[emmygirl01]

I am hoping someone may have some advice or even just a word of kindness.
My dog is going to be 10 years old in May. He had parvo as a pup. It messed up his intestines and now he is sensitive to foods. We have literally tried almost every kind of food on every shelf, in every pet store. I have done home cooking, I have ordered Balance-it, I have tried alternative/medicine, I have tried probiotics, enzymes, chinese herbs, I have tried hypo-allergenic Royal Canin and Science Diet.
He has been on beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork, venison–grain free, you name it.
He has been on steroids, antibiotics, Tylan powder. I have B-12 shots that I am supposed to start this week.
The only thing I have not tried is RAW or BARF diet.
Most recently, he has had diarrhea for 4 months. He has vomited a hand full of times.
I have been to 4 vets, he has had his poop tested, blood work, ultra-sound (april 2017)-YOU NAME IT, we have done it. Test results: clear, no real problems.
Currently: Until this morning, I was feeding 3x a day 1/3 cup of home cooked turkey, 2 TBS of acorn squash and 1 Tbs. Oatmeal. 2 TBS FARMINA Digestion
I was trying to transition from home cooked to Farmina.
I thought we were doing well until last week when his stool started to become soft, then turned to liquid and this morning he barfed.
SO–no more of that.
He was starving a few hours after he barfed, so I gave him a few tablespoons of The Honest Kitchen Embark and 1 TBS of canned goat.
He tolerated that all day and I gave him more at 7 pm. Diarrhea at 9:00pm.
He is not taking any medications or probiotics or enzymes at this time.
I really have no idea what to feed him to get him back to normal. Home cooking does NO better than canned or dry.
These are my questions:
1. I would like some feedback on Sport Elite ( no peas) dog food
2. I would like to know how I approach my vet–3 out of the 4 won’t call me back after I leave a message at the front desk–they say, “i will have her call you back today'” I never hear from them—
Does anyone have any words of encouragement or any help?
I know my experience is not your experience, and I am following my vet’s advise to the best of my ability. But when she puts my dog on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic food and he barfs and has massive diarrhea, tummy gurgling and looking like death–this is NOT the answer. Just because a food is “healthy” or “hypoallergenic” does not mean it is tolerated.
He has a great appetite, always appreciative of food and eats anything, but I continue to look for the combination that will keep him healthy, happy and no diarrhea.
I literally don’t know what to do!

Thank you in advance for listening.

[Ryan K]

I’m not an expert but have you tried Tuscan naturals basic lamb or chicken dry food? They are super simple recipes that my dog did well on when he was sick with stomach problems. I wound up getting him onto Nutro Lamb and he does better now but I know that the basic Chicken and lamb recipes are literally just rice, protein and flaxseed. Just figured I would mention those options since they are so simple and filler free. Good luck. I hope your pup feels better soon!

[Lori H]

Hi Simone,

My dog Buddy has been through a lot, much like your dog. He just turned 10 and during his life he has had surgery on his spleen, surgery for bladder stones, been diagnosed with Diabetes and I was told by my vet that he was suffering from liver failure and was preparing me for the fact that Buddy was going to die. The liver failure diagnosis was over a year ago and today, he is healthy, happy, looks amazing and has so much energy. I just had him into the vet for blood work Friday and his numbers are almost perfect! It has been am amazing turnaround so I know how you feel. I basically had to get him healthy myself. My vet did not support my decision to do what I did, but it does not matter, he is healthy and that is all that matters!

I now believe wholeheartedly that most vets know nothing about nutrition. They are told to carry a line of food in their offices by one of the large pharma/dog food companies because most of these companies go out and recruit at the vet universities across the United States when vets are in school and provide them with a kickback when the sell either Science Diet or Royal Canin in their clinics, up to 40%. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my vet, I just don’t believe he knows much of anything about nutrition. He has been great to me, my dog Buddy and my three cats. He is good at what he does, diagnose and perform much needed surgeries and procedures. He did Buddy’s bladder stone surgery which has complications.

I was at my wits end as well and thought that I was going to lose Buddy, but I was not willing to give up so I did a Google search and found an amazing person who brought Buddy back to the healthy dog he is.

Buddy is on a very special diet and he has made huge strides in the last 10+ months. He is a very healthy dog to what he was 6 months ago.

I worked with a man named Rick Scheyer. He has an amazing website http://www.doglivershunt.com He has helped many dogs with liver shunt, kidney disease, bladder stone problems and much, much more become healthy dogs again. I would suggest reaching out to him for a free consultation. It might be the answer you need.

