Fortiflura(sp?) and how to say no to I/D?? Update!

[Shannon Querry]

Poor Fleury girl is still having trouble with her belly. We switched(slowly) from Fromms to California Natural. We also got California Natural treats and took them to the kennel for when she's there in daycare. We were doing pumpkin but now can not find it anywhere. I started adding yogurt again to her food(Activia in particular) and still we are dealing with loose stool or pudding type stool on a daily basis. I was adding some white rice in for a few days and 2 BM's were normal and I got excited, then she got into the cats TOTW!!! Needless to say she had massive blow out diarrhea today.

 

We went to the open house at the vets on Sunday and I was talking to the vet that I take her to most often and she mentioned the fortiflura. She said to try that for 30 days on her food with nothing else and see what happens before we do any other test. She also mentioned the dreaded I/D which I told her I will not be feeding her. I told her I would boil her chicken or beef and rice for the rest of her life before I fed her that stuff LOL!!  Here's the problem I k

 

 

 

 

Update-Well we're on day 5 of the chicken/rice/yogurt combo and she's doing great! She hasn't had many BM's since we started this but what she has had have been small and totally normal. I guess we know what this means! I bought some of the missing link today too so that I can it to what I'm feeding her. I need to do something about fiber though because since she's not having as many BM's I could smell anal glands, yuck!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Ask and you shall receive! here's the link to my discussion "Why You Should Say NO When Your Vet Recommends Rx Food":
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/why-you...

Okay, you had normal BMs and then she got into the cat food. Cat food is extremely high in fat and that's why her bowels are blown out again. We know how to fix that, right? You can't let her get into the cat food.
Let me go look up the Fortiflora...I'm pretty sure that's the spelling, lol.

[Shannon Querry]

I actually found your discussion when I did a search! I plan on arming myself with that info ;) Thanks for doing that research! And no she was having diarrhea/pudding poops, then my hubby made her eggs Saturday morning and we had blow out diarrhea at 4:30 in the morning Sunday. Thank goodness I heard her jump off the bed and got her out of the house in time! I made her rice to mix with her food and added that in Sunday and Monday. Yesterday morning her stool was normal THEN she got into the cat food yesterday afternoon. We have a baby gate up to that room where it's kept and I must have not put it down low enough when I was in there cleaning up. Then this morning repeat....*sigh*

I try my best to keep her out of "things" that are not food and I try to watch what she consumes off of the floor left by the 6 year old (or the 38 year old for that matter lol). We cut her food down to 2 cups a day as well thinking she was being overfed but it still has not helped. She rarely vomits luckily but she has gas and the diarrhea pretty much daily. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all and she's SUCH a good girl I feel so badly for her :(

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Okay...there's an old joke; a man says to his doctor, "Doc, it hurts when I do this" and makes some type of movement.
And the doctor says, "Don't do that."

There can't be anything on the floor for her to get; 6 and 38 are both old enough to understand that. Your DH can't give her eggs or anything else; and she can't get into the cat food. Or she's going to have diarrhea forever. Those are the choices. She can't make this decision for herself, she needs you to do it for her. There are dogs who have incurable illnesses (like mine) and their owners feel bad for them because no matter how hard they try and how much money they spend, they can't help their dogs. But you don't have to feel bad; your dog doesn't have an incurable illness. It's within your power to help her.
Yogurt is fine, but it needs to be plain yogurt. From what I understand, Activia is flavored. That means sugar, corn syrup, fruit, etc. Use plain yogurt.
Start feeding her a mixture of plain cooked chicken and white rice or very lean well-drained cooked hamburger & rice, and give her plain yogurt..and nothing else...until her stools are normal again. If you can find the pumpkin again, use that too. Once her stools are normal again, try going back to the CN food.
You have a dog with a sensitive stomach. She may have IBD...many doodles do, and some of our FG members have gone to homecooked diets for them with great success. Hopefully, they will weigh in here.
And no Rx food or fortiflora. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Shannon Querry]

Thanks Karen for your help! I really suspect this might be an IBD problem, poor girl. I had been doing the plain yogurt, my mom was the one who mentioned the Activia LOL!!! I would do anything to get my hands on some pumpkin again! That really helped. I'm going to get some more chicken and rice for her tomorrow and do that for a little while. I'm willing to home cook for her for forever if that's what it takes! Thanks again for your help!

[Wendy and Eddie]

I noticed at the health food store by me that there was canned pumpkin in the pet food section! You might look there if you have a health food store in the area.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Guinness has IBD. We went through months of trying different high premium dog foods. His stools would clear up for a couple of weeks, and then he would be right back to diarrhea again. He got pumpkin and yogurt each day, and it helped a little, but never cured the problem. He was finally diagnosed with IBD. Since then we have changed his diet to home cooking. I also have to be extremely careful with what he eats. Leaves, twigs, little pieces of toys, even the fuzz from tennis balls will trigger an attack. He can't have normal commercial treats...they cause an attack. Since we made these changes he's doing great. His stools are now always normal. He has gained the weight he lost. Once in a while he will still vomit bile in the morning when his stomach is empty, but that is rare now. He's now a healthy, happy dog. If you decide to home cook, we can certainly help you with that. I find it very satisfying. It really isn't difficult. I keep my recipes pretty simple and cook a three day batch each time. Good luck, and remember we're all here to help.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Okay, Fortiflora: First piece of bad news: made by Purina. Of course, what else would someone whose entire nutritional education was furnished by Purina recommend?
Here's the website:
http://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/CanineProductDetail.aspx?prod=244

And here are the (shudder) ingredients:
Ingredients (Dry)
Animal digest, Enterococcus faecium, L-ascorbyl- 2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, beta-Carotene, salt, manganese proteinate, ferrous sulfate, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite. C-4582

Here is what The Pet Food Project tells us about "Animal Digest" in their "Ingredients to Avoid" section:
Animal Digest
AAFCO: A material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must correspond thereto.

A cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. The animals used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on.

Shannon, you want to feed your dog boiled- down euthanized animals from shelters and diseased animals? And pay for the privilege?
Get some good probiotics for Fleury. There are recommendations here in TFG, I'll go find some.

[Shannon Querry]

Oh my :( I'm SO glad I didn't buy this Sunday when I was there!!! I truly am so sad that I used to HAPPILY recommend Puppy Chow to people as a great puppy food to people. Oh it just irks me that these vets aren't willing to learn more about this kind of stuff! Thanks for your help!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That Puppy Chow is probably what screwed up her digestive system in the first place, and that's not your fault...I'm sure it was the breeder who started her on it, right?

[Shannon Querry]

Oh no, she's never had puppy chow! When I worked as a tech at the vet she goes to that's what we recommended to people! We told them how it was SUCH a great food. Fleury was actually on the Kirkland puppy food when we got her, it wasn't long after we got her that we switched her to the Fromms.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oops, sorry, I misunderstood. I know I should go back and look at everyone's discussions so I can remember whose dog was on what, but there are a lot of dogodles here with tummy troubles and I'm old, lol! Sorry for the mistake, to you and your breeder!

[Shannon Querry]

Oh it's ok! I can't imagine remembering what everyone eats:) I was just saying that when I was a tech we did rec'd Puppy Chow and what we said was that, it was as good as Iams! I guess at least in some sense that's the truth huh? ;)