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Small Kibble for Sensitive Stomach

8K views 54 replies 13 participants last post by  bluesuitcase 
#1 ·
I think my pup has developed a food sensitivity to his normal food, Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy Chicken & Rice. After that, we tried Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy, but with no luck. Both times, boiled chicken and rice seemed to settle his stomach. Pumpkin helped a lot, but I've had trouble finding any in stores. In that time, he tested negative for worms and took antibiotics and probiotics as prescribed by my vet. I would like to move him to a sensitive stomach large breed food. Purina Pro Plan comes to mind, but the kibble size is very large and my pup doesn't really chew his food. He inhales it. He's thrown up twice since we got him, and both times the kibble was unchewed. Are there any large breed, sensitive stomach, grain-inclusive dry kibbles that anyone would recommend?
 
#5 ·
He's had soft stool for about four weeks. When we take him off kibble and give him boiled chicken and rice, things seem to improve. Once we start mixing some kibble in, things get worse. And that the vet ruled out parasites/worms.

Have you tried a puzzle bowl or a slow feeder bowl?
Yes, he's a pretty crazy eater, but it has helped a little bit.

Like Jazi asked above--What are you're seeing that you leads you to say he has a food sensitivity...does he have diarrhea? Gas? A lot of vomiting? Itchiness, irritated skin or hair loss? Is he not gaining weight or growing as he should be?

How old is he and how long have you had him?

There are a number of reasons a dog might not seem to tolerate his food well. Overfeeding can lead to diarrhea. A puppy or dog with an empty stomach (especially in the morning when it has been a long time since dinner) may throw up bile before he's been fed. Sometimes a dog will vomit his food simply because he is being transitioned too fast to a new food. You should take about 3 weeks to switch foods by slowly adding more of the new and less of the old.

Usually it is recommended that you keep a puppy on the same food his breeder was feeding him for 3-4 weeks and then make a very slow transition over the next couple of weeks. A new puppy has enough stress to deal with just because he is in a new place with a new family...you don't need to stress him by changing his food right away too.

Dogs typically don't chew their food very much. Some of them will gulp their food down, take it somewhere else and vomit it up so they can eat in peace. Gross to us, but natural for a dog who has to grab his food and run.

He may be throwing up because he's eating too fast too--first consider his surroundings. Is he eating near other dogs so that he feels he has to snarf everything down fast? Is he nervous or stressed (again, how new is he to your household)?

You can try a slow feeder bowl; it has compartments which the dog has to kind of fish around in to get his food. Or you can spread his food out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. That way he can't grab whole mouthfuls all at once. You can also feed him part of his kibble in a bowl and then put some in a puzzle toy or a kong. That way he'll only get a few pieces of food at a time--he'll also get some brain exercise and entertainment that way as noses the toy around to figure out how to get some food.

Food sensitivity certainly exists, but it's not necessarily the first thing I would think of if my dog is vomiting occasionally.
He's had diarrhea and soft stool on and off for the better part of four weeks. Things improved (slightly) on boiled rice and chicken, but every time we tried to mix some of his kibble back in, things got worse. He is four-months-old, and I've had him since he was 8.5-weeks old. He's also ~10 lbs behind his littermates. Throwing up is very infrequent, I only mentioned it because it's how I learned he doesn't chew his food, it is the diarrhea that I am concerned about. Both times were because he was running around immediately after eating. Additionally, I haven't been overfeeding him either. He had urinary issues on the food the breeder was feeding, and my vet recommended we switch to a different formula. I transitioned him over the first two-weeks to a different protein of the same food. I will be trying to get him in with the vet today.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Like Jazi asked above--What are you're seeing that you leads you to say he has a food sensitivity...does he have diarrhea? Gas? A lot of vomiting? Itchiness, irritated skin or hair loss? Is he not gaining weight or growing as he should be?

How old is he and how long have you had him?

There are a number of reasons a dog might not seem to tolerate his food well. Overfeeding can lead to diarrhea. A puppy or dog with an empty stomach (especially in the morning when it has been a long time since dinner) may throw up bile before he's been fed. Sometimes a dog will vomit his food simply because he is being transitioned too fast to a new food. You should take about 3 weeks to switch foods by slowly adding more of the new and less of the old.

