There has been something "going on" with Charlie's tummy for a while - finding out what, exactly, has been complicated by the various op he has had, and so a lot of drugs and anti-inflammatories. We have had intermittent bouts of vomiting - once, for a whole week he would vomit up his breakfast 15 minutes after eating it, like clockwork... - and runny poo that goes and then clears up. I finally had both the time and a dog free of taking drugs to introduce foods one by one over a period (to rule out random runny poo events that are unrelated), and then remove them and introduce another and so on. It seems like the cause of the problem is chicken. Just everyday chicken. (And cheese, but I've long known that). It seems to be commercial chicken, ie the pre-cooked stuff supplied by supermarkets. So possibly not chicken but something in mass produced chicken....or possibly I haven't quite got to the bottom of it, but I'm feeling quite sure at this point. I've been reading a bit about it, and it's much more common for a dog not to tolerate a protein source than a carbohydrate source. Interesting, I thought. It's also a big relief. I've been able to return to high value training treats using turkey and no runny poo....
Well, that's a great thing to have found out! As you say, now you can manage it Maybe something the chickens were being fed...?
I think very likely. We got a chicken from the local farm, cooked it ourselves and that didn't have the same effect. But I haven't had enough organic chicken in order to tell whether there is a difference in how the chicken is produced. But chicken based kibble, and commercially produced supermarket chicken, are both definitely problematic for him. It seems, anyway. And yes, it's great just to be able to buy something else and carry on - it's very convenient to buy pre cooked meats time to time rather than mess with sardines and so on.
Lots of bought treats have chicken in them too, I know a dog who is very allergic to chicken, it affects his skin - they have to watch out for anyone giving him treats as he has a flare up with the smallest amount. Glad you've got to the bottom of it
Yes, it's very true that commercially produced treats upset his tum - I stopped buying them ages ago. Good point about the chicken, I hadn't made that connection. Hmmmm.....do smart bones have chicken in? Those also give him explosive poo....
I thought they were veggie based Julie. A quick google says otherwise......depends on the brand. Just NOT rawhide. http://www.amazon.co.uk/SmartBones-Value-Pack-Large-Chicken/dp/B0047IPC2W
The commonest food allergen in my dermatology referral practice is beef and dairy products swiftly followed by chicken. Approximately one tenth of my chicken-allergic patients tolerate organic chicken with no issues - I assume it is residues of mass production in the non-organic chicken which sets them off.
I had similar problems with murphy. At first it was just beef that triggered his colitis but he then became intolerant to chicken in any form. I changed him to fish protein and he was fine for over five years. Fish is obviously well tolerated which is why I've only ever fed S&S fish protein in food and treats. Am I right in thinking you feed charlie Royal Canin sensitivity control. That protein is duck now but when I fed it to murphy it was fish. The advice with sensitive stomachs is to feed a single protein source and a protein which isn't commonly used. I wonder why commonly used protein affects them more ? Bob and Lush do venison and duck breast treats and fish treats smell enough to be high value. http://www.bobandlush.com/treats.html
Yes, when the problems started, my vet told me to feed single protein and single carbohydrate food - which was RC SC21 duck and tapioca, and things cleared up pretty much - that was just after his first op, and at the time (it was a busy time!) I was just glad of a solution and didn't investigate further. But because I didn't know what the problem was I did continue to feed various chicken based things - the chicken I used at gundog training was not mass produced, and cooked at home (I'd buy a whole organically produced chicken to cook in advance), and he was fine, this threw me off the "chicken is the problem" trail. Very interesting....it is looking that way with Charlie, for sure....
Jen, commonly fed proteins cause more problems because you cannot be truly allergic to something you've never been exposed to before. Hence in the UK we avoid beef and chicken in exclusion diets as they are very common components of dog food. There is a lot of evidence for atopic disease (less so for food allergy) that sensitization occurs in pups up to about 20 weeks of age hence pollen allergies are more common in spring-born pups.
My previous dog had an allergy to chicken - it was really hard, especially at that time (almost 20 years ago now) to find even kibble that didn't have it! I eventually discovered a lamb and rice based kibble that was great, but treats were a huge issue until a few years ago when they finally started making those with something other than chicken!
I avoid all types chicken. Since then Rory has been really well. he has had no colitis since I have done this and his last bad bout was at christmas. Luckily There are lots of foods and treats out there now to try. He's on white fish and potato and is finally gaining weight. I was considering raw but have some health issues myself which would cause a problem with this.
Scooby used to get runny poo with pre-cooked chicken & smart bones, but we didn't really have long enough to delve into it.
I was told by my vet to stop feeding our boy chicken in a bid to find out what causes him to be so itchy. He said that it's the usual protein to stop feeding when looking at skin allergies. Snowie is on a raw diet (raw meaty bones, whole body parts) but still has allergies. He used to vomit after eating pork meaty bones, usually in the middle of the night several hours after dinner. So we stopped feeding pork and he improved dramatically and looked so much better, didn't have that oozy look in his eyes. I would like to say the same for the chicken, but it's been three months since we've stopped feeding him chicken and he is still very itchy. Of course he does pick up all the discarded chicken bones that people throw out on the beachfront during our walks, so it's not a complete protein elimination.
