Good dog food for cocker with sensitive tummy

[Iw24wImI]

I have an 8 month old cocker dog who has had an upset tum on and off (no diagnosed reason why). Vets sent off a sample and there was no clear reason why.

His first bout of diarrhoea was the worst at age 11 weeks. It lasted the best part of a week.

He then got better but had more bouts on and off until we moved him onto "Different Dog" which is fresh dog food, frozen and delivered to us.

We started him on the fish, then the turkey. No upsets at all.

However, he now seems to have gone off this food completely and will barely touch it!

He came from the breedet on Natural Instinct raw food (wouldnt touch it) and arden grange puppy kibble (likes this sometimes). I then tried him on Lily's kitchen for a while which he quite liked for a bit then went off.

Really he is a bit of a fuss pot. The diarrhoea cleared up when we started avoiding chicken anf beef dog foods (as advised by a pet nutritionist). The problem now is he eats so little of the freshly cooked food from Different Dog that he has actually lost weight! He does look v thin.

Would love some advice if you have had similar?

We have a cocker spaniel with the same issue and the only food he can tolerate is the sensitive vets kitchen one (pictured).

Mixed with a bit of minced lamb, chicken breast, carrots etc. as otherwise he doesn't bother eating it. They aren't a particularly greedy breed I've found.

Are there any stinky foods he absolutely loves? Cheese/sausage/liver etc that you can mix in with his food and maybe tempt him that way?

My WCS was a fussy bugger and this used to tempt her!

My lab has ibs and is on Waggs Sensetive.

Pur cocker is on james wellbeloved its the only food that doesnt upset his tummy

I don't have a cocker I have a lab, but the first year of having him was exactly like you've described your experience. He had runny bums all the time, every walk he'd do 5-6 poops, sometimes blood, always at the vets, never anything wrong, awful farts!!

We tried loads of dog food brands as well as protein types, he'd eat them for a while but eventually refuse and would go daaays barely eating. We realised it was around the same time we'd ramped up obedience training were he was having high value treats like chicken or cheese, so part of it was also him acting up we think!

We've settled now on fish as a main food protein as some evidence suggests it's the least 'allergic' protein source.

(We also tried our dog on raw food but he ended up going off eating that too, and I hated the faff of it)

Our dog is now on Skinners Field and Trial Salmon which our vet really approves of as her dogs are on that too, and he has eaten that every day for over 2 years now. His poops are nice and normal now. We also found the best way to consistently get him to eat his food was a mix of both wet and dry kibble - so each meal he now gets half a tin of wet food on top of kibble to make it nicer and it's been a success. We're currently using Step Up To Naturals wet food, the sensitive one with white fish and chicken.

We don't personally use it, but Skinners also do a 'muesli mix' which I think is a food topper designed especially for fussy eaters - might be worth looking into.

Lots of trial and error so good luck!

I second Skinners Salmon Field and Trial. We have a cocker and this settled his stomach and solved a very smelly wind problem!

My cocker spaniel is almost 4 now and suffers on and off with a dodgy tummy, if given any different treats than what he’s used to. We give him Tails food, which he loves and has no problems with. We have a cockapoo as well and also had the problem of him getting fed up of certain food after a while, but they have been on tails for over a year now and still loving it, they have such a wide selection of wet food that they get a different meal everyday of the week

Thanks so much all of you. It sounds like some of us have had incredibly similar experiences.

I am just so keen to get my skiiny as a rake boy a bit more flesh on those bones.

I am going to start with the Vet's kitchen recommendation as I see it is grain free and chicken free.....two things that I know are triggering for his diarrhoea. I just wish I could work out if it was grain or if it was chicken causing the problem.......!

So fingers crossed, if no luck I shall try the skinners salmon I think. Thanks all....its probably not such a rare problem after all.....

After a lifetime of mostly labrador ownership....a picky eater is a revelation ;)

@cwoodsy

Thank you! Fingers crossed. Hopefully the daft sod will like it!

Hiya 25Iw24wImI, sorry to reply late but I have a 1yr old working cocker and I went through the same as you, except he would and will eat anything. He was so (still is a bit) skinny that people would comment . All tests came back negative yet he continued to have liquid poos :(

When he was 6m vet recommended we put him on a Vet Gastrointestinal Diet. Basically we slowly transitioned to it and as soon as he had a day of normal poos started the transition to a new food. It took about 2-3wks and was messy but it worked!

The food we've got him on is Tribal Cold Pressed which is very gentle on the stomach. I can't recommend it enough - 6 mths and no diarrhoea! He loves it too and I give him some canned Natures Menu/Country Hunter Puppy in the evenings too.

Now I can give him different/new canned or fresh food and it doesn't upset him, so Tribal appears to have desensitized his system.

One thing I would say is that (esp. If he is a wocker) is that he may need more food than the dog food companies suggest. My 13kg pooch has 1400cal a day (about 30-50% more than some recommend) and is still very lithe!

I hope everything works out x

The best food for sensitive stomachs is chappie the tinned. Ive been through it all. Google up on chappie its recommended by vets. I was quite shocked as i always thought chappie a cheap supermarket brand. My dog had various tests at vets and I was told try chappie first if that didn't work then try royal canin sensitive kibble if that didn't work it was gut biopsies. The chappie worked.
These were the only two foods recommended by my vet. My problem was solved with chappie. About 2 days on the chappie my problem was solved.