[HuskyMom]

Just found this site, it is wonderful. I’ve learned so much. Here’s my problem: I’ve been feeding my 7-year old husky mix female IAMS Healthy Naturals (dry food) since she turned one. Never had a problem at all. About 2 months ago, she started having trouble with her bowel movements, moving from one spot to another. Then she got a little lathargic, stopped eating her regular amount of food. On August 15, she had been in the yard and came in licking the top of her front paw. We didn’t see anything, but the next morning, there was a bump like something had bit her. We immediately took her to the vet and he said it could have been a non-venomous snake and gave her steroids for the itching and swelling and cephalexin anti-biotics. After three days, she started having diarreah and he advised us to stop the antibiotics. She never got back to normal and started having bloody diarreah about a week ago. BUT, she had started having trouble before the bite. Otherwise I would think that it was from that or from the medication. A friend told me about an IAMS recall for salmonella, I researched it and it was in our region. I did not have the bag to check the numbers because I pour it into a tub with a vacuum seal to store. Took her to the vet on Saturday where blood was drawn and sent off, but she had a fever and he said ‘it looked like it might be salmonella, but would have to wait on the results.’ He gave her Metronidazole, Synacore digestive support to sprinkle on her food once a day, plus ProPectalin Gel. I had already started to feed her brown rice with some chicken 4 days before taking her to the vet. He told me to continue on that until she was finished with all her medicine. Three days later (yesterday), he called with the results and it is not salmonella; he said it was either a bowel disease or possibly cancer and said to feed her Hills ID or ZD when she finished the medicine, starting with a little mixed in her rice until she was eating solely the Hills. And to try to get a urine specimen and bring in, which I am finding impossible to do. My question is what else can I give her other than the Hills? After reading the information on here, I really don’t want to feed her that. She is eating very well right now – the rice and chicken and I’ve added some green beans and carrots. But where she used to go on 2-3 mile walks, she’s tired after just a few minutes and will lie down. Sometimes she doesn’t even want to go and before she lived for her long walks. I know it will take time to get over this, whatever it is, so I want to make sure I feed her the right food. Any suggestions? Thanks for reading my long post.

[theBCnut]

I would get her off anything with chicken and grains to start with. Grains are very inflammatory and if her bowels are inflamed, that just adds to it. And chicken is the most common allergen in dogs. Maybe try low fat ground beef and sweet potato for a bit. Check out Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast or Coastal Catch.

A soup ladle is helpful for catching urine.

[HuskyMom]

Thank you Pattyvaughn. After reading a lot of posts on this site, I felt sure that you would help me. I will definitely try your recommendations. We took her to the park this morning with a sterilized tuna can taped to a long piece of bamboo and we were successful in getting enough throughout 3 or 4 different times. However, when I delivered it to the vet, it had a blade of grass/weed (minute) in it and they said it was contaminated and gave us more of the vials. They, too, mentioned a soup ladle. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Thank you again so much for your suggestions.

[theBCnut]

Trying to collect urine can be so frustrating. They really don’t need much, but any little thing can skew the tests. If you get a few clean drops, I would get that in a vial quick before anything can blow in it, and then try for more. Good luck!

[Melissaandcrew]

Hi Huskymom-

Owning rescues, I have several with bowel issues. The one that is most severe is one of my dober gals. After years of trying every food I could think of, I discovered she did best with a lower fiber diet. She eats commercial raw, Victor grain free ultra pro, and Abady granular. Anything else and we are back to the squirts and weight loss.

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