# Sensitive Terrier Tummy



## Neon460 (Jul 1, 2008)

I have a Maltese/Terrier Mix. We just switched from NutroMax Puppy to the adult food because the vet said to use the adult version of whatever we were feeding him. Well he starting vomiting bile every morning so we put him on chicken and rice for a while to calm the stomach down and then bought him some Science Diet Sensitive Stomach. Anyone know of any issues with this brand of food or anything I should be aware of? He seems to like the kibble alright, but I don't really know that much about dog food and aparently the vet thought that NutroMax was fine so maybe I shouldn't be listening to them either? Any info/help is appreciated! 

Thanks


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Nutro has had a TON of problems consumer wise with food making animals sick and killing some and Science Diet is a HORRIBLE food. I highly suggest if you are going to feed kibble to check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com and you want to be feeding at least a 4 star food preferably 5 or 6.

Personally my puppy (11 months) has colitis and the ONLY food I have found to work for him is Canidae, but then I add ProZyme as well as a probiotic to each meal and he hasn't had any stomach problems in months since I started this. For the price versus nutrition I HIGHLY suggest Canidae. And I would suggest a probiotic and ProZyme if your pup is having tummy problems, give it a week and see how he does.


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## bellamicuore (Jun 16, 2008)

I agree with Boxermommie. Try a premium food, such as:
Canidae
Merrick
Fromm
Solid Gold
Innova
California Natural
Wellness
Orijen


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

BoxerMommie said:


> Personally my puppy (11 months) has colitis and the ONLY food I have found to work for him is Canidae, but then I add ProZyme as well as a probiotic to each meal and he hasn't had any stomach problems in months since I started this.


The big problem is that when you add things like ProZyme and probiotics to your dog's diet you are only masking symptom. Whatever caused his problem is still there just hidden away. I suggest you stop those so called digestive aids and see what happens. If the symptoms return, you need to look for the cause of the symptoms, not just surpress them.


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## Brattina88 (Jul 2, 2008)

How did you switch foods? Did you do it all of the sudden, or gradually? That could make a big difference with some dogs...


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

RawFedDogs said:


> The big problem is that when you add things like ProZyme and probiotics to your dog's diet you are only masking symptom. Whatever caused his problem is still there just hidden away. I suggest you stop those so called digestive aids and see what happens. If the symptoms return, you need to look for the cause of the symptoms, not just surpress them.


Colitis is the symptom. It is a medical condition. He doesn't have any problems, we've run tests, etc and according to a certified nutritionist some dogs just need a helping hand in digesting. Boxers are notorious for it, in fact there is a specific type of colitis that is only present in Boxers. He is parasite free, he just has an extremely sensitive digestion system. It works for him, keeps him comfortable, and they are not a negative thing so no, thank you after MONTHS of finding what works for him, we'll be sticking with this. I also trust the advice of more than one certified nutritionist (had gotten a second opinion) over someone on the internet, but I do appreciate your input.


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## Neon460 (Jul 1, 2008)

*RE: Terrier Tummy*

We wanted to switch him gradually so we put a little adult kibble in at a time, but it was like he all the sudden didn't eat the puppy kibble anymore so he went right for the adult kibble and stopped eating the mix. I figured it was too sudden and had hurt his stomach so that's why he's been on chicken and rice for a little less than a week now. We started putting some of the Science Diet in there and he'll eat a little of it. I wasn't aware it was a bad food. Thanks for the website, I'll check that out and see if I can't find a local store that carries the better brands.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

BoxerMommie said:


> Colitis is the symptom. It is a medical condition.


I missed the colitis reference in your original post .... nevermind 

Colitis dogs fed a raw diet do amazingly well. It's much easier on the digestive system and easier to avoid ingredients that cause problems. I know of many dogs who had colitis that had all symptoms disappear when switched to raw.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

RawFedDogs said:


> I missed the colitis reference in your original post .... nevermind
> 
> Colitis dogs fed a raw diet do amazingly well. It's much easier on the digestive system and easier to avoid ingredients that cause problems. I know of many dogs who had colitis that had all symptoms disappear when switched to raw.


I don't doubt that, but with another dog, fostering for a rescue at times, pet sitting, working my full time job and having a 6 1/2 year human child I do not have the funds nor the time in order to feed raw. He's going to be a large dog (rougly 80 pounds when full grown) and there's just no way I would be able to do that working 60 hours a week at 2 jobs, taking a 6 year old to and from school, karate, homework help, meals, snacks, training the puppy, yeah a high quality kibble is the best I can do and he does great on what we have him on now that we have found the right "mixture" and is as happy as can be and perfectly healthy. Unfortunately with my girl's illness (dog) and costing us a good $1,500 a year minimum in medical bills, we do the best quality KIBBLE that we can and that works for them both which is Canidae.


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## dlmccraw (Jul 6, 2008)

*Raw Food*

I don't know where you live, but I feed raw food to my 2 dogs, for your dogs grown weight, you would only feed 2lbs of raw a day. I pay 1.85/lb, so that would cost you 1350.00/annually.

You will add more years to your pet's life and more life to your pet's years. It only takes 2 minutes, twice a day to open a bag of raw meat.


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## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

dlmccraw said:


> I don't know where you live, but I feed raw food to my 2 dogs, for your dogs grown weight, you would only feed 2lbs of raw a day. I pay 1.85/lb, so that would cost you 1350.00/annually.
> 
> You will add more years to your pet's life and more life to your pet's years. It only takes 2 minutes, twice a day to open a bag of raw meat.


That's a lot! With 2 dogs, a 40 pound bag of premium kibble (which costs me $40 per bag) lasts me 5-6 weeks, so you're talking roughly $8-$10 per week for TWO dogs. Sorry, raw just can't compete with that. Not to mention there's NO WAY I'd feed my VF girl raw given the weakened immune system, if she ever got sick from it I doubt she'd fight it off. 

I don't doubt it works for dogs, but it just isn't economical enough for me. Even with the kibble increasing due to changing brands, it will still cost me $50 for a 40 pound bag which will last the same amount of time as the caloric intake is the same so even with the $10 per bag increase, it's still quite a bit cheaper than raw. Yearly, even with the increase kibble runs me around $550 per year. As my puppy gets bigger that will go up a bit, but I doubt it will go up more than $100, but just being generous even say $700 a year, that's still enough less than raw for me not to make that switch.

Sorry.


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