# those with "sensitive" or colitis prone chis..



## heartagram (Aug 4, 2012)

What are your experiences with sensitive tummies or colitis/ibs type problems in your dogs? How do you keep on top of it and what has worked for you? any particular diets solved the problems?

I'm still struggling with Noah and finding a balance, the other day he had me very worried as we were up all night as he was urgently trying to go to the toilet literally every 10 minutes but unable to pass anything but watery blobs of blood.
I was very anxious that he may have had a blockage from gravel he had eaten and is what I assume caused the whole colitis upset that night.
He had an appetite and there was no vomit but he was very unwell and I think he must of had a fever, he is currently on antibiotics and is currently back to his normal self. The vet mentioned that if he continues to have problems may have to go down the route of tests or something to try and pinpoint an allergy, she also said it may be something he would grow out of or it may turn into some sort of doggy ibs...

I don't really know what to do... the food he is currently on although there doesn't seem to be mucus covering like he suffered in the past, he appears very itchy and gassy and his stools are incredibly soft and literally stink an entire room out.
I know everyone is saying I'll make it worse if I keep changing his food but if it's a food intolerance causing the problem, what should I do? I honestly don't know what to do at the moment.

Fed up with poo problems :sleepy5:


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

If you searched back about a year and a half you would see posts from me that read exactly like this one of yours. I am so sorry. This can be worrisome, frustrating and discouraging. I REALLY understand!

Hope has chronic colitis. We got her settled first with a diet of plain, boiled chicken (she cannot tolerate rice which is what everyone suggests), an infant electrolyte replacement (here in the US we have Pedialyte) and canned pumpkin. I think sweet potatoes or something like butternut squash may also work as I know tinned pumpkin may not be easily accessible for you. Or baby food squash or sweet potatoes or pumpkin.

Then I slooooowly introduced a few torn pieces of Ziwipeak and first removed the Pedialyte and then lessened the pumpkin. 

She had soft stools for a few days recently, out of nowhere and with no environmental nor diet changes. I added some pumpkin back and she was fine straight away.

I wish you and he did not have to go through this. It stressed me out. It is no fun for anyone. I hope his tum gets settled soon!


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## KayC (May 3, 2005)

Karen gave wonderful suggestions.
When Zoey gets the mucus and "rumbly" tummy I give her 1/4 of a 10mg Pepcid tablet and it seems to make it better right away.


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## heartagram (Aug 4, 2012)

thankyou for the reply jesuschick, I was hoping you would reply I have seen some of your posts whilst searching the forum about colitis.

Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin 425g: Amazon.co.uk: Grocery

is this the correct type of pumpkin that is used? I'm wondering if it may appear in shops now that halloween is approaching, I can't say I've looked for it before but I know most people in the UK have problems trying to locate it.
If not I don't mind buying it online if it will help, he has prokolin+ but can't say I've seen much differance when using it.

Did Hope ever have the mucus with the ziwipeak? I'm wondering if I should try it again in the future but reintroduce it slowly, I just wish I could try the lamb but they don't seem to the do the trial bags of that.
I remember his stools used to be so small on that and didn't smell as much as they do now, it was just the amount of mucus.. but memory distorts things, forget how bad things were, though he's not doing much better now either ,too much veg in his current food which I think is causing his current problems.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

Not to offend anyone but Hope had plenty of mucous-y stools. It was yellow mucous. Occasionally tinged with blood.

She has not had the mucous since I got her tummy settled. That was when she was 5 months old. 

Your little one may not be fine with ZP. You may have to find something else but I would caution against changing much at all. Start with whatever you choose mixed in with the baby food/pumpkin mixture and literally add a couple of pieces a day until you are at a place where you can do the reverse and begin reducing the baby food/pumpkin.

I'd choose something grain free. We learned that she could not manage grains either. Again, no offense, but rice came out completely intact. It passed quickly through.

I bought an inexpensive ice cube tray and spooned the pumpkin into that and put in the freezer. Once frozen, I popped them out and stored in a zip top bag or freezer safe container. You could also freeze by the spoonful on a baking sheet and store the same. My freezer always has frozen pumpkin cubes in it-just in case. The other two get some just as a treat if I happen to need to give her some. I mix it in with food and for Hope, when she is having an issue, I reduce the water I add to her food.


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## glittergirl (Aug 11, 2011)

I found a grain-free diet did the trick...instantly!! Good luck


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## AussieLass (Mar 1, 2012)

Those of us outside USA who can't get canned pumpkin can used home cooked pumpkin, just steam, boil or roast & mash it up, or get the baby jar food and use that - sometimes you'll find a mix like pumkin & sweet potato, that's fine.

Dogs t/out my lifetime have only ever had mucous & blood from a lactose intolerance as puppies. Does whatever you're feeding have any dairy by-products in it?

