use “Hydrocortisone 1%” cream on Patches paws just before he goes to bed I check out his whole body & see where is red & lightly apply the Hydrocortisone cream & use a cotten tip to apply inbetween his toes where’s red by morning he has no redness paws are nice & pink then I apply teh Sudocrem before he goes out teh door, chicken, barley, oats, tapioca all make Patches paws red 20mins after eating these ingredient….. Keep a diary & start writing everything down & over the years you will start to see a pattern, I have a rescue who has IBD, Seasonal Environment allergies & food sensitivities & he gets the red paws, itchy smelly skin from certain foods, I bath him in Malaseb medicated shampoo weekly, the Malaseb is excellent, relieves the redness stops their itchy paws & skin & puts moisture back into their skin, when you bath them you wash away any allergens on their skin & paws etc also the snow?? when Patch walks on wet grass the morning dew or its been raining more then 2 days he also gets his red sore paws I have a small towel near the front & back door & I wipe down his paws if its raining I also buy teh Baby wipes & use them as well try & get some “Sudocrem” sold on Amazon this is what we use in Australia & the UK, the Sudocrem a healing cream for Dermatitis, Excema, Nappy Rash etc & it repells water & protects the paws & skin from allergens, I cant up load photos I have of a Staffy that had a really bad red stomach & then her owner got the Sudocrem & the dog stomach was all clear the next day, can you afford the Pre made raw? maybe try a premade raw instead of a dry kibble…
also are you on Face Book? join this group, “Dog Allergies, Issues & Other Information Support Group” its a really good group & good info & a Dermatologist frequents the group.
Misti will get better but you need have a strict routine when doing the food trial, with time it gets easier but allergies dont go away they get worse as they age, she probably is like Patch & has both Seasonal Environment allergies (worse in the Spring/Summer months) & Food Sensititivies so best to start now & you’ll work out what she can & cant eat, it the snow/water makes her paws worse she might ned some type of shoe Patch wouldnt wear shoes so I use the Sudocrem it repells, allergens, the water & wet grass, Good Luck

[Susan]

Hi Fanette,
the Australian made & Europeon made TOTW Sierra Mountain & Pacifiic Stream does not have Lentils or Garbanzo beans, send an email to TOTW & ask TOTW is the TOTW sold in France like the TOTW made for Australia & has No Chickpeas or Lentils in the TOTW Pacific Stream & in TOTW Sierra Mountain formula’s?? then ask can I have the TOTW formula’s made for Europe.. I have the Australian TOTW formula’s link if you want to see the different TOTW formula’s, when TOTW was changing their formula’s back in 2015 a few of us that are in a face book group called “EPI in dogs” contacted TOTW in America & we told TOTW we have very sick dogs, 1 lady dog had EPI, my boy had IBD & another lady dog had IBS & since putting all our dogs on TOTW Pacific Stream & Sierra Mountain formula’s all our dogs have finally gotten better, (Probably cause these TOTW formula’s have 1 single meat protein, it’s lower in fiber under 4%, uses Potato & Sweet Potatoes, has Probiotics & uses purified water & Kcals per cup are low) we have read all the complaints with the poor dogs in the UK that are eating the new TOTW formula’s most of these dogs have bad Diarrhea from the new ingredients Lentils & Chickpeas, we were told TOTW are adding Garbanzo beans to their Pacific Stream formula’s & Lentils to their Sierra Mountain formula’s, Lentils & Garbanzo beans can cause intestinal stress especially when you have IBD, IBS & EPI, can TOTW please keep the Australian & European TOTW formula’s the same without the added Lentils & Chickpeas??? then TOTW contacted me & said they will be keeping the TOTW formulas the same & they will not change these 2 formula’s that are imported to Australia & European countries…… we were all sooo HAPPY & thanked TOTW for doing this plus I think the TOTW veterinarian Dr’s agreed with us & they knew we were right that Lentils & Chickpeas can cause Intestinal Stress, I’d rather eat potato or sweet potato then eat taste less lentils or chickpeas Lentils give bad wind pain & you have the farts lol
As you know its very hard finding foods that agree with an IBD dog, people that have never had IBD or have never had a dog with IBD don’t understand & think it’s easy just feed a vet diet & the dog will get better, IBD is an awful disease, some ingredients can cause bad wind/gas & dirrahea, all these pet food companies are adding Lentils & Garbanzo beans (Chickpeas) to their pet foods is cause Lentils/chickpeas are high in protein so this puts the protein % up higher so pet food companies are adding & using cheap Lentils & Chickpeas now to their pet foods, when we read the Protein % on a kibble bag it doesnt say meat protein % or plant protein % separately, the protein % & is both meat & plant protein & people see a high protein % & think its all meat protein but it isnt..

