Black Hawk Kibble and Stomach Issues

[Little Gifts]

I've got a bit of a question. I've owned and foster shar pei for quite a while. Generally I feed them either Black Hawk or Canidae grain free with no issue. My other dogs have also eaten the same kibble so we buy bigger bags.

 

Albert has lived here for almost 12 months. He's been eating mostly Black Hawk grain free either chicken or salmon, plus other goodies on top. He came to us recovering from Giardia, Coccidia and a situation where his intestines had telescoped in on themselves (a long vet stay). He was not a well boy, but with TLC recovered very quickly and never looked back. Aside from this problem initially when he came in  to rescue, he has not been sick or even slightly unwell at all till the week before Christmas. In that week he started being off his food and needing encouragement to eat. Then we had a couple of vomits (partially digested food). He was eating grass on and off so we'd have grass vomits and sometimes just phlegm and water - never any bile vomits. Lots of noisy tummy stuff too. We switched him to chicken and rice and everything settled.

 

The week of Christmas the same started happening again so we took him  to the vet who treated him for the previous stuff (in case it was related). No temp, happy and  active. They suspected Giardia again (he does love  to get in our frog ponds with the still water). He had a nausea injection and they gave us some Hills kibble for gut health and a paste to put on his food to put good stuff back in his belly. Also did a full de-worm. Poo sample was checked the following day and no signs of Giardia or Parvo (we are in a parvo area at present). His weight stayed around the same.

 

So that all went well. He was still a bit sensitive about eating and we had to do some hand feeding each meal to get him going and also stay in the room with him and offer encouragement (which is still needed at times). Once the gut kibble ran out he went back to his old diet. He definately wouldn't eat everything he used to, like say his yoghurt was on its 3rd day opened he wouldn't eat anything at all. Then yesterday he wouldn't eat at all and was in and out vomiting up phlegm. So I boiled a chicken and cooked up some rice. He needed to be encouraged to eat but was so happy after he did.  But then half an hour later he was throwing that up and then re-eating it (due to his history if you try to get near his vomit he sees red). No  vomits overnight and this morning he had a small meal of chicken  and rice and no voms since that I can tell but he is in a snappy mood so obviously not feeling great. Tummy is also noisy. Haven't seen him poo in a couple  of days though.

 

Complicating things here is we have had a major water quality problem. I've been sick since before Christmas (I drink about 4 litres of tap water a day), my sister became sick last week and we've heard people's fish have been dying too. We only found out  last weekend about it so all switched over to bottled water, including for Albert. We are doing better but given Albert's stomach issue started again after we switched over I  don't think I can put it down to that. 

 

This morning I googled BH kibble recalls and complaints but found nothing relevant to what I am feeding. But I was just wondering if anyone on here as heard anything or had any personal experiences because I'm thinking it could be the kibble? Alternatively has anyone had any similar symptoms in their dogs where they are nauseous and vomiting but well otherwise? I have had a dog with pancreatitis before but she presented as unwell in several other ways, so don't think it is that. But what other conditions can be linked to his symptoms?

 

If it doesn't settle today he will be back at the vets tomorrow for bloods and maybe scans of course. Bloody hard when they are sick and you don't know why. Any other dog and I'd go to the vet  straight away but he is terrified of other dogs, so visits have to be managed a  little differently (and are a bit stressful for this human).

 

Thank you

[Deeds]

LG I am feeding Black Hawk chicken plus Black Hawk lamb and rice to one of my dogs with no issue.

 

Maybe try the Royal Canin vet diets re digestive/stomach issues.  I find the RC better than Hills. And my BRT prefers the RC over Hills.

[tdierikx]

Since joining with the rescue group I'm with, I've been feeding all my fosters Savour Life kibble and raw food, and all of them have done really well on it... nice stools and a lovely shiny coat... even the tiny foster puppies do well on it. The added bonus to feeding Savour Life is that they donate 50% of all their profits to rescue... and our rescue has been funded for surgeries, and also gets regular donations of the food for our dogs in foster care. When I had the staffy mumma with 7 babies, Savour Life donated a massive amount of kibble and raw for them specifically, along with a few boxes of all manner of yummy treats.

 

My previous foster arrived with an upset tummy and within a couple of days on the Savour Life had lovely stools, no tummy grumbles... and her breath improved 100% also.

 

It could be worth giving Savour Life a try. You could get a small bag of the kibble and maybe a box of the raw patties and mix them for Albert's meals and see how he goes. If he does well, then larger bags of the kibble are available. You can get it from Petbarn.

 

T.

[persephone]

Poor Albert - hope it can be sorted soon - for everyones' sake! 

[Rebanne]

megaesophagus? most likely not but something to think about

[Little Gifts]

26 minutes ago, Rebanne said:

megaesophagus? most likely not but something to think about

I shall do some  googling.....

[Little Gifts]

Since being back on the chicken and rice he has been fine again. I've got some more of the Hills gut kibble (decided against the RC because of the ingredients being more grain heavy) coming tomorrow. After we finish that I'll trial him on some BH salmon and see where things are at. I will get rid of the BH chicken kibble I think as it seems to be the core of the problem. But I guess we will  soon know if there is a real medical problem lurking.

 

And due to ongoing water issues I remembered we've got a water filter that was gifted to us a while back and we will install it in the kitchen over the weekend. Hopefully things will settle for all  our tummies!

[harley]

Could his issues be related to his liver?
 

I hope Albert recovers quickly. 
 

 

[Little Gifts]

No idea at present Harley but good suggestion for me to look in  to. He already has another vet appointment next week for us to discuss where to from here. Thank you!