Warm boot recommendations please

[Luvachicken]

Bonnie has another poorly tummy.

We are not sure if it is because we have taken her off the vet food (the vet said it was fine to do this) and put her back on the puppy kibble from the pet shop or if she still has some of the giardia in her.

One of the teachers at school asked how she was getting on so I said she had a poorly tummy.

She then asked what I was feeding her and told me that I should be feeding her bog standard meat and dog biscuit stuff from Tesco.

Our old cocker spaniel used to have Pedigree Chum biscuits mixed with meat but I like the appeal of just the kibble as it doesn't attract flies.

Just wondering what you all feed your dogs.

I will ask at the vet but just wanted your opinions first xx 

[Cat tails]

Maybe see if you can get hypoallergenic feed and see if that improves her poop issues. Once she is back on normal poo, start mixing in the feed you want to give her eventually and see if she goes back to issue poo.

It could be an wheat allergy or an allergy to a certain protein like chicken. I suspect Flo of having issues with wheat too. She is now on a wheat free diet and finally has normal poo. So I’ll switch her back on a normal (wheat containing) feed and see if that changes her poo again.

[Wh hens]

I feed my cavapoochon pup guru surf and turf tesco food will be unhealthy a balanced dry diet is best if not guru go for acana or canagan buy food online or in a petshop as the food in the supermarket is cheap and low quality.

[mullethunter]

My mums dog has supermarkets own brand tinned wet food and supermarkets own brand complete dry food too. She’s a Jack Russell / border terrier cross. She also gets chicken giblets from time to time. She’s super healthy.

She does supplement her diet with a fair number of rabbits mind you 🙄

[HarrisonFamily]

We feed our 13 year old rescue a raw diet and have for years - we use Natures Menu and best bit is less poo and its solid.

He would actually eat anything so its hard to say how much he enjoys it but a raw diet is worth investigating.

 

[Wh hens]

Go onto allabout dog food they compare dog foods and show you which is best.

 

[Luvachicken]

Thank you very much everyone.

The same teacher also doesn't give her dogs any toys and only takes them to the vet if they are really poorly.

I think that's very sad myself. 

Bonnie loves all of the toys we have got her so far. She does also like free toys like toilet roll tubes and stolen socks.

And a pet can't help itself to pain killers like we can when we pull a muscle or something - they rely on us to get treatment for them.

[Cat tails]

What did the vets say? Any improvement so far?

[Beantree]

Our terrier gets two small table spoons of tinned food topped up with 100mL of dry flakes twice a day. A tin lasts 5 days. She gets a chew stick at lunchtime and half a dog biscuit if she brings a mouse or vole back. A rat gets her a whole biscuit (no rabbits here). She is super fit because she hunts all day (8.5Kg).

[Luvachicken]

On 3/10/2022 at 8:36 PM, Cat tails said:

What did the vets say? Any improvement so far?

Our next vet visit is on Monday.

We did ask the veterinary nurse at the puppy party and she said to make sure Bonnie doesn't have too many treats - luckily she doesn't as there is only the 2 of us here. She said there weren't really any rules about what to feed them, so not the most helpful.

We will ask at the vets though and see if she needs another poop sample doing.

Some of her poop has been good and others not so, so it is difficult to know what  she needs.

[Blackrocksrock]

Hope she gets sorted out this time.   We had dogs for 40+ years and in the very beginning it was tinned meat and biscuit.   Then complete dry food came along.   Easier to store, no flies round a bowl and we then fed ours splitting it twice a day.   Once you get one that suits her tummy they don't mind which flavour it is!   That teacher doesn't sound a good puppy parent!

[Blackrocksrock]

I had issues with a kitten with diarrhoea - used pure pumpkin purée canned and it worked.   Froze in small lots and fed every day till got sorted out - worth googling.

[Luvachicken]

On 3/12/2022 at 8:09 AM, Blackrocksrock said:

Hope she gets sorted out this time.   We had dogs for 40+ years and in the very beginning it was tinned meat and biscuit.   Then complete dry food came along.   Easier to store, no flies round a bowl and we then fed ours splitting it twice a day.   Once you get one that suits her tummy they don't mind which flavour it is!   That teacher doesn't sound a good puppy parent!

 

On 3/12/2022 at 8:18 AM, Blackrocksrock said:

I had issues with a kitten with diarrhoea - used pure pumpkin purée canned and it worked.   Froze in small lots and fed every day till got sorted out - worth googling.

Thanks for both those pieces of information @Blackrocksrock.

I will ask at the vets about the pumpkin puree when we go on Monday.