“Earthborn Holistic” have a new formula out called Venture, Rabbit Meal & Pumkin, EH write the protein % from peas, meat & pumkin, in Earthborn Holistic Venture Rabbit Meal & Pumkin formula it says Pea Protein-37% Pumkin Protein-18% Rabbit Meal Protein-40% the only problem with Earthborn Holistic Venture formula’s the fiber is very high around 8-9%, have you worked out does Furby do better on less fiber or more fiber in his diet?? my Patch needs less fiber & Lentils & Chickpeas are very high in fiber….
I wouldn’t worry if the protein is low & is under 25% & that the Sweet Potatoes is first ingredient we have sick dogs just finding a kibble that works is a miracle, I’d try the “Natural Balance” Sweet Potato & Bison formula first it has teh least ingredients or there’s the “Californian Natural” Chicken Meal & Rice if you dont want to feed teh Lamb Meal & Rice they both have only 3 ingredients, I’ve read alot of people saying their IBD dog is doing really well eating the Natural Balance LID formula’s, then once Furby is doing well you can slowly start adding more fresh cooked meat to his diet, Patch does best on kibbles that have low Kcals Per cup under 360Kcals per cup when he’s eating a kibble that is higher then 380Kcals per cup & higher in Protein after a few days he starts his whinging, crying & lifts his right paw up for me to rub his pancreas/stomach area so I’ve been only feeding him kibbles now that are under 360Kcals per cup now & under 25% in protein, it’s Summer at the moment in Australian & he always doesnt do too well thru the Summer months cause of his environment allergies…..Patch stopped eating the TOTW Lamb formula when we moved, so I saw that as a sign & he was telling me mum I dont like this TOTW no more, TOTW Pacific Stream & their High Paraire formula’s tested very high in Toxins back in August when all the popular dog foods were tested so maybe thats why Patch stopped eating the TOTW also TOTW have changed something in their Sierra Mountain formula, it smells different & the kibble size is smaller, small kibble is a good thing but something is different & Patch kept eating grass after eating his TOTW, so now Im feeding him the “Nutro Essentials” Lamb & Rice formula at the moment
it has Lamb, Ground Rice, Rice Flour, Grounded Sorghum, Chicken Fat, I’d rather be feeding him Nutro Grain free, Lamb, lentils & Sweet Potato formula but I know if I feed the thwe better formula we will be up every night 11pm 1am 3am 5am with him with wind pain, diarrhea & him looking for grass, Kangaroo is a good novel protein low in fat BUT Kangaroo is a very rich meat & all the pet foods companies can’t afford to use Kangaroo so they add Lentils, Chickpeas to up the protein % Zignature does it, Zignature Kangaroo formula is very high in Red & Green lentils, then when people dogs start having Diarrhea people think its the kangaroo meat but its the high about of Lentils or Chickpeas the pet food companies have added to their Kangaroo formula, here in Australia Kangroo is in our supermarket cheap pet foods the same with Horse meat, yrs & yrs ago horses were used in Pet Foods now you dont see horse meat in pet foods anymore a few people who have dogs with IBD use horse meat & their dogs are doing really well but I would try adding a carb as well with the horse meat, Furby mighten get diarrhea the Kangaroo protein might be too high for him to handle….

[Susan L]

I have been feeding dogs raw meat for approximately 15 years. Only once has a dog had sensitivity to food or the environment. But I have learned over the years that most dogs can be desensitized, or cured as it were, of most allergies. But it takes time.

The dog with the environmental allergies (diagnosed with blood test) broke out in sores & itched like crazy. I believe it was brought or activated by a rabies vaccination. I soaked the sores thoroughly & rubbed off the scabs to prevent infection. I used TrizCHLOR 4 shampoo which was very soothing. Gave her 1 drop of Thuja for 1 week, followed by 1 week of Silica 30c place on the gum area next to her cheek (retreated her 3 weeks later). I also gave her Livton Liver Cleanse by Standard Process- which can be found on Amazon (for humans & dogs) for 2 months initially. It was so effective I currently use it for 1 month every 6 months on all my dogs.

