# Ideas for a puppy with a VERY sensitive stomach?



## Jax (Feb 14, 2010)

I've got a 14/15 week old GSD mix who seems to have some major stomach issues going on. I'm begining to suspect a grain allergy, as he seems to be getting itchier by the day as well. 

Since we got him at 9/10 weeks he's has problems with loose stools and upset stomach. Apparently he had Giardia when we got him, which he's been treated for twice and we go back to the vet Friday to see if it's completely resolved, but even allowing for that, while on treatment/antibiotics his stool never progresses past fairly loose. The vet has us feeding him a prescription formula that he wanted us to just use for the duration of the antibiotic, so we won't be continuing on with it. He's very open and doesn't really care what we feed him, as long as he's healthy, so we're not being pressured by the vet in any way. Meanwhile, I just discovered a rash in his armpit area that looks rather unpleasant (which will also be addressed at vet on Friday) and I'm becoming increasingly frustrated and feel terrible for him. He acts completely fine and has been tested to make sure its nothing life threatening. 

I'm not up to feeding him raw at present and truthfully don't live in an area or have a lifestyle where it is convenient to do so, so I am looking for a good kibble that may help. I'm not sure WHICH grain may be the culprit here, if it's a grain allergy, so I don't know if it would be best to start trying to cycle through foods or what. I don't want to put him through a LOT of testing out of food, because switching food ALSO makes him sick quite easilly. I have suspicions about wheat, as the few treats we've given him with wheat seem to cause worse upset. My concerns about a totally grain free food like EVO are that it may be too rich for him and harder to digest - in reading around I've seen where some dogs seem to have a problem easilly digesting this much protein. 

So - Innova? Innova EVO? Orijen? Blue Buffalo? Canidae? Wellness? Taste of the Wild? Other? Anybody have any idea what would be best in this situation? Or, even more so, what EXACT version of these would be best? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I'm at my wits end. None of our other dogs ever had any problems like this (though we did have one who had some seasonal allergies) so I'm not really sure what would be best. Since I'm going to have to go on at least an hour drive to get any of this, I'm trying to get some feedback before making the trip as opposed to just running up and down the road 

P.S. - anyone that's successfully cleared up and moved on from Giardia is welcome to offer any advice too - what a beast!


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## brandiw (Jan 20, 2010)

I have a dog with food allergies as well and it can be a struggle to find what works. I know that Blue Buffalo has a new food called Blue Basics and it is a limited ingredient diet for dogs that suffer from food allergies, though it does contain brown rice. It also doesn't have as high of protein levels as some of the grain free foods like Taste of the Wild, EVO, and Wellness CORE. That said, I have had good luck with the Taste of the Wild in the past; all of my dogs have been able to tolerate it, even the one with allergies.

Oh, also, don't overlook the fact that your dog could also be sensitive to the protein source. Beef and chicken are common allergens.


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## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

I second the limited ingredient food. It would be much easier to determine what it is that he is so sensitive to with a limited ingredient food. What are you feeding him now (I might have missed it..) ?


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

My pup was pretty much the same from when I first switched him over from the food his breeder was giving him (Eagle Pack). After trying Innova Puppy & California Natural to no avail, I decided to switch him to raw (commercial kind). He did fantastic on it, so I figured he might be allergic to one of the grains in the kibbles that I was feeding him. I decided to try EVO and it worked really well for him. No loose stool, no gas at all. Besides EVO, he's been on Orijen and Blue Wilderness, both of which he does really well on. That said, I think that my pup is allergic to rice. I have TOTW on my rotation list as well, but I haven't gotten there yet


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## Jax (Feb 14, 2010)

He's on one of the prescription science diet's until he finishes the last two days of metronidazole. (And please, no lectures on SD and how it's not the most healthy and/or is a ripoff - I agree and I don't care for it and am not going to keep him on it. The vet wanted something that would pass quickly and easilly through his system while he was trying to get rid of the Giardia/finish the metro, which it is doing, if nothing else.)

Previously he was eating blue buffalo chicken and brown rice for large breed puppies, but with the giardia it was hard to say what sort of effect it was having on his stool. Not sure what he was eating before we got him. According to the vet he shouldnt be STILL having loose stool with the meds/food he put him on, and he certainly shouldn't be itchy and flakey. 

I'm starting to worry it might be a problem with chicken - most of his food, even what he was eating before we got him I believe, was some sort of chicken base.

I see that most of the premium foods I mentioned now have a fish based option and was thinking I might start there - but then on the other hand, some people claim that a food with fish as the major protein source is going to lead to an unhealthy dog. Since I don;t know much about this food, I'm not sure if this is just hear-say or what, so I'm just not sure what to do. Like I said, just totally new for us. Our previous dogs ate all manner of different foods, most in the mid/midhigh-range and most of them did fine. I'm perfectly willing to get this one a super-duper fabulous food if that's what he needs.. I just wish I had a better idea of which one to try  

Thanks for replying so far!


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Initially I suspected a chicken allergy as well, so when I switched my pup to raw, he was on beef. And then EVO Red Meat. But oddly, he's been doing really well on Orijen puppy (which is chicken + turkey), so I guess he's not allergic to chicken after all.

Orijen and Acana have lots of non-chicken formulas - Orijen Regional Red, Orijen 6 Fish, Acana Grasslands, Acana Pacifica.

TOTW High Prairie is chicken-free as well. You could look into one of the red meat formulas. I personally prefer red meat formulas to fish based formulas.


