Sensitive foods advice please.

[goldenhound]

Some of you may remember me posting some time ago about my now 7 month old GR. We have had E coli, Campy, and giardia, after several rounds of ABs we have finally got clear results.

He is on a daily Yu digest probiotic but poos still very soft. Vet had him on hills ID to stabilise, his guts as he said they are now very sensitive so needs a sensitive food.


He wants to put him on Hills permanently but im not too happy about this tbh. As we now have clear results my vet is convinced his problem is dietary.

He has been on the Fishmongers finest, Wainwrights Salmon and Potato, Arden Grange Fish and Potato,and Simpsons, Salmon & Potato....
See the theme here??

I did contact Arden Grange and they said he could now be sensitive to fish and potato and to try another portein source and new carb source.but tbh im getting confused, so im asking if any of you have any similar experience to urs, and what did you try.

Thanks in advance.

[Dottie]

I am sorry that you are still having this problem. Coincidentally, my friend has had very similar problems with her Labrador. Like yours, the dog has had campylobacter and another parasite which she cannot remember the name of.  Treatment has been given and the dog's recent stool sample was clear but has since had intermittent problems with poo.  She has recently gradually changed to cold pressed and all was going quite well but yesterday the dog became ill again with diarrhoea and vomiting. They are going to the vets this afternoon.

We are tempted to think it is dietary and I can see why the vet thinks so but maybe it could be more to do with the residual effects of the disease.  My friend thinks that her dog hasn't been treated for long enough with erythromycin - think she read on the Internet that some vets give it for three weeks. Also, as the gut has been inflammed, maybe it makes the dog more susceptible to infection.

I agree about the fish and potato being potential problems but the only way to be sure about sensitivities is to do a proper exclusion diet and that can take some time and determination. I am not sure of the exact protocol - be guided by your vet.  I understand that it begins with one of the hydrolyzed protein foods and then you add in different proteins to assess the dog's response. 

If you don't want to go down the route of a controlled exclusion diet, the only thing I can think of is to use a quality wet food, minus fish and potato just for the moment.  This means that you will have to avoid grain free.  Wet foods tend to have simple recipes so it is easier to identify problems. 

Naturediet might be somewhere to start - check out the recipe for their chicken version here.  They have some more information here but you could telephone for further advice if interested.  They used to do some good fact sheets on intolerance but don't know if they are still available.
Naturo wet also has simple recipes but you need to stick with single protein at the moment so probably avoid the ones with two types of protein.

[goldenhound]

Thanks Dottie or your reply, as we have had a clear poo samples (2 now) vet wouldn't have given him any more ABs, if he was still positive, as he wanted to do it more naturally with probiotics etc, as he is at his main growing phase, and some ABs can affect the joints, (he an orthopdic vet) and so he didn't want to go down that route, as that is now by the by, and  hopefully we have kicked the bugs, although im going to drop in another sample in a months time to make sure...

I will take look at some of the wet food available and see if they help.
Thanks.

[Dottie]

Thank you for replying. I can see why the vet wouldn't want to give more medication. There is no indication at the moment. The probiotics should hopefully help the gut to heal naturally. 

If you prefer dry food, maybe look at the cold pressed foods. Several of them do not contain potato but they tend to have a small amount of fish.  The carb source is brown rice (except for the grain free versions). 

Lupo Sensitive is single source protein but contains potato flour.

Lukullus has dual protein but I have just noticed that they now do a veggie version. I am wondering if this would be helpful because you could add your own protein. 

Pure Pet Foods sell a Veggie Plus Mixer which is dehydrated. You add your own protein. They should be able to offer advice if you are interested.

If you try a different product, transition very gradually. Please would you let us know how you get on? I do hope your dog soon improves.

[Dottie]

Goldenhound - my friend has been to see the vet today. She has given the dog a good examination, blood test for enzymes/B12, antibiotic and advised three small meals per day instead of two. She feels that the dog will recover in time but said that when they have had these infections it can take quite some time for the gut to fully recover. She thought that the move to cold pressed was good because it is easily digested. 

It sounds like your GR might need a bit more time to fully recover. I hope that one of the food suggestions will assist the healing.

[goldenhound]

Many thanks for your reply once again, much appreciated, my vet had this problem with his dog many years ago (she is now 13yrs) so he understands how we feel,he said his digestion will take months of which we knew just needed peoples experiences of sensitive food, so we may know which food route to eventually go down.
Thanks once again.

[Dottie]

Sorry to have got sidetracked but thought it was useful to mention that these diseases can take some time to resolve. I haven’t had a dog with anything like this so was not aware of the possibility of a prolonged recovery. I hope that you can find a suitable food for your dog. Please can you update the thread if possible? I would like to hear about your dog’s progress and hope that he is soon settled on something that suits him.

[goldenhound]

Well update is...vet has decided he wants him on  Hills Vet essentials...and reading the ingredients it looks what I can only describe as rubbish....and at £14 a 2kg bag....
Any thoughts on this food anyone...
I was working on ingredients he hasn't had before so found Simpsons, Venison & Rabbit.
Any advice out there please. ??

[Dottie]

Instant Review Generator score 4.7, no red ingredients. Grain free - contains potato.
Simpsons Premium Venison and Rabbit

Edit: Cobbydog Optimum Cold Pressed is dual protein but has no fish or potato:
Dried Ground Chicken 42%, Sweet Potato, Peas, Beet Pulp, Chicken Oil 3.3%, TurmerAid™, Vitamins, Dried Ground Duck 1%, Dried Vegetables (Carrot, Celery Root, Dried Herbs (Sage, Thyme, Oregano), Dried Fruit (Apple), Seaweed, Prebiotic, Yucca, Fennel, Nettle, Linseed Oil, Rapeseed Oil

Cold pressed food is reputed to be useful for sensitive dogs - link.

[goldenhound]

Vet food now bought, give it a go, “client compliance “etc, not got much hope but here goes....

[Dottie]

Thank you for updating your thread. It is appreciated. I do hope that this food helps to normalise your dog’s digestion. I am very interested in this so please would you let me know how you get on?  I would be grateful, not least because we don’t always get feedback and it helps us to understand problems/outcomes with diet.

Not sure if you are interested but like your GR, my friend’s dog is still having problems too. The vet thinks that the dog is intolerant of rice so within the next few days she will be transitioned to grain free food. The choice is Fish4Dogs sardine/sweet potato. She mentioned prescription diet as the next step if grain free doesn’t help.