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 !

She’s a terrier mix of some sort. I’ll add a photo.
I do like the idea of raw but I’m not sure I can commit to it at the moment- also have no freezer currently- actually only have half a kitchen for a while so it’s a bit of a pain.

That said- there is a butchers near me that makes up their own raw dog food and so I might go check that out at the weekend.

She's very cute.

Thanks well I think so!

So I tried her on the butchers. Even a tea spoon set her off with diarrhoea.

I starved her for 12 hours, did boiled chicken and rice for three days (which she absolutely loved) then started slowly on chappie and JWB turkey and rice kibble. Oh my goodness she’s a different dog. Bouncing around anticipating dinner and breakfast times, playing with her toys so much more, and her poo has been not in the slightest runny. Seems to have cured her?! She is also willingly eating the kibble dry out of my hand as treats as well which she has never done on the other dry food I’ve tried. Please please let this continue!!

Who’d have thought it. The cheap dog food I can get from the corner shop seems to be agreeing with her more than any of the sensitive, high quality ones. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Lets hope this has turned a corner for her.

Long may it continue.

Brilliant. Lovely update.

Thanks I really hope so. She wasn’t particularly unwell before but I’ve noticed a big change!

Brilliant news! If you are concerned about the nutrition aspect, you can always give her Pettabs (multivitamin) and a cod liver oil supplement for oils - but the main thing is she is well and digesting her food properly

Thanks I will look at the supplements.

I was a bit worried about her teeth but since she’s been feeling better she’s been chewing on her antler a lot more as well.

I seem to come across a lot a people in RL whose dogs have digestive problems of one sort or another. It really makes me wonder if the very high protein foods we're encouraged to feed our dogs nowadays are actually suitable for a great many dogs, especially the smaller less active ones; obviously very active working dogs are a different matter.

Dog's being hunters and scavengers by nature, perhaps they would be just as healthy and their digestive system cope better with a less protein/fat rich diet, given that in the wild they probably wouldn't eat two regular meals a day.

And the amount of food the food manufactures tell us is appropriate is ridiculous. If people read those quantities and think that's what their dogs should be eating it's no wonder there are so many overweight pets around.

She was obese when I got her, she’d been fed a load of human food including biscuits and cake! But her stomach was fine when we got her... it was only when I tried the higher quality foods to get her in better shape she started with problems. I think she just does better on rubbish? Maybe she’s used to it?!

I don’t think there’s a single answer is there. Guess it depends entirely on the dog and the owner.

You know I was wondering- would a dog with stomach ache/allergic to their food- have wee accidents in the house? Could stomach ache cause that. I was treating it as two separate issues. We had her urine tested and cultured and it was all clear.

I think intolerance and allergy to certain foods can in some cases cause bladder irritation, as well as the more common stomach and bowel irritation.

Be interesting to see if she has any further wee accidents once fully off the original food.

I imagine it's also possible that a dog in pain will just find somewhere to wee that feels safe.

My dog has never had an accident in the house wee or poo when she's been ill but I think she is probably just very particular about going outside.

Very interesting thanks.

It’s strange because she didn’t have accidents for a long time then she started having them about once a week- thinking about it it probably has been since she was on this other type of food. I really hope that’s it.
She’s fully on the chappie now- she didn’t have any reaction to it whatsoever- in fact it her poo was looking good and healthy from the first day of having it.

She also seems to be weeing less, but bigger amounts. Before she was going quite regularly in small amounts.

Sounds like Chappie might be just the right food for her. Has she stopped weeing in the house?

I hope so! She’s still wolfing it down as well.

Haven’t had anymore accidents since changing so far.... it was never regular though so not relaxing yet! Still panicking at every little wet patch I see! Though often it’s the kids spilling stuff! 🤦‍♀️

This is really interesting read.

We switched our 8month rescue from bakers kibble slowly over to JWB. Since then she's incredibly itchy (chewing paws, and itching ears till they bleed)
Poos originally were small and form and are now like Mr whippy!

We used to feed our previous dog on wet chappie and was best for forming up his poos after years of trial and error with the runs

Funnily we wanted to feed new dog a higher quality of food but we've ended up worse off!!

Maybe it's too strong? All wet food puts me off due to teeth but unsure what to do for best!

I don’t think kibble is any better for their teeth either!
My dog loves antlers. She has a normal one and then a fallow antler which is softer. I darent try her on anymore dentastik type things she had a horrible reaction to one a while back and was eating grass for three days.

If the bakers worked could you use that and then mix in a bit of wet food as well?

Also I laughed at Mr Whippy- that’s exactly what we had.

Our dog is 7 though so I think a lifetime of low quality food has meant that’s all she can tolerate now.

YummyBelicious on the comment about wet food. I felt the same regarding teeth but he just refused kibble and every meal was a battle to coax him to eat. Now we changed to majority wet we throw kibble in for crunch and he loves it. This does mean we now make an attempt to brush his teeth every night but yes wet food 'sticks'.

Cleaning a dog's teeth lends a whole new level of 'fun' to your interactions with your dog. You have to take it slowly and it takes a while to get a dog used to it and can be a bit hit and miss but it's really the best way to help to keep their teeth clean.

Logic toothpaste is really good - using a very small amount - it comes with it's own toothbrush; my dog loves the flavour. It's supposed to work even if you just get the dog to lick a bit of it off your finger, but not sure how well that works.

pigsDOfly we use the logic toothpaste and he does seem to like the flavour. He isn't so keen on the toothbrush but we have a go anyway and just hope it makes a difference in the long run although I can see some discolouration on his canines