Advice on Tyson tummy troubles?

Lady La La

Lady La La

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Hey everyone, I've been having a few problems with Tyson recently.
He got the runs quite bad a few weeks ago, it went on for a few days and no amount of starving him or feeding bland rice seemed to help. Just as I was about to take him to the vets it cleared up & he seemed to be coping OK with his dry food again.
A couple of days later the runny tummy started again, he couldn't hold in it when I was at work, etc. I took him to the vets, and she said no temperature and no other signs of something nasty so he probably just ate something he shouldn't have. She gave me some bland food for feed him for a few days and he seemed to perk up again.

... About a week or so later, and he has the runs again, although I have to say his poos were never really very solid to begin with. I've started feeding him prebiotic yogurt, but I haven't seen much difference yet. He's lost a fair bit of weight, so I took him back to the vets and said I was worried he may have developed IBS or something. The vet has put him on some food that looks a bit like dry porridge. It wouldn't be out of place in my horses food bowl, put it that way!
Tyson is not interested in it, and even mixed with yoghurt or tuna he wont eat much of it. Kind of not sure what to do now as the vet doesn't really seem interested as to why he has suddenly developed such a sensitive tummy. He's always been a bit iffy, but not like this.
Does anyone have any advice or thoughts? :(
 
Sorry to say this, but is raw or part raw an option?

Have you tried something really plain and bland like the original tins of Chappie? On the plus side, it's dirt cheap.

He's a mix of breeds prone to dodgy tummies sadly :( there is a form of IBS as well as food absorbtion/pancreas issues in the GSD but you'd probably know if it was pancreas by now.

B has had a whole rake of tummy/poo issues in the last few months, going from liquid to total impaction and an £80 enema, I haven't bothered posting on it but he is basically on a rotation of really boring bland foods, but Chappie is well known for settling sensitive dogs.
 
CaveCanem said:
Sorry to say this, but is raw or part raw an option?

Have you tried something really plain and bland like the original tins of Chappie? On the plus side, it's dirt cheap.

He's a mix of breeds prone to dodgy tummies sadly :( there is a form of IBS as well as food absorbtion/pancreas issues in the GSD but you'd probably know if it was pancreas by now.

B has had a whole rake of tummy/poo issues in the last few months, going from liquid to total impaction and an £80 enema, I haven't bothered posting on it but he is basically on a rotation of really boring bland foods, but Chappie is well known for settling sensitive dogs.
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I don't know if you remember, but I did have him on RAW at one stage, and all seemed ok at first. Then he was horrendously sick, like you wouldn't believe after eating some turkey. I took him to the vets then and was told that he was most likely intolerant to poultry, which apparently is a GSD thing and that he would be best off on a fish based food. I put him on Fish4Dogs and all had been fine until recently.

I had thought about Chappie, but I worry that this wouldn't do long term for him because it doesn't seem to have much good stuff in it? It would probably do what rice does which is firm him up, and then when I put him back on his dry food he just erupts again :(

I realise it's probably to do with his bad breeding, and the vets have basically said as much to me, but Im not sure what to do to help him. Vet seemed very against trying him back on RAW, and he wont eat this weird dry porridge type stuff, even if I mix it with something like chappie. Even tuna wont tempt him to eat it and he loves tuna!

Kaylum, nothing that I can think of, and he mostly seems OK in himself. Still happy and bouncy and noisy lol

Edit: Sorry to hear you're having problems with B too CC :(
 
There are plenty of dogs on Chappie long term, including police dogs.

Not ideal, but dry food isn't all that either TBH 'complete' is a marketing tool/phrase, I'd keep him on whatever keeps him stable and happy.
 
CaveCanem said:
There are plenty of dogs on Chappie long term, including police dogs.

Not ideal, but dry food isn't all that either TBH 'complete' is a marketing tool/phrase, I'd keep him on whatever keeps him stable and happy.
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So do you think just try him with a bowl of chappie meat and no dry biscuits at all?
I've read on here so much about the importance of feeding good dog food that doesn't contain crap that I thought this would be the last thing someone would tell me to do lol! :o I'll definitely try him on it to see if it settles him. Would be much nicer on my pocket than buying Fish4Dogs every few weeks!
Thanks for the advice, will see how it goes.
 
Try it, see what happens. In an ideal world we'd all be feeding the best that we could, as mentioned B has been passing liquidon food he had been eating happily for months and then been compacted the whole way back on something else, and scratched himself until he bled on raw. You have to feed what works for the dog.
Dry food/biscuits/mixers are a relatively modern phenomenon, after all!

The best he ever did was on the £19 mulch from Jollyes, now discontinued.

Oh and thanks for your words about B. Train wreck that he is....

EDIT: Chappie does not contain crap, that's the point. It doesn't contain a great deal of anything really...but again that's the point :p and it is only a suggestion, there are other options x
 
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I would also try chappie meat and see how you get on and then add chappie dry with the meat, it's all well and good going on about good food and well and good if your dog has no problems on it but his present health has to come first, if he is getting poorly and losing weight then indeed I would turn to whatever works best. My friends shepherd has the same kind of issues and she used the original chappie (vets gave her the stuff off the shelf) I told her to try chappie as she was at her witts end, she started on the and meat and she never saw the issues raise their head again.
Start with the meat and see how you go, I think they do fish chappie tinned now and chicken aswell as the original.
Is he dry at present.
If not can you dry him up with some fish and rice or fish and pasta and then introduce chappie and exclude all else.
As suggested by CC did your vet seemed concerned re pancreas issues/advise tests?
 
Cheers guys, will definitely try the chappie route then.
He currently still has a very runny tummy, so maybe I will feed fish and rice until he firms up again and then start him on the tinned chappie and see how he gets on.
The vet didn't mention anything about pancreas issues, but then I saw a different vet each time, and didn't go into his history much with either of them. Can you tell me more about pancreas problems, should I be looking for signs?

hope B fixes himself for you CC!
 
i have had similar with my lurcher, i had to take a sample of poo(very nice!!) for the vet to test and they diagnosed colitis which they said can start when they are about 8 and also is quite common with sensitive dogs...they gave me salazopyrin tablets and they worked almost immediately.. she was fine while i kept her on chicken or fish and rice but when i put her back on her normal food it all started again. vets then told me to try a hypoallergenic food and i put her on james wellbeloved turkey and rice kibble and this seems to have done the trick... she still has occasional problems because not only is she quite sensitive she is also likely to eat decomposing rabbit or similar which obviously is not good. the vet has given me a supply of the tablets in case she is ill at night or weekend...hope this helps a bit....
 
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