[Julia T]

Our 1 yr old lab has a super sensitive stomach plus skin allergies. He is allergic to corn, peas, alfalfa and poultry. We’ve had him on prescription sensitive stomach/HA dog food in the past which gave him terrible diarrhea. Right now, he’s eating Honest Kitchen Zeal (Fish Grain-Free) Formula along with probiotic and digest enzymes. His poops are formed but not solid + a lot gas + a lot of poops (at least 5-6 times per day). Any recommendations on food that will help his sensitive stomach + allergies?

[Susan]

Hi Julia,

start him on the “Natural Balance” LID
https://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dog-formulas/special-category-limited-ingredient-diets
either try the Sweet Potato & Bison or the “Potato & Duck” formula or the Sweet Potato & Fish formula but cause your feeding the HK Zeal it’s fish so maybe try another meat protein source a meat protein he hasn’t really eaten before like Duck or the Bison, the Natural Balance formula’s are all different so make sure you read all the limited ingredients as some formula’s have peas & chickpeas, the Duck, Bison & Fish formulas have the least ingredients & have no peas or chickpeas….. Chewy has all the NB formula’s.
If he’s having gas when eating the Honest Kitchen Zeal then he’s either sensitive to an ingredient in the Zeal or the HK is freeze dried my IBD doesnt do well on freeze dried pet foods he doesn’t digest the freeze dried ingredients, if you look in your boy poo, is there any undigest food in it?? just put your hand in a plastic bag then go thru a fresh sloppy poo, I buy those baby sack/nappy bags in supermarket in baby section & I pick up Patches poos, the bags also smell nice or the digestive enzymes could be causing the gas, sometimes dogs don’t need the digestive enzymes cause their stomach is working properly so they don’t need help digesting their food, when I put Patch on digestive enzymes he was farting & doing sloppy cow paddy poos so I stopped but digestive enzyme do help some dogs do firm poos, you wrote his poos are formed but not soiled & he’s pooing heaps, see what happens if you stop adding the digestive enzymes just for 1-2 days?? see how his poos & gas are, is he better?….
Why he probably got bad diarrhea when eating the Purina HA it could have been from the high Omega oils most vet diet high in omega oils & I’m pretty sure the Purina HA is higher in In-soluble fiber, you or vet have to contact Purina Pro Plan or you can email & they will ring you back, ask can you speak with a Vet Nutrtionist ask them what is the Soluble fiber % the In-soluble Fiber %& the Crude Fiber % in the HA vet diet then this will give you an idea if he needs a kibble with more soluble fiber or less or more Insoluble fiber, my IBD boy does better on kibble that has more soluble fiber & less insoluble fiber….Potato & Sweet Potato has more soluble fiber & less in-soluble this is probably why my dog & other dogs with bowel problems do really well eating potato or sweet potato in a kibble, would have been good if your vet tried your boy on the Hills vet diet Potato & Duck kibble, I’d try the Natural Balance Potato & Duck formula first its simliar to the Hills Potato & Duck formula try the NB formula with the least ingredients just make sure who you buy the Natural balance from Chewy or another pet store they give you a refund or let you try another NB formula until you find the right food for your boy thats if your boy gets dirrahea Ive read Chewy is pretty good I always say my boy wont eat teh food after he had diarrhea cause teh foods are guaranteed for palability I’ve gotten 2 refunds in the last month & finally got a kibble that’s not giving my boy acid reflux… alot of dogs with food sensitivities & stomach/bowel problems do really well on the Natural Balance LTD formula’s….

