[slickshoes]

Hey everyone, first time poster and need some help.

Abby is a Chihuahua/Lhasa Apso mix, who has always been a picky eater. Yes I know that my wife and I are probably to blame for that because we have tried many a food to try and find one she really loves.

Up until about a month ago, she had been on the Innova Evo red meat and she seemed to like it, she was on it for a few months, but every three weeks or so would turn her nose to it and get sick with some loose stools, would usually skip a day eating and we would then get some bile thrown up cuz' her belly was completely empty. We kind of came to the conclusion that maybe this food was a little too rich for her, thus the loose poops once in a while, so we tried to start mixing in some california natural chicken, something simple. Well, out dog leaves the old and just eats the new.

What has followed this last month has been pretty much hell. It completely screwed up her system and we have been dealing with massive runs and bouts of throwing up. We took her in about a month ago and had a blood panel done, and a stool sample which both came back normal. At that time the doc gave her an injection to slow down her DT and a shot of antibiotics, sent us home with some antibiotics to start the following day. And in the meantime she was on the bland diet consisting of boiled skinless breast and white rice.

Well, we gave her the first few doses of antibiotic, then she broke out in a rash. Took her back in, he stopped the antibiotics and kept her on the chicken and rice. Loose poops continued. Then vomiting 4 times on Sat. morning this past weekend in a hour. Took her back in, same thing two shots. No food and water all day. Sunday morning, threw up twice again in the morning. Hospitalized her Sunday for fear of dehydration. Of course she was fine all day there, picker her up on Monday at 4.

He sent me home with Science Diet prescription I/D in the can, which we started Monday night in low quatities and mixed it in with some extra rice we still had. She's been doing pretty good, at 3 meals yesterday. Then this morning. My wife woke up and heard her belly rumblin', so she was on empty, super hungry. I fed her and 3 mins later up it comes in a nice thin strip. She was still acting really hungry, so I fed her again, and she gobbled it up again. I waited with her for 20 mins. and I had to come into work, but she was fine.

So at this point my wife and I are like WTF. Could it have been she was just too hungry and the bile got the best of her this morning?? Did she eat too fast?? I know this I/D isn't the best in the world because it has corn in it, but it doesn't have by-products. This is the first time she has ever eaten wet food out of the can, we've always given her kibble for fear of ruining her teeth.

Now this morning, her stomach wasn't rumblin' and she wasn't excited to eat like she has been, she followed me upstairs and just laid on her bed staring at me while preparing her food. I put it down for 15 mins. and she didn't even budge, so it's in the fridge and we'll see what happens when I go home for lunch.

I wanted to stay on this I/D until she at least had some normal stools then slowly mix some good kibble in, (we have Lotus lamb and rice standing by) but at this point we are kinda at the end of our rope and are kinda at a loss...what should we do at this point? Thanks guys for reading.

The critter in question:

 

[rosborn]

All the dogs I have had ... never feed them raw meat ... only dry food and never chicken or rice ... the only moist they get is cheese for training treats!!! anyways I give the NUTRO natural ~ they have special foods for sensitive systems ~ that is what it seems like she has .... Nutro natural has none of the garbage crap like A LOT of the other foods ~ it is so worth it to put them on a healthy diet ...

i dont do the science diet because it has to many harsh ingredients in it!!
my golden retriever lived to be 17, and my lab/collie mix is now 12 and very healthy!! and my puppy is 8 weeks .... so i must be doing something right ~ most large dogs average life span is 11 years old!!! not sure with little dogs like yours!
Well good luck and hope my advice was helpful!!!
oh, by the way when you change your dogs food it is better to ease them into the new stuff ~
the first 2 days 70% old food - 30% new food
the next 2 days 50% old food - 50% new food
the next 2 days 30% old food - 70% new food

hope this helps!!!

 

[Kathyy]

I have had to learn the hard way that an upset tummy needs to rest. If you eat when you have just thrown up it will probably come right back up again. Jumping around trying different stuff just slows recovery down. I know from experience that a bad antibiotic reaction can take over a week to clear up. I was bad when I had food poisoning, did the water sipping and the one bite of food at a time for only a week and apparently that bug needed two weeks of careful eating so my GIT was out of whack for over a month. Soooooo boring eating like that.

Give the dog a rest of at least a couple hours before offering liquids. Offer only a teaspoonful every hour for a while before offering a tablespoon. Try plain water, or low fat low salt broth. IF this goes smoothly then after at LEAST 24 hours you can offer a SPOONFUL of over cooked rice and white meat chicken so it is very low fat. If things are still dicey then try cooking rice in way too much water, straining out the rice and offering the water. Offer that good stuff every couple hours for at least a couple days. Move the chicken and rice to regular meals over the next few days. Then at last you can put in ONE kibble of the SD or regular kibble you have chosen. Since you are all on edge because of the long lasting trouble I would use the SD until the dog is stable. The home made stuff is yummy but so bland my dogs were happy to get saltier, fattier kibble.

I am thinking if a food is causing loose stool maybe try letting her skip a meal like she wants to and don't change foods when she is upset? Sassy spit up if I overfeed her so I needed to add another meal daily. Back when EVO was introduced I couldn't get my dogs situated on it, I think now I may have been overfeeding. Apparently overfeeding can make a dog fat but also cause loose stools if it doesn't get digested correctly.