peigirl

no - that will be ME!! You're both wrong - it's me!! Rafa is verrrry enthusiastic when it comes to meeting new people, dogs, birds, trees, leaves etc etc. He's a 13 month old boofa. He loves everyone, but forgets his manners in the process. Sounds like he will be one of the 'older' dogs there tomorrow.

So exactly how many people are coming? And how many pooches? I'm doing both days. As for Rafa he'll start Saturday morning and we'll take it from there. Everyone else?

Thanks Bloss. I have become a worry-wart now in regards to what I'm feeding him. I sincerely hope he doesn’t develop a turkey intolerance but the thought it might has of course crossed my mind. Whatever it is he’s intolerant to (lamb, chicken, beef, pork or veal – and that’s assuming its meat!) has taken about 8 months to show up now. I took him off rice yesterday just to see what difference it makes. If he improves over the next day or so minus the rice I'm going to give mashed potato a try (another novel food source for him) and eventually sweet potato and then later on maybe carrot. I'm sure he misses his vegies. He would quite happily eat my raw vegie blend with nothing else. I always found it quite amusing he would whine pitifully for vegies when I was batching it up Can I ask what you've done in terms of treats? What and how are you making them?

LOL! Perhaps I could have worded that better. I'm just concerned he will develop an intolerance to turkey given he's had so much of it over the last fortnight. He's eating it very enthusiastically at this point

I do plan to introduce probiotics but I dont want them to mask the symptoms of the colitis. So when he improves for a few consective days then I will introduce them. In the meanwhile should I be concerned about him 'od'ing on turkey?

Is this park enclosed? I've never been there.

Thanks Peibe. Last night I cooked rice and forgot to rinse it when I was finished. What is that white stuff that comes out of rice when you cook it? Name escapes me now - is it gluten?, anyhow Raf's belly was pretty gurgly after dinner which got me suspicious of the rice. So I will cut the rice and stick with just turkey for a few days and see what happens. In Raf's regular diet he had natural yogurt every other day so that will have to stay on my blacklist for now. Far out. I am learning a whole new kind of patience I never knew before the world of elimination diets. Raf is not desexed. I wanted to wait til he was fully developed before I had the op. He injured his shoulder tendons a few months back so I was waiting until that healed and his system settled. That got better but then irregular poos began which turned into colitis. No way I am considering stressing his system even further by having him desexed before his gut is well and truly settled. He's not at all bad with boy antics at home - if anything he's mellowed slightly. Just trying on a bit of humping with girl dogs at the off leash park which he stops when I tell him to. Ok except for a pair of ex racing greyhound sisters who run alot faster than him, much to his dismay

Thanks Julie I will have a good read of that thread. Peibe, Raf is 13 months. Hormones have kicked into gear in the last month or so, his bark has deepened and he has started trying his luck with girls at the dog park I have no idea if its coincidence or not but the reach in sexual maturity time wise has sort of coincided with the Colitis. His coat dropping has been all even. From the outside he's the picture of health, it’s what going on inside that's (seemingly) causing the problem. I'm not sure about the grass either. Yesterday morning he passed the rest of the grass he ate on Saturday morning. His stomach hadn't broken it down at all. Will make sure he doesn’t ingest any for the next few days. Peibe ever had any pei that didn’t do well on rice? Raf has been on turkey and rice for 15 days now and off his Metrogyl for a week. Thought I would have seen a bit more definite improvement by now. I thought I had before the weekend but now I’m unsure. Thinking I will change over to turkey and mashed potato in the next few days and see how we go. Do pei and potatoes work ok? By the way I tried elevating his food bowl and his eyes are now fine after meals. Wish it was so easy to resolve the Colitis issue!

Raf is always fed on the ground. I will find a stool and see what difference that makes? Strange that he doesnt get watery eyes all the time, just with certain meals? As for the grass Raf is an inside dog - locked inside when I'm not home, so the only contact he gets with grass on a weekday would be twice a day at the park and probably about 1-2 hours a day in the backyard. Its 80% bricks in the backyard too so the grass contact is really just weeds and is minimal. The skin on his feet is completely normal aswell - white like the rest of his skin, not even pink and indicating slight inflammation??? Thinking he had a big grass feast last nite when he toileted before bed which created a gurgling tummy this morning so he ate more grass, vomitted and had a yucky poo. I really am just guessing tho, still feeling totally clueless as to the cause of the problem Peibe what about shedding? I've noticed Raf has always (well last 6 months anyway) dropped alot of his coat. It has virtually stopped in the fortnight since he has been on the turkey diet. Do you think a food intolerance could cause shedding? I should add his coat is very glossy, he has never lost fur in clumps and he has no skin irrations whatsoever.

