Sensitive dog food

[Mol1628]

My dog has an extremely sensitive stomach. If she eats anything out of the ordinary she will have diarrhoea, go off her food and just be ‘off’.

I’ve cut out all her treats trying to find a recent cause. It is fine for a few days then goes back to diarrhoea.

She was fantastic on the wainwrights trays but she’s bloody picky as well and refuses to eat them now. Then when she has an empty stomach she gets diarrhoea as well.

I’m looking for a cheap, good quality sensitive wet food (she won’t eat kibble at all) She currently has step up to naturals tins but there must be something better that doesn’t cost any more?

I’m clueless about raw but if it’s pre made and not expensive I’d be willing to give it a go. Or any decent grain free brands that I can buy in bulk perhaps.

Thanks in advance !

Probably worth pointing out that my dog who lived on vast quantities of chappie for many years had digestive issues as a result of starvation as a pup, he simply couldn't handle rich food, rather than a grain allergy.

Can't really comment on the lack of protein as a problem in general. Mine did very well as a working dog on it, but prepared to be told that might not always be the case. Either way, if everything else is going straight through, digesting the smaller quantities of protein in chappie is better than digesting none from better food.

And worth bearing in mind that although exclusive raw might be the ideal for a domesticated dog, canines as a species manage to be perfectly healthy with a lot less protein than we consider the norm.

My dog has inflammatory bowel disease and we find he can't cope with chicken and rice. Kibble is also too harsh on his stomach so we feed him the same ingredients but in wet form sprinkled with a few bits of kibble for crunch. It really is about finding what suits your dog.

Oh and three meals a day rather than two seems to help his digestion.

I came on to say Chappie too actually, my vet recommended it to us and I thought the same; that it was just cheap and nasty, but its apparently what they give the dogs after stomach operations etc as it’s so gentle.

Our dog has a really bad sensitive tummy too, he’s allergic to anything with chicken in, and wheat. He can’t seem to digest any wet food either. The best advice I’ve been given though is not to keep chopping and changing the food so often, they need to keep on the same one for quite a few weeks. When introducing a new food too, make sure you add the new food into the regular food gradually, as a sudden change can upset their stomachs even more.

Mine is a horribly fussy cocker spaniel and he hates dried food, so he's on Forthglade wet at the moment, it's grain free and you can buy in bulk. It's often on offer through Fetch (part of Ocado) and they do free delivery over £30. It's in a lot of pet shops too. forthglade.com/

Others we've tried are Millie's Wolfheart, and Natures Menu which mine loves but is on the expensive side. It's lightly steamed so almost raw and we had no tummy issues with it.

three meals a day rather than two seems to help his digestion

This is always worth keeping in mind. Splitting the same quantity of daily food in to more but smaller meals is easier to digest.

Is she a large or small dog? I've found raw food works absolute wonders but our dog is large so it's expensive. So easy though, grab a tray out of the freezer, once defrosted tip into food bowl and job done.

No farts, smaller solid inoffensive poos, shiny coat. It's a dream!

She’s only 8kg.

It's absolutely about what suits the dog. I was recommended to give my dog Canagan by a locum vet because she was completely refusing to eat the food she was on at the time and he said it was one of the best foods.

Yes it probably is if you have a large high energy dog, but it was far too rich for my, not high energy, small dog, and being fairly new to the dog owning world I didn't realise this was likely to be an issue.

I do sometimes wonder how much being on such a high protein food contributed to her subsequent digestion problems.

Lily’s kitchen do a food for sensitive stomachs. I might seem expensive but it is good solid food so the dog needs less than the cheaper , high water content brands. That said I do sometime add hot water to it when mine is feeling poorly

Ah just seen your dog is small too OP, mines just over 6kg. So similar situation to me with my dog. I really don't think most small dogs need high protein food - obviously JRT and similar dogs excepted if they're rushing around all day.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/resources

So is this a terrible food or is it ok? She’d probably love something like this.

Sounds okay for the short term. Obviously do the changeover slowly for a week or so and maybe see what happens. Maybe keep away from any extra treats.

My dog has nothing but her food and the odd carrot in a effort to keep her on an even keel.

If the diarrhoea continues I'd certainly be asking the vet to look into it further.

Hope you find something to suit her.

Could I perhaps mix it with some decent kibble for a more long term option? I could get her to eat dry food if I mixed it with something she loved.
I’ve probably done the wrong thing I spent ages trying to find a decent food for her- she will probably end up fine on the cheaper stuff??!!

She can’t have any chews or dentastix or anything like that she has an awful reaction.
She has wainwrights salmon and potato treat bites which have always been fine.
Vet recommended raw carrot for her teeth but she refuses to touch it- she has an antler which she likes though.

Lily's kitchen. A bit pricey but grain free and I add light fruit and veg - Cucumber/peeled apple. My dog gets horrible runny poo on anything else.

I’ve really tried to avoid Lily’s kitchen because of the price but I will certainly keep in in mind now

My two are raw fed - no runny poos here!

BUT, my old girl had tinned chappie for the four years of her life - vet recommended.
Cheap as chips, delicious (to her), and good for her tummy. Well worth a try for ypurs, I would think.
Or go raw.
No kibble, poos you can pick up with bare hands ( not that i have.... not me..)🤣

Oh, but it STINKS. It really smells - Chappie that is, not poo 😁

Haha you know when she ate the wainwrights trays she had fantastic pick up able poo- I’d love that again!

Bleh I like the food to smell like what it is- but I’ll get a can to try a bit for sure! They’re £1 for a big tin at the range.

The thing with chappie is that they don't say what is actually in it. It's meat and grains, but as they don't list them you have no idea and it can change without changing the ingredients listed, so you never know if it's going to trigger an upset stomach from a change in the recipe.

But yeah it's pretty bland, pretty low fat and good for dogs that just can't handle a richer (better quality) food. Try it, it's cheap and if it works it's easily available and you're sorted.

Personally, I'm a big fan of raw. My previous dog was always having an upset stomach, but with him, it was out both ends! Raw really helped, as did feeding him 3 or 4 meals a day, especially something late on a night and first thing. If he went more than 6 hours without food he would have the runs or be sick. For raw you feed between 2-4% of their weight, with 5% being liver, 5% being other organs, 15ish% bone then the rest muscle meat. So at 8kg she would need 240(ish)g a day, with 12g of liver, 12g of other organ, 36g of bone and the rest meat. TBH a chicken or duck wing every day/other day would probably be enough for the bone in meat.
Or you can order premade grinds that are pretty much the whole animal and perfectly balanced. Depending on where you are look at places like DAF raw, kiezerbrink (sp) or just google your nearest big town/county and raw dog food.

“Bleh I like the food to smell like what it is”

It’s fish in Chappie, so it does stink of fish...

My dog can only have chappie . Anything else gives her an upset tummy .
She loves it and has been eating that for a good few years now and she is very healthy fit dog -only downside is it does stink !!!

I have a beagle who was a nightmare re sensitive stomach and skin. Until I discovered chappie, it was recommended by a vet. I thought it was a joke. I feed it with a grain free kibble. Half and half no more problems!

Nature diet sensitive is good and is cheaper in places like Wilkinson. Step up to naturals gave my dogs the worst shits they’ve ever had, even on worse quality food!