An alternative to hills prescription food

[Imdoingitnow]

Hi our Labrador puppy was put on hills prescription food zd after weeks of diarrhoea and digestive problems - he's been on it a month and it's turned things around - he's not had diarrhoea since and he eats his meals with gusto and he seems a happier calmer dog.

But a 10kg bag costs £94 from the vets!, eek!!- it's worth it to have a healthy happy dog and the vet has said we could keep him on this food indefinitely, but if we could find it cheaper we'd be happier.

Does anyone have any ideas or recommendations

Our dog had similar problems, turned out kibble or any dried wheaty food really, didn't agree with him. He now has Chappie mixed with boiled rice, and some fresh chicken. He is thriving, and his doings are perfect. Bit of a faff, but I batch cook and freeze small pots of rice, so no big deal. Vet nurse told my DH that kibble is junk food for dogs. 🐶

My dog can't eat kibble either. Even the vet prescription diet kibble equivalent to the wet food she's on gives her horrible stomach problems.

Vet nurse at my previous practice strongly recommended Chappie. But given that my dog was settled on her Royal Cannin food and doing well with it I didn't see much point in changing.

Hopefully the tests will give you an answer.

There is a hills vet essentials gut biome diet which you would need to get through your vet too but it would be a bit cheaper than the prescription diet. Not as good as the prescription diet but with similar ingredients and maybe worth a try if and when things settle down.

My Labrador had similar issues as a pup following a giardia infection. She was on Royal Canin prescription food which was expensive. I now keep a bag of that for dodgy times ( normally if she has eaten something grotty on a walk). Her daily food is Burns Pork and Potato which suits her fine.

@LoveFall

Our older dog had pancreatitis and is prescribed a similar food made by Royal Canin. It is outrageously expensive but he loves it and is back to eating and feeling well.

It also gets bad reviews on the pet food sites which to be honest is now making me doubt the reviews and their basis.

We have tried a comparison of the ingredients of other premium but less expensive and apparently better foods, but they trigger problems again.

The only other one he loves and doesn't trigger him is Chappie. It gets even worse reviews.

I am telling you all this to suggest real caution in changing the food. I think it is the hydrolyzed protein also as it is easily digested.

The pet food review sites are run by who though?

Not nutritionists, vets or any one with any clue.

They're generally run by folk who are scathing of ingredients (despite the fact that all pet food ingredients in the uk have to be human grade quality) and who cannot distinguish the difference between a micronutrient and an ingredient.

Vets get criticised all the time for recommending diets from companies who employ nutritionists and perform research in order to produce specialist diets like those you mention

The grain free natural boutique brands have absolutely zero nutritional credentials but fancy packaging and ingredient lists that look pretty to the untrained eye

@wetotter

Royal Canin do a chicken and rice which might be suitable, but it's expensive.

Chappie do an extremely cheap one - so unless you need to avoid chicken give it a try. My friend who has a large breed dog with a very dickie tummy swears by it.

This site

www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

has really good info about the ingredients and nutritional level of just about every dog food you can think of

That site is run by a bloke who got a zoology degree in 2002 and has no medical or nutritional qualifications

@Imdoingitnow

Update: DPup has been back to the vets this morning. His poos have go a bit loose and mucous -ey this weekend and. He woke me at 5 30 this morning desperate to go out and did about 4 runny poos and then he slept on his bed but he didn't seem himself. We're also a bit concerned by the colour as they're a very dark greenish black.

The vet did bloods and a stool sample. He's got antibiotics and something for gastritis in dogs. He's to stay on the hills prescription food and the probiotic granules It's now wait and see what the results say.

Has your dog been checked for giardia or other obvious causes of diarrhoea?

I wouldn't assume it's food related to start with

I have a Lab who is on Z/d and has been since shortly after we rehomed her ( around 18 months) .
I get it from Vet Uk online and mix the kibble and the wet food.
As she has matured she can tolerate other foods , in small amounts, so if other lab gets a treat, such as white fish or liver, she can have it as a topper.
I have tried her on other dogs kibble mixed in but it always ends badly, so we have stuck with Z/d.
Hope your pup gets sorted soon. Young labs are surprisingly sensitive.

Bear in mind that lots of puppies have immature guts and will get bouts of diarrhoea when they're little - it's worth trying to change his food to a more reasonable price one as he gets a little older but always do it gradually by adding a little of the new food to the prescription one and gradually increasing.

A good raw food helped our resuce dog who had awful diarrhoea when we first got him. You really need to be careful and introduce it properly though. You start with tripe then a tripe mix and slowly introduce each protein.

@Disneygirl37

A good raw food helped our resuce dog who had awful diarrhoea when we first got him. You really need to be careful and introduce it properly though. You start with tripe then a tripe mix and slowly introduce each protein.

Not sure adding known sources of E. coli, Campylobacter and salmonella is likely to help much

Thank you everyone.
Choosing the right food is like walking into a minefield. It's hard to know what's good or bad or right or wrong

DPup seems back to his bouncy lovable labradors self this morning. He slept all night and did a normal poo this morning.

We're still worried about him and hope we get some answers from his test results.

I remember now, that when we took him back to see his mum and sister a few weeks ago we met a woman who has one of the pups from the same litter and she told that her pup is prone to diarrhoea too. So maybe sensitive stomachs are a family thing.

@Imdoingitnow

Thank you everyone. Choosing the right food is like walking into a minefield. It's hard to know what's good or bad or right or wrong

DPup seems back to his bouncy lovable labradors self this morning. He slept all night and did a normal poo this morning.

We're still worried about him and hope we get some answers from his test results.

I remember now, that when we took him back to see his mum and sister a few weeks ago we met a woman who has one of the pups from the same litter and she told that her pup is prone to diarrhoea too. So maybe sensitive stomachs are a family thing.

Or the litter is infected with giardia... You need a pooled faecal sample collected over 3-5 days to check as it's intermittently shed

Have you tried putting turmeric in the food for gut issues?

I have seen a GSD cross that has inherited the typical GSD inability to process fat due to lack of lipase production, digest pretty much anything so long as he gets his turmeric with it. It might be worth a try.

The turmeric wasn't given for gut issues, it was given for early osteoarthritis but he suddenly started doing formed, dark, normal poop on turmeric mixed with black pepper. He stopped the clusters of episodes of diarrhoea too so it might be worth a punt being as turmeric and black pepper is cheap as chips.

Ask your vet about chappie. One of my rescues had an issue chappie solved it.