# Chelsea stopped eating raw after the stomach issue last weekend, Help!



## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

Hi,

Some of you read my first post about my puppy Chelsea having an issue after eating some rabbit meat last week. Just a quick recap: she has been on a raw diet since february (chicken legs, thighs, necks, liver; duck necks, beef boneless meat; turkey necks and wings). Last week on Thursday I gave her a piece of rabbit and for the next two days she hada very bad diarrhea. That Sunday her stool was back to normal and she ate breakfast and dinner well. However, this whole week she is turning her head on the food I give her. She will come and smell and walk away. Yesterday, I offered her some beef and half of the turkey neck. She ate the turkey neck and left the beef meat. This morning I offered half of the chicken back and a chicken leg and she completely refused to eat it.
She is also declining her favorite Stella and Chewy's patties as a snack. 

I am lost and I don't know what to do anymore. I do not want to go back kibble. My trainer suggested to try pre-made stuff like Bravo. 

Could that be that she got sick from salmonella and that is the reason why she is declining food? Please HELP with your suggestions!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

She did not get sick from salmonella. I would go back to basics with this one and put a meal down for 15 min., if she doesn't eat it then put it in the fridge and feed it at the next meal time. She is waiting for something else and you need to practice some tough love with her. Good Luck!


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## Dobelover (Mar 14, 2013)

You could try grinding the meat up...our guy likes it that way.


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

I know that the salmonella theory is probably a moot issue. I am just wondering if there is more to it than just her testing me or waiting for me to offer something else. She has a sensitive stomach (shown from tests) and I am wondering if she is smelling something in the food that might make her sick or upset her stomach again. At this point I think it's all mental with her......


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

If you didn't buy old food then it should be fine. I will take a weeks worth of food out for my two and as it gets older they actually like it more (smellier) Has the weather changed where you live? If the weather gets extremely hot then my dogs aren't as hungry. I'd wait it out.


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

I sure hope I didn't buy old meat. I did buy it from a hispanic supermarket this time around vs Wegmans as I usually do. Perhaps, the chicken and beef from them are not so fresh and I just wasted money. It didn't smell old to me :-/
I live in New Jersey and the weather here has been pretty much the same 60-70s


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i have noticed, that, after my girl is not feeling well, she is 'off' her food.

dogs don't get salmonella......usually, at least....and i doubt this is the case.

i think her appetance might be a little off....

put the food down. give her 15-20 minutes to eat and then pick it up. i'd suggest making no changes or she will have you dancing to her tune. 

could you elaborate on the testing done for her sensitivities?

does she still have diarrhea? 

i have found, that when offering a new protein, especially to my corgi x, i tend to offer tiny little amounts to see how she tolerates it. she does not have an iron gut.....


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

Hi 

She is now with a great holistic vet and we did complete blood work on her, as well as metabolic blood work. She came up allergic to pork, corn, barley, sweet potatoes and potatoes. Also, she came up low on gut enzymes, which the doctor thinks is due to her being loaded with worms from the shelter and the medications we had to give her to deworm her. 
It was my mistake to give her a rather big piece of the rabbit. It was from Hare today and they don't drain blood from their meat so the rabbit was probably too rich for her. 
I am pretty sure she has me dancing around her. Yesterday evening I offered her duck neck along with some beef meat. She ate the duck neck and left the beef alone. Two hours later I gave her a chicken leg and half of chicken back (that she refused to eat that morning) and she ate them! Her stools are absolutely normal. Last time she had upset stomach diarrhea was on Saturday night after the whole rabbit fiasco.
This moning she ate duck neck and the beef. I think I just want to see her eating with gusto like she used to. I am also leaving on a vacation for 2 weeks and she will be staying with her trainer. They feed their dogs pre-made raw and they are experienced with raw food. I am just paranoid that she won't eat there. 
I think I need to learn how to stop catering to her moody appetite. Put the food down and if she doesn't eat, take it away. She is smart enough to realize that if she doesn't eat right away, it will be taken away.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

I just want to say that if you feed a pre made raw, do your research. There have been recalls, most recently Bravo had a chicken recall. Some treat with HPP. You have to research if you like that or not.


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

ohh she is not on the pre-made. I get most of her meat from our supermarket (wegmans) and they are known for their fresh product. I also order duck necks from Oma's pride because I just can't find stuff like that in the supermarket. She loves duck necks. 
However, I will try anything and everything before giving up and going back to kibble.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

marinak1982 said:


> Hi
> 
> She is now with a great holistic vet and we did complete blood work on her, as well as metabolic blood work. She came up allergic to pork, corn, barley, sweet potatoes and potatoes. Also, she came up low on gut enzymes, which the doctor thinks is due to her being loaded with worms from the shelter and the medications we had to give her to deworm her.
> It was my mistake to give her a rather big piece of the rabbit. It was from Hare today and they don't drain blood from their meat so the rabbit was probably too rich for her.
> ...


i thought that allergy testing for animal proteins were performed using cooked animal as the base for testing. i'm not so familiar with it, but that's what i read....

any protein i intro that they have never had, i usually do a test piece for a few days.....

rabbit is one of those proteins that whilst lean, can be a little rich....or it simply did not agree with her system that night. doesn't mean it won't. as to the blood? dogs can have blood....i do admit i am biased toward hare today....any time you have a question about their products, just write to tracy and she will give you lots of time.....

i know i had to stop catering to my corgi x's moody attitude toward food. there are dogs, like people who live to eat and some who eat to live. 

when a dog is hungry, the dog will eat. i had to keep repeating that mantra in my head, when dealing with my malia.....

as long as we keep them hydrated, they can go quite a few days with the tug of war and food.


