best dog food for diarrhea/sensitive GI tracts

[bevo barry]

Help! I have two Great Dane pups, about 5 & 1/2 months old. Both came down with parvo shortly after I purchased them and, after hundreds of $ later and many days in the pet hospital, both survived. One of them subsequently developed clostridia difficile enterocolitis and had to be treated with Flagyl. Of course, with those two disorders that Dane has been having loose stools most of the time we have had her. After the C. diff episode was resolved, we found that the dog food we had been using (Nutro) seemed to give that Dane diarrhea. We started preparing her ground beef + rice, cooking it ourselves, and she did fine. We have been trying to titrate her over to "regular" dog food so that we can cut our grocer's bill, but when we do that her diarrhea returns. I know that just a change of diet can provoke diarrhea in pups. But what does Hornfans recommend? Eventually the vet may have to work her up for "enteropathies", but it would seem to me if she had one of those she would not have done so well with the home-cooked meals of "people food".

 

[Schlieffen Plan]

Our dog had digestions problems and we ended up having to feed him home cooked boiled potatos and ground turkey for a while. Then we went to petco and found a dog food with limited ingredients made out of duck and potato. It worked like a charm. The limited ingredients means it is less likely to irritate the dogs system. Plus a dog is less likely to be allergic to unusual dog food choices like duck and potato or salmon and sweet potato. I think there is a venison and brown rice formula also. We had to find out about this food on our own because the vet never told us about it, (even though he knew about the problem) I think because he didn't sell it.

 

[l00p]

Def. talk to a vet but remember to gradually change food or expect a blow out. In your situation you did not have a choice but try to gradually mix a little of the new food and increase it over a weeks time till it is all the new food.

Hill's makes some foods for dogs that is prescription only and for extreme cases. My sisters Beagle is on it and he cannot eat any regular foods, it has to be venison based. Lucky dog!

I would check labels of any food you try and you can figure out what they are maybe allergic to. But for sure contact a Vet who has been through this tons of times in the past.

There is nothing quite like the hell of a dog with exploding bowels to ruin a day. But the sad thing is the dog is miserable too so the sooner you get good results the sooner they are back to being happy on the inside and out! Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[accuratehorn]

There are the premium brand foods with sensitive digestive tract formulas, and prescription only dry and canned foods. Hard to say which will be the answer, you have to try one of them.
But the treatment for parvo could have killed all the "good" bacteria in the digestive tract, which causes the symptoms you mention. If this is the case, give dogs some buttermilk or real yogurt for a few days, and this will build the bacteria back up. It works (if they have that problem). Shouldn't hurt anything if the real problem is a food allergy or some other condition.

 

[Texanne]

My brother and SIL have two Danes, one of whom has been through some pretty nasty cancer treatments. These dogs eat dry food (I don't know which brand), but I do know that the bro and SIL mix in about a half cup of plain yogurt for every meal. This seems to keep the dogs' systems in check and doing well, and the dogs like it, too. They scarf it up!

 

[14tokihorn]

I might add that certain yogurt brands have proprietary bacterial cultures (Ex: Danon).... this even before the current media blitze / craze... as in - featuring Jamie Lee Curtis.

So one brand may do your pup better than another.

 

[Texanne]

My bro and SIL use Dannon plain.

 

[taco]

big dog with diarhea...not fun.

If you are in Austin go to Bark n Purr. they have a lot of different foods/stuff and can help you. I agree with the bacteria advice. Try yogurt or some sort of additive to help with that

 

[accuratehorn]

I'm telling you, buttermilk is just as good, and dogs love it.