[Fanette R]

Hello,

I’m posting this message because I’m getting pretty confused with everything that is going on with my dog.
He has been diagnosed with IBD for almost a year now. It has been a long and hard journey but in May I started to put him on Firstmate Fish Original Formula, which has help a lot his stomach.

The only problem is that since April (so before starting Firstmate), he had started to lick the floor literally all the time. I do not know what is happening but it is getting to a point where I cannot even let him walk in my apartment at all (he won’t lick outside though). Furby is a rescued dog and I’m used to him licking because of his anxiety, but it is nothing like what he is currently doing. When he has anxiety, or even nausea, he will lay down and lick his bed for example. Here it’s totally different, he won’t lick his bed, he will lick the floor like he is looking for food and is starving, and if he sees something on the floor that looks like food he will run at it.

The thing with Firstmate also is that from what I’m seeing, you don’t have to feed a lot of it. Which doesn’t help with my dog looking starving. He is crazy about the food and literally bite my fingers out of excitement if I have it, and once he has done eating he will look for more everywhere (I have to add that my dog has never been a crazy eater, more like the opposite. The behavior started 2 months ago, and he is almost 12 years old).

Here are the feeding guideline for a senior dog :
Weight Less Active Active
5-10 lb 1/8-1/4 cup 1/4-1/3 cup
(2.3-4.5 kg) (19-39 g) (39-52 g)

10-20 lb 1/4-1/2 cup 1/3-2/3 cup
(4.5-9 kg) (39-78 g) (52-103 g)

20-30 lb 1/2-3/4 cup 2/3-1 cup
(9-13.6 kg) (78-116 g) (103-155 g)

30-50 lb 3/4-1 ½ cups 1-1 ¾ cups
(13.6-23 kg) (155-271 g)

50-70 lb 1 ½-2 cups 1 ¾-2 ¼ cups
(23-32 kg) (233-310 g) (271-349 g)

etc…

And the calories levels : ME (calculated): 3125 kcal/kg | 484 kcal/cup

There is different things that makes me confused :
– I’m from France so I don’t really use cups, more grams, but if I use a cup to measure the kibbles, I have something like 180g of kibbles for one cup, where here they say that one cup is equal to 155g. Which could make quite a difference
– Calorie levels. They tell me that for my dog who weighs 7.5kg, I should give 85g daily. If I make the calculation, it will mean that Furby will get 265 kcal daily (if I use their cup measurement, if I use mine it will get 222kcal daily). Both of those numbers seem crazy low to me, when Furby started to have IBD and was on bland diet and then homecooked food, I did all the calculation and it showed that Furby should eat something like 381kcal daily (let me know if I’m wrong).

Right now I have increased his food and he is eating 140g of food daily but still seems starving. But I don’t even know if I’m doing good by increasing the food, I don’t want to take any risk with his IBD (I’m watching the calorie levels though to make sure he doesn’t get too much of it).
Plus, he doesn’t have officially kidney disease, but his last blood work showed that his urea levels is high so my vet said that I need to watch the phosphorous level in his food (which seems fine with this brand), and the protein shouldn’t be too high. Which is worrying me because they said on the Firtmate’s website that we don’t have to feed too much of this food because there is a lot of protein. Although on the guarantee analysis there is only 23% protein.

Guarantee Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 23%
Ash (max) 7%
Crude Fat (min) 10%
Calcium (min) 1%
Crude Fibre (max) 8%
Phosphorous (min) 0.75%
Moisture (max) 10%
Glucosamine (min) 100mg/kg
Magnesium (max) 0.1%
Calcium / Phosphorous ratio 1.3:1
ME (calculated): 3125 kcal/kg | 484 kcal/cup

And they also write :
73 % PROTEIN FROM Wild Pacific Ocean Fish Meal
27 % PROTEIN FROM Vegetables
0 % FROM Grains

Sorry for that very big message but I’m very confused and do not want to do something that will hurt my dog. I’m just really helpless at the moment his licking problem has been impossible to manage

Thank you so much for reading this, hopefully some of you could give me their thoughts 🙂
Have a great day,
Fanette

[Eileen H]