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

I actually did email Tracy from Hare and she was very nice and replied to me right away. I am pretty sure that I just gave her way too much for the first time. Lesson learned. 
I think I cater to her too much because she was such a sickly puppy when we first got her. We are sill training her to overcome some of her fear issues and I alwas walk on my tippy toes around her  but I am slowly learning that it might be not the best approach when it comes to her mind games around food.
Hmmmm her allergy test was done from her blood work and I trust the results. Too bad that she is allergic to pork because it's one less protein I can include in her diet


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

there are so many proteins to offer....you'll find plenty....

i know the feeling. malia was such a sick baby, crawling out of a ditch, dying of everything.....nursing her back to health from five weeks or so...on...seemed like a forever job. 

i tend to let her get away with things the other dogs don't get..until we started raw and she turned her nose up at chicken and fish. and then the tough love, albeit reluctantly, began. i would cry a little....but it had to be done......


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

So good to know that I am not alone with such a moody eater! 

But I guess it needs to be done. I feel like crying when I see her not enjoying the food. Before she would do a happy dance after she was done eating, now it's like "ahh I've had better" kinda face :heh:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

marinak1982 said:


> So good to know that I am not alone with such a moody eater!
> 
> But I guess it needs to be done. I feel like crying when I see her not enjoying the food. Before she would do a happy dance after she was done eating, now it's like "ahh I've had better" kinda face :heh:


would that every dog ate like my other two. serve them concrete with a side of plastic and they sigh with pleasure.

the good news is this. dogs don't 'enjoy' food. they eat. some eat to live. some live to eat. 

she'll come back......if she were enthusiastic before, she will be again....mine's just old.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

I have to say that I have also heard that the tests are done with cooked meat. I think after everything settles down and things are going good I would probably be inclined to try pork just to see. But I guess if you have plenty of proteins then it won't matter.

Last winter I had to use allot of pork but I have gotten much more old wild meat from people so I don't have to rely on it. And I got a bunch of pork hearts from the butcher plant so that's mostly there pork now.

All my dogs live to eat, what a bunch of disposals I have. Re mine are like your two I think they would eat anything.


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

Just wanted to post an update: YEP she was totally playing mind games with me. She is back to eating !!!! There is no doubt that her tummy problems were making her uncomfortable but not eating for past few days was a "see if mommy can give me something better" kind of thing.
I even zeroed out my Oma's Pride order because I didn't know what will happen but now it's back up and I am ordering some good stuff for her like beef heart, duck meat, chicken necks, etc. The other day I saw that the hispanic store has goat meat. I will try that too in couple of weeks. 
Thank you all for your support !!!  

I e


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

that is good news


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

marinak1982 said:


> ohh she is not on the pre-made. I get most of her meat from our supermarket (wegmans) and they are known for their fresh product. I also order duck necks from Oma's pride because I just can't find stuff like that in the supermarket. She loves duck necks.
> However, I will try anything and everything before giving up and going back to kibble.


You said she declined Stella & Chewys as a snack so yes, you've fed a pre made raw whether for snack or meals. You also said the trainer suggested Bravo which is pre made. Just read up on HPP


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

Good point!

Any good articles that you can recommend to read? 

I also make a lot of dehydrated chicken treats myself in the dehydrator, however I do buy Stella for when I don't have time to make home made treats. I still feel like it's much better than giving her highly processed treats like zuke's for example.
Also, my trainer's dog (pitbull/lab) is 16 years old now and is in great health and he is on bravo. I think pre-made diets are still much better than kibble. So I would try pre-made raw diet before switching back to kibble any day.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

marinak1982 said:


> Good point!
> 
> Any good articles that you can recommend to read?
> 
> ...


There are many treats on the market made in the USA that are one ingredient. I only buy these for treats for my dog as I'm just too busy to do my own.


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

doggyloot.com recently had the freeze dried Orijen treats (only 3 ingredients and include tripe) so I bought some to try them out. She loves them and I like the fact that they only have few ingredients : bison liver, boneless bison, bison tripe (bison treats). They are on the larger size so I break them in half and unlike Stella they don't crumble all over the place.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

marinak1982 said:


> doggyloot.com recently had the freeze dried Orijen treats (only 3 ingredients and include tripe) so I bought some to try them out. She loves them and I like the fact that they only have few ingredients : bison liver, boneless bison, bison tripe (bison treats). They are on the larger size so I break them in half and unlike Stella they don't crumble all over the place.


Ill have to ask my guy who sells tons of Orijen, haven't seen these in the store. But I'm sure my dogs will love them


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## marinak1982 (May 14, 2013)

I recently placed an order on Dog and Cat Food, Treats, and Supplies | Free Shipping at Chewy.com for like 4 different flavors  and they have exotic proteins not just a general chicken or turkey treats. They have bison, duck, wild boar, lamb, etc.
She hated their kibble though


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