Stitch

Thanks for that Cavnrott. I have been told to use 1 scoop of it in each meal, I feed her twice daily, and at that rate I estimate it will last about 2-3 months.....but if it works then it is worth it. Vet said there was a human grade one but I don't know what it is called or how economical it is. Budget Supplies sell Enzyplex for around $90, everyone else sells it for around $110. Cavnrott is your Cav skinny? I am the same as you..... I can't feed any oil or fat in the diet and my girl really needs a bit more weight on her. I was hoping that the Enzyplex would slow down the passage of the food in the gut or allow more nutrients to be taken up by the body.

Vet recommended I try Enzyplex for my old girl with IBD and I was wondering if anyone else has used it previously? She doesn't metabolise her food very well, is thin because she is on kangaroo stew diet and does large black poos twice or three times daily. Vet sold me a 1/4 of a container of Enzyplex which is mixed with her food twice daily and she is down to 2 poos a day.... but as it is such an expensive product I would really like to hear if anyone has had success with it in any way at all, not just for IBD. She has been on it for 5 days now, which obviously isn't a long time, and I will have to buy another container of it soon.

As a breeder, I would like to canvas everyones opinions here as to whether they think a person or a couple should be looking to buy a puppy when they both work full time, five days a week and the baby puppy would be left home alone when they were at work?? I realise that not everyone can work at home or work part time and my heart goes out to people who desperately want a dog, but to my way of thinking putting an 8 week old puppy into this situation isn't right on so many levels. Over to you!

I am trialling the dried variety of barley, peas & lentils, which I soak for about 8 hours prior to cooking them with the kangaroo mince etc. Probiotics are good and I do include them in her diet but this lentil soup mix seems to be really working for her.

By way of follow up.....I found a 'soup mix' at Coles that is a mixture of dried lentils, peas & barley. It has slowed down the movement of the poos through the body which, I hope, will result in her taking more nutrients from the food. It has also firmed up the said poos!! Great success, so far!!

Thanks for that Erny...so now I will add barley, broccoli & lentils....maybe an egg too, as you say starting off slowly. My old girl sleeps on the bed and has a selection of jumpers & coats for the cold weather....yep, a princess and very much loved!

Thanks for those replies. Didn't realise that oats would be a problem as I have always thought of them as soothing. I already include sweet potato with her kangaroo stew...I add celery, potato, sweet potato & carrots and of course the human grade roo. I will add pumpkin to it but I think pumpkin would only be a filler, not something that adds weight to a dog. Vet settled on kangaroo as the protein source because it was one protein that she hadn't had previously. The other choice was goat. I didn't want to stop with the kangaroo in case at some time in the future, if she progressed to not being able to tolerate the kangaroo, I would still have another protein source (goat) I could give her. Thank you for that link Trinabean, I will check it out....and I will definitely get the barley.

Thank you for that Trinabean. It is really difficult to feel confident enough to add more to my girls diet. I tried adding a small amount of oil to her diet and she was really sick after it. I am very hesitant to add oil again. The barley is a good idea. I hadn't thought of that and it doubt it would hurt her. Also I am thinking that rolled oats might be good too? Yes, Balance IT was suggested but I found I wasn't available in Australia. Can you tell me how to get it?

Yes I add Digestavite which includes a probiotic, I also add thiamine and calcium. You get to the stage that you are frightened to give them anything different.

I have a 12yo bitch who has IBD. She is on a homecooked human grade kangaroo & vege. casserole diet. Can't tolerate chicken & dried dogfood. She gets kangaroo type treats as well but the stomach problems are never far away. Weight wise she is OK but on the skinny side and I would really like to see a bit more coverage over the ribs. Does anyone know if these kind of dogs can tolerate something like DiVetelac or can you suggest something else. I am scared to try her on different things because I know just how sick she can get.

There is a product called DeNose Nose and it is a temporary colour for the nose. It is non toxic and obviously meant to be put on a dogs nose. I think that would work better than Texta.

Just back from the vets....my old girl is now on hormone replacement tabs Stilboestrel as others have mentioned here which may take up to 3 weeks to kick in. Good thing you guys reminded me to take a urine sample...her urine is somewhat diluted with a specific gravity of 1.017. No diabeties or other nasties so I will check her urine again tomorrow morning and see if it remains the same.

Thank you so much for your replies. I am encouraged as I didn't think it could be treated with meds. I will take her to the vet tomorrow.

Is there any medication available to help with incontinence in an older dog? I try ensure my old girl has regular toilet breaks and she is on a special homecooked diet as she has developed an allergy to several forms of protein. She never has dry food so she doesn't drink a lot but occasionally when she goes deeply asleep I am noticing urine leakage. Anyone have any ideas to control it?