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## brandiw (Jan 20, 2010)

Many of the limited ingredient diets have novel proteins such as duck, venison, or buffalo if you are not comfortable with a fish based diet. I have fed a fish based diet to my dog with food allergies and she has done very well with it, however, the drawback to using fish based foods is that they can eventually develop an allergy to the fish and that would limit your options of food for a dog suffering from food allergies.


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## josh83 (Jan 26, 2010)

I haven't tried this one yet but it's suppose to be very good for dogs with allergies and sensitive stomachs it's called Canisource http://www.canisource.ca/

I don't know what availibility is like for it it may only be available in canada.

My next suggestion would be Wellness has a line of food special for dogs with allergies and senstive stomachs Called Simple soloutions. Which is good not sure if its grain free though.

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_simple_food_solutions_index.html


My Dog had a pretty sensitive stomach I actually have her on Orijen Adult formula now and she is doing fine and loves it.I personally think that the filler in those crap foods alone can cause this and by switching to a high quility food like Orijen can resolve it.

Good Luck


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## SFdoglovr (Feb 17, 2010)

Our pup is also sensitive, and vomits on certain foods. Have you ever looked at the dehydrated raw foods? The Honest Kitchen is fantastic, just-add-water and let sit for 10 minutes! Its not too expensive to ship and you can buy small samples to try. Its priced competitively with the higher end kibbles, but if you have a bigger dog it might be tough. Its a nice alternative if kibble is too processed for your pooch. Here is their website: http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/. Good luck!


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## Mr. V (Jan 28, 2010)

Hello Jax,

GSDs just love those food intolerance issues. Above information sounds pretty good to me. You can def. try a novel protein source or one of the hypoallergenic Rx diets. Please keep in mind that if your dog does indeed have intolerance/allergies to some particular protein source and you decide to put him on a food trial, he will need to be on that food for up to 6-8 weeks for confirmation. This means that he can't consume any treats or any other food (even those table scraps) the entire time he's on it. I know it's a tall order (not giving treats), but, absolutely necessary to determine presence of food allergies. 

Despite the regular beating that wheat and corn take on this website, they don't top the list of usual suspects in food allergy cases.


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## Jax (Feb 14, 2010)

Thanks guys. Those were mostly the lines i was thinking along, and as such, we're transitioning him onto Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Sweet Potato and Venison right now. I figure we'll try that for 2 months and see how it goes. 

I'm really hoping it's corn, not wheat or chicken, as it REALLY seemed like it got worse on the science diet rx stuff, which is quite corn heavy. But that may just be wishful thinking. It could very well be chicken. 

I did know it takes quite a while to see results, and I realize also that we have to get rid of all his other treats for now - quite sad because he absolutely LOVES the various kinds of chicken based chews from Waggin Tail for his night-time crate treat. I just ordered some sweet potato chews and pigs ears, so I guess he'll have to make due. 

I would like to supplement with another protein source since the natural balance LID isn't very protein heavy - he's had pretty much no exposure with anything other than chicken and the random bit of beef or two, so I'm wondering if duck or beef might be worth trying. Sigh.


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## Jax (Feb 14, 2010)

On second thought, a lot of LID diets are fish heavy - so perhaps I may try that too assuming that it's unlikely he'll be allergic to it, instead of something more common like beef. In which case.. can I feed him fish? As in, go to food store, buy fish, and serve? Lol. I know a fair amount about dogs, but absolutely nothing about feeding them fish (or anything for these sort of issues, aaaah!), or if there are certain brands they're not supposed to eat. I assume mercury is a concern for them too? And I know that in processed kibble people worry about ethoxyquin.


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## poopy (Feb 25, 2010)

Mine is having similar problems (see ***we are a spam-free website...please review forum rules***currently I'm trying Blue Buffalo Basics....we'll see if I have any luck. Everything else I've tried has backfired on me.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

poopy said:


> Mine is having similar problems (see ***we are a spam-free website...please review forum rules***currently I'm trying Blue Buffalo Basics....we'll see if I have any luck. Everything else I've tried has backfired on me.


Please respect the spam-free nature of this forum. Also, your siggy is a bit large....


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## croll326 (Jul 25, 2009)

I think my pup might have an Allergy to Instinct Duck Meal & Turkey Meal.

He has been scratching and never did on EVO Red Meat. Is there an allergy formula that is grain free? I dont want to feed him EVO Red Meat forever.


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## Jax (Feb 14, 2010)

That's part of why we went with Natural Balance - Their Limited Ingredient Diet for allergy lines only use one starch and one protein. The one I'm feeding only uses potatoes (sweet potato and regular potato). We've feeding the sweet potato and venison, but all their other LID's also seem to use potato with a different protein, except for one, which is lamb and rice. 

Wellness has an allergy line that uses rice as the only carbohydrate with a single protein. I'm sure other brands that make allergy diets have this too - but a lot of them DO include oatmeal or rice. So something to be wary of. Vet told us today that sweet potato was our best choice (and he didn't recommend the natural balance and doesn't sell it, so I don;t think he was just humoring us), and that he's never yet encountered a dog that was intolerant to them (Though it's always a possibility!). Most of these diets use "novel" protein sources - venison, buffalo, duck, kangaroo, sometimes fish. Things they probably haven't encountered before.

As an above poster said, something to think about though, is that if you're going to bother to do an elimination/limited diet, you can't feed ANY treats that don't have only those ingredients - including rawhide, pigs ears, real bones, etc. 

If he does well on the EVO red why don't you want to keep feeding it?


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