Diet for an old dog suffering from colitis

[MeMyselfAnd1]

My dear very old Yorkie has been on a diet of Burns pork and potatoes for several years but, considering he has now very few teeth left and he has been having bouts of colitis more regularly, I am looking for suggestions on bland food diet. I'm convinced gluten gives him diarrhoea so it needs to stay out of the diet.

Any suggestions? TIA

[Lally112]

What about tinned chappie? Other than that maybe speak to your vet and they could recommend maybe a sensitivity diet or something?

[MeMyselfAnd1]

Thank you Lallie, is Chappie gluten free? My vet Has almost killed my other dog insisting she would get used to the sensitive stomach prescription diet if I kept trying. I stopped when she was bleeding regularly so I really don't want to go that route. :-(

I have seen people talking about a raw diet for dogs, what are the principles? How much you feed them?

[SteveBrucesNose]

My old bird is being spoilt. GirlDog has colitis and whilst she was fine on the royal canin gastro food, she got jealous of BoyDog's special diet for his kidney failure.

She gets boiled new potatoes, some raw beef mince, some cooked chicken thigh meat, occasionally scrambled eggs (she gets whole egg, boydog gets egg white only), and some bits of cheese (BoyDog has Philly, proper butter or double cream but she can't tolerate it). She then gets a joint supplement as she also gets sore joints but has no signs of arthritis.

Her kongs have mashed potato in them.

It's all soft enough for BoyDog to eat and he has a very sore dead canine tooth which we're waiting for a specialist canine dentist to remove, so he will only eat very soft food. Our vets are happy with the diet for both of them, and GirlDog has even been to the pet hotel kennels without getting an upset stomach whilst eating like this - her stomach turns horrific with any stress or change, even just taking BoyDog away from her for an hour to go to the vets can give her tummy problems. Since she's been eating like this she's been ok.

[Aked]

Millies wolfheart is gluten free. They have a great facebook page where they reply to queries very quickly, or other customers will say whether they have a dog with colitis and whether it has helped or not. Alternatively you can call and speak to them and they will advise over the phone. It's a fantastic food.

[Lally112]

Sorry, I fell asleep an you. Not sure if chappie is gluten free - you could contact them on their website and find out. It is normally recommended for dogs with colitis because it is higher in fish and chicken content and lower in red meat which can be a bit rich for them.

The raw diet needs to be careful as by serving meat alone you are not meeting all the dogs needs, as an example one if the arguments for a raw meat diet is that it is closer to what would have been eaten in the wild however a dog would not have eaten a 10oz steak every day, with that there would have been liver for vit A, bones for minerals and calcium and looking after teeth (which yours doesn't have many of left) so it needs to be done properly to make sure the dog gets ALL of the required nutrients.

[brunette123]

my dog was getting colitis and now gets Wainwrights grain free trays from Pets at Home and it has made such a massive difference he loves it, no colitis and finally poos I can pick up and no mucous

[MeMyselfAnd1]

Sorry for disappearing, it seems that apart of old dog now I also have a child with tummy problems...

Good point about keeping the balance with raw diet, especially when it comes to bones, which he can't chew anymore. After posting here I went and have a google aboutt the raw diet and I think I'm going to introduce it very very gradually as he cannot tolerate changes very easily.

Interesting about the wainwrights trays... Is there any one in particular that you would suggest?

[brunette123]

There are only 4 grain free flavours - lamb, turkey, rabbit and duck - although there might be a fish one can't recall and my dog likes them all.

[MeMyselfAnd1]

Thank you. I also noted that the trays are for dogs who are 1-7 years old. Why is that? My dog is 15, and up to a couple of months ago, as active as a young dog, is there any reason why older dogs shouldn't eat it?

[brunette123]

I am not sure - mine is 11 and he is fine on it - I struggled to find a grain free for older dogs.

[MeMyselfAnd1]

Ok, had a stroll around pets at home this morning, and got a couple of trays that I will be introducing gradually over the next few days.

I found that Wainwright's does a turkey tray for dogs over 7. I think they are pretty much the same but have glucosamine and chondroitib which apparently help to keep healthy joints.

I'll report back. :-)

[brunette123]

Is the over 7 turkey grain free though? Maybe I am wrong but thought it wasn't. I give my dog a joint supplement chew daily.

[MeMyselfAnd1]

I was wondering about the same... I will check next time against one of the other trays.
In the mean time I can report he had some Waingright's, vomited all around the kitchen and had diarrea... But (and this is a big but) he seems much better. I have been given him a spoonful of it with his other food, which I plan to imcrease gradually over the next few weeks, and he seems back to his springy self. I suspect is the glucosamine, although it may be early days to see the effect, he is again very active and has not vomited or have diarrea since then.