What to feed Springer Pup?

Springerman

Hi there folks!

So got a springer pup (male) in November, he was 8wks old and weaned onto puppy food. He was not tolerating the puppy food at all, had lots of loose stool etc.

Then he developed blood/mucus stool (has been fully wormed and has had all vac's), went to vet and diagnosed Colitis, had antibiotics for that.

Things settled for a short while, on new food but gradually the loose stool reappeared, and he would not eat his food as well as he used to. The mucous and slight bit of blood also made a reappearance, along with what appeared to be like some material ( only guess would be some part of a sock!!). He remained in fantastic puppy form all the while;-)

So I figured he may have colitis again so I took him off all the feed, and have him on chicken and rice. He demolishes the chicken and rice diet (when compared to barely interested in other feed). I am now going to re-introduce some feed, (prob going to be Red-mills Leader puppy, 30% chicken, hypoallergic) and was looking for any insight into what is the best options or if any one else had similar problems.....

Thanks in advance for any input;-)

dvet

Springerman wrote: »

Hi there folks!

So got a springer pup (male) in November, he was 8wks old and weaned onto puppy food. He was not tolerating the puppy food at all, had lots of loose stool etc.

Then he developed blood/mucus stool (has been fully wormed and has had all vac's), went to vet and diagnosed Colitis, had antibiotics for that.

Things settled for a short while, on new food but gradually the loose stool reappeared, and he would not eat his food as well as he used to. The mucous and slight bit of blood also made a reappearance, along with what appeared to be like some material ( only guess would be some part of a sock!!). He remained in fantastic puppy form all the while;-)

So I figured he may have colitis again so I took him off all the feed, and have him on chicken and rice. He demolishes the chicken and rice diet (when compared to barely interested in other feed). I am now going to re-introduce some feed, (prob going to be Red-mills Leader puppy, 30% chicken, hypoallergic) and was looking for any insight into what is the best options or if any one else had similar problems.....

Thanks in advance for any input;-)

Hi,

Sounds like he's been though the mill! I don't want to alarm you but it is very possible that the material you saw in his stools was gut lining. While it is good that he still seems bright and happy, the appearance of blood, gut lining, and ongoing diarrhoea is pretty worrying, so I would seriously advise you to go back to the vet. It could be a continuation of his colitis, or it could be something else. He may try another course of treatment, or do some further tests. I wouldn't wait to see if a different diet will help to be honest; I'd go to the vet first.

But once he's seen the vet and once you've ruled out other causes, a hypoallergenic diet would be a great idea. Hypoallergenic diets are intended for dogs with food allergies. The most common and basic one is a chicken and rice diet. Sometimes though they evetually become sensitive to the chicken diet too, in which case you'll have to move on to one that uses a different protein source (you can find dog foods out there which are made from all sorts of wierd and wonderful proteins from swordfish to kangaroo! The idea is to feed a type of protein they have never been exposed to before, as they will not be allergic to it yet.)

The other option is to use a hydrolyzed dog food - these are the ultimate in hypoallergenic dog foods and are by design pretty much impossible for dogs to become sensitive to. You can get lots of very high quality prescription diets that are hypoallergenic/hydrolyzed e.g. the likes of Hills & Royal Canin do some of these.

What some people do is do a trial exclusion diet; i.e. wean your puppy onto the hypoallergenic diet. When he's fully on the h.a. diet, feed him this and ONLY this, for the next 3-4 weeks. This means no treats or ANY other food of ANY type, except water; if he even gets 1 biscuit it can set his gut off again, and you won't know if the diet is working or not. If his signs clear up on the trial diet, then you'll know that his diarrhoea was food related, and that it's worth your while continuing with it.

Just some advice too - hypoallergenic diets are not the same as organic/holistic/natural type dog foods. While organic dog foods can be very good, they are often not hypoallergenic, so a dog with true, severe food sensitivites won't do well on them. However lots of people find them great for dogs with less severe gut sensitivities.

Note: Just to add that a lot of dog with food allergies will show skin signs e.g. severe scratching, especially around the head and face. But it is still possible that your dog has a sensitive gut without showing skin signs.

Cherry Blossom

Hi OP, what are the foods you have tried so far? If they have all been chicken I would try something with lamb instead and very basic ingredients, I had a lot of problems with my Westie with different foods and I put her on Burns high energy lamb and she's doing very well on this. IIRC it was £22stg online for a 7.5kg bag, it isn't one of the most expensive foods on the market but is definately one of the best quality and good for dogs with digestive problems, she's almost 8 months now and gradually going to start changing her on to Burns adult lamb and rice, just a few extra pieces of the new food every day, I think she'll do ok on this as well though as it has the same basic ingredients. Burns do a great little nutrition booklet with a lot of info. on colitis in it and you can e-mail or ring their nutritionalist in Wales for advice, I found them very helpfull. All you have to do is ask, there is no charge.

http://www.burnsireland.com/pb/wp_5e0ebb5c/wp_5e0ebb5c.html

dvet

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Hi OP, what are the foods you have tried so far? If they have all been chicken I would try something with lamb instead and very basic ingredients, I had a lot of problems with my Westie with different foods and I put her on Burns high energy lamb and she's doing very well on this. IIRC it was £22stg online for a 7.5kg bag, it isn't one of the most expensive foods on the market but is definately one of the best quality and good for dogs with digestive problems, she's almost 8 months now and gradually going to start changing her on to Burns adult lamb and rice, just a few extra pieces of the new food every day, I think she'll do ok on this as well though as it has the same basic ingredients. Burns do a great little nutrition booklet with a lot of info. on colitis in it and you can e-mail or ring their nutritionalist in Wales for advice, I found them very helpfull. All you have to do is ask, there is no charge.

http://www.burnsireland.com/pb/wp_5e0ebb5c/wp_5e0ebb5c.html

+1 Burns are very commonly used for dogs with sensitive tummies. And the 'high energy' version can be given to growing pups.

Springerman

Thanks guys,

In relation to possibility of black material being melena/gut lining I would indeed be 99% sure it was actual fibours in nature, resembling cloth material I have spoke with the Vet and they think that may well be the case and to try the chick/rice and if things dont settle down to bring him in, so in light of this I'm going to go ahead with the Red-Mill and if there is no luck on that front off to the vet and then look at one of the hypo-allergic diets, maybe the Burns brand.....

I would be truely suprised if it was something more serious then food allergy as he is in tip-top form, flat out all the time, and that point that was made in relation to skin disorders/itch points to food allergy problem also, he appears to scratch head a good bit, and does not have ear mites or flees..... so heres hoping I get on top it;-)

homerhop

The pup we have was on Redmills and you would not stay in the room with him as it caused terrible gas, our vet put him on royal canine and it has stopped. Asked a few other springer owners and they all gave the same advice that Redmills was causing their dogs to have terrible wind.