[mftaylor2]

My dog has been throwing up and has wet stool often. She is always cleaning her paws, scratching her ears and at her bottom (although her glands are not full or blocked). Her belly is gurgly often and there are days that she won't eat. I've had her to the vet and we switched her to a hypoallergenic dog food. She was great for 7 weeks and then it all started up again. I've started switching her from hypoallergenic to a gastro formuls this past week and now she's as bad as ever. What do I do?

[shazamataz]

First suggestion would obviously take her back to the vet as the 2 incidents may not be the same thing.

Second suggestion is to switch her to a raw diet.
Some dogs just can't handle processed, packaged food, no matter how healthy they seem to be, not to mention most dogs go crazy for raw meat!

Here is a link to a site about the BARF diet (Bones And Raw Food) for you to have a look at and see if you think it would help:
BARF Diet Specifics - Bones, Meat, Offal, Vegetables, Fruits & Other Nutrition Food Products for Pet

[Emily94]

My dog was diagnosed with a food allergy, but I think my vet misdiagnosed him. Before he was diagnosed he was eating pedigree lamb and rice. Then he was diagnosed with his food allergy so I bought the hypoallergenic HP, it worked for about two months.
I am know just starting to switch him over to evo, So far he is not itching anymore (or any less) but I hope it may work.
You could try feeding your dog a grain free food (Taste of the wild, Evo, Orijen). It doesn't cost nearly as much as the hypoallergenic, but is better for the dog!

-The reason I believe he was misdiagnosed is because I can give him benedryl and he stops itching.

[Cat1864]

Is this the same dog?
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/d...ed-439304.html

[mftaylor2]

Yes Cat1864. I posted before about my dog not sleeping in her bed but have that figured out now.

[Aurora_Bell]

The Barf diet would be a good choice if you have the time to prepare the food. Very time consuming. But an excellent diet. You can try feeding holistic foods. I know it's a bit pricier, but in the long run you end up feeding them less, and they are getting more nutrients in their diet.

Also you can try adding Omega oils in to the diet. A can of sardines or cod liver oil, or you can purchase the capsules at your vet.

If it is a food allergy you have to look at treats as well. If you are feeding generic commercial brand treats it may have the same ingredients that is bugging him in the dog food.

When you switched the food over, did you do it all at once or gradually?

[mftaylor2]

Hi Aurora_Bell,
When I switched her over I did it gradually over a period of a couple of weeks until she was fully on the hypoallergenic. She also only gets hypoallergenic treats and nothing else. This week I started slowly switching her to gastro food to see if that was any better but it may actually be worse.
When I got her on the hypoallergenic food she was great for almost 2 months. No problems, then things started again. A couple of days of vomiting, a bit of a gurgly belly, not eating anything until late evening and wet poop for about 2 weeks. We went back to the vet. She took some medicine to help with the wet poop and that worked and we started switching her to gastro food. The last 2 nights she's had me awake with her scratching and at her bottom. Today she won't eat, her belly hasn't stopped gurgling and she threw up a nasty smelling gray liquid. Wondering what to do next. Go back to hypoallergenic, try something new, raw food, etc.

[Aurora_Bell]

What brand is the hypoallergenic? It seems like a pretty severe allergy.

What brand are the treats? I have noticed that Purina makes hypoallergenic treats, but it still has all the same carp that the dog food has in it. Kibbles n Bits makes a hypoallergenic brand too, but filled with fillers (corn and wheat).

If you have the time, a raw diet would be an excellent choice. Just remember to read up on it. Do you have a nutritionist at your vet?

[mftaylor2]

I'm using medi-cal (Royal canin)from the vet which is costing a small fortune. I also have Hill's perscription diet hypoallergenic treats from the vet.
I use to feed her a lot of human food (not table scraps) but food cooked for her, veggies, rice, meat, fish, etc. I thought that was better then commercial kibble but the vet suggested the hypoallergenic. I'm not sure about the raw food thing. Mixed reviews on that.

[Aurora_Bell]

I am not a big fan of the medi cal. I had a shih tzu and an am staff with allergies, we tried them on that brand and it made things worse. If you don't want to do the raw diet, try a holistic food, or look for an all natural dog food. Chicken soup for the dog lover is good brand, as well as Evo.

I am not sure where you are living, but you maybe able to find a natural dog food factory in your area.

[mftaylor2]

I may have a look for a no grain food at my pet store and try that. I live in a small town in Newfoundland, Canada and believe me we don't have a lot of variety.
I'm a little wary of trying raw meat. My dog is 12 years old and we only adopted her last year so I don't really know anything about her history. I checked out the raw food diet and although some people swear by it others say it can make your dog sick. I know if I ask my vet she will recommend dry dog food, not people food.

[Aurora_Bell]

I live in Canada too, the East Coast as well. Try to find a Shur-Gain in your area, or a distributer. I swear by the food they sell. It's all made in Nova Scotia with grade a meat. I use an oatmeal fish mix. It has worked wonders for my itchy dogs.

As far as a raw diet goes, dogs' digestive systems work much differently than ours. They work faster and are more acidic, making it nearly impossible for dogs to get ill from food-bourne bacteria in the way that humans do. The hardest part is the transition. They may get the runs for the first few days, but after that it is smooth sailing.

