Hi, just joined the forum, my name is joanne, I have 3 chihuahuas, 1 staffie and a french bulldog. Dog food is the biggest minefield for me and I’m forever researching and trying to find the best foods for my dogs, my middle chihuahua suffers from bouts of colitis, so I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts and advice and hopefully getting him on the road to recovery
Hello and welcome Chichimomma - as soon as I saw that username I had a sneaking suspicion who it would be! LOL
I do hope that you manage to sort this colitis problem out because I know it keeps coming back intermittently. As you know, one of my (now deceased Cairns) had it for the last few years of her life and it was awful - I tried so many different types of food but it kept coming back. Anyway, in case anyone has any suggestions, I’ll just fill in the background: the vet says to avoid gluten but he is on Canagan anyway, which is grain free - the filler is sweet potato. He’s on antibiotics right now and has had a steroid jab. He also has Buscopan for the colicky pain. I think I have read somewhere that wet food is best for this sort of thing (sorry no references) so I’ve just had a look at Natures Menu Country Hunter tins and the recipe in that looks quite good.
Hi Joanne and your impressive pack,
I haven’t had experience of dogs and colitis but I have IBS which is similar symptoms and do much better avoiding wheat and gluten.
Bad enough trying to find a good diet for one, mostly healthy dog, let alone 4 and a special needs diet.
hi and welcome let me guess one of the chihuahuas is the boss i love there character
you made a good move coming here before i found this site i wasn’t getting far trying to find the right food for my dog
but with this site i have found a few that i am happy with
Hello Chichimomma.
Sorry to hear about the colitis problem. I don’t have any experience of this problem. I will have to research this and see what I can find out.
I will only give advice on what I am sure about and what has worked!
Nice to have you on the forum and good luck.
Hello
I have had a research online and the condition is what I thought. I can recommend pro/pre biotics which really help with the flora of the intestines. It tops up the good bacteria. Nutriment the raw food manufacturer sell one that a vet has produced called Pet Plus. Details are on their website. It helps with digestion and flora for digesting protein, carbs, fat and vegetation. It does sound a complete pro/pre biotic.
I personally just use acidophilus and find it good just to keep the immune system up. I don’t need it for any health problem.
It is not medication it is a health food product.
Tripe is also a natural form of pro-pre biotic.
I look forward to hearing how your dog gets on. Good luck
Louise 
Hi everyone and thanx for your replies and advice, they are a lovely bunch of dogs but of course i am biased and yeah the chihuahuas are definitely the bosses of the house lol,
After reading lots of advice on this site and manufacturer’s sites i decided to go with nature’s menu raw I’ve only put the chi with colitis on it for now and he’s been on it for only 3 days so far so not long enough for me to tell if it’s going to work for him yet or not, I will get a tripe variety thanx for that, that was really good to know, he hasn’t had any tummy pains or diarrhoea since last week so I’m hopeful but I will keep you updated on any issues or improvement, thanx again
Thank you for the feedback. As you say, it is early days to tell if it is going to help, especially as colitis tends to be intermittent anyway. Please would you keep us informed of progress? It is always interesting to hear how dogs get on and might help someone else further down the line.
I was woken this morning by him and his poorly tummy again so upset i just don’t know what to do, he did have the duck yesterday tea time up to then I’d used the venison so don’t know if it could be that
Duck can be rich and may cause an upset stomach in some dogs. I have avoided it so far but have ordered a nutriment duck variety. (only one to see how it goes)
I hope he is better soon and it is just a blip. If my dog gets a bit loose, I give her a couple of spoonfuls of natural low fat yogurt and it seems to do the trick. Just make sure it is yogurt with nothing added. A friend was talking about giving one of the probiotic drinks and many of them have artificial sweeteners in. A big no no for dogs.
I was told just yesterday by the Nutriment customer services lady that duck was higher in fat so I too am wondering if that might be the problem. Maybe it would be best to stick with one sort for a week or so.