# My GSD has a VERY sensitive stomach



## kilemark

Hello,

My GSD is named Gunter and he is 86 lbs and 15 months old. From day 1 he has always had a very sensitive stomach and it has been a challenge to get his poo from not being loose or him having diarrhea in the middle of the night. 

1) Gunter has been tested for worms and parasites, etc.
2) He does pretty good on Boiled chicken, rice and canned pumpkin but I want to find a dry food that works. 

I have tried high quality food like Orijen and Acana but I think they were too much for his stomach. A couple of months ago at the suggestion of another GSD owner I switched him to Diamond Hi Energy with the thought that is may not be as rich as the other foods. It worked for a while and his poo looked much better. Unfortunately, Diamond had a recall and he had a tainted bag which affected his tummy for a few weeks and he lost some weight. Once I found out about the recall I went to boiled chickenand rice and then I tried to go back to that food (post recall) but he wan't interested in eating it and I don't blame him. 

I switched him to Royal Canin GSD 24 food and he loves it but he has had very loose poo which is expected because of the change but it has been almost two weeks. I even had the vet give me some meds to help the diarrhea and it hasn't done that well. So now I am thinking this food might be too much for him. I'm caught in the middle of him really liking the food and it hurting his stomach. I have considered switching to a very limited ingrediant food like Blue Buffalo turkey and potatoe or something other limited brand. Thoughts? Thanks.


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## Kaiser2012

Between having picky eaters, sensitive tummies, and allergies, its taken years to find a food Dakota does well on. As for Kaiser, he nixed his first food immediately, did well on the second (but itched) so now we are on number three. At any rate, some dogs just cant handle richer foods. Some dogs can't handle eating one meal a day. Try a limited ingredient diet, and feed at least 2 meals a day. Remove ALL treats from the menu for now, and just be patient


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## GSDGunner

Oh boy, can I relate!  I have one of those sensitive tummy GSD's.

After a boat load of different foods (Cal Natural, TOTW, Evo, Innova, Wellness, Acana & Orijen to name a few), I went with Precise Sensicare and it worked. No more messy poos and his tummy tolerated it well.


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## GatorDog

Keep in mind that too much food can also cause loose stool. I obviously don't know what your boy looks like without a picture, but I can tell you that 86lbs is large for a young GSD. Maybe you could post a picture to help give us an idea?

You could try a limited ingredient food as well. My dog did well on the Natural Balance limited ingredient diets. I would also limit treats for now as well until you can determine what the issue is. If the vet hasn't determined any underlying health issues, than he may just not tolerate some of the ingredients listed in the food, in which case, the limited ingredient diet may work well.


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## Gretchen

Sorry to hear about your dog. Our girl has had similar problems, but not diarrhea in the middle of the night. She was diagnosed with colitis and is 2 years old. She was itchy and frequent bursts of watery diarrhea or poop that looked like soft serve ice cream. The vet thought is was allergies, but we could not do the trial for 6-8 weeks where you just eat one food. Now that time has passed, we see much of the stomach/colon upset is caused by stress.

RC GSD food is the one dry food that our dog really liked and would eat it without adding anything to it. We also use it for training treats to keep the feeding consistent. But like you, her poo is only semi-firm on the GSD food. We are trying one more brand, just switching so it's too soon to tell, its Innova Large Breed formula. We've tried most others ( grain, grain-free, potato, sweet potato based, etc) no firm stool, or she did not like the taste. We finally are opting for dry food with added glucosamine like the large breed formulas, since nothing really works. Pumpkin does not work for us, but white rice does (our dog just does not like it).

If you are willing to try raw for a meal, we like prepared raw like Nature's Variety, or dehydrated raw like The Honest Kitchen you might see some improvement. We did. The down side to these foods are that they are more expensive, and sometimes I forget to thaw out the Nature's Variety. My dog loves the raw, she is luke warm to the dehydrated raw but will eat it if I add some boiled chicken or lamb to it. 

