The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

I feel your pain Vicky, as Jack Jack has a very sensitive stomach, and has since he was a puppy (he's 4 now). I went through just about everything with him (except the vet food).

Right now he's eating Acana Duck and Pear. He can't handle grain-free foods, they're just too rich for him, so he gets a high quality grain food with limited ingredients. He also did really well on Dick van Patten Venison & Sweet Potato. I also use Digestive Enzymes for him (Digestive Enhancer from Nature's Farmacy) and when his tummy is bad, I also add Tylan powder, which is an antibiotic powder. I don't use it all the time, though, as I don't want him on antibiotics all the time.

I use pumpkin from time to time, but otherwise he gets his kibble and some treats that I know won't bother his stomach. Anything out of the ordinary does produce soft stools, especially traveling.

Vicky, has he been checked for any type of infection or parasites? Just a thought. I hope you find something that works for your sweetie.

When I first got Emma I fed her the Costco grain free food and she had SIX bowel movements every day. It was awful. She's now eating Acana Pacifica (fish), but just this week she has soft stools, too. I'm dropping off a sample tomorrow to rule out parasites (because of her disgusting habit of eating "yard art.") Have you tried Flagyl at all? But I think that's for bacterial gut problems so maybe that wouldn't help.

About six months ago I ended up taking Piper to a specialist since she was having major issues out of the blue with her food (didn't matter if raw or bland diet). It would get better for a few weeks to just return with a vengence. The specialist said it could be one of two things: severe protein allergy or IBD. We started her on metronidazole and prednisone to get her back to firm along with Science Diets special diet. I just recently switched her to Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Lamb with great success. She seems like she's just now starting to be normal again. I sprinkle Honest Kitchen's Perfect Form on her food too and that always seems to help.

Maybe try the NV Instinct Limited Ingredient line. It has worked super well for us (along with the meds but she's weaned down to very low dose). She also no longer gets chicken and that seems to make a big difference. It's so interesting that what works for her is completely opposite of what works for her brother!

Poor Charlie! I hope you find something that works for you guys!

Vicky,
I sure can sympathize. I am constantly doing a balancing act in the effort to keep Chessie solid. She has been doing OK on Acana Ranchlands in the morning and NV Instinct Raw beef at night. Like Sarah I add Honest Kitchen's Perfect Form to her evening meal. It sure helps but in spite of the name nothing is perfect and she still comes up soft a couple times a week. Chessie is sensitive to chicken and can not tolerate tripe. I recently tried NV raw lamb for variety and she's back to soft. This is crazy! If they lived on the street they would be eating rotten garbage and surviving! I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that as long as her stool has form I'm not doing too bad with her.

One thing I have noticed is that I can almost always think back and recognize what she got that was different and probably caused the soft stool. If I were you I'd keep a log for a couple weeks and see if you can start to pin point any pattern with Charlie. I'd keep track of food, treats, meds, activities, the weather (any storms) anything different in his routine... even how much exercise he got that day.

One more thing... I recently ran across a chart that showed examples of various stool output. It's pretty disgusting but it did reassure me by showing what "normal" really means. Since I saw it I've been slightly less anal (pun intended) about it... although I must admit I still check.


I wish I could give you the magic answer... but since I don't know all I can do is wish you luck!

Vicky, I have to avoid Chicken with Abby...it is definitely a thought.

My previous cocker had major stomach intestional issues, I was pretty niave back then and took what the vet said as gospel,they said that she just had a sensitve stomach. Well that senstive stomach turned into a major nightmare, when I brought her in when she was 10 with skin, ear and eye issues. They could then tell me that she had a protein allergy. They put her on a hydrolzed food,and for the first time in her life she had a firm stool. She lived on that for her last 5 years of life with no more issues.
When I first got Snicky I had her on a chicken based puppy food which she did not do well on, and after doing a lot of research I switched her over to a limited ingredient diet of venison and potato and she has been fine on that for 2 years with no issues. After what happened to my Peachy I was not going to go down that road again.

I avoid chicken because Max breaks out but you could try turkey if he likes poultry. Turkey is usually novel enough and fairly chemically different from chicken, so that may be an option. When Max had the tummy aliens come visit we started a probiotic, human acidophilus, and it has helped tremendously. It promotes good flora in the stomach and intestines. Once we did that we had almost no tummy aliens. It's not expensive and can be found easily and has really made a difference for him. Good luck with Charlie. I know you've been to the moon and back getting this sorted out for him.

Last week I discovered little drops of bright red blood towards the end of Toby's bowel movements. I monitored it for a few days before taking it to the vet. The stool was tested for parasites and came back negative so the vet said it could be due to one of two things: his food (Wellness core) or stress (very possible as we just moved). We have had him on metronidozole (2x a day) since last Friday, a probiotic, and were feeding him wet food that was prescribed by the vet. Immediately, the blood from his stool disappeared and was getting back to normal. As we started to run out of the prescribed food, I slowly started to reintroduce the Wellness and right away the blood came back. My guess is the cause is now due to his food so we're also looking for alternatives. Just wanted to chime in since we're going through something similar. Best of luck to you and Charlie and please let keep us posted on what works!

I had this problem 4 a year try a very good probiotic for dogs,
The 1 that worked best for me was Naturvet.I thought my dog was allergic to chicken and everythIng else going, its like every now and then the good bacteria gets wiped out. Without the good bacteria your dog wont absorb any nutrients so then its ear infections ddandruff, loose stools, the problems are endless. Certainly wont hurt to try but might not to.

I'm no expert, but a friend of mine with a sensitive dog found duck / lamb type foods made her worse as they are quite rich. Have you tried fish type foods? I'm having a struggle at the moment in that I've finally found a kibble my picky princess Hetty will eat, albeit mixed with beef mince (she's not daft) but it's giving her sloppy poos. Hopefully she will settle soon!

When Tucker had Colitis I was given FortiFlora to add to his food once a day. I was also told to feed a high fiber diet and after looking at a lot of foods I found that the chicken soup LIGHT for the dog lovers soul was what helped him. Most kibble only contains 3 to 4 percent fiber but the chicken soup light contained 13% fiber and to help things along I also added a tablespoon of pumpkin to the kibble in the evenings food.
After about a week his stools firmed back up and his stomach settled down. We kept him on this food and added probiotic yogurt to his AM kibble and pumpkin to his PM kibble and never had another problem with his stools.
Now every AM the dog's still get probiotic yogurt added to their AM kibble and thats to keep the gassy Jessie from clearing the room.

Argh!

Vicky,

I know how frustrating this is for you! I hope you can find a food that works for Charlie!

Were you able to find the Perfect Form to try?

Why mess with perfection. Just my thought but I would wait a little longer before I tried to change his food again.

My Coriander has colitis. I fed him Wellness Core Fat-Reduced and put my homemade food on top. A few times a year he would have a flare which was usually stress-related. At that point we would give him Flagyl. I hope you find something that keeps him comfortable.