# Food for Dog with sensitive stomach?



## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Hey all,
Our dog (golden retriever/standard poodle cross) seems to have a sensitive stomach. He is about 14 months old now, and we have been feeding him Go! Duck formula. We notice that his stools come out mucosy at times, and are quite soft about half the time. It sticks on the grass blades when trying to pick it up, but is still formed. He also gets gas. We are taking him to the vet, but it seems with the last bag of Go! we bought, he's been biting his nails, and feet, and thrown up, as well as had some diahreah. We started to switch him to Acana lamb and apple, as I think he's old enough now, and not really growing.

When we first went to the Go! duck, it was because he seems to be allergic to salmon (we think based on some testing), so we've been avoiding salmon based foods. We are thinking about trying him on a grain free food, but it's hard to find anything that is grain free and fish free. Does anyone have any recommendations, or thoughts on what could be happening? His stool on the lamb and apple seems to be much better so far, but it would be nice to get him off the grains, if he is a little more sensitive?

I'm wondering if he's allergic to Salmon, if trying something with herring in it could be bad? Maybe it's just trial and error, but I am looking for some ideas, as it's been perplexing.

Thanks!


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

What exactly are you unhappy with, with the Acana?


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Most likely candidate for allergies would have been the grains in the other food. He might be allergic to salmon but I believe grains would be more feasible as the culprit. Nutrisca has a nice food with mulitple types of proteins. Costo even carries a turkey and sweet potato grain free food. Taste of the Wild is nice with several varietes, Acana and Origen Blue BUffalo might be too rich if he is sensitive.


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Liz said:


> Most likely candidate for allergies would have been the grains in the other food. He might be allergic to salmon but I believe grains would be more feasible as the culprit. Nutrisca has a nice food with mulitple types of proteins. Costo even carries a turkey and sweet potato grain free food. Taste of the Wild is nice with several varietes, Acana and Origen Blue BUffalo might be too rich if he is sensitive.


We have been trying the Acana Lamb and Apple and he's been going crazy for it, and really likes it. His stools have been perfect on it. The problem is over the last while, he seems to be getting an allergic reaction. . I'm hoping it's not the food, but he's been on the acana a couple days now, and his ears are becoming red. The interesting part is the acana is 32% protein or something and 18% fat, and the Go! Duck is 22%/12% and after a couple days he's a lot better on the acana. Both contain oats, so I don't know if he would be allergic to that. It's just been confusing. The vet gave us some steroids to try, it's possible the reaction is from something else.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Where do you live? I know all 3 of my boys have some allergies right now...but up here we have TONS of cotton wood flying around so I have no doubt that it is one of the reasons!


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

I actually live in Edmonton, Alberta, about 30 minutes from the Orijin/Acana plant haha. We had a bunch of the tree fuzz flying around over recent weeks. I'm just worried it might be the food, but I don't want to take him off it just yet, because he's doing so good on it. Maybe we need to wait and see, and use the steroids the vet gave us.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Are his ears red and itchy or "just" red? Have you changed anything shampoo(clothing/flooring/etc,) mowed or sprayed the lawn with anything? I know our Puggie has different allergic highs and lows over the year...but they are just seasonal.

For kibble I REALLY like Acana!


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

We noticed him biting his nails when he came back from the groomers, and it's been an escalation from there. We are going to give him a bath, maybe it was the type of shampoo used. We will see what happens, I'll keep feeding the Acana for now . I'd love to move him to grain free but i'll wait until he's stable again before doing that.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Acana products are wonderful! I fed the acana grasslands to my rescues which is grain free before switching them to a raw diet and they did best on that food for their sensitive tummy issues and allergies. I like that it is not the highest protein level of the Orijen and better than the others on the market. Hope you find the food that works best as Goldens are known for allergy issues. Good Luck!


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Thanks for all the replies. Think we will stick with acana for now, and see if we can eventually get him into the grain free line.


