Hi sb020,
My boy is a Staffy same as your girl got the white fur & pink skin he’s 8 & 1/2 years old now & has IBD, Pancreatitis & Skin Allergies & it has taken me 2-3 years to work out his diet for all his illnesses, I found “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb limited ingredient, single protein kibble helped with his IBD & firmed up his poo’s, he seems to do real good on the TOTW kibble, it only has 338Kcals per cup & TOTW uses Purified water & Patch doesn’t get his Pancreas pain, no acid reflux, no vomiting & no nausea, but the fat is 15%max…. then I tried other kibbles I thought he can handle the TOTW 15% fat kibble but I didn’t realise the Kcals were over 400 Kcals per cup, so that means the kibble is more dense & is harder to digest, he gets his bad Pancreas pain & whinges for me to rub the area where his Pancreas is when he eats kibbles over 380Kcals per cup… also when a kibble was higher in carbohydrates & fiber, over 4%-fiber he gets his acid reflux & Pancreas pain & seems unwell, then I read higher fiber diets aren’t good for dogs with Pancreatitis…..
Now I rotate between a few different foods, I feed 4-5 smaller meals a day, Patch can’t digest 1 cup of kibble all at once, it must start to expand & sit in his stomach & something happens & he start having his pain, so I give about 1/2 cup kibble at 7am, 9am 5pm & then his wet tin vet diets at 12pm & 8pm…. I was cooking for Patch lean pork mince rissoles with a whisked egg, some chopped up broccoli, chopped parsley, a leaf of kale & 1 grated carrot all made into a small round rissole ball & baked in the oven then I boiled some sweet potatoes all cut into 1 spoon size & I’d freeze sections so I just took out the day before & put in the fridge to thaw, I added NAS Digestavite Plus powder to balance the meal but the beginning of this year I changed where I buy my lean pork mince from & the fat must have been higher & Patch started vomiting & vomiting up un digested rissole he got his bad pain right side & was put on the Hills I/D Chicken & Vegetable stew, I think they use chicken & pork liver it doesn’t have as many ingredient & there’s no Beet Pulp like all the other Hills I/D wet formula’s has, he starts his scratching & is a bit itchy but he gets better with his Pancreatitis & like my vet says just bath him twice a week & add his cream….
I do not use any of the Vet diet dry kibbles they are all too hard to digest, I do a simple test, get a glass of very warm water & put about 2 kibbles in the cup/glass, a good easy to digest kibble will float to the top of the water & only take about 15 to 30mins to go soft all the way thru, all the vet diet kibble & other some premium kibbles sink to the bottom & can take up to 3 hours to go soft all the way thru Purina, Sensitive Digestion, Hills vet diets & Royal Canin vet diet kibbles are the worst for digesting & these formula’s are for dogs with intestinal stress ….
When I was feeding kibbles that were hard to digest I didn’t know & poor Patch got his pain, nausea & would sometimes vomit back up all the in digested kibble 4 to 8 hours later, it would say easy to digest on the kibble bag…
“Canidae” is another excellent kibble look at their “All Stages Platinum” has both grains & potatoes but very easy to digest & is around 8-9% in fat, fiber is 4%max, Kcals are 342 per cup & Canidea “Pure Meadow” grain free, 10.80% max fat.. http://www.canidae.com/dog-food/products
You don’t mention are the foods you feeding wet or dry or both?? was the vet diet the wet tin food & which I/D formula is yoiur girl doing good on? I feed the Hills I/D Chicken & Vegetable stew 156g tin & the Royal Canin Hypoallergenic wet tin food cause Patch has food intolerances, I cant feed certain ingredients he starts getting real yeasty & itchy skin, paws & ears, chicken makes his paws red & skin itch but it doesn’t bother his stomach & bowel & cause any Intestinal stress, so I rotate when something has chicken in it & he only gets it a few days then I stop & feed the Royal Canin HP wet tin food, you may find it easier to go thru a Nutritionist to make a special diet & use “Balance it” to balance the meals.
https://secure.balanceit.com/ there’s recipes on this link for Balance it..
Maybe stick with the Hills vet diet for a few meals & feed another brand kibble for the other meals, feed 4 smaller meals a day, like what I’ve been doing with Patch & he’s doing well again…..
If you go on this face book join this group. “Canine Diabetes Support and Information” then look for the “Files” on the left side & click on the 2nd document “CDSI Diabetic food options chart” scroll down to the wet tin foods as some of the kibbles are low in fat BUT are too high in fiber for a dog with Pancreatitis just read the fiber % on any dry kibble you feed & stay around 4% fiber & avoid any weight management/weight loss dry kibbles some are lower in fat but they add more fiber to keep the dog feeling fuller longer….
also when you read the fat on a wet tin food, the fat hasn’t been converted to dry matter (Kibble) the wet tin foods on this chart have all been converted, eg: 11.11% fat DMD there’s a lot of really good wet tin food formula’s if you live in America on this chart….
When you look & read at a wet tin if you read say 4%min fat when you convert 4%min fat that’s around 16-20%max in fat its best to email the food company & ask what is the fat % in ????? when converted to dry matter..
I hope you’ve gotten some good information from my experience with Patch & your girl gets better….
.
