Puppy with diarrhoea - please advise on food and whether grain free is needed

[IndigoDahlia]

My pup is now 14 weeks - when she was 9 weeks she had bloody diarrhoea so we went to the vets and they diagnosed colitis, she had 10 days of antibiotics and seemed much better after. We switched her food slowly to Hills puppy as advised by the vet as well. However since then on and off she's suffered with diarrhoea, sometimes firmer but never properly firm, and sometimes stinky and sometimes not! I'm now wondering if it's the Hills food and have read about some dogs needing grain free food and am wondering if we need to make a switch, but not sure what to switch to? My plan is to give her plain chicken and take her to the vet on Saturday (I suspect she will be better by then as she has been before when we have stopped the hills) I know a lot of people raw feed as well but need to do some research into what would suit her best. Can anyone help point me in the right direction please? I should add she seems otherwise absolutely fine and is drinking plenty and playing etc. Thanks for any help!

Have you had a look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk? It's really useful, you can search for foods and filter by ingredients etc.

What ingredients are in the Hills food? Personally I would find a food that avoids whatever protein is in that and see if that makes a difference. You can get single protein foods now which can make it easier to rule out any intolerances. Acana do some and they are very good.

Also as I'm sure you know, you need to switch over to new foods gradually. I would get a couple of sample bags so you're not forking out loads of money for food that is no good.

Nutritionally Hills is pretty crap. Vets recommend it because they sell it (usually with commission)
You could get far better for the same money or less.

Take a look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk.
Go for nothing less than a 3 out of 5. Look for one with a named meat source as one of the first three ingredients and avoid anything with maize or wheat as many dogs are intolerant.
Get the best you can afford but be aware that price is not an indication of quality - there are plenty of poor foods with a top price tag.
If budget is a concern, then I n my view one of the best price to quality ratios is Skinners Field and Trial as its about the same price as Bakers/Pedigree/Wagg but far superior quality.

i would definitely go bback to the vet that recommended you buy it and ask their advice, seeing as they told you to do this (because its a contini ng part of the treatment that you paid for that isn't working - like if a course of antibiotics didn't work for example then you wouldn't be charged a full consultation fee on top).

thevet also needs to know that hills science isn't the answer to all ills and to stop recommending it out of hand.

Thanks for all your advice. I've been trawling allaboutdogfood - thank you for pointing me in that direction. There are a few options on there that look good, grain free etc. Also will go back to the vet as they recommended the Hills. Thanks for all your advice.

Agree with pp, vets are shamefully ignorant of nutrition and the food they stock will have been decided on profit not because it is the best. Ours stocks James Wellbeloved which is mediocre for the price.

Our lab pup had constant runs until we switched him to Millie Wolfheart Countryside Mix at around 15 weeks and within 2-3 days poos were formed and the air much fresher.

He never had any problems like colitis, so I would suggest going back to vets for a check, but doing your own homework on food which might take a bit of trial and error.

I discovered Millie wolfheart after I ordered Simpsons premium sensitive puppy - will see how she gets on with this and seeing vet tomorrow.

Simpsons is a good quality food

Thanks WyldFyre that's good to know. Hopeful it will sort it as her tum is much better today since I've stopped the Hills. I hadn't considered it could be that as the vet recommended it as decent food. I'm hopeful better quality food will help her. Thanks for your advice.

Since looking into her food I'll also be interested to see if her itching and scratching settles down too - as I've treated her for fleas though there have been no sign of them.

I don't think you can really blame vets for having little knowledge of canine nutrition. Vets, especially small animal vets, have to have a knowledge of illness in umpteen different species - they are in effect a GP.
And just as we wouldn't expect a human GP to know everything, we shouldn't expect it of a vet - that's why we have specialists, even humans have separate dieticians.

Simpsons is similar quality to Millie's and a very good choice. I like Millie's as they have lots of varieties and we swap between a few, and if your dog was intolerant to a particular protein there are others to try. Their customer service and good too, you can phone or join their facebook group for more feeding advice than you would get from your vet.

Good to know its of similar quality - I'll see how she gets on with it and bear in mind giving Millie's a try if need be. Thanks!