Usually it is recommended that you keep a puppy on the same food his breeder was feeding him for 3-4 weeks and then make a very slow transition over the next couple of weeks. A new puppy has enough stress to deal with just because he is in a new place with a new family...you don't need to stress him by changing his food right away too.

Dogs typically don't chew their food very much. Some of them will gulp their food down, take it somewhere else and vomit it up so they can eat in peace. Gross to us, but natural for a dog who has to grab his food and run.

He may be throwing up because he's eating too fast too--first consider his surroundings. Is he eating near other dogs so that he feels he has to snarf everything down fast? Is he nervous or stressed (again, how new is he to your household)?

You can try a slow feeder bowl; it has compartments which the dog has to kind of fish around in to get his food. Or you can spread his food out on a cookie sheet in a single layer. That way he can't grab whole mouthfuls all at once. You can also feed him part of his kibble in a bowl and then put some in a puzzle toy or a kong. That way he'll only get a few pieces of food at a time--he'll also get some brain exercise and entertainment that way as noses the toy around to figure out how to get some food.

Food sensitivity certainly exists, but it's not necessarily the first thing I would think of if my dog is vomiting occasionally.
 
#6 ·
As I recall I think your puppy was born mid January of this year .
Paint a better picture for us regarding the things your pup is eating currently.
Like details on Your feeding and treat schedule.
What are the sizes of your portions each time you feed?
Also what else is your pup ingesting other than kibble? What treats or chews is pup enjoying.
On any medications ? Antibiotics? Etc.
My boy Hoss when he came to us as a pup I think he thought he was still competing for food because he also ate real fast.
The only thing that slowed him down were balls that you would fill up with food and he would push around with his snout although it was a little messy.
Eventually Hoss got used to not having his litter mates to compete with anymore during feedings and his eating slow down.
He is 4 years old now and each time he eats his kibble he might chew it once MAYBE twice before he swallows the kibble.
Some friends of mine used a cupcake tin for their dog.
Also a plastic foot stool that when you flipped it over had all these little compartments on the stool they would pour food into.
Funny story ...early on I bought Hoss a fifty dollar slow feeder .....poured the food into it ...Hoss Dobie slapped the contraption against the wall and food flew all over the place. He proceeded to eat it off the wooden floor. Darn thing cost me 50 bucks. My husband laughed his azz off at me.
So be creative these dogs are smart when it comes to getting their food quickly.
 
#8 ·
Close, he was born end of January. He eats at 6 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm. When this first started, I was feeding him about 1.25 cups of dry food per meal. His stool was always on the soft side, but acceptable. He had liquid diarrhea one night and through the following morning. He happened to have a vet appointment the next day for vaccinations. The vet didn't vaccinate him and prescribed 7-days worth of antibiotics and Proviable-Forte, which I am still giving him once a day. I fed him white rice/boiled chicken and we returned to the vet the next week. His stool had improved, he came back negative for parasites/worms, and the vet went ahead and vaccinated him. Since then, I've been feeding him 1.25 cups per meal of a mix of white rice, boiled white meat chicken, a little bit of Purina Pro Plan, and Stella & Chewy freeze-dried raw beef topper. I also added pure pumpkin to the mix when I've been able to find it. Maybe a week after things had improved, they started getting worse again. His stools were soft again and had no real form. Last night, he had liquid diarrhea again, which continued this morning. I think he's feeling the upset stomach as he's been whining a bit.

As far as treats, he's been getting these and these whenever he pees outside. That's it, and I keep a very close eye on him. He may have picked up a piece of carrot or green bean from my other dog's food area, but that would have only happened once or twice. I'd be very surprised if he's gotten into anything else.

He'll be seeing the vet this afternoon, so hopefully she has some sort of solution.