Very interesting about the watery eyes Peibe. I have been giving Raf whole lamb shanks to eat since he was a little tacker - great because there the only thing that entertains him for 45 mins With out fail every time he'd finished one, his eyes would be streaming. Hmmmmmm I always thought it was strange but didn’t know what to attribute it too. Is this an indicator of an intolerance I wasn’t picking up Still on watery eyes I have also noticed in the last few days Raf's eyes have been running immediately after he eats his turkey/rice meals. Following the same logic as the lamb now I'm wondering if the turkeys causing problems even though his stools have been improving every day? Yesterday's was the best one in weeks I've been listening to his stomach after he's eaten and there is a tiny bit of gurgling though barely audible. I can also say with some confidence that I've found another intolerance - winter grass. Raf ate a stack this morning when he went out to the toilet. Vomited twice 15 mins later and then on our walk less than an hour later did a sloppy mucousy poo with fresh green undigested grass in it. It passed completely through his system in less than an hour! I was shocked ;) I will now be trailing him around the background as grass police. He's since had some turkey stock and rice, his gut is quiet and he's sleeping. Poor pup ;) He had been doing so well....

Thanks for your interest everyone, Raf is doing better than he was a week ago. Has been quite a slow process but we seem to be heading in the right direction. Our course of Metrogyl finished on Monday morning so we’ve had only two days off the meds with the same turkey/rice meals and homeopathics. The diaorehha has now stopped completely. Raf’s only had two stools in the last five days which had shape but were still of a super soft consistency – however the mucous and jelly coating on these has also all but disappeared. The real test will be in the coming days to see what effect no medication has on his stools – really looking forward to seeing an improvement in frequency and consistency. Heres hoping I can interpret the turkey as agreeing with him based on the positive effect it’s had on his stools so far. Not considering introducing any other protein sources at this stage – still too early days. Thanks for your advice on the roo meat Peibe – I was checking it out in the supermarket yesterday thinking I might try it in a few weeks but now I will steer clear. Peibe is watery eyes after a meal an indication of an intolerance? Up until the diagnosis Rafa had quite happily tolerated beef, lamb, veal and pork. I do now however have suspicions of lamb and chicken. He hasn’t lost any fur, only about 1-2kg in weight. Weight loss has stabilised now the diaorehha has finished. Red Mal Rafael’s regular diet for the past 9 months has been raw meat, bones and vege with me making the majority of his meals. He would get 1/3 cup of kibble everyday in his kong as I left for work. He is now getting rice and cooked turkey as it’s a novel protein source for him and shar pei can not tolerate it raw.

We are doing both days so I'll bring Raf along on Saturday and see how he goes His grandma lives just around the corner and I'm sure she won't mind puppy sitting in the afternoon if needed.

Steve is it ok to bring along an entire male?

Just wondering if you guys are bringing your pooches or not? I'm still undecided.

Thanks everyone for all your messages and support, I really appreciate it. Raf's diagnosis has come as a shock to me. I decided yesterday to switch from chicken to turkey as I was seeing no improvement in his stools. Unfortunately I couldn’t find turkey in any supermarkets yesterday so I opted for home made chicken stock and rice for dinner. Raf's very gurgling stomach woke me at 4.30am and I expected the worse. A 1 hr walk failed to produce anything. Raf was also home alone inside all day and I was expecting a funky present this evening but no! Off to the dog park tonight for a good run around and 30 mins later we were in business! By no means was it firm but at least it had some shape - which beats the gravy I've been seeing for the past 5 days. Never have I been so happy to see a poo Raf looked pretty pleased with himself too I realise it's very early days and there is a long way to go but it would seem the rice has had a binding effect (like what you were saying fido). I really needed something positive. Have had a tension headache for the last 4 days worrying about the little man. Thanks for the advice re turkey peibe. Raf had it for the first time this evening (cooked) and with rice and all is good so far. I will make sure he only gets it cooked when he's fed it. Not getting ahead of myself at the moment and thinking about other meats. Here's hoping we can do a few consecutive days of rice and turkey and start to wean off the medication. Also picked up some of the Colitis homeopathics at Wholistic Animal this afternoon. Fingers crossed they have a positive effect too. I've also managed to find a vet in perth who does animal naturopathy (no small task in a tiny town like Perth!). She is able to do food intolerance testing by judging muscle reaction. Only 70% accurate but will test whatever substances I want and any test is better than nothing at all. Just need to wait until Raf's stomach has settled down slightly and we will be off to see her too.