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## dmgmn (Apr 24, 2011)

I would agree with Scarlett O' on the seasonal allergies and a good possibility is the shampoo from the groomer especially if it seems to have progressed from that point.

If he seems to be doing alright on the Acana, i would continue with that until you pin down the cause of the allergen-
(you don't wanna keep switching food on him when trying to narrow down what he's allergic to)
This is the worst time of year for allergies, especially with dogs that are allergy prone and it makes it extremely hard to track down the specific cause.
Good Luck!


IronWolf said:


> We noticed him biting his nails when he came back from the groomers, and it's been an escalation from there. We are going to give him a bath, maybe it was the type of shampoo used. We will see what happens, I'll keep feeding the Acana for now . I'd love to move him to grain free but i'll wait until he's stable again before doing that.


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## RealDog (Jul 4, 2011)

Liz said:


> Most likely candidate for allergies would have been the grains in the other food. He might be allergic to salmon but I believe grains would be more feasible as the culprit. Nutrisca has a nice food with mulitple types of proteins. Costo even carries a turkey and sweet potato grain free food. Taste of the Wild is nice with several varietes, Acana and Origen Blue BUffalo might be too rich if he is sensitive.


No you are 100% wrong. Please don't make statements about allergies. Grains are the least likely to cause allergies. Beef, 
chicken, eggs and dairy are responsible for the vast majority of verified allergies well over 80%.

You don't know what you are talking about.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Realdog, I'd like to see proof of that, proof that does NOT come from a dog food manufacturer's website!


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## RealDog (Jul 4, 2011)

http://www.raynenutrition.com/uploads/Food allergy in dogs & cats Review.pdf

This is one of many studies on the subject. Cornell also did a landmark study on over 11,000 dogs and found rice and corn to be responsible for just 3% of allergies combined.

So stop giving people advise. You dont know what you are talking about. The cornerstone of any diet for an allergy is always some protein like venison or catfish that the dog has not been exposed to.

Do you believe in the tooth fairy as well?


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

The protein is the most likely culprit. Sometimes that's a grain, but more often it's not.

And the majority of allergies are caused by the environment, not food.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

RealDog said:


> No you are 100% wrong. Please don't make statements about allergies. Grains are the least likely to cause allergies. Beef,
> chicken, eggs and dairy are responsible for the vast majority of verified allergies well over 80%.
> 
> You don't know what you are talking about.


You are 10000000% WRONG! Liz had a GREAT post!

Dogs should, by nature, be eating meat! So anything other then that(and for some dogs even types of meat) is the highest culprit for allergies! Dogs should be on grain free diets! 

Please dont make statements about dog health/nutrition since this post showed that you know not of which you are speaking!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Realdog:
Are you an admin or moderator of this forum? No? 
Then please don't tell members what they can and can not post.
Meat is a species appropriate ingredient. While it is a possible allergen in COOKED, PROCESSED form, a TRUE chicken, beef, fish, etc. allergy in raw, whole form is like a cow being allergic to grass. Grains are NOT a species appropriate ingredient in any form. sing common sense and logic, and can we draw from this?


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## Debbie G (Jul 9, 2011)