Try some grated ginger root mixed in your dog food it doesn't take much

The root of the ginger plant, which is in the same family as turmeric, has been used as a spice and medicine in Asian, Arabic and Indian countries for thousands of years. Ginger’s function as a digestive aid for stomach upset and nausea is probably the best known benefit. But it’s far from the only one. In fact, its potential benefits extend way past digestive into more serious conditions like osteoarthritis and even cancer.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll ask my vet about it today!
 
#7 ·
Try some grated ginger root mixed in your dog food it doesn't take much

The root of the ginger plant, which is in the same family as turmeric, has been used as a spice and medicine in Asian, Arabic and Indian countries for thousands of years. Ginger’s function as a digestive aid for stomach upset and nausea is probably the best known benefit. But it’s far from the only one. In fact, its potential benefits extend way past digestive into more serious conditions like osteoarthritis and even cancer.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Giardia is a parasite that doesn't show up with every stool sample, and can cause chronic intermittent diarrhea and weight loss. It's possible it got missed with his last test. People can get it too, and for people, the usual procedure if it is suspected is to collect 3 samples about a week apart. That being said, many dogs carry Giardia with no symptoms, in which case it's no big deal for the dog, except that he will shed the parasite in his poop and you can get it too.

I'd forgotten that you folks were having the urinary trouble--did you ever get that resolved?

I know a lot of dobes do well on the Sensitive Stomach Proplan, but your mileage may vary. Dogs are individuals and different dogs will do well on different foods. And the food doesn't have to be a top of the line expensive sort--so long as you're looking at mid-level and not the grocery store "kibbles and bits" type stuff (how do you like these ingredents, in order: corn, soybean meal, beef and bone meal, whole wheat, animal fat, corn syrup--no wonder people have fat dogs. But I digress.)

The topper you're adding has quite a bit of fat (at 35%, it's more than twice what you find in typical kibble) but if you're just feeding a little of it, the fat amount may not be of much concern.
 
#10 ·
I'm sorry to hear your boy is having digestive issues. Its really frustrating, especially when they're small and you know they need all the nutrients they can get for growth and development.

I've had good experience with Royal Canin Digestive Care formula for medium size dogs. Royal Canin also makes a small dog formula and the kibbles are much smaller than the medium size dog kibbles. But it has very high protein & fat content and its close to 500 kcal per cup. (The small dog formula is similar to Pro Plan Sport 30/20.)

You mentioned that your vet suggested changing him to a different formula. Did your vet make a recommendation?
 
#11 ·
First, I'd recommend that you stop feeding any toppers or feeding any treats if you're truly trying to isolate if something is causing an issue for your dog. It's impossible to know what "thing" is bothering him if you are feeding multiple items. Sometimes even a small topper or treat can be the issue.

As Mel said, some parasites like giardia can be hard to diagnose.

You could switch to another food. Royal Canin and Eukanuba have both been successful for other dogs here (and with friends offline) for dogs that have been really sensitive. If you switch, feed ONLY the food. Use only that for treats. You can't know if it's successful if you feed multiple things.

You may want to also ask your vet about using Tylosin powder for a few weeks to get him stabilized.

I wouldn't personally worry about puking twice. Mine do that on occasion. I don't really worry much about dogs eating fast - that's normal for a dog. I wet the food down with a little water to make it kind of soupy - that seems to help somewhat and it has made a difference for my dogs. I don't use slow feed bowls. I do occasionally use food toys, not to slow them down, but for mental stimulation.
 
#12 ·
YES! As I was reading the information on what exactly your puppy was getting my first thought was that you were getting too many different things into his "regular" food to tell if he was really reacting to that or to some of the added stuff.

If the things you were adding were to get him to eat well you can do that with other things that don't involved commercially prepared thing which tend to be overly rich, overly high calory and often not the best thing to be feeding a puppy.

I'd try feeding just his kibble--moistened with warm water for starters. (Personally I'm a big fan of Purina's Pro Plan Focus line--but not all dogs do well on the same thing). I don't feed anything that's lamb based--it has never worked well for my Dobes. I prefer not to feed beef based just because I've had several dogs who didn't do well on it. So I choose to feed either fish based (and I prefer salmon) or chicken based and that's at least partly because of digestability ratings.

