Me & my Yorkie

Hi, I’m hoping Someone can help. I have a one year old yorkshire terrier diagnosed with dietary responsive disease/inflammatory bowel disease. Symptoms have always been vomiting and anorexia. Specialist vet advised exposing him to a protein not exposed to before ie duck and purina ha. He copes well on this but isn’t keen on purina. He prefers dry food as a dog food. Have tried so many dog foods but he hasn’t reacted well. Really keen to find something he tolerates as cooking duck is costly and inconvenient. Thanks in advance.

Not sure if you know of a food called pure, it is a dehydrated food that you mix with warm water, I know that it is a wet food but they do a duck version .
I have just looked and Milles wolfheart they do a duck dried food and they also do a pork one too,may be worth a look they also do small bags to try so you do not have to buy a large bag at first. I hope that you can sort out some food for your dog. :slight_smile:

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My 6lb dog has also had terrible inflammatory digestion symptoms in the past, and the culprit was carrageenan, a thickening agent used in many wet foods, so it is not always the main protein/meat content of a food which causes the upset.

I know your dog prefers dry foods, but my dog has Natures Menu raw nuggets for his evening meal every day, and they come in several varieties, including duck, rabbit, venison, all of which may be novel proteins to your one-year-old dog. I take four nuggets from the freezer and put them in the fridge where they defrost by the evening. He has ‘wet’ food for breakfast.

I strongly suggest keeping a ‘food and symptom’ diary, noting everything he eats, all the ingredients, and all the reactions he has.

Also, my dog became much more interested in food at 18 months old than when he was 12 months old, and he eats almost anything compared with when he was younger and raised on dry, so your dog may change his preferences over time. He could be anorexic because he connects eating with discomfort and vomiting. I sometimes wonder if some animals know when a food is ‘not right’ for them, at least I have reason to believe this is possible from my dog and cat, but it’s just a theory.

I would give him one food only (no treats or scraps) for a few days to monitor his reaction, otherwise the result will be inconclusive.

Hello and welcome to the forum Kellycox80. AFAIK the only way to determine exactly what the dog is intolerant of is to do a proper and thorough elimination diet. This usually starts with a product that has hydrolysed protein. Royal Canin Sensitive has duck and tapioca - it might be a useful starting point. If you are minded to conduct an elimination diet the support of the vet or veterinary nurse would be helpful. You need to be strict about not giving any extras.

Storage mite allergy can be a cause of the symptoms you describe and for this reason it might be worth eliminating dry food for a period of time, even though your dog prefers it. You would then need to look at wet or raw foods.

You need to be looking for single protein foods with simple recipes. Maybe have a look at Different Dog because the products fit these parameters. The company has a vet so you can ask for advice. However, it is expensive compared to dry food. Of course if it helps the cost would be negated by not having to visit the vet so often. Alternatively We Cook for Dogs will offer advice and their supplements to enable you to home cook for your dog. This is useful because you know exactly what the dog is having and you can choose your own protein source.

It might also be worth considering giving a good, canine specific probiotic such as YuDigest.