Hi Fanette,
Sorry to hear you are having so many issues. Unfortunately I know how you feel. My dog (Dolce who is 5) was diagnosed with pancreatitis/IBD about 2 years ago. My Vet put him on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food which is low fat/higher protein and probiotics. He was doing great on that diet. However about 3 months ago his tests came back and he has kidney disease. Also because his kidneys weren’t functioning properly his blood pressure was high so he is on medication for that which has helped lower it significantly. Have you had that checked? We switched him to a low protein diet which is higher in fat and he couldn’t tolerate the fat. So we mixed in white rice and a very small piece of chicken (1 tsp). We ended up having to put him back on the gastrointestinal food and antibiotics to get his pancreatitis under control. Once that is better we are going to try Hills G/D prescription food to see if he can tolerate the fat content. If he can’t I’m not sure what else to do. There is the Balanceit Diet that we considered but it is all supplements which I don’t know much about.

I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts/comments if they have had similar issues with their
dogs.

Thanks!

[Susan]

Hi Franette,

I’d stop feeding dog fish kibbles, my boy also has IBD & I feed a fish formula in the beginning. Fish seem to help him then all of a sudden he was getting bad acid reflux from the fish oils..Look at feeding white cleaner meats like Chicken, Turkey, Pork these meats are white easier to digest & dont have as much toxins as the fish dog foods have, get a kibble that’s lower in Kcals per cup kibbles under 370Kcals per cup, I stay around 340 Kcals per cup, the higher teh Kcals the more dense teh dry kibble is & harder to digest the kibble… I have found my Patch does heaps better eating a kibble that is lower in carbs lower in fiber & the fat doesnt have to be really low, its the Fiber & Carbohydrates that need to be lower..Fiber can be 4-5% & under, Carbs 36% & under, fat- 10-14% & protein 26-34%…higher teh protein & fat the lower the carbs.
Im feeding “Wellness Core” Large Breed formula at the moment, my boy isnt a large breed dog & the Wellness Core Large breed formula is high in omega fatty acid but not no fish/salmon oils, oils can upset his stomach, Vet Diets are the same they are high in fish oil causing acid reflux..he licks his paws, bed sheets, grinds his teeth & mouth licks..

Can you afford an Endoscope + Biopsies done you need the “biopsies” only 2 biospsies of his stomach & esophagus to see does he have Helicobacter-Pylori then he takes 21 day course of triple therapy meds, Metronidazole, Amoxillicin every 12 hours with meal & 20mg Losec given of a morning for 21 days then he stays on the 20mg Losec tablet to stop the Helicobactor coming back & living in his stomach wall, the Omeprazole (Losec) will stop the acid reflux, or ask vet can you just try the Triple therapy meds for 21 day & continue with 20mg x Losec after te triple therapy course has finished? if you dont have the $700 for Endoscope + biopsies, triple therapy meds will stop him feeling so hungry & wanting food all day within 5 days of starting triple therapy medications, do you have a good vet that knows about IBD?…
All dogs have Helicobacter but when a dog doesn’t have a healthy intestinal tract normally dogs with IBD get the Helicobacter over growth, it takes over the dogs stomach & lives in their stomach wall giving them acid reflux & a norring feeling in the stomach & as soon as you eat this norring feeling in stomach goes away, then the food gets digested & this norring feeling comes back, so you want to keep eating & eating to stop the stomach pain.

Start feeding him a new limited ingredient kibble the first mate fish formula ur feeding has Tomato Pomace as 4th ingredient also the fiber is 8% this is high in fiber & can make acid reflux worse.. does he need this higher fiber for his IBD? can he eat a kibble that has 4-5% fiber instead?
Try a kibble that has chicken or pork or turkey kibble, something that has a white meat, turkey, chicken, pork, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peas..& has lower fiber also feed 5 smaller meals a day, instead of feeding 2 larger meals a day..
Can you get “Natural Balance”LTD Sweet Potato & Bison formula or Potato & Duck formula etc or “Wellness Core” Large Breed Adult formula? if your dog does need the higher fiber then “Wellnesss Core” has their Reduced Fat formula.. I’d be asking your vet can you please try the 21 day course of Triple Therapy meds for Helicobactor & then can your dog continue & stay on 20mg X Omeprazole (Losec)
Then see does the floor licking & feeling hungry & wanting food 24/7 goes away or reduces…Good Luck keep us posted what you try.

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