What To Feed Now?

[Stitch]

Yep I was aware that the roll contained small bone...I could tell that when I was cutting it but I so hoped that it would be OK...but its not.

Unfortunately this is what happens when you try new foods, you have to try them out before you know.

I have really tried to avoid changing foods because of this.

I will find out about Meals for Mutts and see how that goes but I know my poor girl will be off her food for about 24 hours now.

Thank you for the recommendations Sueang.

[JulesP]

Mine didn't do well on the Meals for Mutt food. There is nothing super special about it, similar sort of food to Black Hawk.

Did you look at the ingredients in L/D?

[sueang]

Mine didn't do well on the Meals for Mutt food. There is nothing super special about it, similar sort of food to Black Hawk.

Did you look at the ingredients in L/D?

Does your dog have IBD or Skin Problems?? Meals For Mutts is nothing like Black Hawk, Black Hawk isn't Gluten free or a Hypoallergenic kibble.... Black Hawk was bought out by an NZ company & went down hill since being sold B/H ingredients are of lower quality now & made a few dogs very unwell, Black Hawk is similar to supermarket kibble VIP Natural Goodness...

Go on MFM Face Book page & have a look at all the dogs that have had health problems & now haven't got itchy yeasty skin or bowel problems...Have a look at all the dogs coming first in competitions. MfM was the only kibble that helped my boy with his IBD, Food sensitivities & itchy smelly skin, ears & red paws, Patches vets were shocked when I brought Patch back to see them after eating MfM for 1 month, he gained weight, skin cleared up & doing firm small poos & not reacting to what he was eating...

Now Patches vet feeds MfM for her IBS dog & her other healthy dog & her patients dogs after seeing a big improvement with Patch, I was about to put Patch to sleep, so I emailed MfM & Bill their vet nutritionist Bill email me back explaining what was happening with Patches intestinal tract.. Meals For Mutts is 100 times better then any Vet Diet look at the ingredients in any vet diet, Hills being the worst, look at all the carbs..

Edited April 20, 2016 by sueang

[seregil]

I tried several MFM foods for my IBD dog, no good at all, terrible runny poos. Nor was TOTW.

My dog reacts badly to kangaroo, whether it be raw, cooked or in dry food.

Stitch, which ever food you try next, I would always change VERY gradually when you have an IBD dog. As I said earlier, it took me a full month to change my dog over to the Prime100 Croc. Any other normal dog would only need the usual 1 week changeover. Some dogs can change from one food to another without even mixing.

I was worried about the fragments of ground bone in these rolls too, as my dog does not tolerate bones of any sort normally, but he has been fine, go figure :)

Problem you have now is you don't know whether your dog has reacted to the sudden change, rather than the food itself

Sueang Royal Canin vet food kept my dog alive for 2 years so it has its place.

Good luck Stitch, this can be a very frustrating condition, you have my sympathy

[Stitch]

Yep, every dog is different. I have bought MfM Salmon as recommended but I have gone back to the Hills I/D cans for the moment. Hoping that it doesn't contribute to the itching. I intend to only offer MfM a small amount at a time which would be my normal practice when changing dry food.

Regarding the crocodile roll, Seregil, I actually spoke to the guy from the manufacturers and he said definitely NOT to transition gradually in this case.

I therefore followed his advice and offered crocodile roll meal size.

Maybe it might have been different if my girl had gone onto it gradually but somehow I don't think so. I do think that she just can't have bone of any type, as this is what it has been like for her previously, and possibly the fat/oil content may have been a bit high or in a different form to what she can tolerate.

He also said that they have to put crushed bone in that crocodile roll to meet certain regulations when they state it is a complete and balanced diet.

I said he should possibly consider producing a product without any bones that IBD dogs can eat. The manufacturer & the retailer were very helpful and I got a complete refund on the food I bought which was nice.

Still leaves me with an unsolved issue though.

Edited to add: Sorry Jules, forgot to say that my girl has not been able to tolerate chicken in the past and L/D has chicken flavour in it.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Stitch

[persephone]

Can she have her protein as beans , maybe?

[Stitch]

I haven't investigated that yet, so don't know. I do know what beans do to me thought!

[Guest crazydoglady99]

Hey stitch - could you do a similar version of Augustine Approved - with something other than kangaroo? Do you give her probiotics?

I have been curiosly reading the thread. My old girl died without me finding a suitable food for her - although hers was manageable for a long time and just flared up one day.

A low dose of pednisone helped for a while.

Good luck - hope you get it sorted.

[Salukifan]

I don't know if they would be suitable but Wellness pet food is now available in Australia.

They do a range of Simple kibbles and cans that are one source proteins and apparently aimed at dogs with food intolerances.

It is only available online and in store via Petbarn.

ETA: Link to Australian website

Edited April 20, 2016 by Haredown Whippets

[Stitch]

I don't know AnimalLover. It has been a while since I last looked at Augustines diet....maybe, but I don't remember the ingredients.

I am very sorry you lost your old girl. Vets say I can dose with Metrozine permanently without any side effects which I will do if things get worse.

Vet also warned me that my girl could go the way yours did, something I don't want to think of at the moment. Prednisone is something I really don't want to start if I can help it. I don't give probiotics currently, I suppose I could but it sort of defeats the purpose when I have to give her Amoxyclav every so often. I have used Protexin previously, is there something else better?

HW...possibly. I guess there are a LOT of dogfoods out there that could be tried. The problem is I have to put my girl through all the trials and tribulations to do so, so I want to try the most suitable ie. novel source of protein.

[Salukifan]

I don't know AnimalLover. It has been a while since I last looked at Augustines diet....maybe, but I don't remember the ingredients.