But I've fed dogs of mine other things at times. Royal Canine has a prescription line that is excellent for specific dietary problems. Never have fed their regular line kibbles so I don't know about that.

Eukanuba/Iams--I've used some of Eukanuba's puppy formulas and their adult formulas for some dogs--they did well on it.

Hills prescription foods are excellent too and I know enough people feeding various of the regular line formulas to recommend them as well.

But ProPlan is my go to as far as food goes.

And I generally feed additives--my puppies get a tablespoon of yogurt or cottage cheese with breakfast and my adults get that too. And my dogs get (adults) a hard boiled egg with dinner (puppies get 1/2 an egg for the first few weeks) and I add meat to dinners too--I mostly don't use canned food as some puppies really don't deal well with it and it makes their stools soft but I can buy chicken hindquarter and cook them until the meat is falling off the bone--removed the bones and chop well or grind the meat and freeze in one pound containers. They get a couple of spoonsful of that with dinner or if they are still eating three meals a day the egg goes with lunch and the meat with dinner. Or if I find a hot deal of either ground beef or ground turkey I'll cook that with a little water into sloppy joe consistency and freeze most of that and give a couple of spoonsful with dinner.

Along with regular food I don't give many manufactured treats unless I was the one who manufactured them. I use string cheese for high value training treats or I have recipes for several really high value treat but for the most part I use the kibble the dog is eating. One piece of kibble hand fed is a big deal to most dogs.

And my dogs all eat a huge variety of vegetables and fruits that they get (usually older puppies and adult dogs--I try not to give real baby puppies some of these things until they are over six months) but all of my dogs eat lettuce, celery, tomato, green beans, peas, apples, pear, bananas etc--in small bites--generally when they are hanging out in the kitchen hoping for some of what ever I'm making--and all of them think berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. But these are the kinds of things they get in SMALL quantities.

Good luck--keep us posted on how this is working out for you and your puppy.

dobebug
 
#13 ·
Thanks for all the replies. To answer melbrod, yes, switching from lamb to chicken resolved his urinary issues. We are running a fecal antigen and diarrhea panel. My vet thinks he may have had something in the past that his GI tract has not recovered from. His stool was never great, just acceptable. She also recommended switching to Royal Canin Hydrolized Protein for a few months to get him back to normal and then slowly switching him back to regular food, and she did mention that we can't feed him anything other than the new food. I'll order a small bag to see how it goes on the new food. He's 10-15 pounds behind his littermates, so I'm really hoping things return to normal soon. Thanks again for the help everyone!
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Good for your vet--I was going to ask you if she had suggested putting him on Royal Canin's HP Quite a few Vet Dermatologist Allergists are using that to determine if a dog actually has an allergy (food allergies aren't really all that common.)

But it's a lot easier to use a fully hydrolized product like the RC HP or Hill's ZD or Purina's HA All of these are fully hydrolized both the carbs and the meat protein. I became really familiar with these products when I ended up with a cat who has a true food allergy. He started out able to eat normal cat foods and when he was about 2 years old he started to not handle food (any kind of food) well--vomited, had ongoing diarrhea, and lost weight like it was going out of style--we ran through a whole bunch of different foods and nothing seemed to help except in the very begging but that didn't last. I was beginning to think that euthanasia was in his immediate future because he was down to under 6 pounds. We were talking about him one afternoon when the Royal Canin rep stopped by with some brochures--she listened for awhile and said "I bet we have something he can eat..." And they did--he's been eating that or Purina's HA (a very similar product).

He's 18 now and doing well.

But it's true, when you use a product like this it means you can't give the puppy anything except the HP--with my cat I can tell the minute he gets ever one kibble of someone elses food--he'll end up in the litter box with rampant diarrhea and anything that didn't just run through him with have been puked up where I can usually step in it.

But he's an unusual case--I've talked to several vets now who have used it where a puppy was sick at a very tender age and seems to have an unusually touchy gut--a few months on a hydrolized diet seems to straighten things out pretty well.