If you choose to go with his program, it is not cheap, but I believe that over time, I will save money by not taking Buddy to the vet time and time again because I don’t know what is wrong and having a battery of tests run and racking up bills in the thousands, I have been there!

He was slowly weened off of his processed food Science Diet U/D and placed on a diet of fresh veggies and meat based on a very slow transition to follow with Rick’s help.

Buddy’s diet is a balance of ¾ veggies to ¼ meats. Dogs with liver issues do not need as much protein as you would expect. He gets lots of yellow veggies (squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, celery, carrots, Brussel sprouts, snap peas, etc.) along with hemp oil and nori blended with goat yogurt into almost a smoothie consistency. I then add meats, liver is great as it helps to detoxify the liver (funny that you feed liver to a dog with liver issuesJ) and then he gets a variety of supplements. He receives three gut supplements in the morning (Acidophilus, Bifudus and a Spectrabiotic) along with an Enzyme and something called Whole Body. In the evenings he gets the Enzyme, Whole Body and a Mushroom supplement. The process to make his food is not that time consuming and if you are at your wits end like I was, I was ready to do anything.

He also gets to have as much goat yogurt as he wants with coconut oil. He also gets sweet potato chews and coconut slices.

He is also allowed to eat fruits, not during his morning and evening meals since they digest differently than veggies, but he has not yet warmed up to them yet. I don’t know if he ever will.

He is doing great! He has so much energy and the numbers don’t lie! I got a glucose meter and I am going to start checking his levels daily. I would really like to get him off the insulin if I can. I believe the medicine is what causes the blindness, not the actual diabetes, my vet believes otherwise.

My vet has not said much of anything. I explained I was taking him off the prescription food and putting him on this program and he never responded. When I took him in the last time for blood work, I think he was surprised Buddy was doing so well, but did not ask me further about what I was doing. He is a pretty straight and narrow vet and I don’t think he looks outside the box. If Buddy’s glucose numbers continue to decline, I will take him back and back off on the number of units he is given. Now it is just maintenance and keeping a spreadsheet and monitoring how he is doing.

I suggest reaching out. I think Rick saved Buddy’s life. I took him to the vet in October to have blood work done and he is perfectly healthy!

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

Good luck on your search and reach out if you have further questions or concerns. It was hard to take the jump and trust someone other than my vet with my dogs nutritional health, but I am so glad that I did.

Lori

[CockalierMom]

I know what it is like to go through food issues and it can be really hard to find the right combination that will help your boy. The best place to start is to determine which foods he has done a little better on and which ones the worse. I use to keep logs of the ingredients and GA on how my girl reacted to everything and that is where I was finally able to find a link.

You said your boy has had diarrhea for 4 months–has he been eating the turkey, squash and oatmeal mixture during all that time? That mixture is high in soluble fiber, and the Royal Canin Ultamino and Gastro foods are also high in soluble fiber along with having prebiotics in them. If your boy is sensitive to soluble fiber, all these foods would make him worse. The Farmina Digestive is also very high in soluble fiber along with prebiotics so this food will probably give the same results as the Royal Canin food.

Has he been eating the THK Embark during the past 4 months and what were the results when he ate that food?

Have you tried any other carbs with the home cooked turkey?

Have you tried any limited ingredient kibbles in the past and if so, which ones?

Right now with the condition his gut is in, you are going to need to go very slow with trying to introduce any kibbles. You may want to try adding a teaspoon of plain kefir to each meal when you do another transition.

[emmygirl01]

HI,
Thank you for your words of kindness and support.
I will check out tuscan naturals and nutro! He was on Nutro when he was a pup–that was one of the first foods he became sick on–but that was 10years ago!
I will check out Rick Scheyer–can’t hurt! I am open to having someone listen and I 1000000% agree about vet’s. One of the vet’s I respect, actually told me “all I know is science” I can only speak about the food that has data and science behind it. Which is all great, unless your pup gets sick from it!
CockalierMom, I actually loved your questions because just today, my husband and I were talking about the squash/root veggies. My husband was actually the one who said he thought the veggies might be too much. Your logic about the soluble fiber is genius–and I am taking a look at that. He has had those veggies for the WHOLE 4 months–( prescribed by the holistic vet I went to for a short time)
He has had great success with The Honest Kitchen in the past–which is why I am trying it again–he seems to have a little reflux, 5 minutes after he eats it–which he did not have the last time he was on it, so IDK.
He has tolerated lamb, venison, duck, turkey, oatmeal, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, apples, parsnips.
He seems intolerant of pork, chicken, rice, beef, salmon and salmon oil and most recently probiotics ( he was on proviable for a year) I saw some articles about enterococcus faceum, and after he vomited one day after getting a proviable, I hesitated giving it to him anymore.
Thank you for your help and good words–I was feeling kind of defeated last night when I wrote this–I think I just about have it figured out and then I DON’T!! I love the idea of keeping a journal. Thanks everyone!

