What food now?

[cgs]

I don't know if this is a food issue or not. We've had Percy for 1.5 years. He's supposedly hookworm-free now, but even when he had hooks, his poop was under control (after the first few months.) He's been on Eukanuba large breed chicken for a very long time.

At the end of July, we were halfway through a bag of food when he started crouching to poop, but nothing would come out. That night, he was up every 20 minutes to go out, trying to poop. Every now and then, a liquid stream of poop would come out. Vet said no blockage, but probably inflammation. He went on an antibiotic, flagyl (or whatever it's called) and bland diet (chicken and rice) for a week and he was better after a few days.

About 10 days later, he had another bout of diarrhea in the morning. So back on chicken and rice with a dose of flagyl and the next day he was fine. I'm keeping him on chicken and rice a bit longer.

My husband is convinced he needs new food. I'm not (yet) convinced of that. Maybe it's a bad bag, but he was fine on it for half the bag. Then fine again for 10 days before he had trouble again. Did anything change with Eukanuba or has anyone else had trouble recently?

And what food is working for your hound? Percy seems to not do well if there's any fruit added. He was on IAMS green bag (I think that's the one?) and then they changed the formula and it was not good. I need another food with no fruit. Preferably something not too expensive. I wanted to put him back on Kirkland because it's so much cheaper, but I think it has fruit. I may try anyway just to see. We had him on that for a while early on, but everything was a mess early on, so who knows.

Edited August 12, 2019 by cgs

[greysmom]

"Not too expensive" is in the eye of the beholder.   Just me, but I would stay away from the Kirkland for a while until the FDA gets the whole "Dilated Cardio Myopathy caused by food" issue sorted out as it has been implicated in causing some cases.  If you do decide to use it I would do one of the flavors that does include grains and not a grain-free/legume protein one.

I recently switched my guys to Purina Pro Plan - the senior to Bright Mind (turkey formula), and the non-seniors to Sensitive Stomach (salmon formula) - and I couldn't be happier about the results.  Our old food was "fine."  We had no problems, no issues, everyone was doing great, I could buy it at my local grocery store, no DCM reports on the food.  But nobody was really enthusiastic about it.   They ate it, and that's about as good as it got.  The senior was beginning to refuse to eat it occasionally.

Since the switch I can *really* see a difference in our 12 year old - he's much more interactive with both us and the other dogs, he will actually play inside and outside a bit as his physical condition allows, he just feels more "present" in the house and it's obvious he's feeling good.  And for a 12 year old that is really everything I could ask for.  He also seems to like better and find it more palatable.  He eats with more enthusiasm and rarely leaves any behind.

The others really love the new food as well, and they will hold their weight on much less food.  Another added benefit is that they are pooping less and less often, and the poops are better (and they weren't bad before).  I should add that I choose the Sensitive Stomach formula because it has no chicken in it, in case our intolerant dog would eat it.  She won't but Felicity likes it a lot, and we're bringing in another girl at the end of the month, so two dogs will be eating it.  But there are several different formulations with different protein sources and flavors depending on what you need.  I wouldn't hesitate to switch to a different Pro Plan formula if needed.

It is about twice as expensive as our old store brand, but I'm so pleased with the results that I don't even care.

[cgs]

Thanks, those don't have fruit so I might try one of them. He does well on chicken, so I'd like to stick with that. Those do have higher protein, which I thought was usually not as good for greyhounds.

Thanks for the advice on Kirkland. I haven't paid attention to the dog food issues, but was looking at one of the Kirkland grain-free ones simply because it didn't have fruit. I guess I'll stay away from that now.

The Purina food is a little bit more than Eukanuba, but not a huge amount more. And I can get some today. Always a bonus if they sell it in stores. I have a Petsmart a mile from my house.

As for poop, Percy had gotten to a point where he'd poop 3 times on his morning walk and sometimes once on his afternoon/evening walk, but not always. Rarely in the yard anymore. So the poop was good. I don't want him to be pooping more. The higher protein worries. me, so we'll see.

[Jerilyn]

I also switched my old girl to Pro Plan Bright Mind. And I was also worried about the much higher protein than what she had been eating. It was not an issue for her at all.

[cleptogrey]

he might need home cooked rice and chicken as well as Flagyl for a LONG time. annie had a bout of colitis and was on Flagyl for 6 months.  no ill effects, there can be problems if overdosed with the drug. we weaner her off of it s-l-o-w-l-y. 

bed bath and beyond has rice cookers- treat yourself and buy a 20# bag of rice and call it a day. worry about food when the issue is really under control. if you are really concerned about nutrition- add a multi-vitamin. my scottie who had compromised kidneys lived on rice for 8 years. my saluki who survived parvo lived on it for 5 years. felix who had both pancreatitis and kidney disease(lyme disease did him in) was on it for over a year. cheap broken rice does not digest well, better short grain california sushi rice digest the best.

purina pro plan focus is an EXCELLENT- highly digestible food. that is what annie was on once her colitis cleared up. she gained all of her weight back and there were reduced stool, nothing wrong with that. 

