[weez74]

Yay! Two weeks after we first took her to the vet to get her jabs, Rosie finally got them this morning! Advance warning - I'm going to talk about poo A LOT - don't read this if you're having your dinner!

Her colitis seems to have been getting much better, although tbh it was only ever noticeable in her poo - blood and mucus and very runny poo on and off since we got her, but it got better with a round of antibiotics and probiotics and Royal Canin sensitive. Then it went right back to being horrible again when we tried a tiny bit of James Wellbeloved Lamb in her food. She went back on antibiotics for nearly a week and seemed a bit better, but they wouldn't give her her jab while she was on the meds and wanted to see what she was like off medication for a few days.

So, her course of antibiotics finished on Friday night, on Saturday morning, she had a horrible poo, but no mucus or blood and since then, it has got more and more solid and now the vet was happy to give her the jab. I've never been so proud of a poo as I was yesterday when she did a proper solid one - I actually wanted to pick it up and bring it inside to show my husband!! YUK!

So now she's had her first jab, we have to try and introduce a more 'normal' food to see how she goes. I asked about a raw diet and the vet was fairly negative, saying that with her sensitive tummy, we need to be even more careful about the bacteria in raw food and that probably what will be best, at least to begin with, is something that will provide a degree of certainty - i.e. something where we know she will be getting exactly the same ingredients each time. She recommended the James Wellbeloved Turkey and gave me a free sample to try, so she's had a few pellets of that in her mid morning meal. Fingers crossed!

Oh, and she got an invite to a puppy party tomorrow night, as a result of having her jab! We're being properly welcomed into puppy society now! :whoo:

Louise

 

[Wizbus]

That's great! Glad you seem to have sorted the poo situation. We had a similar problem with Bella when we brought her home, mucus & blood, although she didn't have antibiotics. She was given chicken & rice by the vets and probiotic paste. The chicken & rice has always seemed to make her worse as they gave it to her after her spay op and she was quite runny again. After trying JWB we went to Burns mini bites and now she is on the adult food and she hasn't looked back.

Have fun at the puppy party, they are great and not long now til Rosie can go out!

 

[Dylansmum]

I asked about a raw diet and the vet was fairly negative, saying that with her sensitive tummy, we need to be even more careful about the bacteria in raw food and that probably what will be best, at least to begin with, is something that will provide a degree of certainty - i.e. something where we know she will be getting exactly the same ingredients each time. She recommended the James Wellbeloved Turkey and gave me a free sample to try, so she's had a few pellets of that in her mid morning meal. Fingers crossed!

Hi Louise, glad you're getting it sorted. Just to make a point about diet - vets are almost always negative about raw feeding - my last vet acted like I was killing my dog when I put him on raw chicken wings. But I had the last laugh when he lived to 17, didn't see a vet for the last 5 years or so and was still walking in the park the day he died. So vets are not always right - they stick to what is familiar to them and are often not open to new ideas. I have never found a vet who approved of a BARF diet - it's a bit like GP's and complementary therapies - it's outside of their remit. So make your own decisions - if the Wellbeloved works for you then great, but if not, then I wouldn't hesitate to give a raw diet for a dog with gut problems - it's pure and natural with just a few basic ingredients so less to cause irritation. Keep us posted on Rosie's progress x

 

[weez74]

Hi Helen,

Yes, I am pretty open minded and I always like to question what I am being told (it drives my husband nuts). I think it is like doctors - if you're trained in something and you've experienced it being the solution 9 times out of 10, then you're probably far more likely to reject other solutions. Which doesn't mean they won't work in the other cases.

I will follow her advice to begin with, for selfish reasons - dry dog food will be far easier for me, if I can find something she is happy with. But if she is not happy, then I will definitely keep the raw food diet in mind. I also think at this stage that there is something to be said for keeping tight control on what she is eating to find out what is bothering her. However, it could still be the stress of leaving the litter possibly compounded by the antibiotics, or even just a food intolerance that she will grow out of. But, at least I have another possible solution now, so thank you for that! Knowledge is power.

Louise

 

[embee]

Hi Louise, glad you're getting it sorted. Just to make a point about diet - vets are almost always negative about raw feeding - my last vet acted like I was killing my dog when I put him on raw chicken wings. But I had the last laugh when he lived to 17, didn't see a vet for the last 5 years or so and was still walking in the park the day he died. So vets are not always right - they stick to what is familiar to them and are often not open to new ideas. I have never found a vet who approved of a BARF diet - it's a bit like GP's and complementary therapies - it's outside of their remit. So make your own decisions - if the Wellbeloved works for you then great, but if not, then I wouldn't hesitate to give a raw diet for a dog with gut problems - it's pure and natural with just a few basic ingredients so less to cause irritation. Keep us posted on Rosie's progress x

Funny you should say that. When I was considering moving Flo onto a BARF diet the vet said no as they couldn't be sure she would be getting balanced nutrition and if she was ill they wouldn't be able to rule out bad diet. A bit rich when you think that most kibble is packed with rice/grains and carbs are not needed by dogs at all. I'll be moving Flo from Wellbeloved to Orijen and Nature Diet having just looked a link posted by Enneirda about dog food quality to make sure she is getting the best quality kibble that follows the BARF principle.

 

[Dylansmum]

Funny you should say that. When I was considering moving Flo onto a BARF diet the vet said no as they couldn't be sure she would be getting balanced nutrition and if she was ill they wouldn't be able to rule out bad diet. A bit rich when you think that most kibble is packed with rice/grains and carbs are not needed by dogs at all. .

The thing is that if you are feeding BARF then you do have to make sure it is balanced. You can't just give chicken wings and nothing else. That's why I was so pleased to find a pre-packaged BARF diet, because I'm confident that all the nutrients are in there and it's easy for a lazy soul like me! With my last dog, I ended up giving Nature Diet because I was never entirely sure that I was doing BARF right. Done properly, it's great.

 

[alfiedoo]

Hi Louise

So glad you've eventually been able to get Rosie her injections. Enjoy the puppy party! We took Alfie to one and its was hilarious! Organised chaos but a great way of introducing puppies to each other and to see all the different personalities coming out! We feed Alfie on James Well beloved and have never had any problems. I think its quite a good quality dry food so fingers crossed Rosie will enjoy it too.

Keep us posted on how the party goes! x

 

[lady amanda]

OH I am so glad she is starting to do better!!! YAY!

 

[parapluie]

puppy party sounds like so much fun!