What A Difference A Food Can Make!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Today is day five for Murphy on his new food, and he's a completely different dog.  I would never have imagined that he could be this good.  As you all may remember Murphy has been on every quality food, a few "second tier" foods, and even in desperation the RX food.  We tried home cooking for months.  Throughout all of this he continued to have stomach problems....soft stools, diarrhea, constantly "gurgling tummy", and just feeling lousy much of the time.  On Saturday I moved him to Honest Kitchen freeze dried raw (gluten and wheat free).  His stools immediately firmed up....they are perfect.  He seems to feel so much better....no more early morning vomiting bile and way more active (a good thing?????).  He has stopped "scooting"....no more anal gland problems, at least not yet.  I've taken him off the Pepcid and the Probiotics, which he's been on daily for several weeks, and now he's fine without them.  I've found that I can add fresh chicken, turkey or beef to the Honest Kitchen with no adverse reaction.  It's all wonderful, but it makes me wonder why.  I had been thinking that his problems were an intolerance to the protein source...clearly not the case since I've now tested them all.  So, I have to think his food issues were one of two things.  Either his body can't handle gluten or it's the fact that this food is "mush"....it looks like baby food.  Although I do add fresh meat, it is cut in very tiny pieces and then mixed with the "mush".  I'm tending to think it may be the gluten.  Even when I was home cooking, I was mixing in rice, barley or whole wheat pasta.  I'm so hoping this the end of the "food saga" with Murph (I hope I'm not going to be disappointed and this is temporary).  We always joke about how obsessed we all are with "poop", but it makes such a huge difference.  He just feels so much better now...I can tell just by the way he's acting.  The added bonus is that he absolutely loves it.  He cleans his bowl and then pushes it all over the kitchen to be sure he's gotten every last drop.  Guinness is not too fond of the stuff, so I'm going to keep him on his home cooking for now.  Anyway, it's so nice to finally be able to share good news in this group....who knows, maybe I'll be able to "retire" from the Food Group.

[Susan and Sasha]

Oh Jane...

I'm So happy for Murphy and for you!!!!

I do hope that you've found the answer...and maybe he's allergic to gluten?

Whatever it is...if this is working for him...It's Wonderful News!!

We'll keep "paws crossed"...that you've found the answer to his food issues...and he won't be suffering anymore...

 

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Not allergic to gluten. Maybe intolerant.

[Lindsey]

YAYYYY! I know how good it feels when you've got your pup back to 100% healthy :-)
and it is crazy how big of a difference the food can make!! We're happy with Welness thus far, fingers crossed it stays smooth sailing from here.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

So glad for you Jane and the Murph.  Several months ago I started feeding Rooney 1oz of thawed Primal (raw beef) with his puppy Orijen and his poop became more formed, more regular, smelled less and we haven't had a vomit situation.  I am giving a tiny bit of raw to Stuart with his Orijen too - the pet food lady said that his age and parasite issues shouldn't matter.  We are going to be traveling for 2 weeks in July and I have bought Freeze Dried "Stella & Chewy's" which sounds like your "Honest Kitchen" so that I don't have to try to travel keeping the raw frozen.  Do these sound similar?  It says made with raw, farm raised Lamb (we could get other flavors) and organic fruits and vegatbles, no grain, no homones, or artificial preservaties, color, salt or sugar.  The fact that Murphy is doing so well on it makes me have confidence!!!!  (Although I miss my Giardia sister - lol)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Is the Stella & Chewy's freeze dried food that you rehydrate by adding water?  If it is, then I'd say it is very much like the Honest Kitchen that I'm feeding.  I know that at one point I tried the Stella & Chewy's, but I'm thinking they were patties, and I don't remember having to rehydrate them (I could be wrong about that).  Murph wasn't crazy about them and his poop did not improve, but I was also feeding some Acana at the same time which may have been part of the problem.  It sounds like a great option for traveling.  Here's hoping that very soon we'll BOTH be the "giardia free" sisters!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

O.K. I found out the difference because I had Rooney at daycare today and that is my food store also.  They so carry the Honest Kitchen which is dehydrated and is gluten free - it must be mixed with liquid to feed it.  The Stella & Chewy's is freezed dried (in patties) and you can just crumble it up to feed or mix with a little bit of liquid.  I will try the Honest Kitchen if Rooney ever has his stomach problems return.  So happy that it is working for you.

[Michele Follger]

Hooray for Murphy! What a relief it must be. Here's hoping that it is a permanent solution.

[Heather & Jake]

This is great!!  I hope we get the same results... just got a few trial packs of Orijen 6 Fishes and Honest Kitchen Embark last night... we will see which one works better, but I'm so glad to hear some promising news!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'll be interested in your results too.  Please let us know, and I hope you have the same kind of luck we've had.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was all set to celebrate with you until I got to that part about retiring from the Food Group. What????? There's no retiring, you have to stay here and help other people whose dogs have issues!

I'm glad Murph is doing so well!

[Leslie and Halas]

I just told her the same thing about retiring.  I should really read all of the responses before I type my own response.

[Pam & Trixie]

That is really WonderFul!   Im so glad it is working for him & He FEELS Better too!

I know once Trixie felt better She was 'Like a Real Puppy'

We would say in our house -shes a real Puppy Today...Now Shes a Real Puppy Everyday!