Toilet Advice

C_J · Master

Toilet Advice

JENNY · Big Cheese

Hi

Poor Casper!
How long has he been on any of the foods before you have changed to a new one?
Do you add anything to his food?
Some people recommend a bit of natural yogurt in the diet to help settle digestive system.

-- Edited by JENNY at 13:53, 2006-02-07

C_J · Master

With the Hills I/D he was much better almost immediately, but then as soon as they changed the recipe it just went straight through him. I was in the process of introducing Burns when they changed the I/D and he went loose, so I had to see whether it was the Burns or the new I/D so went back onto just I/D but the new recipe wasn't agreeing with him so on the advice of my vet I took him off that. I then went straight onto Burns, (no point mixing it with something that doesn't agree with him) which I tried for about three weeks, but he was really bad on that. Changed him to Chappie, and he was a bit better, but he didn't seem to like it much and the vet wasn't satisfied with him on it. He was better, but not good enough. I think the reason he was better was not the food but that the colitis was clearing up. The vet then got me a bag of Walthams Intestinal and Casper was really good on that for a month or so, but now seems to be going backwards.

I have heard about giving natural yoghurt, but haven't tried it yet. How often do you give them it, and how much? I will speak to my vet tomorrow and see if he thinks I should try it. I am really willing to try anything, I am just so frustrated with this. He seems fine in himself, but it can't be nice for him

Thanks

JENNY · Big Cheese

I had a problem with my cat Jasper on Burns.
He was always loose so I took him off it.
I read about the yogurt in Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies. They suggest a dessertspoon of live natural yogurt every day to aid digestion.

There's always Arden Grange. I just changed Ziggy to that and the transition was fine with a gradual change from James wellbeloved. The details are on one of the links on the main home page. It is very good quality with no nasty ingredients.

CAROLE ROBINSON · Old Hand

Hi - don't know if you have ever heard of Burgess Sensitive? I put one of my dogs onto this when she first came to me because she was extremely loose no matter what I tried. She improved instantly and in my previous life as Follow-up Cordinator I have recommended this product to other people who had dogs with sensitive tummies, all with positive results. After a few months on Burgess, I gradually changed over to Arden Grange which I have continued to use for more than a year and find it suits all my dogs.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Hi, Jane

Here are a couple of previous threads that might help you. I've also heard that some greys don't do too well with white meat, so might Casper be sensitive to any chicken in his diet? You'll see from these threads that Calatria had similar problems with Belle, so maybe she can update you on how things are now.

Live natural yoghurt does help with a poorly tummy and you can give him a couple of tablespoons every day. Harry's tummy is more sensitive than Pearly's and we give him some yoghurt at the first signs of dickiness (which, more often than not, is extra-stinky wind!!).

Let us know how you get on,

Fiona

Previous info on soft plops

More info about soft plops!

max · Enlightened One

I agree with the natural yoghurt as it seems to work for my two, also a bit of scrammbled egg is very good for binding things up , but not to be given more than twice a week as it can give the opposite effect and you have a dog that is constipated. Nora

FAJ · Enlightened One

CAROLE ROBINSON wrote:
Hi - don't know if you have ever heard of Burgess Sensitive? I put one of my dogs onto this when she first came to me because she was extremely loose no matter what I tried. She improved instantly and in my previous life as Follow-up Cordinator I have recommended this product to other people who had dogs with sensitive tummies, all with positive results.

Just to back up what Carole says - I know of another sighthound rescue who calls this Burgess Superpoo, as it does such a good job of firming up what needs to be firmed up!

Chas · Old Hand

We have had exactly the same problem with Barney almost since we got him. We have him on the Burns Fish and Brown rice and seems to be doing really well on that - as long he sticks to that and gets no little extras (needed wellies this morning when opened the kitchen door - not sure what he's had recently). I understand the frustration of stealing as Barney will take anything he can get and we usually suffer for it 48 hours later. We have found that the rice based food he is on works better for keeping him solid than the cereal based foods. We always have loads of cheap white rice in the house too and Barney gets this as soon as we spot anything "loose" and has nothing but rice for a couple of days, which seems to work quite well. Have you tried maybe putting rice through Casper's normal food?

Does Casper ever have any Pedigree products as a treat ie Dentarasks or Jumbones? We have found that Barney's insides can't cope with these, and many other grey owners have said something similar.