RX VITAMIN CLAY is an excellent supplement for their gut and helps somewhat w/ loose stool. but it sounds like your in for FLAGYL for the long haul. and do stay on top of  the worm status.

just reread your post- SKIP THE FRUIT!!!! consult w/ your vet. often flagyl(standard dose is 1 week) needs to be repeated. if loose poop resumes after a short break CALL YOUR VET!

Edited August 13, 2019 by cleptogrey

[cgs]

Definitely skipping the fruit, lol. He would always get a really gurgly stomach with that. Do other people have trouble with fruit? It was just a guess mostly, based on when he was fine on IAMS green bag until they added fruit. Then I looked back at the other foods we had tried and they all had fruit.

And my husband's family is from Guam--we have a rice cooker, lol. His parents served rice at every meal, including breakfast. I've never made rice in a pot on the stove in my life.

The vet did say that some people keep their dogs on flagyl once a week or so, or just every now and then (not completely sure what she said about that, but I got the impression it could be a regular supplement kind of thing.)

[cleptogrey]

when annie was on flagyl for her colitis it took 2 months to get her down to 3xs a week, a good month to 2xs a week then we were able to eliminate it. it's a slow wean. so, i don't have to preach the benefits of rice to you. does MIL have a recipe for CONGEE? that's the very very best!  mmm....ship some up here, i love the stuff!

[cgs]

Had to google congee, so no, I've never seen my MIL make that.

I'm not sure we're in dire straits here with flagyl or anything really wrong. Before I took him to the vet, he'd been doing that crouching, but not pooping thing. He hasn't done that again. He just had one bout of diarrhea one morning (after a first poop that was ok), and that was it. He'd had the flagyl daily for about a week, then was off it for over a week (maybe 10 days) before the diarrhea. He's been fine, so we'll see how the next few days go. Just made another huge pot of rice.

[Daks]

We were feeding pro-plan sensitive and stomach salmon for awhile, he was doing ok on it, but was eating more than the recommended feeding and still wasn't putting on weight. He suddenly went off it and refused to eat it any more so we switched to pro plan savor chicken and he's doing a lot better. Less poops, less frequently. 

[FiveRoooooers]

Half of my campers are on Iams green bag without issue. The other half are eating Purina Dog Chow *Natural* that I buy from Chewy. It’s Dog Chow without the crap dyes etc and those campers are doing great on it. 

[ramonaghan]

7 hours ago, Jerilyn said:

I also switched my old girl to Pro Plan Bright Mind. And I was also worried about the much higher protein than what she had been eating. It was not an issue for her at all.

I started adding this to Sweep's Fromm Classic to transition her off that (she got a clean bill of health, but your story about their lack of transparency really bothered me) and she is also doing great on it! 

[Jerilyn]

1 hour ago, ramonaghan said:

I started adding this to Sweep's Fromm Classic to transition her off that (she got a clean bill of health, but your story about their lack of transparency really bothered me) and she is also doing great on it! 

I'm so glad to hear sweet Sweep is doing well and enjoying her food! Fromm really let me down, their lack of disclosure almost cost Lila her life.

Bright Mind for all the seniors!

I really should be collecting some kind of commission from Purina. 

[greysmom]

I was concerned about the protein level, as well, and have had zero issues.  It seems to be highly digestible without the gas and tummy troubles I had been expecting from the higher protein.

Most of the "boutique" food brands who tout their ingredients and grain-free-ness have been belligerent about their foods being implicated in the DCM problem.  They won't even acknowledge that there *is* an issue.  For companies who say they care more about pets than other "junk" dog food manufacturers,  I've been extremely disappointed in their collective non-response.

[ramonaghan]

1 hour ago, Jerilyn said:

I'm so glad to hear sweet Sweep is doing well and enjoying her food! Fromm really let me down, their lack of disclosure almost cost Lila her life.

Bright Mind for all the seniors!

I really should be collecting some kind of commission from Purina. 

You totally should!  I'm grateful you shared about Bright Mind, though I'm still in denial that Sweep is a senior (turning 10 in two months!). Give Lila scritches from me.  

[cleptogrey]

19 hours ago, cgs said:

Had to google congee, so no, I've never seen my MIL make that.

I'm not sure we're in dire straits here with flagyl or anything really wrong. Before I took him to the vet, he'd been doing that crouching, but not pooping thing. He hasn't done that again. He just had one bout of diarrhea one morning (after a first poop that was ok), and that was it. He'd had the flagyl daily for about a week, then was off it for over a week (maybe 10 days) before the diarrhea. He's been fine, so we'll see how the next few days go. Just made another huge pot of rice.

pancreatitis?

