Sensitive Tummy

Hi, I have a 18month old boxer cross who I have had for about a month, he is a rescue dog. We were told to feed him Chappie dry food as he is quite sensitive to food which we are doing, he also gets lots of gravy coated biscuits and dry shaped biscuits as training treats ( as very under trained) he was a gulper but we seem to have cured that. The problem is he has diarrhoea most of the time, any suggestions on what I can feed him as a permanent solution although don't want to go to highly expensive food.

Gravy coated biscuits, other kinds of biscuits, Chappie dog food (which I see gets terrible reviews on dog food review sites and might be different from what he got at the shelter), and an exciting new home. Sounds like a recipe for diarrhea to me! Add in a few worms or perhaps Giardia, and you've likely got a lingering case of buttsplosion going on.

It's best to cut out the gravy stuff for a bit. He's still in adjust mode. Ensure he is worm AND Giardia free. The Giardia often bypasses shelters, but can cause diarrhea and other issues. From what I can see, Chappie might not be the best food for him, but I'd not switch yet.

Cut out the gravy treats and the other treats for a few days, feed only the Chappie. See if that helps. If it does, you can slowly add in a few treats and get him more used to them. If the diarrhea persists, maybe he's allergic to something in the food. I'd go higher quality in that case.

I've heard that Forti-Flora can help dogs with persistent butt pee, so perhaps something like that is worth a try.

Actually Chappie can be a good alternative to feed a a do who suffers from digestive issues, many people feed it to their dogs for that reason alone.

The problem is it does not contain any nutritional value so I would be looking for something to gradually replace his diet, first stop feeding the gravy bones and any other colorful treats, they are not goo for his digestion, either make your own or find ones that are natural , and colorant free.

There are plenty of better grain free foods out there, so do a little research, it might also be wise to give him a daily Probiotics and Enzymes supplement , again have a look on line there are plenty out there... the trouble with feeding kibble and wet food is the natural enzymes in the meat is killed off when they produce the food, this is essential to a dogs digestive system to help it process the intake of food, so sometimes (if you have a dog that suffers with tummy problems) we have to replace these with a supplement, or you could try a raw or tinned food ie. natures menu next best thing.

It will be trial and error for you to find a food that suits his system, you might find feeding the chappie without the gravy bones , add a supplement and he might be fine, it will be slow steps to see what suits, one of my Boxers suffered with tummy issues all his life, but over time I found what suited him best.

Good luck.

Hi Debs!

I understand you don't want to move to an expensive food, but the truth of it is... you get what you pay for. Some of the really top-end, expensive foods I would never recommend: they're pretty much glump in disguise, but there are some good ones out there. Burns and James Wellbeloved are my favourites, but they don't come cheap.

I would eliminate the gravy bones entirely-- I have a mutt with an iron stomach, but those upset even his digestion! You might try rice cakes, the ones you get for humans. Lots of dogs like them and they're pretty harmless. Two of mine are very keen on apples and carrots. They can make nice treats! Frozen peas are good too: many dogs like the nice cold sweet peas (actually, I like them a lot too).

I also give my boy a dentastix each day but have just read on another forum that they r not good for dogs.

I also give my boy a dentastix each day but have just read on another forum that they r not good for dogs.

I use the natural dog food companys salmon and brown rice, it is made for sensitive tummies
It is a tad on the expensive side, I spoke to a very kind young lady on the phone and she offered to send some sample packs to see if it agreed with him first which was great. Have now been using it for 6 years

Dentastix are well known for giving dogs the squits. I'd stop them straight away.