Alright, so Zizzy has a very sensitive stomach. I have a hard time feeding her anything without her getting diarrhea. I can't even feed her milkbones!
She also has always had itchy skin problems her entire life. Until I took her to see a new vet and he prescribed her steroids. I gave her them for about 7-8 days and then stopped, and since then she hasn't itched! But i also changed their food around that time, so that could be whats caused it to stop. Cause I really didnt expect the steroids to end the scratching completely, just short term.
So now for a little over a month my girls have been eating 4health dry salmon diet.
It's got great ingredients AND its only 35 dollars for like 30 pounds! I was very pleased with it. It didn't give Zizzy diarrhea and their coats are very nice.
Then towards the end of october (right when hurricane sandy began!) yuki randomly showed signs of bloat. She was pacing and frantic, she was very gassy, she kept trying to throw up (threw up bile after many failed attempts) and her abdomen was swollen. So in the midst of the pre-storm, I took her to the ER vet. After four xrays, the vet determined she must have just scraped her throat so shes in pain. MADE NO SENSE TO ME, SINCE I TOLD THIS CRAZY WOMAN ALL THE SIGNS SHE SHOWED. But with nothing showing on the xray, i was left taking my baby home with some anti-acids (cause she had some gas build-up.)
That night yuki got worse, not ten minutes after going to sleep, she woke me and my boyfriend up all frantic again and trying to throw up. So once again, we rushed to the ER vet. We were seen by a different woman, and after taking more xrays, it showed that her spleen was flipped and she was even more gassy. But it was still determined it wasn't serious, if it were true bloat she wouldn't have lasted so long. But she wanted an ultrasound done to see her inside organs to see if surgery was needed. She told me it looks like her spleen was pushing her intestines upward and making it hard for her. So with that, I took her home and watched her throughout the night, and we went back the next morning. Got the ultrasound done with a different vet, and once again, the problem was undetermined. He told me its not out of the norm for dogs spleens to flip sometimes? Once again, they made no sense. He promised me all was well and after a lot of talking I trusted him and went home with more medications. She still continued having problems, but soon she stopped after taking the medicine three times a day.

Okay so I know that turned into a medical post, lol, but I wanted to get all that out there before turning to the real problem.

I just read online of an experience a lady had with 4health. One of her german shepherds randomly got bloat, they saved him And then a few days later a different shepherd died of bloat. She couldnt figure out how it had happened, until she realized the only thing she'd changed with her dogs was their food...she had started feeding them 4health. She did her research and determined that the food had to be it. So she took all of her dogs off of it and hasnt had issues since.

This is the link to her story on a different forum.
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/diet-nutrition/167640-2-bloats-10-days-4health-dog-food-warning.html

OK ALL THIS BEING SAID,
both of my girls have had their fair share of problems lol.

Theyve been on natures variety instinct, no problems there besides Zizzy remained very itchy. So I don't want to try going back to that just in case she begins itching again.

Theyve been on taste of the wild. Its very high protein, which is why i think zizzy always had diahrrea/loose stool on it. Thats my guess. Also, zizzy was still itchy.


They were on purina one for a short time as well, which wasnt my first choice and they were only on it for a couple weeks, if that. Both dogs acquired eye boogers/tear stains and zizzy continued to be itchy.

I just want opinions on what you all think i should try next. Have any of you had the same problems with your pups? I'm at a loss. I haven't really looked into raw diets cause my guess is I can't afford it with my crappy job lol.

Thanks to anyone who reads this. Sorry if it was confusing in any way lol.

On top of everything we were talking about earlier, to alleviate itching I've used Organic Virgin coconut oil in a lukewarm water mixture as a conditioner after bathing and then washed her off. It's always helped for when Sage develops her environmental allergies in the late summer so thought I'd share.

First and foremost, what proteins are you feeding? These are similar symptoms to my femalse Chicken Intolerance/Allergy.

Second, have you thought about raw?

Try switching to a raw diet? It's great for their health overall as well as skin and fur.

I'm going to answer for Jess since I don't know when she'll be back on, on the topic of protein: Currently her dogs are eating a food with mainly Salmon as the protein. She also has had them on fowl but I believe currently it's just the Salmon.

It may be the salmon, if the dogs have a fish sensitivity.

You could try a bland diet if going raw isn't an option. Start with a veggie for fiber such as no-salt canned green beans, or green peas, or blanched chopped carrots pick one. The second ingredient to that bland diet would be a protein source - eggs are usually neutral and you can boil them to really make sure it's just one fiber source and one protein source. This would eliminate all but 2 ingredients for allergies. If they do well on a bland diet, then it would be something in the dry food you're feeding.

Claudia makes a really good point - you can even continue with a home prepared meal program.

Check out Dr. Pitcairn's Guide to Natural Health in Dogs and Cats for some good recipes, that book is amazing.

I was considering the bland diet. I'm pretty sure zizzy is allergic/sensitive to chicken, however I think shes ok with fish. because back when she was itching i did notice she didnt itch as bad on the salmon diet.

Anyone have suggestions as far as yuki goes with her bloat symptoms?
Besides elevate her food lol.

How quickly does Yuki eat her food?

Cr0w wrote:

How quickly does Yuki eat her food?

slow. like one kibble at a time slow haha

I recently changed Adobo from a salmon based kibble to a chicken, lamb and rice and now she has her tear stains back again. So yeah it might be the chicken allergy thing.
Might have to change her back over to salmon and keep watch on her blood numbers.