We sometimes add supplements to her food, it's hard to tell if they really work but we are willing to try anything at this point. One is FortiFlora by Purina - you can get it at your vet or order from amazon. The other is Perfect Form by The Honest Kitchen.


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## Gretchen

GSDGunner said:


> Oh boy, can I relate!  I have one of those sensitive tummy GSD's.
> 
> After a boat load of different foods (Cal Natural, TOTW, Evo, Innova, Wellness, Acana & Orijen to name a few), I went with _*Precise Sensicare*_ and it worked. No more messy poos and his tummy tolerated it well.


The stores in my area do not sell this brand. Is this new, or can you only get it online? Sounds like something I should look into as well.


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## kilemark

GatorDog said:


> Keep in mind that too much food can also cause loose stool. I obviously don't know what your boy looks like without a picture, but I can tell you that 86lbs is large for a young GSD. Maybe you could post a picture to help give us an idea?
> 
> You could try a limited ingredient food as well. My dog did well on the Natural Balance limited ingredient diets. I would also limit treats for now as well until you can determine what the issue is. If the vet hasn't determined any underlying health issues, than he may just not tolerate some of the ingredients listed in the food, in which case, the limited ingredient diet may work well.


Thanks, I will keep that in mind. The vet says he will be around 100 lbs or so once he finishes growing. I will post a picture of him when I get home. I think I may try the Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison. Are you familiar with that type of Natural Balance?


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## Anthony8858

Is there a chance that it's not the food?

How much are you feeding, and how often? If he's pooping during the night, does that mean that you're feeding late?

Also, are you giving treats or pig ears, bully sticks, etc...?

I find that a combination of either too much food, and the treats mentioned could very easily be the culprits.

You should post a picture, and a complete breakdown of what and how you feed him.


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## zyppi

Try switching to a food based on salmon and sweet potatoes.. May be type, not quality of food.


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## GSDGunner

Here is the Precise Sensicare formula from their website. They have a retailer locator on the top right.

Precise Pet Products | Sensicare


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## staceybullock

*I had the same problem*

I tried everything. Finally went to raw. Now I feed a chicken leg quarter twice a day. I periodically add liver, chicken necks, beef soup bones, and his poop is firm, and it turns white and then to powder in a few days. I thought raw would be harder, but I go to the Grocery store a couple times a week...chicken legs at $.78/lb is cheaper than dry dog food.


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## GatorDog

kilemark said:


> Thanks, I will keep that in mind. The vet says he will be around 100 lbs or so once he finishes growing. I will post a picture of him when I get home. I think I may try the Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison. Are you familiar with that type of Natural Balance?


My dog did very well on that formula. I'd definitely recommend it.


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## ChancetheGSD

staceybullock said:


> I tried everything. Finally went to raw. Now I feed a chicken leg quarter twice a day. I periodically add liver, chicken necks, beef soup bones, and his poop is firm, and it turns white and then to powder in a few days. I thought raw would be harder, but I go to the Grocery store a couple times a week...chicken legs at $.78/lb is cheaper than dry dog food.


Please please please do more research!!! This is NOT a balanced diet!!!!! You need much more variety in proteins and more muscle meat than that!!

@Kilemark: If your dog did well on Diamond Hi Energy prior to the recall, you should give Sportmix Energy Plus (black bag) a try. Good food, good company, never been recalled. This is what I feed and it's great. :thumbup: Not to mention it's high calorie so you feed less than many other brands.


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## kilemark

Anthony8858 said:


> Is there a chance that it's not the food?
> 
> How much are you feeding, and how often? If he's pooping during the night, does that mean that you're feeding late?
> 
> Also, are you giving treats or pig ears, bully sticks, etc...?
> 
> I find that a combination of either too much food, and the treats mentioned could very easily be the culprits.
> 
> You should post a picture, and a complete breakdown of what and how you feed him.


