My bitch is 11 months old and have had her since 10 weeks of age. She came with Harringtons which she was apparently weaned onto but would absolutely not touch it ( left three days and daren’t leave longer as so little). All my others are raw fed which I hoped to transition her too but given she was so frail, I moved her onto a sterilised raw which she ate. When she still had diarrhoea I wasn’t too worried due to the new food but this has continued to date. She passes very soft stools that are not formed to sheer watery diarrhoea. There is lots of mucus and always a little red blood at the end.
She has been seen several times at the vet who says she isn’t bothered by the blood!!! Surely its not right to bleed when you poo.
Eventually I placed her onto raw (which i believe is low residue) which is what I kept seeing and she had a new delight in eating but the diarrhoea has stayed and in the same presentation. At first she was on Bella and Duke but their offal content is 10% and I have experience of some dogs needing less than this otherwise diarrhoea commences and wondered if this was the issue so she went on DIY raw so I could control this better. I have treated twice for Giardia as directed and all the environment measures taken but still it carries on.
This girl looks so healthy, really shiny coat, alert and does not appear unwell apart from the diarrhoea. To be honest, the only thing that worries me is that she is rather a quiet well behaved dog and has never behaved like a puppy but again the vet does not seem concerned at all.
The vets don’t want me to feed raw and have advised Royal Canin Digestive care. I have been reluctant to change her food yet again but finally gave in and followed their advise. She very reluctantly eats it and I have to feed her in another room as all she wants is the raw that the others have. We are only a week into this and I am horrified at it’s nutritional content but should I continue or have you any other opinions. I keep taking her back to the vets but they say she is fine and just is a dachshund but surely this isn’t right. I don’t feed her any treats at all as anything I have tried has made things worse.
Hello and welcome to the forum. I am very sorry that your pup is having such a difficult time with this health issue. First of all, I agree with your vet that it would be best not to feed raw food. I have nothing against raw feeding but when the gut is compromised, as is the case with your dog, it may not be able to handle the bacterial load that can accompany raw meat and offal.
I also think that dry food is not the most digestible for dogs like yours so the only two other options that I can think of are a good quality wet food with a simple recipe or home cooked food. Of those, the latter would be my choice.
You need to be sure that your dog has no giardia or infection so have another poo sample tested if you can. Blood and mucus in the faeces are a sign of severe inflammation and possible infection which might need treatment with suitable antibiotics. Next, I would definitely start to administer a good quality canine specific probiotic such as YuDigest. Dogs that have inflammatory bowel disease lose the ‘good’ bacteria and the microbiome needs to be reestablished. If your dog is not lactose intolerant, plain Kefir is a useful adjunct to the diet.
If you are able to conduct an elimination trial using home cooked food, I think this might be the best thing because you will then know if there is anything that she cannot tolerate. We have plenty of information about this on here and on the website (use the search box and look for ‘elimination’) . However, I do think that there is value in consulting a qualified canine nutritionist who can guide you through all this. It might be costly at first but then so are veterinary visits and if you can find out exactly what is going on here, it could pay dividends in the long run. Remember too that all home cooked food needs supplementation, chiefly with calcium and omega oils. If this is omitted the dog runs the risk of becoming unwell. It also needs to be properly balanced. Most home cooked dog foods require a protein content of 60%, the remainder being made up of suitable carbohydrate, fruit, and vegetables. A good nutritionist will be able to assist with suitable recipes.
It’s been a while, wondering if you were able to fix the problem. My bulldog loves soft food and we have similar problems.