My poor little dog has had the runs since she was 10 weeks old - she is now 17 weeks old. She was originally diagnosed with compylobacter and has been on antibiotics, but, after 5 weeks, that has finally cleared up and the tests that were run on Monday have all come back clear...

... but she still has the runs!!!!! So now I'm being told to put her on a sensitive diet. Now, I know lots will advise BARF, but as a mother of 3 children who works full time as a teacher, I really can't squeeze in the extra time to do that (don't worry, my hubby is a postie so my dogs are only left 4 mornings a week, term time only) She has been on Burns since 8 weeks old - was weaned on Pedigree (!!!) She is a Tibetan Terrier. I need to ring and speak to the vet tomorrow for some detailed advice, but they're recommending Hills ID or Royal Canin Sensitivity control.

What does everyone think? Is there a puppy food that would be ideal fro her, does anyone think?? Last week I tried her on NatureDIet Lite - it made some improvement but not massively so (but she was still on anti-biotics)

It's interesting, though, as on Tuesday night, I made homemade spag bol for the family (all natural ingredients - no jarred sauces, etc) As I made too much, I also gave it to the dogs for their tea. That night, Honey had a really good night, and the next morning, she did her first formed poo - and it was the only poo all morning!! Those ingredients were just mince and veggies... then after a day of Burns again, the runs were back!

Please help!!

Feeding and preparing the BARF diet takes less time than you would think. Have you tried putting in a spoonfull of natural Bio Yoghurt to her feed?

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www.cynomania.com

It's just a myth that raw takes a lot of time to prepare. It takes me less time to sort out four dogs raw feed than it does to prepare one dogs dry food & mixer. The only extra is once a week when I bag the meaty bones up for the freezer.

I would recommend raw given almost any circumstances but if you are really not keen then please stay away from Hill's it is an absolutely awful food, over hyped by money grabbing vets. Royal Canin is a better food but still does not compare to feeding a natural raw diet. Have a look at Orijen it's free from grains/cereals and contains no additives, preservatives or colourants, although they don't make any claim to be it is the most hypoallergenic dry food available.

if you dont want to feed barf i would recommend a really good quality dry food like arden grange, we feed our huskies on it & they are well known for having sensitive stomachs we also feed raw chicken wings & lamb ribs a natural probiotic yoghurt is also good for digestive upsets or a probiotic powder like entrodex, good luck with her

I've just seen that Burns do a new food that is pork and potato based - the ingredients look very similar to orijen. Has anyone tried it??

It states: A hypo-allergenic diet for the avoidance of food intolerance - no wheat, soya, rice or chicken

Contains: Potato (min 35%), Pork Meat Meal (min 29%), Maize, Peas, Pork Fat, Seaweed, Vitamins and Minerals

My lot only get tinned dog food once a week, I feed spag. bol, tinned sardines in oil, pork, chicken, usually with pasta or a potato occasionally. They have what I prepare without seasoning and love it.
Dried Burns food is left out all the time so they help themselves.

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The advice I've been given by my vet is to find a food with a different protein source and a different carbohydrate source and get her stools firmed up again. From there, after being on the new diet for around 8 weeks, introduce the old protein source and the old carb source one at a time to find out which of them she has developed an intolerance to. She said that it is possible that having campylobacter whilst on Burns Mini Bites has left Honey unable to tolerate the diet with the body mis-identifying the food as something it should reject; or that she has always been sensitive to perhaps the chicken or fish but this was then masked by the campylobacter.

Therefore, on the vets recommendation, rather than try one of their excessively expensive prescription diets, I'm going to try her on the new Burns Pork & Potato - so the new protein is pork and the new carb is potato.

Fingers crossed it will work!! If not, there is a blood test she can have done, at a cost of £180, to see what her intolerance is to - I'll try the elimination regime first - and at least wait until my insurance pays up!!!!!

I have recently changed over to raw feeding and there is no extra time to prepare my 4's meals. Their stools are much firmer and they are happier to eat their meals - it is something to look into if the new food doesnt work.

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if you want a food that is good for dogs with Sensative tums, James Welbeloved is gluten free and very good. JWB is owned and made in the same factory as Royal Canin. (unfortunatly that means they are part of the masterfoods group.

I have now made the Switch to Wainwrights, the Pets at home Posh house brand food , it to is gluten free and hypoalergenic, it is not quiet as firming as JWB, which can if used for long periods brick your dog up a little and make for uncomfortable motions.

What i have found is that on Wainwrights the poops are not so smelly either.

I used to with JWB alternate kibble with RAw, i now do raw evey three or four days as a treat, which seems to work pretty well.

HTH

Badwolf

I'm suprised so many of you feed your dogs "real" food.

All my pups and kittens have grown up on is hard foods, as I was very aware that packed meat is a con as its so watered down.

The dogs might get the odd left overs, but a general rule of thumb is dried hard food. Keeps the poo's hard and easy to pick up. Plus you can add bovril / check bovril occasionally to "spice" things up.