Help with a sensitive stomach

[Kalina174]

My future mother-in-law has adopted a dog from animal control. She is having a hard time finding a food that does not irritate his stomach but also allows him to gain weight quickly. He is literally 80lbs underweight and on top of all of that he is heart worm positive. He was an abuse case and she really just wants to improve his quality of life. Anyone have any ideas?

[rannmiller]

I think the Natural Balance fish and potato is supposed to be a good one for that situation.

[LoveNewfies]

It's not uncommon for a dog to have a sensitive stomach when first brought home. The stress of the change in environment, the changes in diet, etc. all cause the digestive system to become problematic. I would suggest to find a nice, simple food and stick with it long enough for the dog's system to adjust to the food. The dog will put weight on once his system settles down.

California Natural has a nice, simple line that sensitive dogs tend to do very well on. It is lower in protein than I like to see, but if this dog truly has a sensitive stomach, it would be a good option.

[rannmiller]

Ah yes, Wellness also has some good sensitive system formulas. But I agree with LoveNewfies, the dog is probably going to have trouble keeping anything down until it gets settled into its new environment, especially being that malnourished. Have her try adding some plain, organic yogurt to aide in digestion and remember: healing is a somewhat long process. Don't try to get the dog to gain the weight back all at once, it's going to take some time if you want to do it in a healthy manner rather than over-feeding it and making it even sicker. Not that you would do that to a dog on purpose, but it can be done so you have to be careful.

[BoxerMommie]

My dog with colitis/MAJORALLY sensentive stomach gets Natural Balance Lamb Meal and Brown Rice, works GREAT.

[Kalina174]

Thanks for everyone's response! She's has had him for the last 6 months or so and he's only been able to put on 15lbs. I guess I should have been more specific on the time frame. She's just concerned because she feels that his stomach is preventing him from putting on weight in a normal time frame. i will pass on the information to her. I was considering raw for a while but she cannot afford that for long and I am not sure how easy it is to switch from raw back to kibble. Anyone have any experience with this?

[rannmiller]

My roommate's dog didn't do too great on raw (liquid stools) and it was inconvenient for her so she switched him over to Orijen. She'd fed her dog raw the night before and 12 hours later in the morning, she fed him about half of what his serving size was of the kibble for the first two feedings, then bumped him up to 75% of a serving, now he's on a full serving and doing great. She didn't want to shock his raw-fed system with a boatload of kibble so that's why she was feeding him less than the normal amount at first.

Your mom just has to make sure she isn't switching from raw to Pedigree or Science Diet or some junk like that, but it can be done.

[chowder]

I got my puppy from a rescue group and had to switch him from Science Diet. He had a problem with coccidia in the beginning also, so we battled a bad dog food, a sensitive stomach, and diarrhea. She can add a bit of canned pumpkin to his food at every meal during the switch over from any new food and it works great at helping prevent diarrhea from switching foods, plus they seem to like the taste of it. Just make sure it is plain pumpkin and not the pie filling that has added ingredients.

[Katybud]

I had to take my Saint Bernard in a few months ago. She started throwing up her food. My vet put her on Ranitidine 75 acid reducer and Fortiflora he said you could also use Zantac 75.Since being on them she stop'd throwing up and has gained some weight. Haven't had to go for any refills so far she still doing good even off the medication .

[1 chi4me]

I have found the best food for my furkids to be Eagle Pack Holistic. They thrive on this food. Since I switched them over, no burping, no loose stools, no tummy problems. Even tear stains are gone. I was feeding a very varied and balance home cooked diet to them before, but they are doing so much better on this. They are also shining up quite nicely like shiny little sports cars!