So last I wrote, Abby was trying a new diet that consisted of Purina OM. That had made a vast improvement in the consistency of her stools; however, other issues have emerged now that she has been on it a little over a month.
I've never fed a canned diet to a dog. That said, my mother feeds a mix of both to her dogs (except the older ones who are strictly on canned for their teeth) and she seems to like it. However, prior to putting Abby on a canned diet, she ate half a cup of Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie twice daily. The nutritionst recommended that she should get 2 1/4 cans per day. I won't lie - this seems like a LOT of food. When I first put it in Abby's bowl it seemed like a lot in comparison to the volume she received on dry. But we fed it, and honestly Abby seemed to go into a food coma. We started noticing that Abby didn't have as much energy. That isn't to say she was lethargic, but rather I noticed that any energy she had before dinner was quickly replaced with a firm desire to nap. Almost like most people get after Thanksgiving. It was as if she was in a Thanksgiving coma.
It wasn't long before other things started to seem a little bit off. I noticed that Abby was burping a lot. But it wasn't just a burp. She would actually be burping up food. In most instances she would simply swallow whatever came up. But sometimes she wasn't so lucky and she'd end up spitting up a good amount of food. Additionally there were times where it was as if it either came up the wrong way, or she swallowed wrong, but she started to breathe funny for about a minute afterwards. It almost sounded like a reverse sneeze, and if you didn't know better it was concerning. The first few times it happened I would wonder if she was breathing OK.
Additionally Abby has lost weight on the new food. Now granted, I'm not very concerned about this. But when you consider that the amount of food she was to eat was calculated based on her weight at the time that we started feeding her OM (40 pounds), it is noteworthy that she is losing weight (36.5 pounds). I think that anything in the 35-40 pound range seems healthy for her, but if 40 were the ideal weight for her than I'd be worried about how I would correct that problem because admittedly she is getting a TON of food on the OM as it is and I don't know how much more I could give her.
So hubby and I are thinking about switching her food and trying something else. I'm not entirely sold on a prescription diet for her, much less one that targets weight management when she isn't an overweight dog. Additionally I am concerned with her being on a diet that is presciption because I constantly have to worry about making sure to order her food. And after one time where someone at her veterinarian's office did not forward a note properly for her food to be ordered, I am always worried that such a human error could happen again.
In other news we have started to taper down her Clomicalm that she has been on for a year. I am doing a really slow tapering with it. Instead of doing a half tablet twice daily, I am giving her half a tablet once daily for one month, then half a tablet every other day for a month. We'll see how that goes. We have noticed that she is barking a bit more at sounds she hears or things she sees. My hope is that as I try out a new food for her, I can find a kibble that works and use that to bump up the relaxation protocols.
Abby did the funniest thing the other day, although I should say that seems to do funny things every day. We were coming back from a walk and my husband had been running an errand. He passed by us on our way back, and he had his window open. Abby watched his car pass and about two seconds later stopped, sniffed the air, and bolted in the direction her Dad had just gone. Too funny!
She also had her first agility class, and she was an absolute superstar! It was only her and one other dog, and she did really well with jumping over the hurdles. Inevitably Jess told us to take their leashes off, and admittedly I was worried. Abby is NEVER off leash. We just don't have an area that we could do that work with her. But she did so well! There were times where she wanted to be the social butterfly and go see Blue, but largely she stayed with us and sometimes came back when called. The biggest thing I noticed was how willing Abby was to trust me. She trusted that I wanted her to walk on equipment that was safe, and to me that was the best part of the class. Throughout most of the class she looked like she was smiling - it was the cutest thing in the world!
Next week we're going to try some rally, so I can't wait to see how she does with that!
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Easing back to normal
The past few months have been a little bit hectic as of late, and perhaps the biggest challenge has been our girl's GI issues. The week of April 18th Abby started with soft stools that were later accompanied by an urgency with her bowel movements. We brought her to the her veterinarian and got a prescription for Metronidazole and had a discussion about the food that she has been on. At the time Abby was eating Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie, and she was doing relatively well with it. However, I had noticed that it seemed as if Abby periodically had GI issues since we adopted her.
When we first adopted Abby and brought her to her first veterinarian appointment, her fecal results came back positive for giardia. We put her on fenbendazole that was to be mixed in with her Science Diet puppy kibble. I don't know if there was a taste to her medicine, or she didn't like the texture of the medicine in her food. Either way, she inevitably wanted no part of her food. She made it through one week of medicine, and then stopped eating even without having medicine in her food. At that time we tried to change her dry food in an effort to get her to think that if there was a new food, then there was a new MO. Inevitably she really seemed to dig the Merrick's Puppy Plate. She did well on this medicine, but after a few months got diarrhea one time. Her stool sample came back clean and we put her on metronidazole, and eventually the problem cleared up.
Over the next several months it seemed like we went through periodic issues with diarrhea. The stool samples were always clean, and the metronidazole cleared up the urgency that accompanied the diarrhea and inevitably helped with the consistency of her stools. But then this last bout hit in April and we were not able to clear up her problems.
We did a week of metronidazole, and although it helped with the urgency it did not really affect the consistency of her stools. The first stool while on metronidazole was solid, and after that they were about the consistency of soft serve (presuming it wasn't full blown diarrhea). Additionally, when we spoke with the veterinarian, they said that they were seeing a lot of dogs that had problems with Merrick foods. They said that the fat content in the Merrick foods was very high, and as a result a lot of dogs seem to develop this problem; as if their pancreases have enough and blow out. We switched her food to a low residue (Iams) and gave her Forti Flora, a probiotic. After a week when her stools hadn't improved, I tried switching the food to Science Diet I/D dry because she had previously done better on this food. The stools improved a bit, but not enough. I called the veterinarian back and they extended the metronidazole and set us up with an appointment for a complete blood panel including TLI and folates, as well as a broader fecal test.