I am very sorry you lost your old girl. Vets say I can dose with Metrozine permanently without any side effects which I will do if things get worse.

Vet also warned me that my girl could go the way yours did, something I don't want to think of at the moment. Prednisone is something I really don't want to start if I can help it. I don't give probiotics currently, I suppose I could but it sort of defeats the purpose when I have to give her Amoxyclav every so often. I have used Protexin previously, is there something else better?

HW...possibly. I guess there are a LOT of dogfoods out there that could be tried. The problem is I have to put my girl through all the trials and tribulations to do so, so I want to try the most suitable ie. novel source of protein.

They do a Fish and Sweet Potato that might be worth a try.

I recall Dr Jean Dodds recommending white fish and sweet potato (home made) as a good elimination/allergy diet.

[Stitch]

OK I will put that on the list if the MtM doesn't agree with her...thank you.

[LisaCC]

I'm assuming you've done a complete veterinary elimination diet?

We had my IBD dog on Wellness when it first came out in Australia, he did quite well on it at the end. Otherwise he was on a home made diet after finding what he could/could not have after an elimination diet. It's not just finding a protein, you need to find appropriate carbs too, and add in vitamins. He was also on low dose pred.

[JulesP]

Mine didn't do well on the Meals for Mutt food. There is nothing super special about it, similar sort of food to Black Hawk.

Did you look at the ingredients in L/D?

Does your dog have IBD or Skin Problems?? Meals For Mutts is nothing like Black Hawk, Black Hawk isn't Gluten free or a Hypoallergenic kibble.... Black Hawk was bought out by an NZ company & went down hill since being sold B/H ingredients are of lower quality now & made a few dogs very unwell, Black Hawk is similar to supermarket kibble VIP Natural Goodness...

Go on MFM Face Book page & have a look at all the dogs that have had health problems & now haven't got itchy yeasty skin or bowel problems...Have a look at all the dogs coming first in competitions. MfM was the only kibble that helped my boy with his IBD, Food sensitivities & itchy smelly skin, ears & red paws, Patches vets were shocked when I brought Patch back to see them after eating MfM for 1 month, he gained weight, skin cleared up & doing firm small poos & not reacting to what he was eating...

Now Patches vet feeds MfM for her IBS dog & her other healthy dog & her patients dogs after seeing a big improvement with Patch, I was about to put Patch to sleep, so I emailed MfM & Bill their vet nutritionist Bill email me back explaining what was happening with Patches intestinal tract.. Meals For Mutts is 100 times better then any Vet Diet look at the ingredients in any vet diet, Hills being the worst, look at all the carbs..

Well obviously I would not be writing in here if my dogs didn't have problems. Both dogs coats deteriorated and Poppy's ear infection came back.

Black Hawk is gluten free unless you would like to say that oats contain gluten. I am not even a fan of Black Hawk but a simple look at the ingredients lists shows they are pretty similar products.

Hills has kept my dog alive for 5 years and she has a much more serious condition,

Edited April 21, 2016 by JulesP

[LisaCC]

Also does your dog have IBS or IBD? Just seen both terms written. They are different.

[Stitch]

Every time I ask my local vet and also the internal medicine speciality vet to clarify the difference between IBS & IBD they all say there is no difference, that irritable bowel can be a combination of things. So if anyone here can explain that I would be interested to read it.

I like Hills dog foods especially the canned I/D and my girl is still eating this product. Hills has definitely been and still is a lifesaver however my girls problem with dry food manifests itself as itchy skin & seems to be associated with the hydrolysed Hills Z/D and also hydrolysed Royal Canin hypoallergenic. Perhaps the hydrolysing process is not as good as they think

Prior to Hills dry foods, she had reactions to dry foods with chicken and/or liver in them. Prior to that she had major reactions to food with bone and/or fat/oils as I have always fed BARF to my dogs. Flaxseed oil didn't go down very well at all....I remember the clean up after that one very well. I also found she couldn't handle the usual remedy for sick dogs ie. chicken & rice.

It would be nice to work my way though everything and put her on an elimination diet but at her age (14) I really don't want to put her through any unnecessary pain and suffering which is what it would be if I did that. I do my best to at least have some sort of confidence in the food before I feed it to her and so I avoid all the foods etc. that have resulted in problems previously.

Perhaps her immune system is such that she will react to every dry dogfood eventually. I don't know, and that's the problem, I don't know and neither do the vets.

[JulesP]

IBS - we have no idea what is wrong

IBD - group of diseases that cause inflammation of the stomach/intestines ie Crohns in people

I would say food causes more issues with IBS and stress is also a factor. Rather than the stomach being inflamed the bowels will contract slower and quicker. So something like valium can ease the contractions in IBS. IBD needs steroids is help with the inflammation.

It is possible to have both.

[JulesP]

I've had one of my worst incidents after flaxseed consumption

[LisaCC]

There is a large difference. I'd be getting a different vet if yours is telling you that.

IBS: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, as Jules says they don't really know what's going on but foods can upset parts of the gastro tract. Non inflammatory.

IBD: encompasses the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Parts of the tracts become inflamed, include Crohns disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

IBD can be diagnosed with biopsies although at that age you wouldn't want to put her through that.

Honestly an elimination diet (with a vet) may be kinder than jumping through different diets, especially if she has IBD.

The treatment is different because inflammation is involved in one.

Edited April 22, 2016 by LisaCC

[LisaCC]

If the Hills is keeping her stomach issues under control and it's this itching starting, I would be inclined to stay on the hills and make sure it's nothing environmental that's causing the itchies.

And frankly with how bad my dogs IBD was I would rather keep him on a food that worked and put him on another medication than play around with his diet.