I switched all raw food to “cool” or ‘Neutral” foods for the sensitive dog with great results. Chicken is warm, lamb & venison the hottest meat. Some sites & vets characterize turkey as a neutral meat, some a cool meat– I have found it fits more accurately in the cool category. Other cool meats are duck, most white fish & rabbit. Pork, eggs, sardines, tuna, tripe, quail are in the neutral category. I also fed leafy & regular veggies from the neutral & cool category as well. (I feed pork raw to all of my dogs & have for years, trichinosis has been bred out of pigs– but if you like freeze it for 2-3 weeks).

It did not happen over night, but after 2 months of treatment & the food change i was able to take the dog back to dog parks which had allergens she tested positive to: Cottonwood trees, grasses etc and she did well– if she later itched it stopped with a bath. After 4 months she can go, roll on the ground, pick up & chew twigs from the trees she tested as “allegic” to and no more problems. Luckily her hair grew back–and she is a bounding, happy, 1 and a 1/2 year old dog with no symptoms of allergies of any kind.

[Susan]

Hi Dana,
what is he eating?? how high is the fiber % ?
Look for low fiber under 4%, lower carb under 38% diets, oils can make acid reflux/nausea worse just be careful, I’d try & cook one of his meals, use easy to digest meats like turkey & chicken, get some chicken breast cut up into small pieces, just bring to the boil do not over cook as the chicken pieces. they will be like hard leather pieces & boiled some sweet potatoes or plain white potatoes, mix 1/2 chicken & 1/2 potato & some boil pumkin about 1 spoon of pumkin, I freeze boiled pumkin pieces in the freezer in those ice cube trays & take out as I need some pumkin, the pumkin thaws very quickly, pumkin soothes the stomach, you watch he’ll be better after eating a lean low fat, low fiber cooked meal then when he eats the dry kibble….
Sometimes the dog ends up needing an acid reducer, i’d be trying an acid reducer like liquid “Mylanta” its a white powdery liquid that relieves nausea & acid reflux, I keep a small bottle in the fridge, when its cold it soothe the throat, esophagus & stomach, you give 1 teaspoon, 5mls when needed, when he’s gulping grass, my boy use to wait near the fridge for his Mylanta when he felt real sick, Mylanta was the only medication he let me give him so it must of done something to help also Slippery Elm made into a sloppy paste & kept in the fridge helps, go to health food store & get some slippery elm powder, you boil the jug & add boiled water to about under 1 teaspoon slippery elm powder & make a sloppy paste so you can pull up into a those big 20ml syringes or put on 1 teaspoon or open his mouth & put on his tongue….
I wouldnt be giving any oils, you need to work out what is causing the problem, why is he’s getting nausea??
the only test that will give vet some answers is to have an Endoscope & Biopies done the biopies will tell the vet whats going on, my boy had Helicobacter-Pylori this makes them feel real sick & have bad acid reflux, I’ve had Helicobacter its awful & takes a while to get rid off, but first try changing his diet, then you watch him after he eats, does he seem uncomfortable when he kibble is he better after he eats his cooked meals……..

Have you tried “4Health” Special Care Sensitive Stomach dry formula?? its Egg & Potato very easy to digest ingreients, is low in fiber-3%, low in fat-13% & carbs-40%, also has probiotics & prebiotics in it…. give it a go & see if there’s an improvement with his stomach… I’ve heard alot of really good results with the “4health” Sensitive Stomach & Sensitive Skin formula’s..

[Dana N]

I have a Bernese Mountain Dog with this issue. Gulping, swallowing, drooling with eyes that say “please help me” and a desperate need to eat grass. After reading lots of blogs, I have come to the conclusion that it is nausea and I am going to try 1) Digize Essential Oils when he has his next episode, a probiotic in his food and wetting his food…. wish us luck.

