Maddy's food intolerances (Long post but advice really appreciated!)

As some of you know I currently feed my dogs on CSJ, they have been doing really well on it 'til recently. Charlie and Dusty are fine but Maddy is ever the pain the ass and has developed an intolerance to it. You may also know that she has suffered from colitis in the past.

When I first got Maddy she came home on Euk and I didn't know then about Bakers and additives and animal derivatives and what that actually meant so I put her onto Bakers as I didn't want her on Euk. On one of the first forums I was on at the time it was suggested to me that I changed her food as I was at my wits end when she was a pup, she was really hyper, constantly up the walls, I was exhausted!

She went onto Burns after that and was on that for months up 'til she was a young adult and she lost a lot of weight straight away in the beginning and remained very slender and ribby. At first I thought it was just the gangly teenager stage but as she got older she just wasn't putting any weight on at all and Charlie was the same and he was adult, very thin and not gaining any even when I was feeding almost double what they should have been getting (which was costing me a small fortune!) and that's when I changed her to ped as I was told that would put the weight back on them. Ped went right through her and that's when I found out about the colitis (probably brought on by the ped) and her funny tummy.

About 50% of the time since I got her she didn't have a 'proper' poo but I never really thought much of it as she was also going fine the other 50% of the time, it was just a bit softer than a normal dog poo, mr whippy style but as she'd been like that forever and she wasn't in any pain or discomfort or anything I never thought much of it before then.

During the colitis I had her on Chappie which was great and got her back to mr whippy style but never progressed from there, (plus it gave Charlie a skin reaction) so we tried loads of different foods to try and get her having a normal poo all of the time.

Nature diet was a good one but it's not really easy to get hold of here of unless you order it online and I had a supplier who delivered for a while then he went out of business and I did try getting it straight from Nature Diet but there was a lot of messing around and I needed to feed my dogs in the meantime so put them onto JWB.

Whilst on JWB I tried switching to raw which was a disaster and brought on another bout of colitis for Maddy. I tried again a while later even more gradual but the same thing happened. They do get some raw bits now and seem ok in moderation but they can get very odd poos when they have had too much raw and too little dry. The dry seems to bind them up as too much bone and it is chalky, too much meat and Maddy at least is pooing like a water fountain. (I'm not asking for a debate on raw, I have read extensively how to feed raw correctly and how go from dry food to raw feeding, i'm just not interested in feeding a full raw diet at the moment, poor dogs!)

So back onto JWB. They were all on that for a good while and I did feed AG between JWB on a few occasions with no ill effects, which was fine and I didn't really have any other reason to change them other than I heard about CSJ. I can get 3 bags of CSJ for the price of 1 JWB and still have change left over and it's a really good food for the price, so changed them onto CSJ.

I must have been feeding CSJ for a good few months now probably closer to a year and she has been great on it all this time, yet the past 6ish weeks she has been back to mr whippy poops. So I managed to squeeze her in at the vets today with Sadie and the verdict is that she has built up an intolerance to it! After all this time! So I have ordered some JWB to see how she goes back on that. There are a few other foods we have tried briefly in between others but I honestly cannot remember as and when she's had every single one, I just know what agrees with her and what doesn't.

Now i'll probably either stick to this or AG and when I start the business it won't be so bad as I can get it at cost price and there is only Maddy on it so it will go further and I think i'll leave Dusty and Charlie on CSJ as they are doing fine on that. The question is, do I push at the vets to try and find out exactly what it is with Maddy that she is allergic to or what is causing this intolerance too occur after all this time or just let her be? The reason I ask is, what happens if she develops an intolerance to this later down the line and then the next food I put her on and so on. Just a bit concerned now as she was fine on CSJ for so long I thought that was us set but apparently she had other ideas! Anyone any kind of experience on this?

Have you tried any of the rice free foods like the new Arden Grange Sensitive with Fish & Potato?

It has done wonders for Finn over the last 4 months.

No I haven't Carole, I was thinking of the Wafcol Salmon and Potato but seeing as she did fine on JWB before CSJ I thought best putting her on something I know isn't going to make her worse first before trying something new but have heard good things about the rice free foods and it might well be the way to go.

I just don't know what the chances are that she will develop an intolerance to the JWB, I never really thought to ask the vet at the time as I was pre-occupied with Sadie who's still quite poorly and never thought 'til we got home, but Sadie is back at the vet next week so I will ask then. I just really wasn't expecting this to happen after all this time, it's got me quite worried. She's not ill or down or anything, just dodgy poos, she couldn't care less!

No advice I am afraid, but Jamie is similar to Maddy with his Mr Whippy poo's He isn't tolerating the raw I gave and is so fussy its unbelievable... so I am going to be reading this thread with interest

I had a dog who had problems with rice, he could have titbits with no trouble but if I fed it long enough he'dstart with stomach problems. Have a friend whose terrier is allergic to everything but fish & potato. She actually cooks potato & adds tuna in water or pieces of tuna from her fishmonger. He's been on this diet for over 14 years now & is still fine on it. Hope you find something he can take,

Have you tried Wafcol Salmon and Potatoe it is very good for dogs with lots of food intolerances.

Thanks everyone, looks like we will be trying the salmon and potato and see how that goes. Wonder if it the rice then?

*Sudden regret at buying 2 bags of JWB*

I used to have huge problems with Jackson (lab), it was the rice causing the problem for him x

Thanks H, I think after hearing all this about the rice i'll definitely give the Salmon and potato a shot. Fingers crossed!

worth a try chick, it was such a relief when we finally found out what it was, we'd even asked about it at the vets and they said it was unlikely but it effects more dogs than you'd think x