"sensitive" dog foods

princess_bride

One of my dogs has Inflammatory Bowel Disease and can't tolerate most commercial dog foods. At the moment, she's on Royal Canin Sensitivity Control, and is doing quite well on it, but I'd love to find another couple of foods that I can feed her, so I can rotate them to ensure she doesn't build up a sensitivity to one in particular. My big worry is that if I feed her the same food constantly, that she will become intolerant of that too, and then what do I do?

Anyway, does anyone out there have experience of IBD in dogs, and what food does well for them? I'm looking into getting some of the Arden Grange sensitive food - has anyone used that and found it good?

Ta!

anniehoo

Chicken and rice is a suitable mix for dogs with IBD. You could do it up as that on its own or mix it in with the brand you're buying.

princess_bride

Sadly chicken seems to be one of the foods she can no longer tolerate

kildara

Our lad had some skin issues and also "loose motions" while on Royal Canin and so after a consultation with a skin specialist we changed onto Wafcol Salmon and Potato and he is fine since.
I realise this is not the same condition as yours but may be worth a go?

Also, Wainwrights (made by Pets at Home) do a Salmon and Potato food that also agrees with him.

olaola

My PIL's labrador has been on Royal Canin sensitvity for about 6 years now. And has never had problems staying on the same food. Is there any reason why you are expecting your dog to react after a certain amount of time?

I thought with dogs you are better off keeping them to one food? As changing can upset their stomach?

JemimaPD

Advice on changing a dogs food is always the same, if there is no need to change it then dont. However, for whatever reason the need for change is then definately wean the dog over to a new food very very slowly. Depending on how sensitive the dog's stomach and digestive system is - it can take up to three weeks. So patience is a virtue in this situation. Usually while weaning the dog off the food slowly it will become apparant if the dog cannot eat the alternative food within a matter of days. Then just revert back to the normal foods and try again in a few days once their system is back to normal.

A substitue food could be "Hills Prescription Canine Food for Sensitive Stomach". Your local vet supplies this brand and if it works then you can look to buy it online with delivery to your house.

koneko

One of mine has a very sensitive stomach, she's on Hill's Science Plan (Chicken, for puppies) and has no issues with it. Anything else I've tried her on her has either run right through, or just been soft.

ahaaha

our fella has irritable bowel too - he was v bad and underweight. spent a fortune in vets... anyway as a last resort we changed his food to Hills Science Plan for puppies (chicken) and he's been thriving ever since. and no bowel issues whatsoever! if you do change foods make sure you do so gradually over a few days.

Roisinmor

Hi,
I work in a pet shop and we have quite a few customers who have dogs with the same problem. The food that nearly always works for them is Burns dog food. It is available in a range of flavours (fish and brown rice is popular, as is pork and potato). It is a very high quality food and the feedback from customers is brilliant.
Hope this helps. If you need to know where to get it, contact me.

The Sweeper

This is just a suggestion, but try reading up on raw diets - BARF (stands for bones and raw food, or biologially appropriate raw food). I've heard of a lot of people with very large breed dogs who have suffered terribly with IBD and have had excellent results after switching to raw food.

There is a PILE of information on the internet about it - but beware the group forums, the raw food converts can be nutrition nazis and very unfriendly to new users.

I feed my cats a combination of good quality kibble (the raw fooders would assassinate me for that) and raw meat - a combination of muscle meat and organs (heart, tongue, liver, kidney) and bone (my butcher grinds whole chicken carcasses and sells them for $1.50 a pop). If you get the proportions right (and there's lots of information on that) your animals can show a marked improvement. One of my cats has anal gland issues and the introduction of bone into his diet seems to be making a difference.

My mogs also eat less at the moment, and feeding raw is a LOT cheaper than feeding commercial pet food. Offal is really cheap - but it needs to be very fresh, so you need to find a good supplier and then you need to investigate what supplements you may need to use if you freeze the meat (it can lose some nutrients when frozen.)

As an example on price, if I were to feed my cats the recommended two tins per day, each, of the higher end wet tinned cat foods, plus say a bag of kibble over two weeks, the cost to me would be ($1.50 x 2 tins) x five cats = $15 a day x 14 days = $210 plus a $20 bag of kibble = $230 for two weeks.

Feeding raw, including supplements, I can feed them for two weeks for $40.

The whole concept of raw food is a bit daunting and honestly, the most important thing to do is feed your animal something that is practical, affordable and achievable for you, but it could be worth investigating in cases like IBD.