Poor doggie with stomach problems! Help!

[TexasErin]

That sounds like something in the IAM's is not agreeing with her to me as well. I have been feeding my dog Ekunuba (sp) since I got her, it was one of the brands reccomended by her vet.

You might look at the indgredients in the Iams and see if you can narrow it down, since she does ok on chicken and rice you can cross those off, so see what else is in the IAMs that might be causing it.

I'll check the ingredients. Maybe I should try to find something chicken and rice based. Or maybe she is just bound and determined for me to keep feeding her only real chicken and rice.

 

[TexasErin]

That is aggravating.

Is he drinking a ton of water? I know if my dogs drink tons of water it makes their stools looser.

I have a dog with a sensitive stomach too. We do not give any "dog" treats.

Do you give treats? Maybe something there is bugging the dog?

Being 130 pounds, she does drink quite a bit of water. But I haven't noticed her drinking any more than usual.
We don't give her any treats- other than glucosamine/chondroitin dipped in a little bit of peanut butter every night. But she has continued to have that even when she was just being fed chicken/rice and was doing okay.
A friend of mine at work suggested that I should look for some kind of sensitive stomach food.

 

[KDIPIAZZ]

You might want to start the whole protocol over again, this time with a quality food -no wheat or corn. Something like Canidae or Wellness is good. I've never had success with EVO as it is too rich for my LGD's. Nothing from a grocery store or Sam's Club, but Costco has a pretty good food around $25/bag

The first step towards treatment is to NPO her for 24 hours. This means nothing given orally, food or water. You want her stomach to rest completelyShe can have some ice cubes to lick on, as they will provide fluids in extremely small amounts. After there has been no additional loose stools, start back on small amounts of water a few laps at a time, every 1-2 hours. If everything is OK over the next 6 hrs, gradually increase the volume in one sitting. After for 12 hrs, you can start back on small amounts of bland foods. These include cottage cheese, boiled rice, boiled chicken, lean browned ground turkey or hamburger with the fat washed off, oatmeal, scrambled egg, or prescription diets like I/D (pick up a bag from your vet). Start with 1-2 tablespoons every 2 hours. After 6 hrs, increase to volume and decrease the intervals. A good goal for a 100 lb animal is 1 cup every 4-6 hours. If food stays down the next 24 hrs, feed up to 2
cup in 3 meals over the next 2 days. If everything is still OK, you can start adding back regular food mixed into the bland foods. Keep the mix at no more than 50/50 for at least 2 more days, then gradually increase until regular food is at 100%. Do not give supplements or peanut butter until the dog is back to normal.

Once my dogs are back to 100%% regular food, I always add 1-2 T of pumpkin OR plain yogurt. I freeze dollops and just add to breakfast. Thankfully, I haven't had any episodes since my last foster Akbash came in 3 months ago.

Were you able to take a sample of the bloody stool to the vet? They should definitely have a sample if this is continuing after strictly following the protocol.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

There are websites that rate the quality of commercial dog foods. Check one out and switch to a high-quality food with no fillers and other junk in it. I don't think Iams is a very good food.
Actually, I think there have been posts on this board within the last week or so about dog kibble, maybe do a search.
Good luck!

 

[LtlTee]

I feel for you....
We went through this with my Curly coated retriever a couple of years ago. He went from 92 pounds down to 72 in a matter of 3 months. We had all sorts of tests done and they all came up inconclusive. After many trials of different types of food (he was on Iams and Eukinuba at different times, foods for sensitive stomachs, etc.) he finally seemed to do OK on diet of burger/brown rice/veggies, which I still make for him two years later. The vet felt that he either developed an allergy to something in the dog food or developed irritable bowel syndrome, which I never knew dogs could get. Every 2 or 3 weeks he gets "irregular" and I have to give him fiber supplements and this gets him right back on track. With a diet of homemade food, I also have to give him vitamin supplements and Tums for calcium.

Good luck!