Prescription food.

[Oops4]

I've posted a couple of times about our border terrier who has a sensitive tummy and after a lot of trial and error thought we had found a food that worked for him. Even with that he was still having bouts of not being well every fortnight or so that was put down to him possibly scavenging something in his walk but I just wasn't 100% convinced that his "normal" was normal. In recent weeks he was starting to look like he was sore, not limping but just carrying himself as if he wasn't comfortable. Vet couldn't see anything obvious but he just didn't seem right. After a rough xmas with sores appearing on his skin and ears and one bit of carrot causing diarrhoea he's been back at the vets for a full overhaul. He's only 1 so they suspect possibly a parasite from puppyhood that hasn't been covered by the wormer he's been on so have started a high dose treatment of another and have also started him on a bland prescription food to check for allergies.

Well.......he's like a different dog! Not sure which has been the most help but I suspect the food. Just having a look at the ingredients and by most things you see about what constitutes a good dog food this is utter crap! You wouldn't pick this over anything and it would be about a -20 on allaboutdogfood! I've tried all sort, standard off the shelf, home cooked, mega pricey premium grain free posh stuff etc etc and none have resulted in an improvement like this. It's fairly early days so will keep monitoring but if he continues this way I think I'll be opting for the cheap and cheerful in future! I've been told by many people to try him on Chappie but I didn't believe it could work, that may be my next purchase now! Not really a point to this post other than that I'm amazed at the difference given the ingredients list and thought others may be in a similar situation so thought I'd share 😊😊

We have had major stomach upsets and general issues with food since he was a pup. However, what I found helped was us switching from 100% kibble to wet food with a tiny (less than 20%) amount kibble. I use millieswolfheart wet food which is more expensive than kibble unless you buy in large bulk amounts but he love it and his stomach problems are no more. The ingredients are 70% meat or fish then the rest is mostly veg. He loves salmon and I have never seen him so happy at food time.

I am definitely firmly in the camp of keep trying different food until you get one that suits your dog as it varies so much from dog to dog.

Glad you have found what suits your dog. I won't swop now we have him on something that is good for him stomach and I never knew the joy of being able to pick up solid hard poo rather than having to wash it away.

Is the prescription food gluten-free? Canine epileptoid cramping syndrome common in Border Terriers and linked to gluten sensitivity.

It contains wheat and doesn't specify if they've removed the gluten so I'd assume not. One of the main things that surprised me. I've had him wheat free for months now and would have avoided any food containing it but his poos are the best I've seen since switching him to this. I googled that condition (thanks), some of the symptoms are similar but i doesn't look like what he has.

I've actually found the higher the meat conten/rich the food the worse he is. We tried Millie's wolfheart as it looked great but it led to him going to the toilet about 8 times a day and his flatulence was atrocious. We tried a grain free salmon and sweet potato based food and it very quickly made him incredibly itchy and smell like urine (we actually treated him for a uti it was that strong) both of which stopped the day we swapped him. He was most recently on a salmon based kibble (the flavour that he seemed best on) with cooked chicken for training treats which I thought was working but now I see him I think he was probably feeling less well than I realised 😕. I had tried mixing some tinned salmon through his kibble for some interest but that seemed to set him off too (strange that he tolerates salmon in kibble but not fresh).

I'm not sure why I'm surprised really, my old terrier growing up lived very happily until 18 on frolic which is also full of crap. You're definitely right bitey, different things suit different dogs so just need to keep trying.

Oops4 have you tried raw?

Our BT had constant issues with tummy, sores and allergies we spent a fortune in first 18 months of her life on emergency vets etc. However we then moved to try raw food (I use natural instinct) and the transformation was unbelievable. I steer clear of red meat - but turkey, chicken fish etc all absolutely fine and she wolfs it all down

I do know that there is no crap or grains of any kind in the food and she literally became a new dog over the course of about a week. We have not had to go back for anything other than annual vaccinations since... she is now 7.

If it isn't anything you've tried before - I definitely would give it a go over the shite in the others ...

I moved my dog onto raw in September.
She is thriving on it.
Small , non smelly, firm poo.
And she LOVES her food now whereas she never liked kibble.
It might not be for your dog, but it’s worth a try.
Good luck.
And I hope doggy gets better soon. Makes me cry 😢 when I hear of poorly dogs.

I have looked into raw quite a bit and while I'm aware of some potential advantages it's just not for me. If I really felt like it was the only option for my dog then of course I would try to find a way of making it work but with young kids I'm just not comfortable with introducing higher bacterial and parasite counts into my home/garden.

Thanks for suggestion though 😊

I can understand that - I was the same - however I would encourage you to take a look at some of the 'packaged' raw food. I use natural instinct - it is in a plastic container - a bit like a take away container - It comes frozen so it stays in Freezer other than the smallish pack i'm using. As a border she case about a generous tablespoon of it for each of her 2 meals - it goes into a doc bowl - wolfed down in about 30 seconds - bowl into dishwasher - no different to a bowl i might have defrosted my chicken in or held it in in the fridge. I don't supplement with bones or bits of animals as some do from the butchers - this is a very 'clean' way to do raw.
However i do know some have concerns about this - I would just counter that with my experience.

We don't let dog lick our faces and none of our pets do ( we have a cat too) - but if you did I could understand you feeling concerned.

All my dogs are fed raw except for one who used to have horrendous stomach conditions, bloating wind diarrhoea and would lose so much weight it became a major problem. We would get it settled for a short time and then he would become ill again. Loads of test were done but nothing was ever found. He at one stage only weighed 7kgs and was very very ill. His usual weight is 25kg.

The only food he can eat is purina ha.

The ingredients are dodgy however he is well , energetic and the correct weight and is now 17 so it is obviously ok for him :).

I could be a food bore re how fantastic raw is however for him any other food will give him days of upset stomach and misery. We have tried elemination diets, added in protein over time etc but the end result is that he can not digest proper food in any form.

I have also learnt over the years that if a food works DO NOT change it - stick with it. You can waste so much money and more ill health from your dog if you go on recommendations. If it works for you then stay with it.

Is it a hypoallergenic food like z/d or the likes of i/d or gastrointestinal. Z/d is quite hard to replicate in another food as its a manmade protein?id easier
Personally im a massive fan of the prescription foods as they often do help with medical conditions and they are a complete and balanced food.
But I'm also happy to eat processed food myself so that helps.
Personally im not a massive raw fan as while in some ways if you do balance it and do all the research it can be an awesome diet for many dogs theres also a few cons to the diet that people like to brush under the carpet.. but there is a lot of good aps and info out there if you want to try a homemade diet (balanceit.com) is one ive heard highly recommended.