Another really good kibble is “Canidae Pure” formula’s but the Pure formula’s have peas or “Canidae All Life Stages” formula’s some of the ALL Life Stages formula’s don’t have peas you have written he can’t have peas but are you 100% sure he can’t have peas & done an food elimination diet? for 2 yrs I thought my boy couldn’t eat potato cause he had really bad diarrhea from the Eukanuba FP Fish & Potato Vet Diet even his vet wrote no Potato on his file but then a lady breeder who worked at the Pet Shop told me to boil some potato & start adding 1 spoon of the cooked potato to 1 of his cooked meals a day, Patch ended up doing firmer poos when eating the potato so it must have been something else in the Eukanuba FP he got instant water diarrhea from……
It’s sooo hard when they have sloppy/diarrrhea to know what is causing it, you’re best feeding a kibble that has only 1 novel meat protein he hasnt eaten before & 1 Carb (Potato) then see how he does, if he does well on new kibble then wait 6 months & let his stomach/bowel heal & get back to normal then you start adding 1 new cooked ingredient to his diet & see are his poos sloppy etc, I use to make a small meal for lunch & try the new ingredient with a cook protein, I used Pork or Beef cause Patch could eat pork & beef…It takes time doing a dog elmination diet but its the only real way you will know 100% what he can & cant eat…. Good Luck

[pitlove]

Hi Julia-

How were you able to determine he is allergic to those specific ingredients? Was it by food elimination trial? Was that why he ate the hydrolyzed food?

[Julia T]

Bo was eating Purina Pro Plan Puppy Focus-Chicken when we got him from the breeder. Changed him to TOTW Pacific Stream Puppy because was having bouts of diarrhea. He did well on TOTW for a few weeks then diarrhea came back. Vet recommended Merrick Turkey and Sweet Potato and PureVita Chicken/Brown Rice (not at the same time) diarrhea came back after a few weeks. Vet put him on Purina HA and then Purina EN diarrhea came back but worse. I took BO to see a Holistic Vet and she put Bo on an elimination diet of cooked pork and sweet potato for 12 weeks which helped reset his system. Started adding veggie puree-1-2 tsps carrots, celery, green beans after 2 weeks and he did really well. After 2 weeks added peas to the puree and he started having diarrhea the next day. Took out the peas and he was back to normal. After 12 weeks slowly intro’d him to HK and Bo continued to well. However, in the last few weeks he started having bad gas + looser stool. I know with HK dogs have larger and more stool but it seems like a lot for a pup.

[Karen M]

I would strongly recommend Merrick Grain Free Beef kibble, and their can food also. I’ve been fostering a pure-bred German Shepherd for a year. When I took him in he was 8 months old, his owner had told me that Kingston had a very sensitive digestive track, and he had always had loose stools. After having him for two months, he had diarrhea for an entire week straight. After doing some research I came to the conclusion that it could be his food (He was on Eukanuba, German Shepherd blend). I researched, looking for the best food for him, and came up with Merrick Grain Free Beef kibble. Normally when changing food you should do it gradually, but with diarrhea for a solid week I went ahead and changed it immediately. Within a day his diarrhea stopped, his stools became firm, and have never had a problem since. I’ve learned that many dogs are allergic to poultry. I make sure to read label ingredients on every thing I buy for him to eat. Finding good treats for him wasn’t easy, as soo many Beef treats have chicken or other forms of protein.

[Susan]