Thanks Bloss I appreciate that, I will watch the fat too. Hopefully my tiny local supermarket has turkey today. Unfortunately WA is yet to discover a little concept called 'Sunday trading' Right now wishing I hadnt spent $40 on chicken yesterday. Got another $20 of other meats in the freezer too. What am I going to do with it? Dunno, I'm a vegetarian! Ah well. For now I suppose Raf and I will both just have to stare at it wistfully

Thanks so much Rappie Rafael has been on a raw diet for the last 8 months. I would prefer to try a fresh protein source as opposed to kibble. He has never had turkey before so I will persevere and try our luck with that. Patience is well and truely a virtue when it comes to elimination diets

Would really appreciate some advice regarding elimination diets. What would you consider to be an adequate period for trialing one food for an intolerance? Reason I ask is Rafael’s last seven meals have been straight chicken. He has also been on a course of Metrogyl 200mg twice daily (for 4 days) and 1gm on Protexin per day (for 2 days). His stools yesterday and today were the consistency of sticky gravy and dark brown/mustard colour. Would 7 chicken meals over 3.5 days still producing liquid stools indicate an intolerance to you? Or is it possible the Protexin could be upsetting his stomach? I was advised to have Raf on a 2g twice daily dose – after the first meal (Friday night) he later vomited salvia that smelt like it. So I have cut the dose back to 1gm. He hasn’t vomitted again. Wondering if Protexin has upset any other tummies? All advice/comments greatly appreciated. I’m not sure what to feed him from this point on. Should I continue chicken and cut Protexin or move onto another meat altogether?

Devo's symptoms sound alot like my boys at the moment. He was diagnosed with Colitis earlier this week after having loose combined with watery and bloody poos. He had been his normal self zoomies, playing etc and had a gurgling tummy - has settled down now on his course of Metrogyl, some Protexin (a probotic) and straight chicken. Unfortunatetly now he's gone the other way and is constipated (normal apparently spoke to my vet this morning and he should go later today or tomorrow). My vet diagnosed it as being from a food intollerance which might be the same for Devo. How long have you been doing the chicken/rice meals? Perhaps its the chicken upsetting him?

Woohoo! King's home! ;) ;) :D (think that about covers it)

Thanks Steve. I will have a good look around your website. Mine is definitely an open (and empty ) mind for the moulding!

Steve I was wondering is there any info you might suggest I can read before the course? I am very embarrassed to admit I dont even know what drive training is (currently blushing in front of my computer ) I did do a search on this forum a while back but couldnt find anything for the ultimate novice.

Steve just sent you an email with payment details. Sorry for the delay.

No Bloss he hasn't. Can you tell me what a SIBO test is pls?

Thanks so much for all the replies everyone, I really appreciate it. Rafael was unusually flat on Tues morn after the Mon night visit to our vet but has improved steadily since then and is nearly back to his normal self personality/energy wise. Stools will take longer of course but its only been 2 days. I have made along list of everything in his diet veges, meat, bones and treats to help me get to the bottom of this. I am embarrassed to admit one of my prime suspects is now a new Eagle Pack kibble I bought back in June. Raf is a barfer but has been getting a ¼ cup of kibble in his kong everyday for the last 5 weeks when I’ve headed off to work. His symptoms have only been presenting for the last 3 weeks so I didn’t think the kibble might be the source of the problem. There has also been a couple of other new treats in the last 3 weeks which I stopped over 1.5 weeks ago that I thought were to blame – even when the symptoms continued a week past him last having those particular treats. I never suspected the kibble seen as Raf really enjoyed tucking into it (he’s not a big fan of kibble) but now I think back I realise his system hasn’t had a break from it at all. Pork bones as well are also on my list. Unable to get lamb bones I wanted so I got pork for the last month or so. Hmmmmm I admit I really am suspicious of everything at the moment. From what you fellow DOLers have told me my elimination of foods needs to be very strict over much greater periods of time. We only started yesterday so there is a long way to go. My vet diagnosed Colitis from a food intolerance and instructed I do the elimination diet before proceeding with stool tests and referrals for allergy testing (this includes Murdoch Inspector Rex). He didn’t feel Raf’s symptoms were bad enough at present to proceed down that path and I’m inclined to agree without doing the elimination diet first. It was me wanting to get testing done to short cut the elimination diet and get Raf’s system back on track asap. Think I will have to work on my patience It’s going to be a long few months to work this out properly but I am very determined!