Really worried about puppy with Colitis

[HelgatheHairy]

Hi all, really hoping for some advise here.

I have a golden retriever puppy who is 4.5 months old. About a month ago he started having problems with loose stools. At the time there was a bit of upheavel going on at home so though it migh be a reaction to that. When it didn't clear up and he had a little blood in his stools we took him to the vet who diagnosed Colitis (no blood tests or stool samples taken). We starved him for 24 hours, put him on science plan digestion food and antibiotics for 6 days.

Things started clearing up very quickly and after about a week we started reintroducing his regular food (science plan large breed puppy), then a few days later we gave him a cows ear and we were back to the start again with loose stools.

Had a chat with the vet and he said starve him again for 24 hours and go with the digestion food again. We starved him yesterday but after 2 not terrible stools today he's just done 2 in the space of 5 minutes which were just liquid and slime basically (sorry for TMI).

The thing is he's quite thin although the vet isn't a bit worried bout it. And I don't want to starve him again anytime soon.

Have ordered James Wellbeloved food because I've seen people say it's good.

Any advise??? Please?

My mother had a dog with colitis ( sadly no longer with us) and he eventually did very well on Chappie. Revolting and cheap but apparently great for sensitive insides. He was also diagnosed as a puppy and lived to a good age,

We get the symply dry food from pets corner - nice and gentle on tummies - our Westie had trouble with loads of other foods - including science plan and James Wellbeloved

(TMI alert - JW gave him stinky, sludgy poop - science plan gave him slime and blood now just normal solid infrequent poop... )

thought all the poop worries ended with the kids growing up.... back to it with a dog!!!

I would push to have faeces checked for salmonella, campylobacteur and giardia. I would never be happy diagnosing colitis without having checked a faecal sample.

Agree with above but I'd add an exclusion diet to the list as well before I'd be happy with a diagnosis. Food allergies and intolerances are very common and Science Plan contains plenty of potential culprits, it really is a horrendous food for the price they charge for it.

Exclude wheat as a priority - JWB will cover this but Skinners duck/salmon/turkey and rice is almost exactly the same for a lot less £££. Fish4Dogs also good, a raw/BARF diet even better. Tinned Chappie is technically awful but in practice often very good for sensitive dogs. Pro-Kolin paste can be helpful.

YY to getting stool sample checked.

Then if colitis is diagnosed, it is a slow process of finding the dietary triggers. For many dogs, it's the cereals in kibbles, or it can be certain types of meat, or some of the extra ingredients in commercial foods, which is why you will often end up on a raw type diet. The key is to find what works for your dog.

Lots of MNetters with experience of this. We had it with our darling old boy, and ended up moving on to a raw diet with him, which worked wonders and kept him on small, firm stools and in beautiful condition.

Chappie is actually a great food for sensitive tums (even though it smells vile!).

If this is what is finally diagnosed, then you will find lots of advice and support on here. Take a look at many of the threads on raw feeding - lots and lots of info and advice. But please don't do this till you've had those samples checked out.

Oh, and yes, you will become a poo obsessive - while DH is away, he gets regular daily updates on all our dogs and what they have "produced" - we got into this when our darling boy was ill and it's carried on....

My ridgeback boy has this and the only food he can eat is Burgess Supadog sensitive. £25 / 12.5kg so loads cheaper than most digestion foods. Have also tried the gluten free one in Asda/sainsburys/Tesco called harringtons which is just over £1 per kilo and he is ok with that but I prefer burgess.

Thanks all so much for the advice.

I'm already poo obsessed, DH was out today for the 2 bad ones but he got detailed descriptions when he got in!

He's on the Id science plan and will put him on JWB when it gets here (live in rural Ireland, not much choice in dog food in shop)

Do you think he could have picked up a bacteria from eating things like rabbit poo? He's walked on farm land and much as I try to stop him eating things he shouldn't I'm not always fast enough and rabbit poo seems like caviar to him!