I do a mix of raw and dry dog food. My dogs mostly get fruits and veggies and than the holistic dry.

[Lucky098]

Vets know nothing about nutrition... at least not enough to recommend something besides science diet which is trash.

I'm a strong advocate of evo. There are no grains in it and is actually specialized for dogs who have diet issues. It claims to be alternative to raw diet. The Healthiest Pet Foods in the World – Natural & Organic Pet Food – Natura Pet Products... the website has all their foods listed.

Another food would be wellness. They just came out with an allergy formula. Might be something to look into. Just whatever you do, don't rely on your vet for food.

Finding an allergy is trial and error. You just going to have to narrow down her reaction toward specific things, what you did, season change and more. I once heard of a dog being allergic to the swiffer solution.

Her licking her feet tells me its something environmental. Maybe request an allergy test?

You can always go to a different vet for a second opinion. Maybe your vet isn't very knowlegdable with allergies.

Good luck

[Aurora_Bell]

Listen Lucky, can't speak for where you are living, but; I am getting pretty upset with you lumping "all vets don't know what they are talking about" when it comes to food.

Sorry, "your" vets don't know anything when it comes to nutrition, but please stop lumping them as one big whole. Lots of Vets know plenty when it comes to the health of animals.

FYI, I am starting to take animal science, animal behavior, and animal physiotherapy at my local agri collage. And we will be studying all different types of food. They don't promote one specific brand. So please stop saying VETS as in VETERINARIANS ( the people who study the health of ANIMALS) don't know what they are talking about when it comes to nutrition of animals.

If you want to promote a specific brand, fine, but please don't discredit all vets.

[Alty]

I agree Bella. Our vet is wonderful. Our Lab was on a special diet for a while, it wasn't the science diet, it was a store brand (can't remember the name) and it worked wonders for him.

Not all vets are bad. There are bad ones in the bunch, just like any profession, but to lump them all together and say they're all bad is not right. The vet should always be your first choice when having problems with an animal. Always.

[shazamataz]

I agree with both of you.

Some vets really do seem to not know much about nutrition (or not care) and sell terrible products out of their surgery.

But other vets (like) mine sell the best food we have available here in their surgery.

I personally don't listen to vets suggestions about food... but in saying that I have my mum plus several dozen registered breeders on call to recommend foods to me.

What works for one dog may not work for another as well.
I have heard of dogs doing really badly on some of the high-end dog foods and did really well on just cheap pedigree dry.
My mum feeds Supercoat, to her Dane, it's cheap and it works for him. She was paying triple the price for another brand and had the same results.
Whereas I have tried the cheaper brands on my Crested and he didn't do well, he does great on an expensive brand.

[Aurora_Bell]

I agree, Kind of like different strokes for different folks. I just hate the general lump of "vets know nothing about food".

I know vets get funding from specific brands, and yes, some may recommend that brand, however; to say"vets know nothing" is a pretty bad generalization.

[JudyKayTee]

I take my advice from people who know - either through education, experience, whatever it takes. I don't find "all" of any profession to be bad or uninformed.

[Alty]

Since the topic is dog nutrition and dog allergies, stating that a lot of vets do know about nutrition is not hijacking. I still believe that the OP should speak to her vet or find a vet like mine, that does know nutrition and allergies.

Dogs are prescribed "diet food' through the vet all the time. Yet, nothing else changes.. No exercise, huge quantities of food... guess what.. the dog is still going to be fat. It could very well be a thyroid... I'm sure going to the vet for the food that has been ruled out.. but you never know. A good way to have a dog lose weight is to cut back on food, and increase exercise.

And this is why I love my vet. All the testing was done on our border collie Jasper when he was getting fat despite a lot of exercise and diet food (not vet prescribed). He also had extreme dandruff. The vet did a thyroid test, but that's not the issue. They took scrapings and ran tests, nothing was wrong. They wouldn't stop until they found out what was going on. Turns out it was an allergy, but not to the food. It took trial and error, removing things we used in our home, detergent, air cleansers, floor cleaners. Finally we found out that he was allergic to the dog shampoo we were using. Even though he only got bathed every few months, the shampoo was causing such a reaction that he'd have symptoms all the time in between. Sad thing is, we bought this expensive dog shampoo, and the only thing that works for him is mild dish soap. Go figure. ;)

As for the weight issue, the vet is right on top of it. We have a diet and exercise plan now, he goes for bi-weekly weigh ins and a checkup (for free) and he's lost 5 pounds, which is a huge deal. He's not on diet food, just smaller portions.

I don't think any of us have an issue with you offering your advice on food. My issue was with your blanket statement that no vet knows anything about nutrition, because it's simply not a true statement and unfair to lump all vets into one group just because your vet isn't great.

For the OP. I wouldn't rule out an allergy to something other then food. Yes, it does sound like a food allergy, but it could be a combination. That may be why the dog was fine for a few weeks and then it all started up again.

Any changes in the household? New detergent, new floor cleaner, anything? The licking of the paws and itchiness makes me think there's more to this then a food allergy.

Just my opinion.

[shazamataz]

Let's wait for mftaylor to come back and let us know if they found the grain-free food they were looking for ;)
I don't want this turning into a dog food war.

Alty - Normally I would agree with you on the cleaning products etc, but the stomach gurgling is putting me off that.