I need some suggestions...at a loss

[Laura Deutsch]

Wow...hardly know how to begin. Molly has had intestinal issues since we got her, on and off. She did best on a raw diet...has had numerous bouts of loose poop....have tried many foods. We were not happy with the raw patties because our vet was not happy, it grossed me out, although she was good. We only went with that about a month. Changed her to TOTW Pacific stream which she did great on until the latest recall. we switched to Arcana..her poops were softer, but for a while she was fine. Then in July at the Cape, she ate a critter, as soon as we got there, in the backyard. For the rest of the week, she had diarreah. She doesn't do chicken well, so we did ground beef and rice. Vet put her on flagyl. Then on a combination of that and probiotic - fortaflora and something else, can't remember. Finally put her on   Hill's ID which worked, of course (I know, I know). Pumpkin didn't work either. We finally switched her back to Arcana and she was ok, not great and has had loose poop issues recently again. 

I'm wondering if we should go back to raw, but not raw patties. I know Jane does dry Honest Kitchen I think and am wondering what other people have had similar constant issues, and have not had success on Arcana. Vets will probably say go back to Hills. She's had all kinds of tests.....no problems have shown up. (not recently, but in late July). Wondering if we should take her stool in again

but that's never been an issue. Any suggestions? I don't think pumpkin or sweet potatoes will work this time either. I can certainly try it though. Thanks for your help

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would definitely have another stool culture done; if she has a GI infection or a parasite, she needs meds for that. Her stool isn't going to be normal until it's cleared up.

You are going to have to decide if the vet's opinion of what you're feeding is important to you, and if so, I'd just go with his advice. I'm not saying this to be sarcastic. But I'm not going to spend time contradicting what your vet advises you. If she was doing well on the raw diet and you switched because the vet didn't like it, than I can't be of any help, because the advice here is always going to be contrary to what the vet tells you. What if you try Honest Kitchen and the vet doesn't like that, either?

Fortiflora contains animal digest and other really bad ingredients. We don't recommend that either. Use plain fat-free unflavored yogurt or get a good probiotic from the local health food store or private pet boutique store. (Not Petco or Petsmart type of place)

So I think the first thing you're going to have to do is decide if you want to follow the vet's advice or diet or not. If you want to, that's fine, nobody here will be insulted or angry. But it isn't going to work to keep switching back and forth between Hill's/Purina and the foods we recommend here. Every dog I've known who was put on the Hill's i/d  had trouble getting back to normal eating afterward.  

If she did well with the TOTW, I would have stayed with that, despite the recall. Can you go back to it again?

Honest Kitchen has worked great for most of the dogs here with GI issues.

 

[Susan, Schuester and Olive]

Sounds a lot like what my Olive went through. I changed foods so many times that I finally was ready to throw my hands up and say "I give!!" I finally went to raw food and once again. I started with a sample of Tucker's Raw. I saw a change almost immediately. Both of my babies love it and poops have been much smaller and less odorous. The nice thing about Tucker's is the convenient individually wrapped 8oz. patties. I thaw them in the fridge in a plastic container that they provide in each bag. The ingredients are simple. Pork, pumpkin and either, beef, bison or lamb. I was skittish at first because of the raw pork, but their quality control sounds very good. Ea ch batch is tested for the most common "bugs " that would be found in raw food. They use bones, heart, and by the time the pumpkin is added, it is a "complete meal". I still give the babies a little kibble, but they are doing great! I know Karen researched them and can probably add information that I may have left out. I was also impressed with the owner who called me within minutes of an e- mail that I sent inquiring about where to find the product in the Palm Springs area. They area new company in regards to the complete diet raw food, so finding it could be a problem, I'm afraid. Anyway, just wanted to let you know how my food problem was solved. By the way, while I was dealing with so much diarrhea and soft stools, I made a concoction that worked very well. I mixed canned chicken made by Evanger, cottage cheese, rice, yogurt and pumpkin. The pups love it and it really helped to get them straightened out before I tried yet another food,

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It does seem that the commercial raw products have worked better for a lot of dogs who have had digestive issues with kibble. I wish I could feed it to JD, but with his IBD, the only product that would work for him is Bravo's raw patties at about $600/month, or maybe Stella & Chewy's at not much less than that. There are too many ingredients in most of the other raw products for him.

So we do half home-cooked chicken and sweet potatoes, and half Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Chicken kibble.

I do think Laura's Molly needs a limited ingredient food. But the first thing I would do is get confirmation that there are no parasites or bad bacteria in the stool.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

OMD $600/month?  That's almost my DH's law school loan bills!!!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep, for the Bravo raw rabbit formula for an 80 lb dog.

[Diana Erhart]

My Charlie has always been a picky eater and we battled loose poops for a long time.  After about 5 1/2 years I tried a food called NOW! from Petcurean.  It is a grain free food with duck, salmon and turkey.  He eats only dried lamb lung for treats and eats moo-tubes (dried beef esophagus) for chews.  I top his food with some cheese.  If I deviate from this at all (no other treats or food) he will get loose stools.  Like you I tried many other things including the raw.  Charlie seemed to do ok on the raw but when he is such a picky eater I ended up either trying to hand feed it to him (yuk) or throwing too much away to make it financially feasible (since it can't sit out for awhile like the kibble can).  Good luck.  I hope you can get your Molly's stomach straightened out.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Petcurean is on our recommended brands list, but it's too complex for Molly right now. Jane's Guinness and Murphy both have sensitive stomachs and mainly eat homecooked and Honest Kitchen, but can occasionally have one of the NOW formulas without a problem.

[Bob Johnston]

While your waiting on tests to come back you could try to make a rice pudding type thing. I use 1 bag of steam fresh white rice and add 12 oz of plain yougurt. depending on the wattage of your microwave I cook mine for 6 mins and 30 sec to make it a little more starchy and then let it sit to thicken up or you could take a half a cup and blend it with a half cup yogurt and then mix it all togather. Then just add as a topper to which ever food you use. Great hint this works well for sick humans to sub out the yogurt for a can of cream of chicken soup and add a can of milk instead of water bring to a boil then add your bag of rice. protein packed and easy to digest for upset tummies.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The problem with this is that cooking will destroy the probiotics in the yogurt, so if you're adding the yogurt for the probiotic benefits (and that's a good idea any time a dog is taking antibiotics), you're defeating the purpose by heating the yogurt along with the rice.

[Bob Johnston]

I was thinking about how I typed it after I read it back. the yougurt one , for dogs you would only cook the rice part then add warm rice to yougurt and serve or blend mix and serve. the human one requires all the cooking.

[Laura Deutsch]

I really appreciate the help of this group. We have never had a dog with such issues and it's very upsetting, but seems to be common with doodles????? I know that our breeder did not start her on a good food. We have gone to this vet for 15 years and he and his associates are excellent diagnosticians who have saved many dogs we know and cured many. Ir ealize the the food issue is a weak one when a dog appears with difficulties like Molly. We will take a stool sample in, which I'm sure will be fine, and then keep trying to figure out what to do. All suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Karen, thank's again.

[Lisa Marin]

Hi All....I have been through the same thing with my now 1 year old doodle. He had constant loose stools! Someone mentioned Natures variety instinct LID turkey kibble and it has been my miracle food! Something about the "clay" in the ingredients that help with dogs that have sensitive stomach issues. It might be worth a try???