# Any advice for a bad digestive system :(



## danehdee (Jul 31, 2011)

My pup (7 months) is constantly on and off with his diarrhea...
He has been to the vet several times and I've dropped off many stool samples...
Nothing has come up .. in good health, nothing he has been tested for has shown up... all they can think of is a bad digestive system!

We put him on Natural Balance lamb and rice for about 2 months now and everything went from night to day.. he had normal #2's and things were great.. and now is back to the same diarrhea!

I've called them vet so waiting to hear for some help! 
Anyone.. please.. lol !!!!

We thought maybe he should be off of grains... but grains sometimes help with bad digestive stomachs


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Did he eat something 'new'? Like a bone with marrow in it? New treats? Table scraps?
So many things can set it off. Good luck at the vets.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Wow, your post sounds exactly like what I went through with Jazz last year. Jazz suffered from extreme diarrhea and tests all came back fine. Have you tested him for SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth)? Jazz was also on the Natural Balance and similar to your guy did well at first and then it went bad again. I tried a lot of different foods but the one that works for him is Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomachs. It's a Salmon and Rice formula. A few posters on here who have IBD dogs use this food and it works for them. We don't know if Jazz has IBD but we suspected which is why I tried this food on the advice of another poster.


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## WVGSD (Nov 28, 2006)

I also have an adult GSD who went through cycles of diarrhea and several different food changes as I was trying to make sure that the diarrhea was not from a food intolerance. My vet okayed a trial of Tylan powder that I put in empty gelatin capsules and - no more diarrhea. This pretty much confirms our suspicion that my male has small interstinal bacterial overgrowth or SIBO. 

I also feed him Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach kibble and he does well on it.


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## sable123 (Jul 11, 2010)

danehdee said:


> My pup (7 months) is constantly on and off with his diarrhea...
> He has been to the vet several times and I've dropped off many stool samples...
> Nothing has come up .. in good health, nothing he has been tested for has shown up... all they can think of is a bad digestive system!
> 
> ...


Red meat diets are very bad for dogs like this, harder to digest and high ash. That is such a low protein food for a young dog. Try the Purina formula mentioned above. Works well, high quality, thoroughly tested.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Similar to Shannon's dog, Jazz did test positive for SIBO so it's worth checking out if you haven't already. The Tylan powder helped Jazz as well.


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## danehdee (Jul 31, 2011)

Thanks so much - Is there a medication for SIBO or just the Tylan?
We are considering now a switch off of grains and trying natural balance Venision & sweet potato - Grain Free ... If that doesn't go well we will check out the Purina! Or someone has suggested a hypoallergic food!?


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## danehdee (Jul 31, 2011)

When I speak to my vet today I will ask about SIBO.
Muchly appreciated


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## BlackthornGSD (Feb 25, 2010)

You might try a fish based food--seems to work better for many dogs with touchy stomachs. 

Some suggestions are California Natural Fish and Sweet Potato, the Purina salmon-based Sensitive Skin and Stomach mentioned above, or even some of the grain-free fish-based kibbles. 

Unfortunately, I've been reading that Natural Balance has not done a good job of being consistent in their food ingredients--tests showed that even their Limited Ingredient Diet contained protein sources other than what was claimed. What’s In Your Dog Food? (Maybe) Not What You Think! Dogs In Training


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## s14roller (Nov 18, 2010)

danehdee said:


> Thanks so much - Is there a medication for SIBO or just the Tylan?
> We are considering now a switch off of grains and trying natural balance Venision & sweet potato - Grain Free ... If that doesn't go well we will check out the Purina! Or someone has suggested a hypoallergic food!?


I have been battling the same thing (and for around the same time!). My pup is going on 8 months, and her symptoms were always the same:

1 week of solid stool, followed by 1-2 days of straight liquid stool...back to normal, then liquid, etc.

Had her on Wellness LBP for 2 bags worth, inconsistent, so moved her back to Innova (breeder had them on this) and still inconsistent. We did 2 treatments of Flagyl and 1 treatment of Pancur during the last 6 months. Her stool always came back negative. Before getting further tests and possible Tylan treatment, my vet wanted to see if it was definitely the diet or not. She wanted to try the IAMs low-residue vet formula, which I hated the idea but would try anything that at point, so we tried it. So far, she's had pretty good stool for 2 weeks. I'll give it another week before I make the call, but if she has 3-4 weeks of solid stool (she never had this before) then it was probably the food. Next steps will be to try the PurinaOne SS formula that everyone else has pointed out, and see how that works out. From there, if she can tolerate an even better food, great. 