We have found it really difficult to settle on a chew or treat that doesn't have some sort of associated drawback. However we treat with Wellness Bars for going into a crate etc., pig ears occasionally, raw turkey necks & rib bones as chews. For obedience training or the quick reward I cut up (2cm width) the kangaroo straps I buy from Aldi. They are an Australian product, the dogs love them and they aren't expensive. Another good natural reward is to dry fry the 100% beef patties and cut them up....now THEY are all natural!

Ahhh, good...I will try that, thanks!

Does anyone know how to make dog toothpaste? Something that isn't chicken flavoured - I am thinking maybe carb.soda but not sure???

Just thought I would give you all an update on my girls progress on the roo elimination diet. She is doing exceptionally well. No more itchies which had her scratching day and night, and I have developed a routine for cooking the roo stew. I use the human grade kangaroo mince available from Coles or Woolworth plus I add lots of veges then freeze it in lots, and I have also been able to successfully introduce rice into the mix. I add thiamine, although because there is no preservative I don't really need to add it, and I also supplement with calcium plus Natural Animal Solutions Digestivite Plus. Things are definitely looking up for my girl....she is now itch free!!!

You can buy that dehydrated tripe product put out by K9 Natural Foods NZ. It has been available in Australia for several months now.

As with people, the degree of severity can vary between dogs. If you start off with a dry food such as Royal Canin Hypoallergenic to settle the problem down, you can then start to introduce different 'real' foods into the diet....or you can just try the dog on the foods that have been suggested here by others. Big Dog Kangaroo BARF is good however it does have additives...from memory it has flaxseed oil and this may or may not agree with your dog. It is a matter of trial an error if you want to try this kind of feeding. I have had quite a bit of experience in elimination diets and have found that feeding a human grade kangaroo mince stew (cooked as it is kinder on the gut) with lots of veges plus added calcium, probiotic and thiamine is a very good fit. My suggestion would be to try the Kangaroo BARF and see what happens. At least it will save you having to prepare the food yourself if it is successful.

The only way to totally understand your dogs diet problem is to put the dog on an elimination diet...as other here have recommended. It is one thing to decide to put an otherwise healthy dog on 'grain free dry dogfood' but a totally different thing working out what is the correct diet for a dog that has issues. To do this, and seeing as most dogs have during their life have now been given many and various protein sources, you have to choose a protein source that you think the dog has not had plus eliminate other possible allergens from the diet. Kangaroo as a low fat protein source is usually a good choice but it can be fish or goat, etc. Then add various veges eg. potato, sweet potato, celery, silver beet, carrot, cauliflower, beans, peas. Do not add rice or pasta or any other grain product. Cooked food is easier for your dog to digest/process. You do however have to add calcium and thiamine. It can take 6 weeks to see any difference but in my experience you usually see some diminishing of symptoms in about 4 weeks. Dry dogfoods are convenient and do have their place in a healthy dogs diet BUT once your dog starts to have skin or health problems and you want to address these issues, dry dogfood whether its is grain free or not, has to be removed from the diet until you decide to introduce it back after you know the findings from the elimination diet. Otherwise you are just guessing! And if your dog doesn't have major issues with dry dog food, it is just a matter of trying the 'best' choices because what a healthy dog does well on is the food you should feed them! It varies from dog to dog!

That's good to know MF, thank you for getting that info. Anne, this dog has never had roo before although I have fed some of my other dogs roo BARF and also plain roo meat. The Big Dog Roo BARF doesn't smell but the plain (and I think it must have been pet grade) roo meat was very stinky...but that is going back a while! It is probably a good idea not to feed dogs roo meat because if they develop allergies to a protein source like chicken, beef or lamb you will still have the roo to fall back on. Lamb used to be the one that was fed to dogs with food allergies because it never used to be used by dog food manufacturers...but now they use lamb extensively so that protein source is no longer an alternative.

The best dry dogfood is always going to be the one they do best on!! What suits one doesn't suit another. Through trialling many different premium dry dogfoods over the years I have found my lot can't cope with a lot of rich or fatty/greasy food. I am still using Applaws because they tolerate it very well as a maintenance food which I feed them for breakfast. I also feed BARF of an evening. This works for me & mine.

Pill poppers save fingers!! Marvellous invention!!

So far so good with the new diet. The dermo vet actually phoned me yesterday (good follow up service) and asked if I had any questions. So I asked about the raw v's cooked and the answer was as I expected, that cooked is easier to digest which is what I want at the moment. Also seeing as the roo diet has very little fat in it, it was OK to just switch onto it...which is what I did anyway. An interesting fact I have discovered whilst doing this exercise is that all the raw pet grade kangaroo meat I have looked at is preserved with sulphur dioxide BUT they highlight on some brands that it has added Thiamine. What they don't seem to realise is that sulphur dioxide kills ALL thiamine that it is mixed with!! Which is why the dermo specialist says to dose the dog with thiamine separately and 4hrs hours before/after feeding the roo meat. Makes you wonder how much else they have got wrong with their product!!