[cleptogrey]

18 hours ago, Daks said:

We were feeding pro-plan sensitive and stomach salmon for awhile, he was doing ok on it, but was eating more than the recommended feeding and still wasn't putting on weight. He suddenly went off it and refused to eat it any more so we switched to pro plan savor chicken and he's doing a lot better. Less poops, less frequently. 

strange, a month ago i called purina to see if there was a change in recipe for the salmon and rice food- same reaction here. no change, chicken agreed. purina sent some coupons to cover the cost of the food. i donated the salmon kibble to the local shelter.

[DaintyDutchess]

My grey seems to like the Nutrisource Chicken & Rice-large breed. I am happy with the protein being 23% and fiber 5%. I do have to order it online though.  I also use Purina Pro Plan and have tried the Savor as well as the Salmon sensitive Skin & Stomach. All result in decent stools for her. Good luck with the food search!

[Daks]

5 hours ago, cleptogrey said:

strange, a month ago i called purina to see if there was a change in recipe for the salmon and rice food- same reaction here. no change, chicken agreed. purina sent some coupons to cover the cost of the food. i donated the salmon kibble to the local shelter.

He went off it once before, so I threw out the bag and got a new bag and all was fine, after he went off it a second time I called it quits. When I went to dump it out of the plastic bin it was stored in, the bottom had beetles and their respective larvae in the kibble. I don't know if it became infested before or after I put it in the bin, but I was pretty grossed out by it. 

[Bizeebee]

On 8/12/2019 at 3:21 PM, cgs said:

I don't know if this is a food issue or not. We've had Percy for 1.5 years. He's supposedly hookworm-free now, but even when he had hooks, his poop was under control (after the first few months.) He's been on Eukanuba large breed chicken for a very long time.

At the end of July, we were halfway through a bag of food when he started crouching to poop, but nothing would come out. That night, he was up every 20 minutes to go out, trying to poop. Every now and then, a liquid stream of poop would come out. Vet said no blockage, but probably inflammation. He went on an antibiotic, flagyl (or whatever it's called) and bland diet (chicken and rice) for a week and he was better after a few days.

About 10 days later, he had another bout of diarrhea in the morning. So back on chicken and rice with a dose of flagyl and the next day he was fine. I'm keeping him on chicken and rice a bit longer.

My husband is convinced he needs new food. I'm not (yet) convinced of that. Maybe it's a bad bag, but he was fine on it for half the bag. Then fine again for 10 days before he had trouble again. Did anything change with Eukanuba or has anyone else had trouble recently?

And what food is working for your hound? Percy seems to not do well if there's any fruit added. He was on IAMS green bag (I think that's the one?) and then they changed the formula and it was not good. I need another food with no fruit. Preferably something not too expensive. I wanted to put him back on Kirkland because it's so much cheaper, but I think it has fruit. I may try anyway just to see. We had him on that for a while early on, but everything was a mess early on, so who knows.

With just a couple of sporadic bouts, are you sure there isn't something he's gotten into, or particular treats (or something) that might correspond with the occurrences?

Our guy has some ongoing GI issues, and FWIW the flagyl didn't do much, but metronidazole did help.

[ramonaghan]

Have you tried Olewo carrots?

[cgs]

He's still having streaming poop issues. My daughter had a bad accident and was in the hospital, so I dropped off this thread and we've just been trying to feed Percy chicken and rice with a little kibble until we can deal with whatever his issue is. I got a bag of the Purina and have been giving less than one cup with chicken/rice, but my husband who walks him in the morning said his poop is really bad. So just chicken and rice. No idea when I'm going to get back to the vet. Maybe I can just call and explain that I don't have time to bring him in because when I'm not working, I'm driving an hour to visit my daughter in the hospital. (She had a bad head injury and will be ok, but it's going to be a long road.)

[cgs]

I may add in Olewo carrots, but I don't think this is just an issue of food, even though I started it with a question of food. Maybe it is colitis and I do need to keep him on flagyl a lot longer and frequently. 

[greysmom]

Call your vet and explain your situation.  This has been going on long enough that it could permanently damage his digestive tract, whatever the root cause is.  If he needs to be on flagyl to get better then he should be.

[cgs]

I called the vet and they suggested Hills prescription diet i/d for sensitive stomachs so I guess we'll try that, but I feel like it's more than just a sensitive stomach. 

[Bizeebee]

19 hours ago, cgs said:

I called the vet and they suggested Hills prescription diet i/d for sensitive stomachs so I guess we'll try that, but I feel like it's more than just a sensitive stomach. 

Something we've found as we move through a "is this IBD or something else" type issue with our hound is that even if the cause of the problem isn't food, the wrong food can exacerbate whatever it is, so vets definitely want to rule out food as a problematic variable. If the food switch makes a big difference then you know it's likely be the food, and if it doesn't, then you know you've probably ruled that out.