Its been a while now since I had to change Sams diet due to an intolerance to fats which was making him quite poorly and , fingers crossed , its going really well , his poo is always firm, his coat has improved and he is generally in fine fettle I decided to put Millie on the same regime, it seems to suit them both . The base is a reduced amount of non wheat kibble which is fairly low fat, then added to this is raw meat or fish, raw lean beef mince or turkey mince is great, plus small amounts of raw offal . Being close to the coast, I`m lucky to have some fish donated , usually damaged fish which cant be sold , they both love this raw, plus low fat cottage cheese is a hit if I don't have meat or fish . They have veg a couple of times a week , lightly cooked as I read that dogs cant break down the cell walls of raw veg , todays veg is sweet potato which is really good for them, broccoli is also a favourite All in all, the effort of the regime has been 100% worthwhile , both have good stamina too which, for Millie as an oldie, is great, maybe I should try it myself
Re: Update on Sams diet . Sounds absolutely great!!!! I give Obi veg too and we always cook it (for the reason you mention).
Re: Update on Sams diet . That's great news that everything has settled down stomach wise and it sounds pretty manageable too
Re: Update on Sams diet . Hi Kate I'm interested to hear about Sam's diet as it sounds like Lottie has similar issues. She kept having runny poo so a couple of months ago I put her on a raw diet. All seemed to be going well but then she had a few bouts of colitis (or something similar), which I think may have been caused by the biscuits/kibble I was giving her as training treats. Now I avoid giving her anything with grains, cereals etc and all seems to be ok – apart from the odd blip which may be because she is a dog-poo eater (even though she knows it makes me mad!) so she may get some grains etc from that. I also wonder whether she may be intolerant to high fat food (we haven't had good results with lamb so far). I wondered what symptoms Sam was having when he was unwell and what kind of non-wheat kibble you use? Thanks Ali
Re: Update on Sams diet . Hi Ali , I suppose technically , the kibble isn't completely grain free, but its wheat free , I use Skinners Field and Trial, either Salmon and Rice or Duck and Rice , the latter being slightly lower in fat . Sam had awful tummy troubles , bouts of the runs big style where I was getting up in the night to let him out , he had numerous explosions indoors too which upset him terribly . The Vet was 99% certain that it was fat intolerance and advised me to switch to a more raw diet but using lean meats like rabbit and turkey but he can tolerate raw minced beef just fine and raw fish, but not raw salmon which causes probs . Lamb is a definite no for Sam too , far too fatty for him and causes tummy ache . It might be worth exploring the lower fat foods Ali , low fat cottage cheese is also excellent plus low fat probiotic yoghurt , its like a catering kitchen at times but so worth it to have Sam well
Re: Update on Sams diet . Thanks Kate. Lottie had some in-crate explosions overnight which were very stressful for us all and meant we stopped putting her in the crate at night earlier than planned (she was 5 months). She was on plain chicken and rice for quite a while in December because of stomach issues but was still having runny poo most days, which is why I wonder if she's intolerant to grains and cereals. So far we haven't had long enough periods of stability to start testing what it is that causes her problems. Things are going ok at the moment (fingers tightly crossed!) so I'd like to add beef mince and fish to her diet to see how that goes. As you say, it's worth all the aggro to try and find a diet that suits them and keeps them well. Six months ago I'd never have believed that I could be so obsessed by dog poo!
Re: Update on Sams diet . Ah Allie,sorry you've had such extreme tummy troubles too,it took me a while to get Dexter stable on a suitable kibble so I can really sympathise with how worried you will have been. I'm a firm believer in you are what you eat and how diet tweaks can really make a difference to health and well being and your persistence and commitment proves that it works in the dogs too Kate,great to read you see Millie benefitting too x
Re: Update on Sams diet . I'm really glad Sam is doing so well on his diet Kate. You know how neurotic I am about upset stomachs it's great you've found something that's keeping that under control and also keeping Sam and Millie in fine fettle. ;D
Re: Update on Sams diet . Good to hear that Sam is doing so well on his new diet and that Millie likes it too Ali, Harley had issues on and off for months with her diet - similar symptoms to what you say Lottie has. I put her onto Bob and Lush food and this really helped - it is grain free. We are currently changing her to a barf diet and so far this has been really good
Re: Update on Sams diet . Thanks for the info, Naya. I hadn't heard of Bob and Lush dog food – it sounds interesting. Are you going completely raw with the barf diet?
Re: Update on Sams diet . Bob and Lush is only available online. It is quite expensive though. Harley will be on natures menu 5 days a week and raw 2 days a week. She lives the minces and U.S. doing really well with the raw meats so far. She is 60% Bob and lush 40% barf St the minute. Hopefully she will be barf/raw within the next month. Taking it slowly due to her sensitive tummy.