[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…

[emmygirl01]

Thank you Susan, I loved reading your story. I am so VERY glad that your boy is still with you and that you do so much for him. What a lucky doggie!
I will go over your information and highlight some of your ideas. I think they sound good and you certainly have been through it all with Patch! I am re-trying Wellness canned lamb. I think the Wellness products look good–and I am with you–No lentils, chick peas, peas–I know they use it as a binding agent, but if they are an ingredient, –I have to say, “NO”.
Give me a day to look your post over and thank you for your time. I do appreciate it.
He has been on flagyl. I would try him on it again, but like I said, 4/4 vets that I have contacted in the past 6 weeks don’t call me back. I can’t believe all of them are avoiding me, so the receptionists must not relay the message. It’s frustrating. I will try the B-12 this weekend when I can be home and watch him–although I am not worried, I think it will be good for him. Thanks again,

[CockalierMom]

I think the acid reflux is probably due to the condition of his gut right now. I feed THK base mixes, and my girl will get acid reflux if there is too much fat in her food-she does not tolerate fish oil at all on THK. You may want to try a little Kindly base mix and add your own turkey and see how he does. The base mixes are not ground as fine as the complete mixes, such as Embark, and I hydrate those a lot longer, 4 to 12 hours.

I had was giving my girl probiotics for over a year and mentioned to the vet that I did not think they were helping her, and he suggested adding the kefir. I took her off the pet probiotics when I could not add 3 kibbles to her food without getting diarrhea, and then added kefir and had no problems at all transitioning to another kibble. (She does better with a few kibbles mixed into the THK).

Since the THK is bothering him right now, and he tolerates potatoes and sweet potatoes, you may want to try a little of that with the turkey. White potato has less soluble fiber than sweet potatoes and might be a good choice. I strongly suspect the squash and oatmeal are too much for his system.

Have you tried the Wellness Simple Turkey or Natural Balance Duck and Potato?

With the journey I have been through with my girl, I definitely know what it is like to feel defeated and ready to give up–every time I get a good combination that is working formulas are changed or discontinued. I don’t know that I will have any answers for you but can help get you pointed in the direction to head.

[Justina C]

My dog had surgery to remove bladder stones an was put on hill prescription cd food. He misses having a treat once a day. Does anyone have any ideas what kind of treat she can have.?

[anonymous]

Any dietary restrictions will depend on the type of bladder stones that were removed, there are several types.
Usually when they remove bladder stones the vet sends them to a lab to be analyzed and then shares the results with you.
So I would give him a call.
For now I would just use a bit of the prescription food as a treat.

This subject has been discussed here at length.

Example. /forums/topic/bladder-stones-in-6-year-old-female-pug/#post-113166

[Deanna B]

Over the years my dogs have had some issues like yours. The best food I have found for them are Wellness Core Dry Food and I have a dog food subscription from Farmers Dog – which is homemade and uses human grade ingredients. My dogs love it. They are also white dogs and I struggled with tear staining, but did not want to treat with chemicals. Using the Wellness dry food and Farmers Dog food as a topper, the tear stains are gone. Also smaller poops, no throwing up, no loose or greasy stools.
Good luck to you.

[emmygirl01]

Deanna,
THANK YOU!
I bought several cans of the lamb or turkey, which was like 96 or 97% pure meat ( with vitamins) Then, I took him off of it because I was advised to try the Royal Canin hypoallergenic line–that did not work, so now I am still trying to find the right combo of foods.
He started Budesonide Delayed Release capsules this am., a steroid that is supposed to stay in the intestine only, and have less side effects of a regular steroid.
He will get his second B-12 shot tomorrow.
I continue to look for the right combo of cooked/canned/dry–WHAT EVER will work, is good for me at this point.
I will go to chewy.com right now and look at the ingredients and fiber in Wellness.
Maybe I can score some free samples at one of the pet stores around here.
I have stayed away from all lentils, chickpeas, legumes, beef, chicken, salmon and most peas. Looking for low fat, low fiber foods without the above ingredients, is a chore.
Thank you for taking the time to give your suggestion, it is appreciated.

[Author]

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