[Sherri G]

Hi there –

I have a four year old English Bulldog (Oliver) who is…”special”. Ha! He has a very sensitive stomach along with some random other issues. Oliver had to stop eating kibble at age 2 because while he doesn’t have Mega Esophagus, he was having kibble get trapped in his cardiac sphincter, causing him to randomly and sporadically regurgitate. Soft, pate-style food and a Vegan Digestive containing Slippery Elm, Marshmallow and Licorice finally stopped that issue. Going to canned food, Oliver gained weight. He began a prescription diet food (canned) exactly one year ago and has lost 12 pounds.

A week and a half ago, Oliver began having awful gas (something of note: he does not receive any “people” food) which led to extremely horrible diarrhea. And when I say “diarrhea” I mean a gushing geyser. (sorry!) Naturally, we went to our beloved, trusted vet. After two trips and some tests (blood and stool) nothing out of the ordinary was detected. She felt he could have simply built up an intolerance to his food. She suggested switching to I/D (canned) to help with diarrhea and a course of Metronidazole.

After 3 days on I/D and Metronidazole, his diarrhea became worse. We switched to a chicken and rice diet and 7 days of Tylan. He is mid-way through the Tylan and our vet would like us to call when he finishes and then decide on food options.

After researching and making myself crazy (is there anything worse than not being able to make our “fur kids” feel better?), I started reading about raw food. I knew nothing about it until yesterday, when I spent hours upon hours of reading. I am not a meat eater myself and would definitely use a commercial brand – but we have yet another issue: Oliver cannot digest carrots.

After HOURS of research, I have found only 3 flavors of 3 different brands that do not contain carrots. Of those 3 brands, Primal Formula (Turkey/Sardine) seemed to be the “best rated” food. I have ordered a small bag to try.

So.. my questions are:
-Since Oliver is on a chicken & rice diet, would/should we fast him before trying the raw food? I’ve read different opinions on it but most dealt with switching from kibble.

-Do any of you have experience with your dog having chronic diarrhea or sporadic periods of diarrhea and you feel raw food has made a big change?

I apologize for the extremely long post. Our Oliver is complicated and we give him the best care we can, following our vet’s advice. I haven’t spoken to her about going raw yet but she leans more towards homeopathic and naturalistic approaches to everything so I suspect she will be in favor of it. I guess I’d like some advice/input/thoughts if anyone would care to share.

Edit: Since switching to Tylan Powder with chicken & rice, no diarrhea – just very soft stool.

Thanks so much,
Sherri (& Oliver)

• This topic was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by Sherri G.

[Sherri G]

Edit: Since switching to Tylan powder and chicken and rice, no more diarrhea – just very soft stool.

[theBCnut]

If your vet thinks it might be a food intolerance, then switching to chicken and rice might not be a good idea for very long. It might be an intolerance to chicken or rice.

You shouldn’t have issues switching from homecooked to raw, just start by giving him a little bit of the raw as a treat and make sure that it doesn’t trigger anything, then replace a meal with the raw, maybe a small meal at first, and increase the amount slowly until you find the right amount to feed him.

[Susan]

Hi Sherri, I’d be careful with raw, sounds like your boy has IBD, like my boy, how long has he been on the cooked chicken & rice?? I’d leave him on the chicken & rice only if poos have firmed up, so everything can start to heal (Bowel) when they have bad diarrhoea they call it a “flare” then you must let the bowel start to heal & get better…I’d wait a good 2 months before starting anything new…
Dr Karen Becker has a book called “Dr Beckers Real Food For Healthy Dogs & Cats” she writes you take 3 months to introduce raw meat to dogs with sensitive stomach/bowel, first you cook the meat same meat all the time, then after about 1 month on the cooked meat you boil the meat less then less all along watching their poos, if poos are still firm, then just soak raw meat in boiling water for around 20-30sec just to kill any bacteria & the fat will dissolve….

Boiled rice can irritates some dogs bowel cause of the way the rice is shaped with sharp corners, Patch has very sloppy poos when he eats boiled rice, but he can eat grounded rice in kibbles…. Susan Lauten a dog naturalist said to try rice noodles instead of rice, you just soak them in boiling water for 10mins then drain water, I buy the thick flat rice noodles also some boiled pumkin about 1 spoon has helped Patch, start with 1 teaspoon then see how poos are going, then I add 1 big spoon with every meal… Pumkin soothes the stomach & bowel…
I’d get Oliver stomach/bowel settle first, the Tylan powder should be firming up the poos, the Tylan made Patches poos perfect just after 2 days but he was on a vet diet as well but the Tylan made him feel sick, he kept licking & licking his mouth, then I put 1/8 teaspoon in capsule & gave the capsule halfway thru his meal at night but the next day he was licking mouth, have you tasted the Tylan it taste awful, I also got a bad headache after making up 20 capsules, I stop using the tylan as Patches poos are firm already, if I stick to his diet….. the Hills I/D Low Fat GI Restore wet tin works excellent for Patch not the Hills I/D Gastro the fat% is too high at 14.3% the I/d Low Fat GI Restore has only 8% fat, High fat diets can cause bad diarrhoea also, that’s why I have never tried raw cause of the fat is tooo high…stick with meats that are lower in fat…

[InkedMarie]

I agree with skipping the chicken. If you want a pre made, have you looked at Vital Essentials? Also, look at Hare Today & Reel Raw. You can buy them, scoop it out, weigh it and feed. Hare grinds come in one, two & five pound chubs. Reel Raw comes in a variety of ways. I buy the complete mixes that come in ten pound bags that I re-portion. In fact, I have 30 pounds thawing in my spare room right now!

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