Hi Julia,
you’re going around in circles & not getting no where, I did the same….
now you have added more infomation this has made things more clearer, go back to your vet, a vet you liked & will listen to you & knows a bit about IBD, ask your vet can you start a 21 day course of the “Metronidazole” (Flagyl) twice a day given every 12 hours with a meal, sounds like your pup has Bacteria overgrowth of the small bowel (S.I.B.O) the Metronidazole will kill the bacteria in his small bowel.. also ask vet can you try either the Hills I/d Digestive Care vet diet kibble or try the Royal Canine Hypoallergenic HP formula or the R/C Gastro Intestinal Low Fat dry kibble this is for bacteria overgrowth & it’s LOW in FIBER not the R/C formula that’s high in fiber, in American you have a few R/C Intestinal formula’s, in Australia we only have the R/C Gastro Intestinal Low Fat wet & dry formula & this is really good for stopping the bacteria overgrowth, I’ve just bought Patch a can of the R/C Gastro Intestinal Low Fat Wet tin food, ingredients are not great but if it helps thats all that matters but cause you have a pup he might need more fat in his diet but your just feeding this vet diet for about 2 months then you’ll introduce something else…I really think your dog may have bacteria owergrowth & this is what happens they start to do well on a new kibble then go back down hill after 2-3 weeks Patch did the same, I really would only feed a kibble or wet tin food that has just 1 protein & 1 carb for a good 3 months when he’s doing well firm poos, you need to work out does he need a higher fiber diet or a lower fiber diet as well how I did this is I bought some pumkin peeled it boiled small pieces about 1 sppon in size, I frooze the cooked pumkin, it thaws very quickly when you take out of freezer, you add 1 sppon of teh pumkin to his meals & you’ll see the orange colour in his poos then start adding 2 spoon/pieces of the pumkin & does his poos firm up & go sloppy? Patch can only have about 1 big spoon of pumkin then his poos start to go very soft..
I would also start him on a “Dog” Probiotic, Purina Forti Floria is suppose to be very good when they tested a few dog probiotics out of 10 probiotic that they tested only 3 dog probiotics came back with active live bacteria in them & the Purina Forti Floria was number one…When you give a dog probiotic & the dog is taken antibiotics you give the Probiotic either 3 hours before or 3 hours after he has eaten & taken his antibiotic & its best to give a probiotic on an empty stomach, so first thing of a morning when stomach acid are low or I gave probiotic to Patch to drink, I did this around lunch time cause everything in his stomach would have been digested by then & it was 4 hours since he had his antibiotic & food…
When the probiotic is a powder I put the recommended dose in a bowl & add about 15ml water then I swirled the water & probiotic around to dissolve then I let Patch drink it, he loved it he thought he was getting something special, Im learning after 4-5 yrs if he loves something thats a medication/supplment then it must be helping his stomach & makes him feel better….. It can take 1 day for a dog to react up to 6 weeks for a dog to have a food sensitivities, so when you’re doing a food elimination trial it takes time that’s why the vet diets are good to use once your dog is doing really well after 2 months on the vet diet this is when you start adding 1 new ingredient add for 6weeks & see are his poos going soft stop adding the new ingredient if he had diarrhea but over the years I have retry ingredients I thought Patch was sensitive too & this time he wasnt sensitive to them…
Google S.I.B.O also has your boy been tested for Giardia?? I say your vet was giving you the wrong vet diets & she isnt giving you the vet diets that are higher in soluble fiber & lower in in-soluble fiber the Royal Canine Gastro Intestinal Low fat is low in fiber, its a low residue kibble…Talk to your vet about low fiber diets… google & look on the Hills & Royal Canine vet diet web page & see all the info or like I posted before email them & ask to speak with a vet nutrionist that knows about IBD & to ring you back on give you phone number..

[roberta o]

I have a 7yr old GSD that has had colitis all his life. Some days are worse than others. I was desperate when he was a pup as he couldn’t cope with any grain or cereal (not even rice) so I made him mashed potatoes and minced turkey for ages until I found a type of kibble with no grain or cereal. He seems to do really well on Duck and Potato from Time for Paws – very seldom have problems now.

[pitlove]

Julia-

It sounds like he might benefit from a home cooked diet based on what you are saying. This way you can tailor his food better and make sure you are not adding in what he can’t eat. You would just need to make sure you get a supplement like the ones on BalanceIt.com to make his meals complete and balanced.

Peas are the #1 trigger for my guy as well. We did an elimination diet as well with a prescription food. He did very well on it.

[roberta o]

Absolutely, though with the potatoes I was adding vegetables like cabbage or carrots or spinach etc. Also alternated the protein from turkey to chicken, white fish or scrambled eggs. Had him on Beophar multivits which he loves. Also found out that potatoes (with skins but no salt, butter or milk) and veg produce firmer, fewer stools.

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