Sensitive Tummy Food Advice!

[Vanessa Hancock]

Hi all

I have a 2yr 8 month Red Setter called Riley.  In short - he is beautiful - but then I am completely biased!

I am concerned about his stomach and am considering changing his food.  He eats James Wellbeloved Lamb & Rice dry food and wet food - he has been on this since he was a young pup.  His poo is fine - but he seems to really struggle with wind - both ends - but mostly 'up' wind and his stomach makes the most horrendous noises sometimes for hours after eating.  He doesn't gobble his food.  We never exercise him within an hour of having food (before & after food) and he has quiet time in his (very large!) crate for a short while after eating.  He does drink a lot of water and we try to limit this so that he doesn't guzzle lots of water in a short space of time.

I'm considering changing to a Royal Canin sensitivity food.  Need to talk to the vet before we do anything - but like to be prepared.

Any advice welcome.

Thanks

xxx

[shirley walsh]

Hi Vanessa

I have had terrible trouble with one of my setters Sophie. She is always windy at both ends and burps and swallows air whilst her sister has no problem in that department . Sophie has had bloat and torsion 4 times , the last time being just over a week ago when she nearly died, although still not out of the woods yet. I have decided to start Sophie on Nutriment raw food and see how she gets on as I know that she has delayed gastric emptying . I did send DNA samples to the Animal Health Trust who were doing research into bloat (that was in 2013). All I can say is that Sophie is the only setter I have had that has had these digestive problems and GDV. My vet is so against raw diet but I have to try and stop further bloating as she may not be so lucky next time. The hospital I took her to think that she is some miracle dog for surviving so many...

[Connie Lyons]

Two of my dogs had recurrent bouts of gurgly stomachs, gas, not wanting to eat. I changed them to Nutri Source grain free 3 months ago and neither of them has had a single episode since.

[Jennifer S]

My husband adopted our 10 year old male when he was 3 years old. Bentley had been surrendered to a shelter and no information was available at his adoption regarding the first 3 years of his life. His coat was in poor shape as was his demeanor. He tried Bentley on several different high quality foods but Bentley would eventually end up with squeaky and rumbly guts, horrible rear end "wind" and would vomit and refuse to eat for a day or two. We would feed him boiled chicken and rice for a couple days until he could eat kibble again. Eventually we found Taste of the Wild grain free Pacific Stream to work. It has probiotics in it but we also put a spoonful of plain yogurt on it as well. He has been on this food for the last six years with only the occasional tummy problem. His coat and attitude improved significantly as well. We recently acquired a puppy who refused to eat this food so we switched them both to NutriSource grain free chicken. Bentley's stomach problems returned then resolved when we put him back on the Taste of the Wild. And regarding the puppy, well, I realized that I had made her into a picky eater and eventually tricked her back to Taste of the Wild too.

We researched how to provide home-made food for our pups but quickly realized how complicated it would be to ensure a well-balanced meal what with all the vitamin and mineral supplements that were recommended.