There are a lot of helpful postings on the sections that Fiona posted.

Hopefully you will get Casper's problem "firmed up" soon!

Chas

C_J · Master

Thanks for all the advice! The old links that you put on were great Fiona, thanks. I guess its maybe just going to be a case of trial and error to see what suits Casper best.

Chas, I don't give him any pedigree chews. When he gets a treat it is only a rawhide chew but he hasn't even been getting those recently because I wanted to make sure he was ok on the new food. I have tried to be really strict with him, even removing the rug in the livingroom so he can't lie under my sons high chair and hoover up what's dropped. He's a great thief though and I can't watch him 24/7!

I was at the vets today and Casper made a big yelp when the vet was feeling his tummy. He felt it again and again Casper seemed to be upset by this. He kept feeling around and then Casper seemed to be fine! We had this problem with his leg too, we were never sure if he was really sore or if he was just being a big woose and crying everytime the vet touched him!! Casper is such a drama queen! Anyway the vet took some blood and has given me two weeks of super strong antibiotics as he still believes it is colitis. I get the blood results on Tuesday and will see then if there is anything going on with his pancreas etc. In the meantime the vet has advised keeping him on the Walthams food he is on just now and not adding anything else at the moment to see if the antibiotics clear anything up and if not then we are going to start mucking about with his food again and trying to add things to see what suits him best.

I am really grateful for all the suggestions. I was feeling very frustrated as I really thought we'd cracked it with the Walthams food, and then felt like we'd just gone back to square one, but now I have lots of your ideas to try once the antibiotics are over so I now know where to go from here.

Thanks again.

Jane

Calatria · Master

Belle eats Burns dried food exclusively, and it did help with the diarrhoea problem - but it didn't clear it up completely. The only thing that did was giving her much smaller meals. She now gets fed four times a day, and it's the only thing that works.

Even with this, she still has the very occasional bout of diarrhoea, but there's absolutely nothing to account for it! It happens even when her routine and feeding hasn't changed. Still, considering it was just constant diarrhoea before, putting up with it occasionally isn't a problem.

I hope Casper can be "cured" by finding the right food for him, cos there's no denying that feeding four times a day is a bit of a bind.

-- Edited by Calatria at 22:48, 2006-02-09

Suzanne · Guru

Hi Jane - sounds like youve been through the run (pardon the pun) of things....

I have my 2 on Arden Grange & it suits their stomachs fine - Murphy was a very diarrhoea dog for months & months when I forst got him - took ages to find the right food (AG) that suited him - you need to stick a new food out for at least 3 mths to really know if its just the adjustment time thats causing the runs...

my other thought was that, by the sounds of it, Caspar has been on loads of medication recently - that too can have the side affect of diarrhoea - a lot of meds do unfortunately do this to animals...plus all the trips to the vets/ops etc (TPLO - ouch!!) may well be equally upsetting his 'rhythm'.....??

sorry - thats all I can offer .....Im gagging in sympathy at the thought of cleaning up all that slop......

Give the wee scone a hug from me xx

Lesley · Guru

As Suzanne points out - antibiotics can kill all the beneficial gut bacteria as well as the ones they are prescribed to kill. Live yoghurt has already been mentioned - and a dollop of that on his food will help to replenish the beneficial bacteria.

Sim was also very loose for a long time when we first got him - months. Initially we discovered that he had horrendous worms, but even after that it took a long time for his 'motions' to have shape! All of mine are also on Arden Grange and it suits them all fine. No problem tummies on the whole, but every so often someone gets a bit loose and I immediately revert to the live yoghurt. They love it too which is a bonus for everyone!

I do hope you get it sorted! Cuddles to Casper!

Lucretia · Old Hand

I had problems with Billy up until very recently, and the oldest trick in the book has worked wonders for him - and improved life for me in more ways than one!

Go to your local Scoops Market (or equivalent) and buy a bag of coarse bran (the powered stuff, 12p per 100g, half a kilo lasts for weeks) and add a couple of tablespoons to your dog's food. I do this twice a day, and Billy can now eat anything from dentastix to puffed jerky and he still produces poo I can easily pick up in one go.

The long term benefits are important too, as too much diarrhoea can lead to bowl problems later in life.

Good luck, anyway!