Prescription diets for diarrhoea?

blackcob

blackcob

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Yep, she's come down with it again - she had a mild bout six days ago, has had lovely firm dark poos since and then last night suddenly rushed to the door and whimpered to go out. I don't think she could have held it a minute longer, poor mite, and this was confirmed when she woke me up at 5am wanting to go out, having already done some on the floor.

Before anyone asks of course I won't be bringing her to the meet-up if she's still ill, however much I'd like to meet everyone. :(

Having tried starving and little-and-often meals of chicken and rice when she first had it some weeks ago (she had firm poos on that for two days and then more diarrhoea on the third day, normal again on fourth day) and cutting out all of her raw feeds in case something was setting it off, giving her only kibble, I was worried enough to take her to the vet today as this has now been going on for some weeks and today she literally cannot hold it.

She does have a temperature, no tummy soreness though and no blood in the poo. Vet has prescribed antibiotics, probiotics and Purina EN food for two weeks. Now, it wasn't until I got it home that I had a look at the ingredients list on the Purina - it's pure cack! Rice, corn, chicken 'meal' and animal fats are the first few ingredients. Is this really the way to go? The vet warned me to cut out all of the raw feeding, though I'm certain there's no one thing setting her off as she's been on nothing but Royal Canin for two weeks.

Argh. Poor Daxy-dog. :(
 
I'd actually keep her on the raw and cut out the kibble in your situation in case it is an ingredient in that, with a high bone content - look at the difference in the consistencies.
RC doesn't work for everyone and I know a couple who mixed raw and RC and their dogs constantly had the runs, and were pooing orange.....

I'm not a vet though.

Is there any way she has been snaffling poo at the yard? Sheep and fox poo give mine the squits.
 
But she's been on the RC/raw diet since she came home with no problems for the first two months or so - why the bottom explosions now? :confused: The vet seemed quite anti-raw, saying that some dogs couldn't handle eating such a varied diet? Her poos have been small and firm on that diet thus far, and indeed over the past few days they've been fantastic, really firm and non-smelly, and she's eaten nothing different to cause last night's episode.

Just feel a bit of a bad mummy, I suppose, having tried to do the right thing by using a high-quality kibble and feeding a varied evening meal only to find that one or both might be causing it. :(

Now that the horse is out 24/7 I only go down to ride so she doesn't come with me, so no horse poo for weeks - she will occasionally pick up sheep poo but I discourage it as she will then ultimately roll in it. She briefly picked up a dead bunny a couple of weeks back but she'd already had a few periods of diarrhoea before that. The only other thing that's had this effect on her is when my nan fed her Bakers - I wonder if there's an ingredient in common that she's become sensitive to over a period of months?
 
My brittany had a bad tum on any kibble but it was never consistant and started about 3 or 4 months after we had been feeding the same kibble.

It would be once in a while and it didn't matter what kibble i fed him.

We didn't even realise it was the kibble because it was never consistant but when we switched to totally raw we noticed after a few months, hold on he has had no tummy issues and 5 years later the only time he has had issue was after coming back from kennels where they had fed him kibble.
 
Argh. My mind, and evidence, keeps telling me that the raw is doing her no harm at all but I am still loathe to go against the advice of a vet. Are all vets so anti-raw? I suppose they get paid for pimping the Purina stuff, they seem very hot on it. :rolleyes:

The only reason I was still giving her a kibble meal every day was because I didn't fully trust myself to give her full nutrition on a raw diet, I'd better do some more reading and research.

Both the RC and Bakers contains wheat meal, the Purina she's been prescribed doesn't - be interesting to see if it clears up without the wheat as that's the only noticeable omission. Wheat's a fairly common allergy in people as well as dogs, I gather?!
 
I cannot really recommend anything, I have never had a dog with dietry issues, but have had plenty of dogs in with the squitters:D:D
Huskys can commonly have sensitive stomachs, and raw maybe the way to go, again I cannot recommend anything, as I have little knowleadge of raw feeding, I do however board 3 dogs that suffer severe dietry issues, and they are all on hills ZD and it's the only food they can tolerate, again I have never read the ingredients, one of the dogs has recently been having chappie introduced to the ZD without any ill effects, as of course the owner wants him off the food as it's very expensive, so maybe introduce a prescription based food then gradually add in what u would ideally want to feed in very very small increases, one of the dogs had so many bouts of diarrhoea he was placed on a drip and tey nearly lost him, thats possibly a very extreme case there, but he has settled on the ZD.
So not a great amount of help there, but I can say the ZD works, or atleast for the dogs I have seen on it and they all look to be fab weight and health and have a lovely stool on it, I know many dont like the hills diets, but it may be a way forward temporarily till u can stabalize her, maybe have some allergy testing done too, see if there is anything specific she is intolerant too.
 
blackcob said:
Argh. My mind, and evidence, keeps telling me that the raw is doing her no harm at all but I am still loathe to go against the advice of a vet. Are all vets so anti-raw? I suppose they get paid for pimping the Purina stuff, they seem very hot on it. :rolleyes:

The only reason I was still giving her a kibble meal every day was because I didn't fully trust myself to give her full nutrition on a raw diet, I'd better do some more reading and research.

