I have a pedigree GS male, 5 years old. He is about as big as they come in this breed, is long haired, mountain variety and straight backed. A traditional GS. He has a lovely nature and is very much treasured.
Can anybody help ? It is very worrying.
Does the GS breed suffer from a delicate stomach or digestive system ?
Somebody told me they do.
Reason is, my dog has frequent bouts of diarrhea lasting several days, then it gradually clears up and he goes a few weeks OK, then back it comes again.
He is healthy, eats well, shows no signs of any pain or distress, in fact apart from these nasty loose motions, he is perfect. He must weigh about 40kg.
He is fed twice each day with dry food, not over fed. We use Purina dry all-in-one. It comprises small round dark brown biscuits with a hole in the middle.
This food contains ALL the vitamins and nutrients needed and is made by Pedigree Pet Foods.
Any comments on this will be appreciated, especially from somebody who has had similar problems with GS`s.
UPDATE 30 NOV.08
------------------
We changed his food from Purina Omega to Jame Wellbeloved dry food, choosing the 15kg bag of Lamb & Rice adult large kibble, hypo-allegenic, having no beef, pork, soya, dairy products or eggs in it. It contains natural seaweed, alfalfa, yucca extract and several other healthy ingredients including all the necessary vitamins. This JWB is rather expensive at £39.50 per 15kg bag, but the big guy is worth every penny.
He has been on this new food now for about 10 days and his diarrhea and loose motions problem which has been with us for a very long time has disappeared completely. All is now quite normal.
The change in his motions was almost immediate, perhaps only a day after starting the JWB. I cannot believe that a simple change in food can act so successfully so quickly. He has been on Purina all his life and grown into a very big and healthy dog, with no problems at all except the motions one which has been intermittent, not continuous.
We are now hoping all is on course for a trouble-free future for him.
He loves his JWB and jumps about with excitement at feed times. He also seems happier. I do hope we have cracked it. It is said by others that the coat and skin will benefit also - we will have to wait and see.
I would like to thank all the people who kindly responded to my initial letter appealing for comments very much.
KAS 