Reintroducing food

[pigsDOfly]

This is probably a really stupid question so I hope you'll bear with me.

My dog has been really ill with colitis and after a week is getting better.

She's normally fed on a special vet food for a sensitive stomach but has been on chicken for a few days now as the vet advised.

I think the chicken has actually started to create its own problems and her poo was quite runny this morning. She can't take too much chicken so I want to get her off it as soon a possible.

Can anyone tell me if it's okay to get her back on the sensitive food with a very minimal change over period or do I have to reintroduce it in a similar way to a new food? I really don't want to cut out the chicken as soon as I can.

*Sorry, that should be: I really want to cut out the chicken.

Mine has had several bouts of colitis and other things that meant no eating for days etc. I was once advised to give his normal wet food but spaced over 10 times throughout the day and he did so well on that. Over several days we just reduced the number of times until he was back to his three a day.

Chicken and rice, which is often advised, does not suit my dog so I always feed him his normal food but at frequent intervals whenever he is ill and it is so much better for him.

Thanks Bitey. She was so ill I'm just terrified of doing the wrong thing now she's clearly feeling so much better.

I've been feeding her several times during the day - little and often with the chicken but I think she's had too much chicken now.

Her usual food is 'sensitive' wet food anyway so I'm sure it's fine and I'll gradually work up to her usual twice a day, over several days.

There does seem to be a body of thought that chicken is best, but I know it really isn't for some dogs. My dog can take it for a short while, but as much as she'd love it, not for long.

It's so awful seeing them ill and it always scares the hell out of me when she's like this as she is very sensitive of tummy.

I think you will be fine to use his normal food but in small amounts and often so her stomach isn't overwhelmed.

After a very serious bout of stomach issues, which we now know was due to IBD, one of the vets recommended getting him back on his normal food ASAP to get his stomach bacteria back to normal.

When we really couldn't feed his normal food we changed from chicken to fish (microwaved cod fillets) and found they were tolerated much better. It sounds like your dog is very similar in nature.

Does sound similar.

Unfortunately she won't eat fish but I'm going to cut out the chicken and just give her small amounts of her usual food as you suggest.

She's also on an antibiotic and a probiotic paste, which she seems to love, and another small pill that she has to take regularly.

The vet thinks this is something she ate or picked up, rather than being a flare up of her usual stomach issues. So hopefully once she's better from this we can go on as normal, as up till now she's been doing really well for quite some time.

Thanks so much for the advice.