Both the RC and Bakers contains wheat meal, the Purina she's been prescribed doesn't - be interesting to see if it clears up without the wheat as that's the only noticeable omission. Wheat's a fairly common allergy in people as well as dogs, I gather?!
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I have only come across one vet that was pro-raw. Most no very little to nothing about it other than its going to cut in to their profits on whatever they are pushing. Here its science diet. I wouldn't feed that to any dog of mine if hey paid me!

Try her on the new food and see how it goes it could very well be wheat.
 
Ps, I dont feed hills myself, I do like the large breed puppy though, have seen fab result with it in puppies, otherwsie I dont use it, and my vets don't sell it either:p, so im not recommending through work, jsut going on the boarders I have in with severe problems, one of which is a husky, the other a basset and the other a shepherd, the rest eat bakers.....lol:D:D
Mine are on chudleys:p
 
Cayla, looking at the websites the Hills ZD seems to do the same job as the Purina EN I've been given - and, again, is wheat-free, I'm beginning to wonder if that's the common denominator here.

Let's see if the Purina works and, if so, there's lots of much better wheat-free kibbles available - Kirstyhen, what do you give Otto, out of interest? :) I'm definitely going to look into extending the raw diet once we've gotten to the bottom of this, it will just be useful in case she's ever kennelled or comes on holiday with us that there's a 'safe' kibble we can use.

Do the powdered probiotics work, do we think, or are they more Purina pimping from the vets?
 
Your vet sounds like the usual paid by a kibble company so go against every other kind of diet vet, I went against the advice of my vet 4 years ago and havent looked back since and just last week our vet remarked what fantastic condition the dogs are in

I had a skinny underweight (and I mean you could see his spine nevermind feel it) siberian with constant squits on kibble and we tried every sort of kibble going for sensitive stomachs nothing worked

Cyrus then
cyside.jpg


We then met and talked to Lorraine (Locos breeder) known to everyone in the breed as the RAW queen she has studied the diet for years and wrote many articles and papers on it with her help we changed over entirely to raw and there has been such a radical change in him, he eats up at every meal, no squits, found his want to work in harness and is never at the vets apart from one silly accident with a stick :D

Cyrus now after 4 years on BARF
25thapril09008.jpg


Don`t line your vets pockets when there is a healthier more natural diet out there, you will probably find a lot of kennels have the facilities to stock and feed a raw diet too
 
Don't p@nic @bout diet just yet! TBH it just sound like she h@s picked up @ bug @nd got colitis. Give the @ntibiotics @ ch@nce & go from there. I would stick to cooked chicken & rice/p@st@ for the dur@tion of the @ntibiotics:)
 
He is a big handsome boy! Daxy-dog very much resembles the 'before' picture at the moment, she's quite scrawny looking (though she now weighs 24kg, which was a weight off my mind as I thought she was losing rather than gaining) and her once-shiny coat has gone a bit dull. :(

She's really not a foody dog at all and seldom finishes meals, raw or kibble, though will eat fish over anything else - don't suppose it's healthy to feed a dog entirely on sardines? :p :D I will have to investigate bulk sources of raw, Sainsbury's chicken thighs won't really cut it if she's going to be eating a much larger proportion of raw in the future.

Fingers crossed that the anti-bs and crappy bland food work in the short term, poor miserable snoot. :(

Gazey, I was looking at Skinners, and also the JWB fish and rice if the raw doesn't work out - suspect the Skinners is cheaper mind. :D
 
blackcob said:
Gazey, I was looking at Skinners, and also the JWB fish and rice if the raw doesn't work out - suspect the Skinners is cheaper mind. :D
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JWB is around £45 a sack, Skinners is £20 a sack :D:D Have to say mine didnt actually like the JWB either :confused: But suits me :D I hate that cr*p prescription diet they give them, looks like pureed mush, and I swear it doesnt make them any better :(

ProKolin is your best friend, would strongly recommend you get some, it is available online www.vetuk.co.uk it is a probiotic paste, first sign of an upset stomach and dose her up, it works really well IMHO :):):)
 
Otto is fed Skinner's Duck and Rice (If she prefers fish, they do a Salmon and Rice one), Chudley's and Burn's both give him major squits!
I would like to look into feeding him Raw as I think he would do brill on it, it's just not practical at the moment though, plus like you I'm terrified of not giving him the right diet!
Once we've moved and settled down I am thinking of giving Orijen or something similar a go, but it's just so bleedin' expensive!

