[Richard G]

Vet recommends 8-12 week trial with a food with broken down protein. Any thoughts? This is brought about by our dog having recurring diarrhea every 2-4 weeks. Other testing has been negative.

[theBCnut]

8-12 weeks should be just the very beginning of the food trial. Usually, you put your dog on the hydrolyzed protein diet for at least 10 weeks to get rid of all symptoms, then you start adding back one ingredient at a time for a period of time to see if the dog reacts to it or is OK with it. This way you can learn what it is that your dog is reacting to and find a commercial food that your dog is fine with. It can take months to do a complete elimination diet. I’ve been testing ingredients on my dog for 2 years now and just found another that he reacts to, but I have also found 20 foods that he does good on. I specifically tested ingredient that were in a food I wanted to move him to first, so I could get him off of his starting diet quickly.

[Susan]

Hi Richard, Ive been going thru this with diarrhea & skin problems since I rescued my boy on the 20th November 2012…..are you starting with home cooked food trial or a vet prescription diet?

I started with a vet prescription diet first, I found it easier & ur dog gets all his vitamins etc…Your dog doesn’t have to stay on the vet prescription diet forever but its a starting point & probably will help with his diarrhea if put on the right vet prescription diet…

At first I didn’t want to believe my vet when he told me my boy had IBD caused by certain foods & enviornment.. Patches first vet put him on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic (HP) the fat was tooo high, then poor Patch got Pancreatitis, his first poo of a morning on the R/C HP was good but his afternoon poo was always very sloppy & yellow & he still had his hive like lumps over his body & red itchy paws after being on the R/C HP vet diet for 2 months , then I rung Royal Canin & I spoke with one of their nuturalist vet & she said try the Royal Canin ‘Sensitivity Control’ which was just Tapioca & Duck this worked, it cleared his red itchy paws but I cant remember why he was then put on another vet prescription diet Eukanuba Intestinal low residue kibble, I did change vets at the same clinic as Patches first vet was very very busy with surgery & was hard to get appointments with, but the Eukanuba worked the BEST, his poos stayed firm, skin cleared up, he still gets his red paws now & then but it worked with his diarrhea the best, then after being on the Eukanuba Intestinal for around 6 months & he was doing really well, I started to try commercial premium kibbles they just didnt work, too many ingredients, fats too high, fiber too high, the last kibble I tried was the Wellness Simple Lamb & Oatmeal last month he went real good for the first 2 months, then he started having bad gas of a night & the afternoon poo was sloppy & yellow again…
What I’ve found with the normal kibbles there will be either 1 ingredient that my dog cant eat or there’s too many carbs causing skin problems or sloppy poos, bad wind, so it was back to the vet diet Eukanuba Intestinal within 2 days poos all good again…

At the begining of this year when Patch was doing real well just eating his Eukanuba again & after trying 5 different kibbles that didnt work for him..I started trying new foods just at breakfast time, I kept feeding his Eukanuba Intestinal for lunch & dinner & I started a food elimination diet for breakfast & cause the Eukanuba Intestinal has chicken & turkey, I started with boiled chicken breast as I knew he can tolarate chicken.. I added just rice, Patch had real sloppy yellow poos again, so I stopped the rice & tried boiled egg he did real well on chicken & egg then I added sweet pototo after 2 days, his ears started to itch, I stopped the sweet potato, waited till his itchy ears went away which was 2 days, then I tried a little bit of boiled pumkin, the pumkin worked, he had no reactions, only if I gave to much pumkin mixed with the chicken his poos were softer & more orange, then next morning I added some boiled potato, my god within 20 mins of eating the potato he had a rash all over his chest at first I thought its from our morning walk, he always walks thru shrubs, bushy plants to have his poo, so the next morning I added the potato again & again he was scratching his chest, I looked & the rash was back & that afternoon he had diarrhea like he had gotten back in December when I tried a Fish & Potato kibble, so now I know Potatos are a no no, then I stopped the chicken & I feed tin tuna in spring water, I drain the water & add a bit of pumkin, Patch did real well on tuna & little bit of pumkin, I added the boiled egg, he had no skin reactions or sloppy poos, then I added rice again just to be sure this week & again very very sloppy poos, so I definently know do not feed boiled rice, potatos & sweet potatoes…

I’d try a vet prescription diet first, they are made especially for dogs with diarrhea problems & skin problems from foods, its a starting point…..

Hills Z/d uses hydrolyzed chicken liver & hydrolyzed chicken.. Royal Canin Hypoallergenic uses hydrolyzed soya protein isolate & hydrolysed poultry liver, but the Royal Canin HP uses more oils then the Hills Z/d, there’s soya oil, fish oil, barage oil, marigold extract in the R/C HP, too many oils for my dog thats probably why his poos weren’t firming up.
Royal Canin Sensitivity Control has dehydrated duck & hydrolyzed poultry proteins.
there’s also Raynes K9 Sensitive Gi a few ladies use the Raynes when the Hills & Royal Canin didnt work for their dogs but I dont think Raynes uses hydrolyzed proteins..

I joined groups, either facebook groups or a yahoo groups, the yahoo groups are the best, you get alot of help from people that are going thru the same thing, what foods have worked & what didn’t work for their dogs with diarrhea…there’s a good group on yahoo called “IBDogs” & “K9Kitchen” run by Monica Segal she can help with ur dogs diet if needed & answer questions….
Good-Luck

[Author]

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