Border Collie-Sensitive stomachs?

Jinxi

My collie(9months) has had diarrhea for the past few days.Four days ago she vomitted and had a diarrhea accident in her crate(she never poos in her crate). She has stopped eating dog food and will only eat diary products. I have tried to tempt her with even the tasties of treats and she is having none of it. She takes them in her mouth and hides them(under cushions, behind the telly etc) Up until then the only thing she
[EMAIL="DIDN@T"]DIDN'T[/EMAIL] eat was lemon peel. SHe hasn't thrown up since but she hasn't had much to eat.
THing is, she is still bouncy, bright eyed, and happy. She is still drinking water(i added acidophyliss).
If she gets lethargic or dehydrated I willbring her to the vet.
Anyone else have border collies who are fussy or sensitive.?
I know that collies are prone to dodgy tums.

PS. After she has a loose bowel movement she sticks her ass in the snow to cool it down...if I wasn't so sorry for her it would be hilarious

sionnaic

Could she have eaten something funny? From counter surfing or in the garden or on a walk?

Jinxi

Thats the weird thing. She is not eating anything(I offered her some wet puppy food, she ate only a tiny bit and it passed out of her undigested about an hour later), but she keeps tearing up the bin, chewing sticks(when my back is turned), eating raw carrot or garlic that falls on the floor????
She also "checks" her dog bowl like she is hungry, but the same bit of dog food has been in in for 2 days, as well as some of the wet dog food.

sionnaic

Ok that sounds like really odd behaviour and fairly severe symptoms.

I was asking more if she could have eaten something that caused the illness. With no obvious known cause (e.g. if she'd picked up a dead bird or rotten sandwich on a walk etc), or known underlying condition (e.g. EPI), and with such extreme persistent symptoms this is not trivial.

Since you have no idea what could be causing her illness, you need to bring her to a vet asap. Do not wait until she becomes too weak or lethargic, as this indicates an illness which has progressed to a serious level. If there's a risk she has blocked or perforated her gut then to wait too long could easily be fatal.

In the meantime I would fast her for at least 12 hours - nothing except water - to give her digestive system a chance to recover and start healing. At this stage it's probably very inflamed. Try to get her to drink to keep her hydrated.

Also dairy products are hard for dogs (and humans for that matter!) to digest so definitely cut that out. If you have to give her anything it should be plain boiled chicken and rice. Finely died raw chicken breast and rice (ratio of 1 breast to 1 mug of rice) in a pot of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins. Allow to cool (rinse repeatedly in a sieve under cold running water to speed up the process if needs be)

In any case whenever she finishes her fast she should be on a diet of boiled chicken and rice for a week. It's easy to digest and will give her system a chance to recover. Feed her small amounts (couple of spoonfuls) every couple of hours at first, gradually increasing the amount and decreasing the frequency over a few days.
You can start mixing in her regular food by the end of the week to wean her back on to it (this is all subject to veterinary advice if course)

BTW garlic is toxic for dogs, along with onions, avocado, grapes, raisins, chocolate and a whole host of random human foods, common plants and household items.

I have a collie cross with EPI, he can't eat dried food (kibble) at all. The cans aren't great either as they can have a lot of additives etc He does well on Robbies lamb and rice from the land of holistic pets brand. Avoid processed foods or foods with artificial additives or ambiguous ingredients.
Anyway he doesn't get digestive upsets anymore as long as we stick to that with a pig's ear occassionally as a treat. We use tiny bits of chopped boiled chicken for training treats. Bits of fruit (not grapes!) too as an occassional treat, especially good in summer if you freeze them first.

Anyway sorry for the epic post and digression! I have an awful tendency to ramble.

I hope you're dog's ok. It's awful when they're sick let me know what the vet says.

dvet

To be honest, it seems to have come on very suddenly for it just to be a dietary insensitivity, and by the sounds of her wierd eating behaviour, it seems like she's probably feeling nautious, which would point to something more than diet. And if it's a bug, most simple tummy bugs pass off themselves if you keep the dog off food for 24 hrs, so any dog that still has vomiting/diarrhoea after 4 days I would definitely be suspicious enough about to go to the vet.

