Sensitive stomach

Cara Sandler · Jul 20, 2018

My younger sheltie, Skylar, seems to have a very sensitive stomach. She doesn't do well on chicken (I know that's pretty common) but she also doesn't do well on beef. She eats a raw turkey formulation and usually does ok on that, but short of doing a complete elimination diet and starting from scratch, does anyone have any idea of things that commonly cause loose poop in shelties (it's rarely actually diarrhea)? She eats a very high quality food and high quality treats to train with, but I just can't seem to find the common denominator. The episodes seem fairly random and never last more than a day, so I really think this is something in her diet - the other variables are accounted for. I know stress can be a factor but I don't think that's what's happening here.

Hanne · Jul 21, 2018

Cara - Unfortunately, I am not too much help :no:

But will tell you a little story about "Minnie's stomach" :lol:

All my dogs have always got good dry food, none of my GSD have never had problems with their stomach.

But Minnie has always had a sensitive "up and down" stomach, with a little loose / very rarely solid stools

I have tried so many different grain free products always expensive food.

She never gets any treads than her pills or a small piece of dry bread - a bone was absolutely no go :uhoh:

I had read several times that Ann used Fromm Adult Gold - so my last chance was to find a place where I could get this - not a known brand here in Denmark.

I bought the first bag in February 2017 and about 14 days later her stomach was completely different
- from that day she has very solid stools, no doubt her well-being also become much, much better.

She still only get her pills and small pieces dry bread as a treat,
but now she sometimes gets a piece of cheese or a little tiny residue of my meal

Finally, she can now afford to get a big bone to chew on (½-1 hour) without her stomach goes "broken"
I can not even see she has chew on a bone :fl

I'm so happy her stomach has been quite so stable in these 17 months and her stools is always the same.

This is an extra bonus we have received from being a member of this wonderful forum :hugs

Caro · Jul 21, 2018

Deska's sensitive to chicken and turkey so I avoid all poultry. Also seems to have issues with sweet potato, but normal potato is fine.

Cara Sandler · Jul 21, 2018

Thanks, Hanne and Caro! Skylar has never done well on kibble but I haven't specifically tried Fromm Adult Gold. Maybe we'll give that a shot. Caro, there are no potatoes at all in Skylar's food but there are in one of her treats that I use a lot. I'll try switching off those treats. The other common thread I'm finding is that her food and some of the treats contain flaxseed. Maybe it's just too much flaxseed for her. Hopefully we can figure this out!

Piper's mom · Jul 26, 2018

Is there any yogurt in the food? My boys can tolerate a tbsp of Greek yogurt a day but any more than that and their poop gets soft. Also, my older dog, if he hasn't had enough bone his poop will get soft. I used to use a recipe that called for a carton of cottage cheese (it made quite a bit) and my older boy would get diarrhea from that. I cut out the cottage cheese and he was fine...he can tolerate very little dairy I've found.

Cara Sandler · Jul 26, 2018

Piper's mom said:
Is there any yogurt in the food? My boys can tolerate a tbsp of Greek yogurt a day but any more than that and their poop gets soft. Also, my older dog, if he hasn't had enough bone his poop will get soft. I used to use a recipe that called for a carton of cottage cheese (it made quite a bit) and my older boy would get diarrhea from that. I cut out the cottage cheese and he was fine...he can tolerate very little dairy I've found.

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about dairy. They don't really get any dairy except string cheese. I'll have to track that more carefully. Thanks!

Ann · Jul 26, 2018

Cara, have you had her checked for worms lately? One of mine had a problem with recurring giardia even after being treated that took nearly a year to clear up. Like yours, she rarely had runs but very frequent loose stools. I ended up putting her on a limited ingredient diet (Merrick Turkey and Sweet Potato) for nearly two years. If Skylar doesn't do well on poultry there are lots of other protein options. But I would go the limited ingredient route and also make sure she's on a high quality probiotic/enzyme supplement like Natures Farmacy Probio Max. That's what worked for me.

Cara Sandler · Jul 26, 2018

Ann said:
Cara, have you had her checked for worms lately? One of mine had a problem with recurring giardia even after being treated that took nearly a year to clear up. Like yours, she rarely had runs but very frequent loose stools. I ended up putting her on a limited ingredient diet (Merrick Turkey and Sweet Potato) for nearly two years. If Skylar doesn't do well on poultry there are lots of other protein options. But I would go the limited ingredient route and also make sure she's on a high quality probiotic/enzyme supplement like Natures Farmacy Probio Max. That's what worked for me.

She goes to the vet every 6 months and is dewormed (she's on a wellness plan so they do deworming, bloodwork, required vaccines, etc). I'll bring this up to them and see what they think. She actually does well on turkey most of the time but terrible on chicken. She also has a hard time with kibble. She does best on Northwest Naturals raw turkey, but it does have other ingredients so I wanted to get an idea of what many dogs are sensitive to before trying an elimination diet. She almost always has perfect stools but then maybe once every other week she has a soft stool out of nowhere. I'm just baffled trying to find the pattern. Thanks for the information!

Shelby's mom · Jul 27, 2018

Shelby also can not tolerate much dairy. I used to fill her Kong with plain yogurt mixed with some peanut butter and freeze it. She loved it but we quickly learned that it resulted in looses stools. So she no longer gets that treat. A small piece of cheese is OK but not a lot of yogurt,

Cara Sandler · Jul 27, 2018

I'm going to eliminate the dairy and see if that's it. Fingers crossed it is because that's pretty easy to avoid. Though string cheese is such a handy treat to use.....