[treferet]

The right amount of food is set experimentally for each dog, but general recommendations are also. If you feed with food, the pack will always indicate what size the portion should be, depending on the dog's size.  The main thing is that the dog's weight remains constant. Therefore, I try to combine food and homemade food to cook for the dog. Once I thought about finishing veterinary courses from https://www.veterinaryschoolsu.com/vet-tech/online-programs/. It seems to me that every pet owner will not be hindered by the knowledge that can help maintain his health.  Therefore, do not delay going to a specialist. It is better to check for worms right away.

Edited March 16, 2022 by treferet

[Luvachicken]

Thank you @treferet

The vet recommended that she stay on the Hills diet for another couple of weeks.

Fortunately, her worming treatment was due when we had her jabs on Monday anyway, so we did that Monday night.

She is gaining weight and doing well, so the vet was very pleased with her. 

[Lewis]

If she's a pup and has had Giardia that's likely to be the reason she's still a bit loose. I'd have a look at probiotics like Pro Kolin or Fortiflora.

I used to feed Celine Bosch which is what she's always been on but can't get anymore so started Harringtons earlier in the year and she's getting on well. Grain-free diets are a marketing ploy and can cause heart disease (DCM), it's usually the protein rather than grains that cause allergies.

[Luvachicken]

On 3/17/2022 at 4:28 PM, Lewis said:

If she's a pup and has had Giardia that's likely to be the reason she's still a bit loose. I'd have a look at probiotics like Pro Kolin or Fortiflora.

I used to feed Celine Bosch which is what she's always been on but can't get anymore so started Harringtons earlier in the year and she's getting on well. Grain-free diets are a marketing ploy and can cause heart disease (DCM), it's usually the protein rather than grains that cause allergies.

Thanks @Lewis

The vet did give her the probiotic Pro Kolin when she was being treated - she had it for 5 days.

Her poops are definitely looking better - do you think she perhaps needs some more Pro Kolin ?

Also, you can get it cheaper from Amazon than the vets, but I worry that it might not the 'real' thing.

[Cat tails]

On 3/17/2022 at 5:28 PM, Lewis said:

Grain-free diets are a marketing ploy and can cause heart disease (DCM), it's usually the protein rather than grains that cause allergies.

Curious, but does that also hold true for cat food? My cats normally got Royal Canin, as it was the only kibble iPoes ate. But Royal Canin doesn’t do grain free food.

[Ursula123]

@Luvachickenmy friends dog has fortiflora prescribed by the vets here and she says it has helped enormously.

[Blackrocksrock]

You can buy Fortiflora from other places cheaper than the vets.   My Bengal gets some of the cat one sprinkled on his food.   He unlike others I have had has never had a problem.  He only gets about quarter sachet and not every day.   It's easier then Prokolin.

[Lewis]

On 3/18/2022 at 1:16 PM, Cat tails said:

Curious, but does that also hold true for cat food? My cats normally got Royal Canin, as it was the only kibble iPoes ate. But Royal Canin doesn’t do grain free food.

Grain free is thought to be linked to DCM, so I don't feed grain free. We're still not sure of the link, this may explain better than I am: https://nutritionrvn.com/2021/06/04/cats-grain-free-diets/

[Luvachicken]

Finally, we have had 2 days of proper poop 

That's without the Pro Kolin stuff x

[Luvachicken]

Now we've finished the vet food, combined the last few days with her original food, we are back to yucky poo.

We took her to our local pet shop on Friday - she is pretty knowledgeable - and she recommended Fish for Dogs. The first poo was perfect but now we are back to yucky poo.

Going to take her back to the pet shop tomorrow to see what else she can suggest.

Bonnie is doing well though - she now weighs 7.2 kg

I'm thinking she made well end up on the vet food.....

[Cat tails]

On 5/9/2022 at 9:03 PM, Luvachicken said:

Now we've finished the vet food, combined the last few days with her original food, we are back to yucky poo.

We took her to our local pet shop on Friday - she is pretty knowledgeable - and she recommended Fish for Dogs. The first poo was perfect but now we are back to yucky poo.

Going to take her back to the pet shop tomorrow to see what else she can suggest.

Bonnie is doing well though - she now weighs 7.2 kg

I'm thinking she made well end up on the vet food.....

Might be just a few transition days. I almost finished the kitten food of Flo so started mixing in a bag of Edgar Cooper which previously gave her more firm poos, but after a day or three, she has rather sloppy productions in the litter box. I think Flo is just sensitive to change, or at least I hope so. She likes the kibble so she’ll finish the bag anyway, sloppy poo or not!

[Luvachicken]

Went back to the vets to get the Hills prescription diet.

Hope it works, otherwise I think we will need to do another poo test sample as the pet shop lady did say that maybe she might still have Giardia.