I'm happy with him on Skinner's, but I'm sure there must be better for him - he suffers from a runny bum if he has been hooning around for a long time and it takes a hell of a lot of food to just keep him covered, although the Vet reckoned he looked fab the last time he saw him.

Like blazingsaddles said though, it sounds like she has maybe eaten something that has upset her tum, got a bug and now she is suffering with a bout of collitis. Otto went through the same thing after we'd had him a few months, and has only suffered with a upset tum a few times since, all 24hr type things.

I keep lots of NatureDiet Chicken and Rice stored for just such times, takes the hassle out of making tons of actual Chicken and Rice and settles his tum almost instantly. I think it's a good thing to feed if you usually feed Raw but need something convenient for Holidays etc, although I'm no Raw expert!! :D
 
Hen you could try what I do - half Skinners and half raw.

Mine get tins of sardines, tuna, eggs, bones (from butchers) and raw meat and fish (from the reduced section) as well as fruit and veg - they get that as often as I can get it and the rest of the time they have Skinners. It works out roughly half their meals are raw over a month. They also supplement their diet with rabbit, hare, pheasant, partridge, grass, wheat and what ever else they find while out walking.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

By keeping the Skinners it makes it easy if they stay with my parents or at kennels etc As you saw at the weekend they look alright on it and certainly have enough energy!!:D:D
 
Perhaps see what sort of result you get excluding wheat with the Purina, and if it does seem to work you could change to a cheaper food. Have to say mine do really well on Skinners Duck & Rice.
 
MurphysMinder said:
Perhaps see what sort of result you get excluding wheat with the Purina, and if it does seem to work you could change to a cheaper food. Have to say mine do really well on Skinners Duck & Rice.
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I think this is the plan, plus raw once I'm sure wheat is the problem. :) She's had a small amount of Purina for dinner and hasn't gone to the loo since 1pm so it's a success so far, given that this morning she was going once an hour. Much brighter this evening too. I must say the ingredients list for any of the Skinners products seems more wholesome than that of the Purina (chicken fat, anyone?), and at a fraction of the cost.
 
The vets that I know don't like raw because they are worried about diseases which raw food can carry (and they've had to treat). Dogs aren't completely immune to Salmonella or the brain cyst thing in raw pork. They've also all had to remove some stuck bones - paranoia often comes from experiences, and vets tend to see a lot of owners' bad experiences. At the practice I know they are not on any kind of commission for food (and their prices to clients are cheaper than online - researched for their own dogs when trying Royal Canin sensitivity!) Some practices do base staff appraisals on sales of things like wormers, food etc...

My dog seems to do best (weight/solidity of poos) on one meal of carbs (usually pasta as it's easy to cook and keep) and one meal of kibble (Chappie) per day - he needs calories for the amount of running around he does but struggles with too much protein after an incident with a loo roll as an 8 week old puppy... Now we do get occasional squitty incidents, but hindsight usually relates them to the consumption of something minging by a sneaky red labrador (poo, rotting dead things etc)
 
I think in fairness Katie, if it works, it works, if you'd told me this time last year what I'd be feeding now, I would have laughed out loud - it's cheap and it's own brand but it is the only food that keeps itchy-pants stable and it's supplemented with raw days, among other ingredients. Even his sister looks nice and shiny on it.
As you know he can't deal with too much protein (no loo roll involved) and is sensitive to a lot of other things and like Wishful it is a matter of balancing his calorie intake for the large amount of activity he does.

I still wouldn't feed wheat ever again though!
 
Well, lesson learnt - tried the Purina for a while and she was infinitely worse despite the antibiotics and probiotics. Can now add corn and rice to the list of things she's intolerant of, at least. :rolleyes:

She's now back on a totally raw diet and for the first time in weeks is finishing every meal with enthusiasm (she sang for her breakfast this morning, something she's never done!) and poos are improving daily - last night's was almost totally normal, fingers crossed that today she brews me a totally firm one. :D

I've never ignored a vet's advice before but boy do I feel foolish for not doing this earlier. It's never bloody easy with animals, is it? :o
 
Yep most Vets will never support raw sadly and continue to suggest stuff that only prolongs the inevitable, because as soon as the dogs intolerance shows they put it on some other expensive carb loaded "food" until you run out of options. There are a number of vets beginning to sit up and take notice and a lot of homoeopathic vets that recommend some form of raw feeding.

It's sad as they take a lengthy scientific degree then will not question the nutrition that feeds a carnivore more grain than they recommend for your bl**dy horse!!!!!!! I have regularly had to pick some of mine up off the floor when they ask what I feed as the dog is in such good nick!

My biggest gripe is when they try and say that a dog can no longer tolerate meat as it has evolved in 50 odd years, WTF did that come from, and they believe it !!!!!!!!!!! Why not turn their intellect to asking why more dogs are developing allergies and what role does feeding excess carbs to a carnivore have in this? Oops sorry just woke up!!!
 
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