Again, good luck--hope this goes a long way to straighten out the various problems.

dobebug
 
#15 ·
It's been 5 days since he made the switch over to the hydrolyzed food, and so far there hasn't been any change. His stool is just as bad as before. I will talk to my vet, but I'm really starting to get concerned. He's still putting on weight, but nowhere near as much as he should. At this point, he's still 10–15 pounds behind his littermates. He's supposed to get his third round of vaccinations on Wednesday, but this will surely be delayed. I still can't take him for a walk around the neighborhood. I'm wondering if this could be some type of enzyme deficiency.
 
#16 ·
I think I'd be seeking out a specialist.
 
#19 ·
Food issues are tricky. My female who has since recently passed (still mourning her loss - cancer) seemed not to tolerate chicken at all in dog food. Her coat would go dull and she would get dandruff and start scratching. She would be fine if we took apart the white meat of a rotisserie chicken though and fed them the leftovers.

If your vet cannot id anything, try isolating types of ingredients in food.

My male gobbles his food too. Almost 2 cups in less than 30 seconds easy. He hasn't had any problems resulting in doing it, so I don't try and fix what isn't broken and let it go. Our female took her time and my American Bulldog, also female, takes her time also.

Best of luck.
 
#21 ·
#22 ·
I am still waiting for the results of the most recent round of testing, but I am wondering if his feeding schedule could be exacerbating the issue. I've been feeding him in accordance with the recommended daily amount for his target weight, split up into three meals a day. Last night, I intended to split his dinner into two meals an hour apart. I thought maybe smaller amounts would be easier to digest. I (irresponsibly) lost track of time, and by the time I remembered he had only eaten half his dinner, he was asleep for the rest of the night, so he never got it. So far today, he's had two pretty good stools. The best he's had in well over a month. Could this be as simple as overfeeding (or eating too much at once)? It could be a coincidence, but I think I'll continue to split his meals up into smaller meals and feed him more often. Any reason not to do this?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Yes. It could be as simple as overfeeding (dogs in general can handle big meals--the way their digestive system works actually allows for that--eat a huge meal and go sleep it off--wake up hungry and go hunting,)

I wouldn't necessarily split his meals but I might reduce how much he gets at each meal. I went looking to see how much you were feeding him--1-1/4 cup per meal but it wasn't really clear how many meals. I just looked again--three meals a day? Is that still what he's getting. I'd reduce the number of meals--I rarely do three meals unless I'm dealing with a sick or very underweight puppy. Isn't he nearly 6 months? Most of my puppies are eating two meals a day. And they get about 2 level cups of kibble per meal (but I add an assortment of things to the kibble--usually cottage cheese or yogurt in the morning and a hard boiled egg plus a little meat with dinner--I feed my dogs at 6am and 6pm or as close to that as I can manage--I worked for so many years on an early shift the cats got used to getting fed at 6am and now they won't leave me alone until I get up and feed them--and we fight this every year with daylight savings time going on and off.

And because puppies like to grow in spurts I watch to make sure when they are going through one I can up the quantity of food--which they usually need at that point and recently the puppy I borrowed from a breeder friend did this and he went for about three weeks getting almost three full cups of food with each of his two meals--that was a 1/3 increase in food--and his stool not only remain small and compact but got even smaller--he was clearly using every ounce of food he was getting to grow taller, wider and more masculine looking--he's just about to turn a year.

So are you feeding him the Royal Canin HP now? And how much is he getting? And how many meals now.

I'm sorry to keep asking all these questions but maybe it'll help figure out what is going on with your boy.

dobebug
 
#23 ·
Have you gone to strictly feeding kibble, nothing else? Eliminated all the other "extras"?

Simple overfeeding is an *incredibly* common cause of diarrhea in puppies. We see it on here constantly. I can't tell you how many times we tell people to simply cut back on the amount they are feeding and issues clear up.

If your dog isn't clinically underweight, MY course of action would be (on approval from the vet)....stick to the diet you are feeding. Nothing else. No treats, no extras. Cut back the amount of food you are feeding. STOP comparing his weight to his littermates, and only judge him based on HIS body condition. Every dog is different - my bitch is very different than her litter sister. And they all grow at different rates, too. You have to look at him as an individual. Is he too ribby, or okay? If his weight is a good condition for his frame, don't worry about what his littermates are doing. Are his stools good, or not? That's what I would judge on.