He tends to eat late sometimes but I don't think that is the issue. If he goes in the middle of the night it is because he has an upset tummy. When he he is feeling good he can go all night no problem. I gave up treats a long time ago.


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## kilemark

*Update to my GSDs stomach issues*

An update to Gunter's stomach issues. At the suggestion of forum members I switched Gunter to a limited diet. Over the course of the last two weeks I have bought 5 pound bags and tried Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison, Blue Buffalo Basics Turkey and GO Duck Formula. All three have worked great! Gunter has been going solid and his stomach issues have all but gone away. I did some research into all the dog food brands I have ever tried and the common ingredient that all of them had was whole eggs. Gunter did pretty good on some grains before and he can tolerate boiled chicken and rice but any food that has ever had whole eggs has torn his stomach up. 

At some point I may try to give him some food with chicken, grains and no eggs but right now I am going to stick with Blue Buffalo Turkey and Potato because that is what he likes the best and it is working. Thanks everyone!


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## Jaffa

*GSD sensitive stomach*

Hi , I am new to this forum but I have just found this thread about GSD sensitive stomachs. I have a female 3yr old GSD which I got from a GSD rescue group here (NSW Australia) 6 months ago. She has an incredibly sensitive stomach. The vet suggested a diet of boiled chicken and rice to try to settle it down ..that didn't work After a couple of weeks I cut out the rice and put her on a raw diet....within 24 hours she began to improve. I now know she cannot eat anything at all with any grains so I give her raw meat (generally chicken) and Earthborn holistic grain free kibble which she loves. It has made a huge difference to her. However I still have to be very careful. She ate a pigs ear 2 days ago and has had diarrhea for the past 24 hours so that means no more pigs ears. My advice to anyone with a similar problem is to cut out the grains first. It may be an easy fix.


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## Madjukes

What really helped for my pup's sensitive stomach was adding Eagle Holistic solution. Sprinkling that on helps him digest his foods and comes out with solid poop. Not as firm as I'd like it, but no more gooey messes.


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## lzver

kilemark said:


> Thanks, I will keep that in mind. The vet says he will be around 100 lbs or so once he finishes growing. I will post a picture of him when I get home. I think I may try the Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison. Are you familiar with that type of Natural Balance?


Unfortunately you've got a lot of company here. Our Jake is another GSD with a sensitive tummy. He did have roundworms and tapeworms when we got him, but from 3 - 4 months old, Jake had chronic diarrhea. After several more fecal tests and trips to the vet, we ruled out worms and parasites and the vet recommended trying grain free and adding probiotics to his food.

So we settled with Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Potato. He was on that for about 2 weeks and we were finally seeing some improvement. Then the Diamond recall came along and his bag of food was part of the recall. So as much as I hated to, we quit cold turkey. Right now Jake is getting Acana Pacifica and he's doing ok. He's finally growing like a weed and his skin and coat look great. However we still struggle with loose stools. For every 2 good poops, he'll have a loose one. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. 

Jake is getting neutered this week and getting the pre op blood work done, so I'm curious to see the results of that. Just to make sure everything seems good on the inside. I'm going to talk to the vet when we are there for neutering. When he has a a few bad poops in a row, I add a few spoons of Medical High Energy Gastrointestinal canned food for a few days and that gets him back in track.

Time and patience are key. It is so frustrating when your dog isn't 100%. Good luck!


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## Jaffa

This has been great to find others with similar problems. Sometimes it seem I take 2 steps forward then go back wards again. She has had numerous visits to the vet and every conceivable test (apart from operating for a biopsy). She was on a drip for a couple of days because she was vomiting & diarrhea constantly but the past couple of months we have been relatively OK. She has a flair up every now and then, but I can usually track it back to her snaffling something she shouldn't. But it is so hard to get her to put on any weight. She is still very ribby. The Eagle solution looks good but I don't know if they ship to Australia


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## chelle

Nat Bal LID Venison was a godsend to two of mine, for different reasons. Excellent food, with a not that excellent pricetag.  I gladly pay it, though. Well worth not having to stress out and worry all the time.