Here4thePics wrote:

I recently changed Adobo from a salmon based kibble to a chicken, lamb and rice and now she has her tear stains back again. So yeah it might be the chicken allergy thing.
Might have to change her back over to salmon and keep watch on her blood numbers.

Is it salmon or all fish? There are fish protein based kibble based on white fish with little to no salmon...

Here4thePics wrote:

I recently changed Adobo from a salmon based kibble to a chicken, lamb and rice and now she has her tear stains back again. So yeah it might be the chicken allergy thing.
Might have to change her back over to salmon and keep watch on her blood numbers.

i can't feed zizzy anything that involves chicken or grain. so itd probably be best for you to steer clear of that too. and why keep watch of blood numbers?

I wouldn't feed any kibbles that are salmon based Len, only because the mercury can be so harsh on their kidneys and liver.

Why can't anyone feed Beef, Whitefish, Venison or Turkey?

mheath0429 wrote:

I wouldn't feed any kibbles that are salmon based Len, only because the mercury can be so harsh on their kidneys and liver.

Why can't anyone feed Beef, Whitefish, Venison or Turkey?

Ive stuck to salmon and whitefish diets because that seems to work best. I'm nervous to try anything else.

I don't mind whitefish at all, its a good protein. Have you taken a look at Solid Gold?

cmanding wrote:

Here4thePics wrote:

I recently changed Adobo from a salmon based kibble to a chicken, lamb and rice and now she has her tear stains back again. So yeah it might be the chicken allergy thing.
Might have to change her back over to salmon and keep watch on her blood numbers.

Is it salmon or all fish? There are fish protein based kibble based on white fish with little to no salmon...

What I fed previously was all salmon. I'm really hoping to stay with the brand I use now if at all possible, but if I do need to change whitefish would be up for serious consideration.

mheath0429 wrote:

I don't mind whitefish at all, its a good protein. Have you taken a look at Solid Gold?

I have never heard of solid gold. I'll have to look it up!

You are from NJ, try Annamaet. The guy that owns Annamaet has forgotten more about canine nutrition than some wannabees know. The company made the first performance food close to 30 years ago and it still is one of the best, Ultra.

He resisted doing a grain free until he tested the more popular foods on his own kennel of husky-pointer crosses. Then he made his own. He makes two fished-based kibbles, Option & Aqualuk.

If you call the office, more than likely he still answers. Can't say enough about Robert Downey. Without his research with the late Dr. Kronfeld, not much would be know about canine sports nutrition. Downey's Ultra is one of the most copied foods on the market.

Dr. Tim's & Annamaet are the only dry foods I am comfortable using. Both use true human grade ingredients and make food in small batches.

In the show and sled world, they both dominate.

I chuckle when I read some of these threads, seriously, most of the companies talked about just aren't on the pro's radar.

http://www.alaskanarcticexpedition.com/about.html

That guy, Joe Henderson, uses Dr. Tim's. He takes 100 days trips to the Arctic with Dr. Tim's Momentum.

TooManyHuskies, you and I both know that neither of those "dominate" in the show world. The majority of the show breeders I know, in Michigan, never heard of Dr. Tim's until I talked about it at a club meeting.

In reality, the most prominent show breeders feed a mix of raw and kibble. it's cost effective and allows them to feed kibble only on the road.

Your club has never heard of Diamond T? Shawna Wells?
Or Bralin's, Doug Jones

There are many others.

In the snow,all these guys on the right are the who's who in racing. Granted the dogs are mixed with pointers mostly now in these races but still...

http://drtims.com/mitch-seavey/

All I am saying, is that these guys don't use The Honest Kitchen or Fromm. There is a reason why they use foods like Dr. Tim's, Annamaet & even Red Paw.

TooManyHuskies wrote:

You are from NJ, try Annamaet. The guy that owns Annamaet has forgotten more about canine nutrition than some wannabees know. The company made the first performance food close to 30 years ago and it still is one of the best, Ultra.
Dr. Tim's & Annamaet are the only dry foods I am comfortable using. Both use true human grade ingredients and make food in small batches.

In the show and sled world, they both dominate.

I chuckle when I read some of these threads, seriously, most of the companies talked about just aren't on the pro's radar.

http://www.alaskanarcticexpedition.com/about.html

That guy, Joe Henderson, uses Dr. Tim's. He takes 100 days trips to the Arctic with Dr. Tim's Momentum.

Here lies the problem, in my opinion...

While we would all love to feed kibble that was made in small batches, using only human grade food, manufactured by 4th generation workers, processed and bagged in one small plant... we can't.... Because once we all start buying that food, the manufacturer must then double, triple, even QUADRUPLE his production. Then he adds new plants or farms the production out to larger plants. Now he has created another Diamond or Purina...

Most of us buy what is easily available to us and what we believe to be healthy for our pups. So many of these small companies are regional and, therefore, unavailable to all of us. Belittling our lack of knowledge of a small, obscure company is just silly!

To the OP, I have not heard of bloat being caused by food. I guess it could be caused by a food intolerance or allergy that causes the stomach to swell or fill will gas. I hope you find an answer soon!

Rodeo has some serious intolerances (to the point of seizures and screaming in pain because of food!) and the only kibble he seems to tolerate is Earthborns grain free potato free bison formula. It's a light brown bag. First time he's had solid stool on a kibble in a long time.

^ That formula of Earthborn is the best!