I'd also discuss with your vet putting him on Tylosin powder, twice a day, for a good month, and then slowly weaning him off it. His system is probably just so overstressed from the constant loose stool that it's hard for him to get back on track.

Just my opinion, not a vet. But someone who had a pup with a slightly more sensitive stomach. There was nothing wrong with her.
 
#24 ·
Yes, he has been on the vet diet and nothing else for over a week. No treats and no extras. Up until last night, he still had pretty loose stools. I will discuss Tylosin powder with my vet, and I appreciate the advice. I'm actually feeding him on the low end of the recommended range, but I do understand that every dog has different needs. I'll cut back on food a little bit and hopefully, things stay this way.
 
#28 · (Edited)
The recommended amount is simply a ball park figure anyway...and it seems to me it is often on the high side (maybe that's part of the reason there are so many overweight dogs out there)

Hairy Dog (Australian Cattle Dog mix) is 70 pounds. He's mildly to moderately active--but he only gets a touch more than 1 cup of Proplan SS&S a DAY. I'd always heard that the cattle dogs are more efficient with their food than many dogs, but it's ridiculous how little he eats compared to what is recommended on the bag.
 
#29 ·
Wow, 55 pound Leo (West German showline GSD by way of a back yard breeder) gets 2 cups a day of the same food, and Lily (35 pound APBT) gets 1.5 cups a day. Both of them get less than the recommended amount, although Lily comes closer.
 
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#30 ·
Well, Melbrod and Rosemary have given you a pretty good idea about how off the bag recommendations on food can be.

I think that 5.5 cups of food is too much for a puppy that age. Particularly since you found better poops when he missed half of his evening meal.

Since most of my male puppies are eating a maximum of about 2 cups twice a day at that age and carry excellent weight on that amount I'd be inclined to cut the amount of kibble he's getting (if you are going to continue to feed him three times a day) to something closer to 1-1/3 cups three times a day (as long as you are feeding the HP) Watch his weigh an make sure he is looking well covered but not fat--he'll be moving into the point when puppies start going through outrageous growth spurts and he'll probably need more food to get him through them. And I'd recommend that you switch him to two meals a day if he starts leaving any part of any meal. Most puppies start to do that at between four and six months--just not enough time between meals for them to get very hungry.

I'll have to look at bag of HA when I'm in the clinic on Sunday and see what the recommendations are, are you using the regular dog formula? Not the small breed formula?

One of the things that impressed me about the Purina feeding table was the fact that it comes closer to reality than most food. Just put a new bag in the bin this morning--ProPlan Focus Sensitive Skin and Stomach (alias Salmon and Rice). Weight range Joey the loaner is in now is 76 to 100 pounds recommended quantity to feed is 3-1/2 to 4-1/4 cups per day. Joey weighs 78.3 pounds as of last Sunday and is eating 4 cups daily--2 cups per meal--he just went through a big growth spurt and during it he was getting at least 5 cups of food daily and close to 6 cups per day at the height of the growth period.

I'm guessing that the dog HP is like the cat HP--not as calorie dense as a less tailored food but I'll look to be sure.

Have a great weekend give the puppy a hug for me...

ABTLH
 
#31 ·
With my boy's appetite, I'll be shocked if he ever leaves any food behind! Right now, he's at the point where he's well covered but not fat. He doesn't look skinny, it's just that his littermates are so much stockier than he is—that's where part of my concern originated. But, as MeadowCat said, I should stop comparing him to his littermates.

Yes, I am using the regular dog formula and not the small-breed formula. Additionally, I was following the feeding guidelines for growth as opposed to for adults.

Thanks again for the replies everyone. I appreciate the help!
 
#34 ·
:roflmao: I think I've finally gotten -most- of her undercoat out now, but she still looks huge.... And there are still tumbleweeds throughout the house.....
 