[Susan]

Hi Karen H,
stay away from any oral chews for fleas etc especailly Bravecto it stays in the dogs system more then 3 months & if the dog starts to react & gets sick there’s no treatment to reverse the Bravecto…

Do you live in a high flea, high heartworm area?? ask vet when was the last time he had a heartworm patient in your area ask a few vets in the area normallly the vet staff at the front desk know?? Where I live vets haven’t seen any heartworm cases in 30yrs now.
Less chemicals you put in his body the better off he’ll be….
I have a very sensitive boy who has IBD & I do not use any flea chews, we don’t have fleas where I live but when I first rescued Patch nilly 5 yrs ago when we were walking thru the park before all these flea chews came out (Bravecto & Nexgard) there were fleas in the dog park after it rained thru the Summer months & Patch would tell me as soon as a flea jumped up on his leg, he’s allergic to flea bites, just 1 bite & he itches for days, Patches vet said the best product to use is “Frontline Plus Spot on” or the Frontline Flea spray, they both only penitrate 2 layers of the dogs skin, where other flea proucts like Advantage spot on penitrate thru to their blood, Patch was spewing blood after I applied Advantage spot on when I first rescued him, I dont know if it was a coincidence this happened but it was awful he woke up 2am vomiting & there were clots of blood in his vomit, I took his vomit to the vet that morning but the blood clots had mixed thru, this is how I’ve learnt all this info about flea products, the Frontline spray is expensive but it last a few Summers, I was just spraying his legs then put on a glove & spraying the glove then rubbing onto Patch fur.. but these last 2 Summers he hasn’t had no fleas at all I’d say everyone in the area are using all the new toxic chews for fleas, so my Patch is flea free when he comes home from his walks & he doesnt need any chemicals in his body..
Join a few “Natural Canine groups” & ask what they’re using for fleas, I know in Australia, Australian made pet foods have Garlic in them, at the end of the ingredient list, so there’s not much garlic in the dog foods, google what foods in a dogs diet stops fleas, you don’t add heaps of Garlic only very small amounts there’s other foods as well like Brewers Yeast…
I know Lavendar & Rosemary plants planted around the the yard are good to keep away Mozzies as Mosquitos hate Lavender & Rosemary, you can make up lavender, pepermint, eucalyptus in a spray bottle & spray the dogs coat, bedding, kennel etc to keep fleas away, I’m moving into a house in a few months & I’m worring about fleas as the last owner had a dog & a cat so there will be flea eggs in the dirt grass etc there’s no carpet inside house so hopefully the house will be flea free, but fleas dont seem to like Patch, Patches vet said she see a few dogs that are the same the fleas jump on them, then the flea jumps back off them, could be their diet….

[Nadine H]

I have two gerat dane pups and have tried many foods over the past year. The only one that they have done great on is Purina pro plan focus. I stayed away even though my vet recommended it. Kept reading the ingredients and thought no way. Finally gave it a shot and the first time since I’ve had them I’m not scraping poo out of the grass. The have shiny coats and tons of energy. People probably wonder why I keep raving about this food, I’m just so amazed at how well it’s working out and it’s actually affordable, we go through three 34 lbs bags a month so thats a real plus.

[Susan]

Hi Weezerweeks,
I’d be changing vets if your boy does good while on the ant acid meds then after you have stop the meds he starts gaging, vomiting bile, pacing & eating grass again, then he is having bad acid reflux, there’s a big difference with a dog coughing, spluttering & making that awful sound I hear some smaller dogs make & a dog with acid reflux, you see them stressing, eating & pulling at grass & eating anything in their path when they have acid reflux, the acid comes up into the throat, leaves an awful taste.. Patch was lucky cause I suffer with acid reflux & have to take meds & so does Patches IBD vet & he knew all the signs & he told me to feed Patch a white meats like Turkey, white Fish, Chicken easy to digest meats & low fiber foods, no fermentable fibers foods that sit in the stomach & ferement..

Boil some sweet potato, broccoli & add meat & feed this for 1 of his meals & see if he does better then when he eats the THK base + protein??… Start keeping a diary & see whats he eating when this happens or does he wake up some mornings & wants to go outside first thing of a morning to eat grass? then you’ll have more information to tell the vet.. maybe feed 3-4 smaller meals a day, I do 2 meals at night 5pm is 1 cup meal & 8pm is 1/3 a cup meal & that gets Patch thru to the morning 7am feed..