Dog With A Sick Tummy

ra0044

Hi,

My 18 month whippet has developed diaghrea and has gone off his food. He seems to be well in himself although he always was a couch potatoe and took to his bed whenever he could so its difficult to tell. Still runs to meet me coming home with his tail wagging which is great.

We rescued him back in October and after trying a few different foods we settled on one that agreed with him and he ate it with no problem morning and evening.

Over the last month he has had really loose poo and sometimes virtually water type poo and wouldnt eat his food but would still eat biscuits. So last week I wormed and flea treated him and changed his food. He is now eating the new food no problem but still has loose poo.

Does anyone have any ideas or advice.

andreac

What food are you actually feeding at the moment?
Have you had him at the vet for a check up regarding this?

ra0044

He was on Redmills tracker and have him now on bakers.

I was hoping his stomach would clear up but obviously will take him to the vet if i get no improvement

doubter

bakers is pure crap...try a high sensitive food like arden range

andreac

Oh god, no wonder he is sick... That stuff is the worst food you can feed a dog, along with Pedigree and that Red Mills tracker is very cheap food as well.

You need to get him onto a better quality food with Meat and its first ingredient, not fillers, and derivitives and grains.

Before you take him to the vet, get him on to a good food, not cheap crap.

ra0044

Thanks for the replies.

The Redmills was recommended to me by a breeder of show whippets in the uk who had good sucsess with it due to a whippets intolerance to high protein levels ( above 20% i think )which she found effected a dogs stomach.

I take your point on the Bakers though. Unfortunately I sent my brother out to get a different food and that is what he came back with.

Wiull get better food and give him a week to see if it sorts him out. Fingers crossed.

DBB

ra0044 wrote: »

The Redmills was recommended to me by a breeder of show whippets in the uk who had good sucsess with it due to a whippets intolerance to high protein levels ( above 20% i think )which she found effected a dogs stomach.

In fairness, the breeder was probably going by the old wives' tale that protein makes dogs sick/causes them to be hyperactive etc etc.
How could protein possibly make a carnivore sick, or hyperactive?!
Now, what does make a dog sick and rumbly-tummy, is cereals, gluten, over-processed proteins, additives etc. None of these things is present in the natural diet of the carnivore. Dogs have probably evolved to cope better with eating non-meat food than their wolf ancestors would, but they are still, fundamentally, carnivores.
Protein can, by definition, do nothing but good to a healthy dog!
The two foods you've mentioned are absolutely packed to the rafters with cereals, there's far more cereal in them than there is meat.. far more. Bakers in particular has ridiculous amounts of artificial colourings in it, so that it looks nice and appetising.. to the owner:D
So, try to find a food that is higher in meat content: you will pay more for it, but you won't need to feed as much of it, and the amount of poop your dog produces will decline, probably quite a lot!
My personal favourites, Taste of the Wild, and Barking Heads. But even if you get a middle-of-the-road food and supplement it with oily fish, eggs, yoghurt, and any meat you can get your hands on for a decent price, you'll be doing your dog a huge favour!
Now I DEMAND a photo of your Whippet

ra0044

Thanks again for the really great advice and information. I will head out in the morning and get better food.

As for a photo I will try and hunt one down. He either runs around like a crazy thing or buries himself under his blanket so it's hard to get a good photo.

Kukey

Some of the better quality foods will have a sensitive one in their range.My dog has a very sensitive stomach and can't eat anything other than James Wellbeloved ,if she has any other food she will have diarrhoea.Its not cheap but well worth it if it suits your dogs stomach.

ra0044

Here is a photo of him. He really is a great dog and great with kids and other Dogs.

Hopefully can sort out his tummy asap.

Kukey

He is gorgeous:)

doubter

ra0044 wrote: »

Thanks again for the really great advice and information. I will head out in the morning and get better food.

As for a photo I will try and hunt one down. He either runs around like a crazy thing or buries himself under his blanket so it's hard to get a good photo.

ah yes..mine does that too lol

Ms Tootsie

As other posters have suggested get him onto a better brand of food, it might be more pricy but you will need to feed him less and you will notice a big improvement in the poop end.

In the meantime diarrhea can leave a dog very dehydrated if left untreated. Switch to feeding him cooked chicken with a little bit of boiled white rice. This will help firm up the poop. The slowly start to introduce him to the new brand of food over about two weeks until he is only eating the dry food.

Hope the little dude feels better soon!

portgirl123

dont forget to change the food over gradual, 7-10 days. use more of the food ur using at 1st and in the following days add more of the new food until the bakers is fazed out.

Binka

He's a stunner and I'm seriously jealous!

I would suggest doing a bit of Googling on the breed, specifically digestive problems/allergies, just in case there are specific foods or food groups that do not suit whippets.

So, before you follow very general advice about feeding dogs,make sure of your breed.

I say this from experience. If I had the knowledge I have now that is freely available on the internet I could have saved my dalmation a lot of pain and misery from infections and kidney stones. There are different types of proteins (eg: offal is high in purines, so for dalmations it is a big no-no and exacerbates stone forming and crystals in the urinary tract), so just make sure there are no breed intolerances that you should avoid.

I've not heard of any for whippets but it's worth an hour or 2 on Google just to be sure.

I'm afraid the whole area of feeding dogs is a process of elimination, but if you at least know what to eliminate before you start you have a good chance of success.

Good Luck!

Geri Male

ra0044 wrote: »

Hi,

My 18 month whippet has developed diaghrea and has gone off his food. He seems to be well in himself although he always was a couch potatoe and took to his bed whenever he could so its difficult to tell. Still runs to meet me coming home with his tail wagging which is great.

We rescued him back in October and after trying a few different foods we settled on one that agreed with him and he ate it with no problem morning and evening.

Over the last month he has had really loose poo and sometimes virtually water type poo and wouldnt eat his food but would still eat biscuits. So last week I wormed and flea treated him and changed his food. He is now eating the new food no problem but still has loose poo.

Does anyone have any ideas or advice.

Get him to eat the diarrhoea.

DBB

Bye now Geri Male, enjoy your permanent holiday from this forum, where we don't welcome trolls.
Thanks,
DBB

madmaggie

Hi, my springer had a similar problem. The vet said she had recurring colitis, and put her on Hills prescription diet. It's not cheap, but she eats less of it, cos it's good quality, and works out better than frequent visits to the vet, and the dog being on antibiotics every few weeks. Hope this helps, good luck.

ra0044

Many thanks to all those who replied.

Thankfully we have tracked down the source of his tummys problems to a simple biscuit treat that my mother inlaw gives hime when she looks after him when we are at work. Unbelievable really but she changed treats to a pedigree chum biscuit from the bonios he usually got. The silly dog would only eat these treats while he had a sick stomach and turned his nose up to his food and other treats so she gave them to him trying to be nice which just compounded the issue.

A few days of fasting and he is back to his old self thankfully and we have learned another lesson in the world of dog ownership.

" even small things can trip up a dog "

Many thanks again everyone