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#35 ·
My dogs think I starve them for sure. I'd be surprised if it took them 30 seconds flat to eat.

Let's see - Sypha eats Proplan Sport 30/20. She's 64 pounds, in good shape, spayed. The bag recommends dogs from 51-75 pounds eat 2 1/2 - 3 1/3 cups a day. She eats just a hair under 2 cups a day.

Richter eats Proplan Bright Mind large breed. He's about 75 pounds, neutered, also fit and in good shape. The bag recommends dogs that are 75-100 pounds eat 2 3/4 - 3 1/2 cups a day. He eats 3.

So you can see the bag recommendations are really a starting point. It's not accurate for Sypha - she'd be FAT if we followed the bag. Richter's recommendations are pretty good. You really have to kind of just use them as a starting point, look at your dog's body condition and stool and go from there. If you reduce the food and he doesn't lose weight, but stool improves, it's probably an overfeeding problem.

With my vet, I was just talking about our new kittens, and I mentioned that I accidentally was overfeeding for a few days, even though I knew better. They had a few days of diarrhea because they are just total chow hounds (it's a breed trait of Devon Rex). I let them eat too much, and had a DUH moment. We went and calculated the average caloric needs of kittens based on age and body size just to reassure me, but as soon as I reduced their food, they were fine. Kept gaining weight, no more diarrhea.
 
#36 ·
My dogs think I starve them for sure. I'd be surprised if it took them 30 seconds flat to eat.
Leo darn near licks a hole in her bowl after she's done eating. I think if it was anything less sturdy than stainless steal, she'd try eating the bowl.
 
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#39 ·
Hairy doesn't really lick the bowl if it is just kibble. He doesn't even necessarily dive into it headfirst when I fill it. I'd say he isn't food oriented, but he is interested in people food, just not dog food.

If someone tries to give him a dog treat at the vets or a drive through etc. he takes it just to be polite and then spits it out on the floor.
 
#41 ·
Feedng the loaner puppy is pretty funny to watch. Yeah, he sucks up his two cups of kibble plus extras in slightly over a minute--and then he cleans the pan--and he does this by planting a big foot in the middle of his already clean bowl and cleaning it more thoroughly just in case he missed something.

I take the bowl and put ii in the sink and he has started bathe himself like a cat--front legs and feet, down the sides, flop down on the rug by the back door and clean the hind legs too. The only dog I've ever known who did the same thing is one of his great grandfathers--Rayden--(Ch Cambria's Highly Regarded) He did the same thing and it irritated Michelle who was specialing him in the states (he was from Alaska) she'd watch him wash for awhile and finally tell him "Stop preening! You aren't a bird!!!"

Doesn't take much to entertain me.

dobebug
 
#42 ·
I'm back with a half update.

Over the weekend, his stool improved a lot. In fact, I would say that it was 100% normal on Friday and Saturday. But by Sunday night, it went back to being loose again and has stayed that way.

We went ahead with the ultrasound this morning, which showed an abnormally large blood vessel coming from (or to?) the spleen. My vet said it is likely a congenital defect. The specialist hasn't decided whether it could be the cause of this or whether it is anything to worry about, but my vet did say the spleen and GI tract are closely related.

They also did fasted blood work this morning, and now they're giving him some high-fat food and will run blood work again.
 
#44 · (Edited)
No further update yet, but this is everything that was run today in addition to last week's tests for EPI and Addison's:
  • Ultrasound
  • Chemistry 17
  • Electrolyte Panel
  • Ammonia
  • CBC
  • Maldigestion Profile
  • Bile Acids Panel (Pre- and Post)

Edit: I thought last week's test included EPI. It looks like I was wrong. The maldigestion profile run today was for EPI.
 
#45 ·
Everything came back normal, with the exception of dysbiosis and the ultrasound finding, but the jury is still out on whether or not it is a problem. The vet who called me back is not the one who has been treating my dog, so I will wait to hear from the vet who actually treated him. But two suggestions were mentioned as possibilities: broad-spectrum dewormer in case there is a parasite that isn't showing up and/or a fecal transplant.
 
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