What do you feed your sensitive stomach, IBD dog?

I’ve had more than one sensitive dog and have had great success with Solid Gold Hund N flocken, with their Sea Meal (which has probiotics) it sounds like you are on top of things re: diagnosis, but I do want to also mention that one of the dogs I have, a German shepherd (and this is more prevalent in GSDs) was eventually diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (epi). It’s not something lots of vets think of or screen for, so if you have continuing problems and have soft, yellow stools or diarrhea with weight loss, you might mention this possibility and make sure it is ruled out.

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I’ve had more than one sensitive dog and have had great success with Solid Gold Hund N flocken, with their Sea Meal (which has probiotics) it sounds like you are on top of things re: diagnosis, but I do want to also mention that one of the dogs I have, a German shepherd (and this is more prevalent in GSDs) was eventually diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (epi). It’s not something lots of vets think of or screen for, so if you have continuing problems and have soft, yellow stools or diarrhea with weight loss, you might mention this possibility and make sure it is ruled out.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, this was one of the diagnoses that I was fearing. I am pretty reassured at this point that we are lucky enough not to worry about EPI.

I thought I’d update this for IFG. The outcome of the visit is that we are now currently cooking for our dog. He’s also on supplements. The vet does muscle testing and gave us a list of foods that we cook and rotate into him, vegetables and meats as well as a few commercial foods (no kibble at all) that we can add into the mix. Her opinion of kibble and most foods is that it is dead food. It is processed and it’s like eating cardboard. She feels that eventually we can move to a raw food diet, but not now, not until his system heals and is ready to handle it.

So we are giving it a try and cooking more for him than us! I don’t know if this will be a long term solution for us, but we’re willing to give it a try. It is a bit overwhelming, because he needs to eat between 9 and 15 cups a day, so that is at least 4 meals per day, of food. The most we’ve been able to make in advance is 4 days worth, and we’re finding it $$$. But it’s only been a couple of weeks, so we’re still getting the hang of it. He absolutely loves it, but unfortunately now whenever we’re in the kitchen cooking something, he thinks it’s for him. I think he’s put on a little weight, and we go back in a couple weeks for a follow up. My husband is not thrilled and on board with the supplements, but he’s a big time skeptic.

Wow, thanks for the update. We cooked for another dog several years ago when he had bladder stones, but he recurred and had to go on the Hill’s special diet. Ironically, he looked better on that than on our cooking.

Best of luck to you, that is A LOT of cooking. We are fortunate. Switched Mr. Sensitive Tummy to Acana Ranchlands, and he is doing great.

I feel your pain! Shortly after I got my dog at about 4.5 months old he started getting crazy diarrhea. It was on and off for about 5-6 months. Vet initially thought/treated as giardia 3 times (but tested negative - even the first time). Second vet opinion said it’s just a food allergy since he’s fine when we feed him the bland/home cooked stuff and tested neg for all parasites. Tried a bunch of foods with no help, including Wellness, Nutro Sensitive Stomach Puppy, California Natural, Natural Balance, Pro Plan Selects. Of course these were all with slow introduction and somewhere in there the vet had us start on a ProBio.

I finally gave up at that point and was home cooking him meals for about a month. I got drained after cooking for him and tried one last shot at a dry food and tried Nature’s Variety Instinct…and VOILA! Happy dog with no more diarrhea! He has no diarrhea on any flavor of Instinct but does get a bit itchy on anything besides the Beef & Lamb kind.

So, I guess what I’m saying is…a lot of trial and error?? Not fun :frowning: or maybe try Raw…I’ve heard great things for such issues in my research and I would have tried the raw diet if Instinct didn’t work

My IBD dog who also has a sliding hiatal hernia (poor girl) does well on Acana Ranchlands, a spoonful of pumpkin, prozyme, and pepcid daily. Orijen was a little much for her, but she does GREAT on Acana. Did awful on TOTW, core, and other high end foods. I hope the Acana continues to work, because the poor pup gets pretty miserable.