In true Abby fashion, all of her bloodwork and fecal tests came back fine. All levels were where they needed to be, which meant that her pancreas was functioning fine and that we weren't having any issues with malabsorption or maldigestion. At this point we went on an exclusion diet. Abby would only eat Science Diet I/D dry and the hypoallergenic cookies, and all other treats and foods would be cut out. Abby's stools did not improve at all on this diet at all. So we decided to take things a step further.
One of the vet techs at Abby's vet hospital suggested a nutritionist at Angell Hospital, and I was able to set up a phone consultation with her for this past Tuesday. She had some very helpful suggestions. She said that when dogs have problems with digestion, they always look to simplify everything as much as they can. The fact that Abby had been on a low residue, low fiber food and not improved showed that low fiber was not the way to go. Additionally, we should also look to switch her from dry food to canned food as the dry food would have a lot more non-nutrative items in it, including preservatives. That said, the second thing that we should try is a higher fiber food. She gave us two suggestions: either Purina OM or half Science Diet I/D and half Science Diet W/D. Providing this food worked for her, we could then introduce treats for her training such as carrots, rice cakes, or mini marshmallows. If this did not work either, then we would simplify further and try a novel protein diet.
While I waited for Abby's Purina OM to come in, I immediately switched her to Science Diet I/D canned food. I immediately noticed an improvement in Abby's stools. Abby's new food came in on Friday, and she started with that at dinner and really seemed to dig the taste of it. I have to say that since switching Abby to canned food, she has been SUPER interested in food. She is actually salivating for meals, and is even more food motivated than she was before.
I still am not sure how mini marshmallows are a good treat for her given the amount of sugar in them. But I'm thinking that if I cut these in half to make them even smaller, I could integrate them in combination with the other treats as a trail mix for her training. All I know is that it is so wonderful to have her finally on the road back to normal.
When we first adopted Abby and brought her to her first veterinarian appointment, her fecal results came back positive for giardia. We put her on fenbendazole that was to be mixed in with her Science Diet puppy kibble. I don't know if there was a taste to her medicine, or she didn't like the texture of the medicine in her food. Either way, she inevitably wanted no part of her food. She made it through one week of medicine, and then stopped eating even without having medicine in her food. At that time we tried to change her dry food in an effort to get her to think that if there was a new food, then there was a new MO. Inevitably she really seemed to dig the Merrick's Puppy Plate. She did well on this medicine, but after a few months got diarrhea one time. Her stool sample came back clean and we put her on metronidazole, and eventually the problem cleared up.
Over the next several months it seemed like we went through periodic issues with diarrhea. The stool samples were always clean, and the metronidazole cleared up the urgency that accompanied the diarrhea and inevitably helped with the consistency of her stools. But then this last bout hit in April and we were not able to clear up her problems.
We did a week of metronidazole, and although it helped with the urgency it did not really affect the consistency of her stools. The first stool while on metronidazole was solid, and after that they were about the consistency of soft serve (presuming it wasn't full blown diarrhea). Additionally, when we spoke with the veterinarian, they said that they were seeing a lot of dogs that had problems with Merrick foods. They said that the fat content in the Merrick foods was very high, and as a result a lot of dogs seem to develop this problem; as if their pancreases have enough and blow out. We switched her food to a low residue (Iams) and gave her Forti Flora, a probiotic. After a week when her stools hadn't improved, I tried switching the food to Science Diet I/D dry because she had previously done better on this food. The stools improved a bit, but not enough. I called the veterinarian back and they extended the metronidazole and set us up with an appointment for a complete blood panel including TLI and folates, as well as a broader fecal test.
In true Abby fashion, all of her bloodwork and fecal tests came back fine. All levels were where they needed to be, which meant that her pancreas was functioning fine and that we weren't having any issues with malabsorption or maldigestion. At this point we went on an exclusion diet. Abby would only eat Science Diet I/D dry and the hypoallergenic cookies, and all other treats and foods would be cut out. Abby's stools did not improve at all on this diet at all. So we decided to take things a step further.
One of the vet techs at Abby's vet hospital suggested a nutritionist at Angell Hospital, and I was able to set up a phone consultation with her for this past Tuesday. She had some very helpful suggestions. She said that when dogs have problems with digestion, they always look to simplify everything as much as they can. The fact that Abby had been on a low residue, low fiber food and not improved showed that low fiber was not the way to go. Additionally, we should also look to switch her from dry food to canned food as the dry food would have a lot more non-nutrative items in it, including preservatives. That said, the second thing that we should try is a higher fiber food. She gave us two suggestions: either Purina OM or half Science Diet I/D and half Science Diet W/D. Providing this food worked for her, we could then introduce treats for her training such as carrots, rice cakes, or mini marshmallows. If this did not work either, then we would simplify further and try a novel protein diet.
While I waited for Abby's Purina OM to come in, I immediately switched her to Science Diet I/D canned food. I immediately noticed an improvement in Abby's stools. Abby's new food came in on Friday, and she started with that at dinner and really seemed to dig the taste of it. I have to say that since switching Abby to canned food, she has been SUPER interested in food. She is actually salivating for meals, and is even more food motivated than she was before.
I still am not sure how mini marshmallows are a good treat for her given the amount of sugar in them. But I'm thinking that if I cut these in half to make them even smaller, I could integrate them in combination with the other treats as a trail mix for her training. All I know is that it is so wonderful to have her finally on the road back to normal.
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