The problem is that a load of things can cause these signs, just for a random example, she could have picked up a more serious type of tummy bug, or have pancreatitis, or swallowed a toy/rock/piece of clothing that's gotten lodged in her stomach. There are really 1,001 things it could be though, so it's best to get it checked out.

I would also avoid feeding her anything for the time being, and especially dairy products, because a lot of dogs tummy's are sensitive to these. I know you're desperate for her to eat anything at this stage, but I think a better plan would be not to feed her anything until you see the vet, as her tummy probably can't take it right now, and it sounds like she's feeling nautious anyway. (as you say yourself though, plenty of water is really important).

Hope she gets well soon.. let us know!

Jinxi

Thanks a million. No need to apologise. All advise apprieciated. I am really worried about her.
This will be the third time this month at the vets. The vet nurse rolls her eyes alot and says, OH Lilly(dogs name), its great to see you AGAIN(might just be in my head:o).
I hope she wakes up in the morning and devours her dog food

dvet

Jinxi wrote: »

This will be the third time this month at the vets. The vet nurse rolls her eyes alot and says, OH Lilly(dogs name), its great to see you AGAIN(might just be in my head:o).

Hehe! Loving the mental image!!

Don't take any notice, she's probably the same with her own dogs!!

tk123

Jinxi wrote: »

Thanks a million. No need to apologise. All advise apprieciated. I am really worried about her.
This will be the third time this month at the vets. The vet nurse rolls her eyes alot and says, OH Lilly(dogs name), its great to see you AGAIN(might just be in my head:o).
I hope she wakes up in the morning and devours her dog food

Lol the same with our guy but better you go to the vets and have nothing wrong than to let something escalate into a bigger problem because you were self concious about going over! I hope she feels better soon!

Outkast_IRE

I have a border collie cross , and my ones stomach can be a bit senstive, after trying a few different foods this is the one that suits her best http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/about/ , its grain free and that suits her perfectly , the only time she has an upset tummy now is if she finds somethin when shes off lead on a walk and has some before i can get to her .
Since changing her to this food her coat is lovely , cleaning up the garden is a somewhat easier chore and shes in great form with it , shes not hyper but as soon as she sees your going for a walk or to play fetch she gets very excited.

Sigma Force

Definetly don't feed dairy esp. when a dog has the runs it can make things worse. Feed her small amounts of plain boiled rice and chicken, if she won't eat it just leave it there and don't offer any other food she might just be trying to see what else she might get.

It could be an infection though so because it's gone on this long you might want a trip to the vet, make sure she's drinking plenty of water.

Jinxi

So Lil is still turning her nose up at all food(she usually has Eukanuba). So I took some of your advise and boiled some brown rice and(had no chicken) sausages, and rinsed then after with water. She ate the whole thing up!
I am delighted. Its the first substantial thing she has had in days. Stools are firming up a tad:rolleyes:
Still in great form and drinking loads of water.
Where about did you get the oijen? The local pet shop doesn't have a great selection. Out of all of the the eukanuba is the best on offer.

Outkast_IRE

Jinxi wrote: »

So Lil is still turning her nose up at all food(she usually has Eukanuba). So I took some of your advise and boiled some brown rice and(had no chicken) sausages, and rinsed then after with water. She ate the whole thing up!
I am delighted. Its the first substantial thing she has had in days. Stools are firming up a tad:rolleyes:
Still in great form and drinking loads of water.
Where about did you get the oijen? The local pet shop doesn't have a great selection. Out of all of the the eukanuba is the best on offer.

You can get orjen online off of zooplus or brendas pets , im not sure where your living but in most areas its nearly impossible to get it in shops, Orjen is expensive but as i said i tried other foods and had to settle on orjen as it agreed with dogs tummy , it is expensive but i find that my dog needs less of it as its more nutricious , i buy the 13.5kg bag and i store it in a dark airtight container , we get almost 3 months out of the 13.5kg bag for a full grown border collie cross.

sionnaic

Delighted she's feeling better but you shouldn't give her sausages as they're again hard to digest, full of salt and can contain onion powder. You need to get some chicken or tuna in oil (not brine!!) if you can't get chicken.

It might be better to get plain white long grain rice than brown rice as there might be too much fibre in brown rice for a dog with diarrhea.