This is my 1st post so Hi to everyone...have been on dog food chat before but never the forum! My 1st post is for you Ironwolf as i too have been dealing with a food allergy with my choc lab (Cooper) for over a year now and so i sympathize...it is a very frustrating and stressful issue for both animal/owner. Would like to pass on my experience and suggestions if i may. My dog was very lucky that the only symptoms he had were some mild yeasty/itchy ears and vomiting at least once a week. My vet of course ran all complete blood and other tests and we ruled out parasites,helicobactor,pancreatitis(TLI-PLI test);the only thing that ever showed up in blood work was high eosinophils which usually indicates either parasites or an allergy of some sort. At 1st thought it was gastric reflux as only vomited in morning? so did also put him on Pepcid AC 1x day but until we actually put him on a prescript diet (Hill's ultra Z/D) still had symptoms...before anyone goes bashing me for the use of this diet let me just add that i have never been a fan of Hill's but since didn't know for sure what his allergy was decided to use this true hypoallergenic food and the only good thing i can say about it is that it certainly did the trick and allowed us to get him symptom free and start doing elimination food trials...my goal of course was to get him on a good food as soon as i knew for sure what his probs were....so far his problem foods have been corn and potatoes (darn for that as most good grain free use potatoes as main carb source or somewhere in the ingred). I recently switched him to Go Salmon and Oat and so far so good! I am so thrilled as it has been 1yr and 4mo since he 1st got sick. For those of you who can throw just any food into your dog's bowl, please count your blessings!!. Ironwolf...was your dog having any issues before you fed him the Go Duck? my best guess in that food would be the potatoes or does also have kamut flakes which is a type of wheat....as i'm thinking that most dogs w/sens digestion don't usually have a prob w/rice,peas or oats (mine has bee good w/all 3)..of course every dog is different. Are u sure that salmon is an issue? The Go salmon is a very basic,l.i.d Also u mentioned that dog was worse after groomers (i think they tend to use harsh shampoos...find a good mild one w maybe aloe and take it w/you there). What kind of testing have u done? mostly i found it is a lot of trial and error and patience in testing each food item so don't give up! Think you are on the right track though as steroids hopefully will alleviate most skin symptoms and i definitely think the Acana lamb and apple sounds like a good l.i.d. Could be also your dog may have both a food and an environmental allergy which steroids will usually help the environ ones. So i would say once he is stable and if the Acana lamb is doing ok then start testing diff food items for a min of about 2 wks each..i won't go into detail here now....grain free would be great too so i would suggest you test potatoes 1st. I would like to say i'm jealous that you live so close to the Champion plant....unfortunately Cooper can't have any of the Orijen as all use potatoes and same w/the grain free Acana. For everyone, i did speak w/ a couple Champion reps since i was interested myself in the Acana lamb/apple and the lg breed variety but can't get here in the U.S. It is due to a technical issue on ingred label as our FDA does not recognize milk thistle as a food additive.....Champion rep told me they are working to resolve issue (maybe take it out of ingred or find alternative?) and just maybe by the end of year we can get the grain varieties here in U.S......I hope so as i would like a food to be able to rotate and am so limited as to kinds.....not manygood grain free w/out potato that i can find around here otherwise would prob go that way plus i want to test a few more food items 1st. Ironwolf i do wish u luck and if you have any questions for me just let me know...sorry for such a 1st long post! Debbie


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

There is a newer food called Nutrisca and they use peas for binding. I am not 100% sure if they have potatos but you may want to check. It is a nice food and moderately priced. I am glad you have something that works for your pup.


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## Debbie G (Jul 9, 2011)

Thanks Liz for the info!!...think u are correct that this food uses peas and i believe chickpeas as well..i will look into it more!
Has anyone on this site tried this new food yet? I was also looking into Nature's Variety Instinct...have a couple new l.i.d. and Horizon Legacy which uses only peas.....does anyone have thoughts on these 2 foods? Just so ya know that price of food is no issue for me at this time (i was spending $80+ dollars for 25lb bag of Hills if u can believe!) Cooper's allergy issue has been an eye-opener for me and although i wish it wouldn't of happened of course but was maybe a blessing in disguise....it made me realize that i had become complacent about educating myself on nutrition and had been sucked into all the marketing hype of "junk" food so to speak. Just so everyone knows, i had fed Cooper basically Eukanuba all his life so no wonder the poor guy is allergic to corn (main ingred)...how he had enough energy to play flyball i will never know...lol! So i have literally over the past year read tons of articles,food reviews and looked at foods/ingredients until i was actually dreaming of dog food in my sleep...haha. But i had made Cooper a promise that i would do all i could to make his future golden years the best!! It has been lots of "baby steps" but feel we are moving in the right direction.....Debbie G


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Two people who purchased pup have them on this and they are doing very well.


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