Dog food not suiting dog!!

Wizard01

Since we got our BMD, she's 6 months old now, have had major problems with feeding her. Have tried different dog foods but each one gives her major diarrhea, and i mean major :eek:

We have tried:
JWB,
Burns
Hills
Redmills

After visits to the vet, injections and tablets, 24 hour starvation, then we feed her chicken, potato and veg for a few days and start her on a different dog food but it happens all over again!

Have been feeding her raw chicken all week but today going to the parade, we took her chew and some nuts just in case, after we got home, yep, it started again, she only had about 10 nuts all day as treats!!!

We were advised to try her on a grain free diet but the only one I can find is Robbie's,
Does anyone have any experience with this dog food?
Are there any other grain free dog food?

Really appreciate any help and advice because its driving me crazy, between dog food and vet bills, i'm broke

Never mind cleaning up after her :eek:

Sigma Force

Could be the grain, it's kind of trial and error when a dog has a dodgy tum.
Have you tried Burns pork and potato rather than their rice based foods.

I was all for raw chicken as a treat but my collie got the runs from it the other day and I worry about salmonella, although plenty of people have sucess with feeding a raw diet.

If you try the Robbies and see if it works it might be worth sticking with it, if you shop around you might be able to buy it in bulk online once you are sure it works.

Have you tried zooplus they have a lot of foods on there and I think they list the ingredients.

tk123

We used Robbies for a while but it's expensive for what it is IMO - instant mash with dried veg and fish kibble mixed in!!

There's actually loads of cereal free foods - I did a lot of looking when I needed to switch my guy to cereal free! I've listed ones I can remember off the top my head but try searching Google.co.uk eg

JWB
Happy Dog Supreme
Wafcol
Burns
Nutrix
Orijen
Acana
Taste of the Wild
Super Preiumdry

I fed my guy JWB cereal free for a few months but it was a bit too rich for him and gave him full anal glands. He's been on a raw diet (chicken legs and veg) for almost 2 months now and it's honestly the best decision I ever made - he's thriving on it and is half the price of JWB €20 so it's win win

If you do change to a new food you should feed it exclusively for a few weeks - so no chews and other treats etc until you're happy the food suits. If it does then gradually introduce treats one at a time to make sure they don't cause any problems.

Cutie18Ireland

Are you sure its not some kind of medical problem? My dogs has problems with her pancreas had the runs for months no matter what we fed her. A different vet joined the dots of some other issues she had and realised it was her pancreas, a week on some meds and shes back to normal.

Wizard01

Thanks for the replies everyone, we have had her at the vet at least 8 times, he said she must be allergic to something in the dog food, probably the grains, as it seems to be common in BMD.

We will stick to feeding her raw food for now, potatoes, veg and chicken, my biggest thing was how we cope with her feeding when we go on holidays, at home I can cook for her but when we are away, it won't be possible.

One more question, can you cook potatoes for her with their skins on or do I have to peel them?
Getting fed up peeling potatoes

DBB

Wizard01 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone, we have had her at the vet at least 8 times, he said she must be allergic to something in the dog food, probably the grains, as it seems to be common in BMD.

We will stick to feeding her raw food for now, potatoes, veg and chicken, my biggest thing was how we cope with her feeding when we go on holidays, at home I can cook for her but when we are away, it won't be possible.

One more question, can you cook potatoes for her with their skins on or do I have to peel them?
Getting fed up peeling potatoes

Skins on! I never peel the dog's spuds!

As for feeding when you go away, would it be an option to freeze meals and bring them with you?
Alternatively or in addition, I bring a stash of Naturediet, or Nature's Best, or one of the commercial complete wet foods... Though this is an expensive way to feed a large dog.

Finally, try to mix and match the meat content more... Eating one meat all the time is not ideal. Also, chicken can cause reactions in lots of dogs! Just in case, it's ideal to have a more varied protein source.

Two of my dogs were always getting upset tummies, until I changed over to fresh home made food. The health benefits have been multiple, so fair play to you for opting for this diet!

lorebringer

Royal Canin Sensitivity Control is fantastic - I have yet to hear a bad word about it and I personally know several people (and their dogs!) that it has worked for at helping with a dodgy belly. One of mine is prone to colitis which she tends to get from foods high in grains and it worked really well for her. We tried every brand under the sun (which the rest of my guys devoured!) but this is the only one that kept everything moving in the correct way! It is a bit pricey but it is worth every penny when they are not longer spurting from their bums and are much happier in themselves.

You can get it from quite a few vets (ring in advance though, lots of placed will offer you Hills as an alternative - not the same and ran through my dog) or order it online (www.medicanimal.com). Maybe try a small bag first to see how your dog gets on but it is far more economical to buy the larger bags. You don't have to feed very much (we ended up feeding less that what was recommended on the pack) so it does last. I cannot recommend it enough for a sensitive belly.

CruiseH

Gosh, I feel so bad for you .. I know what it's like to have a sick dog. My cocker spaniel had the measles last year and it killed my pocket in terms of vet bills and all the special pet food we had to get him. I don't know about Ireland but (I'm from America) I signed him up for a vet discount place called pet assure. Not sure if they have anything like that in Ireland..

tk123

lorebringer wrote: »

Royal Canin Sensitivity Control is fantastic - I have yet to hear a bad word about it

I know its a godsend for some owners but I had my guy on it for a month when he was on an exclusion diet and I hated giving him the stuff! €80 approx for a months supply, I'd no idea what half the ingredients were (this is a major no-no for me) and he just stunk of the food - like it was oozing out of his pores lol - the car even stunk of it!! . Once we stuck to cereal free nuts we had no poop issues and they were half the price of the RC. I probably could have solved the gland issue by giving him wings once a week with the JWB cereal free but tbh I'd wanted to try raw for ages so just went for it and haven't looked back. I still give him JWB as treats/training rewards.
OP you could possibly make the raw up in batches and freeze it so you're not doing so much work? I do ours once a month.

ABajaninCork

OP - Is your dog OK with rice, or is it all cereals she is allergic to?

Are you able to give the dog some brown rice with fish? Might be easier on the tums than meat.