Also, I tried my two on Orijen and it was a disaster. Didn't agree with them at all, they had the runs, hyper, bad (dry) coat and itchy. My vet does not agree with the extremely high protein content either. They're doing way better on Robbies.

Saying that though, my sister has her retriever and basset on it and they seem to be fine. It all depends on the individual dog I suppose.

Also generally it's cheaper to buy most dog foods online than in a pet shop.

Outkast_IRE

sionnaic wrote: »

Delighted she's feeling better but you shouldn't give her sausages as they're again hard to digest, full of salt and can contain onion powder. You need to get some chicken or tuna in oil (not brine!!) if you can't get chicken.

It might be better to get plain white long grain rice than brown rice as there might be too much fibre in brown rice for a dog with diarrhea.

Also, I tried my two on Orijen and it was a disaster. Didn't agree with them at all, they had the runs, hyper, bad (dry) coat and itchy. My vet does not agree with the extremely high protein content either. They're doing way better on Robbies.

Saying that though, my sister has her retriever and basset on it and they seem to be fine. It all depends on the individual dog I suppose.

Also generally it's cheaper to buy most dog foods online than in a pet shop.

Ya your right there every dog has a food that suits it , as i said i tried a few different brands with disaterous results before settling on orjen , just thought as my dog is a border collie x it might be a good starting point however i would warn anyone not to just fill up their dogs bowel with a new food , they should mix it with the old food in ever increasing quantities until the new food takes over , putting a dog straight onto a high protein, no grain food from a food with loads of grain and filler is asking for trouble , changeover should happen over a week or two.

sionnaic

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Ya your right there every dog has a food that suits it , as i said i tried a few different brands with disaterous results before settling on orjen , just thought as my dog is a border collie x it might be a good starting point however i would warn anyone not to just fill up their dogs bowel with a new food , they should mix it with the old food in ever increasing quantities until the new food takes over , putting a dog straight onto a high protein, no grain food from a food with loads of grain and filler is asking for trouble , changeover should happen over a week or two.

Absolutely!

And my dog's a collie cross too

Jinxi

I got chicken today. Her appettie is back, but still is refusing the dog food. How and when do I wean her back onto it?
The eukanuba was the third dog food I tried. When I got her she was on pedigree. She was fine on the eukanuba. Gorgeous coat and happy bowels.

sionnaic

Jinxi wrote: »

I got chicken today. Her appettie is back, but still is refusing the dog food. How and when do I wean her back onto it?
The eukanuba was the third dog food I tried. When I got her she was on pedigree. She was fine on the eukanuba. Gorgeous coat and happy bowels.

Not until she's completely back to normal and then give it a couple of days extra just to make sure, then start to wean her back.

You should really consult with a vet. If you won't bring her in could you at least ring your vet and ask for some advice, considering they know your dog.

Outkast_IRE

only thing i find with vets is that half the time they try to sell ya the dog food that they stock in my case the local one is Burns food and they will always reccomend it !! i told the vet last time my dog was down she was on orjen and he said thats a great food if it suits your dog , he said he had his own fella on it and couldnt be happier but they get a nice profit from selling burns food so they stick with it , its a good food just not for every dog.

dahat

try feeding your dog a RAW diet.........

chicken meat,bones,pork meat and bones,beef meat.
organ meat like heart is cosidered a red meat for the diet and is very cheap.

google RAW diet and im sure if you change over to it your dog will improve no end.

Jinxi

dahat, I did consider a raw diet, but I felt that as she was growing(year 1 at least) I would't be confident about how much to feed her. I may switch her to it once she is fully grown. Although I hate the way when she does get bones she likes to smuggle them indoors and hide them behind the tv and cushions and the couch. And I only get a clue from the smell or the presence of blue bottles(yeach).

So I started to reintroduce the dog food to lilly today. I would have left it one more day but we are heading home to Tipp for xmas tomorrow and while at my parents house she becomes and outside dog and eats and sleeps with my parents dogs.
So the little hussy ate around all the dog food and picked off all the rice and chicken(she has ALWAYS prefered human food) and looked at me and annoyed me for an hour expecting more until she reluctantly ate her dog food.:rolleyes: Will give a higher ratio mix tomorrow before we leave.