You may want to try the vet formula just to see. Mine had "muddy" stool on the first week she was on it (maybe her system was adapting to it) and then solid from there. Next steps after the food for me, would be to do blood work to test for EPI, SIBO, etc. We'll see if it needs to come to that.


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## danehdee (Jul 31, 2011)

Thanks everyone!
Glad i'm not the only one. 

We are switching to grain free at the moment - sweet potato & venison.
He has diarrhea last night - and today we added some pumpkin & yogurt to his meal - 
His stool was very firm - but that could be the pumpkin talking.. like usual.

If this doesn't do the trick - we will have to do tests & try the Vet brand :S which is Royal Canin... I really don't want to but.. we'll see - if that is a no go. Purina it is.


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## Salix (Feb 13, 2011)

danehdee said:


> Thanks everyone!
> Glad i'm not the only one.
> 
> We are switching to grain free at the moment - sweet potato & venison.
> ...


I'm not sure about the red meat with the venison. Denver has a sensitive digestive system and I agree with Blackthorn that fish-based is better, easier to digest. Chronic diarrhea doesn't sound good unless you've been chronically changing his diet. Otherwise, I'd get him tested. 

A tip from the vet was also to look closely at fresh runny stool. If you see clearish runny mucus it means his intestines are irritated. You can describe these things to the vet so be as observant as you can - frequency of diarrhea etc. 

Just to let you know there is always a certain amount of softer or runny stool with Denver also and he is healthy. He poops out the hard stuff and then with a lot of water consumption during hot months, some stool still comes out softer than others.


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## danehdee (Jul 31, 2011)

Salix said:


> I'm not sure about the red meat with the venison. Denver has a sensitive digestive system and I agree with Blackthorn that fish-based is better, easier to digest. Chronic diarrhea doesn't sound good unless you've been chronically changing his diet. Otherwise, I'd get him tested.
> 
> A tip from the vet was also to look closely at fresh runny stool. If you see clearish runny mucus it means his intestines are irritated. You can describe these things to the vet so be as observant as you can - frequency of diarrhea etc.
> 
> Just to let you know there is always a certain amount of softer or runny stool with Denver also and he is healthy. He poops out the hard stuff and then with a lot of water consumption during hot months, some stool still comes out softer than others.


Thank you! I've told the vet he has diarrhea again - and once called about there being mucus - I do see mucus on occasion. His only suggestion was Royal Canin. I think I will ask him to test for some intestinal problems.. or considering trying another vet ... to do other tests.


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## Lixx (Dec 3, 2007)

The RC gastro puppy works quite well. I know this forum seems to be anti-veterinary diets for the most part, but I would give it a go. This food's been a while in the making and I've seen good results from it. 

Gastro Intestinal Puppy Dry / Veterinary Exclusive Dog Diets / Veterinary Exclusive Diets / Home - RoyalCanin


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## Gilly1331 (Apr 16, 2011)

We tried everything with Zeus when we got him. From 7 months up until about 13/14 months we tried all sorts of dry foods, powders, canned foods, he was wormed like 5000 times, had his fecals tests, skin tests, hair tests, allergy tested etc. He was aweful, dull coat, never had a solid poop, smelled rancid, super skinny despite getting 8 cups a day, had all his shots, had skin allergies with sores, leathery/scaley skin.

We switched to raw and everything went away. It was literally like magic. He is super healthy and has nice solid non-smelling poops, skin went back to normal and is dull coat shed out to a nice soft shiney coat. His digestion problems all went away. I also add digestive and plant enzymes to his meals every few days.

I know raw isnt for everyone but sometimes trying it for 1-3 months to help clear out the system and then trying a kibble again seems to help. My friend and one of her dobermans had a severe skin allergy and after testing still couldn't find the cause. We suggested our pre-packaged raw diet (a slightly different version directly from bravo just a higher fat content for working dogs) and the allergy went away. She tried switching back to kibble and it immed came back again. 

We do the prepackaged raw from a breeder/trainer who orders directly from Bravo who makes unmarked bravo rolls with a higher fat content. The we rotate in chicken backs legs etc, turkey backs, legs, etc beef tripe, kidneys, pork etc randomly throughout the month. 

If you stay with kibble I still suggest the enzymes. This stuff does wonders! [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Essentials-Plant-Enzymes-Probiotics/dp/B0002ADJYM"]http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Essentials-Plant-Enzymes-Probiotics/dp/B0002ADJYM[/ame]

Good luck and its trial and error. Try looking through the list of ingrediants sometimes its the wheat, yeasts, grains, etc. Sometimes just taking away one of the items fixes te problem.

Good luck and hope your pup gets better soon.


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