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## Tatonkafamily

We have a Rotti with similar issues. We had luck with Acana Pacifica, but it was hard to get, then we tried BB Fish and did well for awhile but then all the dogs got diarrhea from it (after reading online it seems to be a big problem).

We switched to Wellness Simple Solutions. I mix 1 bag of the salmon with 1 bag of the duck and it has been terrific. All 3 dogs love it, have great coats and good stool. Best of all, our Rotti no longer gasses us out of the room!


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## Jaffa

Update on Keisha.. Thanks Madjukes. I checked out the Eagle solution and they don't ship to Australia but I found something similar over here...digestive enzyme powder for dogs as well as a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt /day. She has been on it a couple of days and it seems to be working a treat!! I am gradually taking her off the prednizone that the vet had prescribed for the IBS he thinks she has, and it is the best she has been for ages. When I have tried to wean her off the prednizone before she would have relapses but this time, so far, things are going well. So thank you Madjukes for your advice.


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## Sunflowers

staceybullock said:


> I tried everything. Finally went to raw. Now I feed a chicken leg quarter twice a day. I periodically add liver, chicken necks, beef soup bones, and his poop is firm, and it turns white and then to powder in a few days. I thought raw would be harder, but I go to the Grocery store a couple times a week...chicken legs at $.78/lb is cheaper than dry dog food.


Chicken not a good protein to begin with. 
Please consider adding beef heart, chicken hearts, raw sardines, beef muscle meat, turkey, turkey necks to the diet.


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## Magwart

I went through this with my old girl, when she was younger. She did great on Natural Balance LID foods, but it took a lot of trial and error to get there. Once we figured out what food worked for her, her tummy settled down. 

Another tip: she also did a lot better when we started adding *Prozyme* to her kibble.


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## Zisso

While I never tested my boy for it, my vet suspected that he had IBD. Based on that suspicion, I decided to treat it as if it were the Dx. I started feeding raw. Immediate change. Meanwhile I also found a kibble he could tolerate and do well on. I also began giving probiotics. He has been pretty good ever since, although he does still have a loose stool every now and then. 

Since that time, after feeding raw/kibble for two years I was forced to go back to a kibble only diet. I was laid off too long and could no longer afford to feed my two raw. But they have remained well on TOTW High Prairie. 

I am hoping that after my move (less than two weeks! EEK!!) to another state, that I can make some solid connections that will enable me to go back to at least one raw meal a day. They do so much better on raw!


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## nct

Hi everyone, my pup is having the same trouble. Threw up quite a bit, took him to the vet but everything seems normal, but they put him on Royal canin, which is expensive and I'm not sure about the quality. We tried TOTW and he continued to throw it up. Back to Royal canin and he was fine, tried natures variety he threw up again. My question is- will he throw up no matter what I change his food to for a few days before he's used to it? Or should I top that food immediately and then try to slowly introduce a new one? I'm thinking of trying the wellness simple limited ingredient


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## Rosy831

Whenever you change a dog's diet you shouldn't do it immediately. Slowly transition by mixing a small amount of the new with the old for a few days, then half and half for a few days and so on until the old food is phased out.


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## nct

Rosy831 said:


> Whenever you change a dog's diet you shouldn't do it immediately. Slowly transition by mixing a small amount of the new with the old for a few days, then half and half for a few days and so on until the old food is phased out.


As of right now the old food is Royal canin, but when we introduce another kibble even slowly- after 2 days he throws it up or starts heaving- should we stop that kibble immideatley or is that normal?


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## Rosy831

No, it's not normal. If your vet says they can't find a reason what I would probably do if I were determined to change the food is give her boiled chicken and rice for a day or two to reset her digestive system, then introduce the new kibble. If she still has problems I would take her to another vet.


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## carmspack

how old is this dog and what was he fed before you got him .


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