I would get some probiotics, they're a tasteless powder and work wonders - my Holistic Vet is also a people naturopath & she sold me a container for the dogs, but I've been using it with Yukult for me and I'm fully restored from my IBS which became particularly bad after prolonged anti-biotic use for an abscessed tooth, I honestly thought I was going to die before taking them lol. Now that I'm fixed I'm using them once a week on the pack just to keep their tummies beautifully stocked up with good bacteria. Pro-biotics must always be kept in the refrigerator!!!


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## heartagram (Aug 4, 2012)

Sounds like Hope really suffered with it 

Noah's food is all grain-free, only thing he has been fed that isn't is the chappie which I tend to always have a tin of now just incase of a bad upset as it seems to cure a dodgy tummy instantly. 
It's just not something I would want him on all the time though as it isn't really suitable for a growing puppy nor are the ingrediants particularly great.

He's on Lily's kitchen at the moment and i'm introducing bits of Acana Pacifica kibble slowly into his meals, Lily is very heavy in veg peas/carrots and I think that's what is causing the horrendous smelly huge stools and gas, thus why when he's finished his pack I'm just going to try Acana on it's own and see how he does on that, but since it's a kibble I worry it may be hard on his system to digest thus causing problems? ugh! idk.. see how it goes I suppose.

Was the pumpkin I linked the correct type?
I've been using the prokolin+ as the probiotic though I don't know if it's a very effective one? the vet when I saw her the otherday was going to sell that to me also for that use but I already had it. I have tried Goat probiotic yogurt but I think that started to upset his tummy so I didn't buy it again, other than that don't believe he has had anything dairy.

I don't think Noah's problems are as severe as what Hope experianced at all, thankfully! & hope it won't develop into anything worse, but he obviously is sensitive to some ingredients, I just wish I knew what exactly it was lol. I'm hoping the problems from the otherday were just from the gravel he digested&passed rather than an allergy or irritation from a food source this time. I would hate to have to deal with that again, must be a nightmare for regular full blown colitis occurrences, it is awful.

I just want to be able to get Noah healthy as possible and comfortable and the convenience of not having to deal with huge smelly soft stools, so delightful!


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

What was he eating before his tummy got bad? I would go back to that and get him settled before trying anything new. If Chappie suits him I would feed that for now, you can always add something more nutritious once his tummy has settled.
Harley has a very sensitive tummy, Tree Barks powder has been the solution for him.
Buy a pumpkin now while they are available (and cheap!) cook it, mash it, and freeze in ice cube trays, you will have enough to last til next Halloween!


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## heartagram (Aug 4, 2012)

I don't know because his tummy has always been bad lol, theres always been signs of some sort of irritation he was started on orijen puppy mash with the odd lily kitchen puppy wet and this is when it all started taking him off it due to soft stools and mucus assuming orijen was too rich. He was then put onto ziwipeak, same problem.

The mucus has cleared up on what he is now which is a first apart from the chappie, his stools are settled now but they are still on the soft side, alot of it and stink to high heaven but I think that is because like I have said the high veg matter but he also has itchyness and has started the delightful habit of drinking his own urine LOL, I don't know if this is all related? orz :shock:


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## LostLakeLua (Sep 6, 2009)

Kahlua has had sensitive tummy issues for quite a long time. She eats Prey Model Raw so varies between chicken, pork, beef, etc.

For the longest time I could not figure out what was giving her a gassy tummy or discomfort. I tried smaller portions, but it didn't seem to have an effect. I finally realize that I was going about it the wrong way. Dogs stomachs are meant to handle large chunks. When she ate her food divided into smaller portions, she would gulp each down, thus crating an air bubble in between. =/ 

Long story short, and many supplements and digestive aids later, I realized I was able to solve her problems just by feeding all of her meals in single chunks. She tears off bite sized pieces to swallow but even when she swallows the large piece it goes through without issues. For her sensitive tummy, doing that (and only feeding those 2 meals a day, so nothing else can upset the digestive process) have helped immensely. She eats the best nutrition she can get and at scheduled times, which makes it easy to monitor how each food effects her. Plus since she eats raw, there's nothing added so I don't have to try and figure out what ingredient is causing her issues etc. 

Like others have said we also use canned pumpkin, we freeze them in cubes and bag them up. =) Good luck!!


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## heartagram (Aug 4, 2012)

I'm going to try some of the pumpkin, didn't even come into my mind to buy a whole one, duhhh! can make a lantern too 
going to look into that powder too if things continue.

I'm wondering though if there may be some sort of infection like giardia or something? he's had some really weird soft stools past few days and they've smelt so bad they've actually made me gag, going to get the chappie out until I see some normality again.

I'm thinking of going back to the vets and asking for them to do a stool sample, sigh expense but really need to sort this out, it's really embarrassing and I can't imagine he feels that great either.


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