Doc Holliday Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 Hi guys, I'm really struggling with this one so your help will be greatly appreciated. I'll keep it as short as I can. I have been looking at tailor made dog food, specifically an outfit called 'Tails', as my dog has been to the vet earlier this week because she has lost another 3kg in the past 3 months. After being diagnosed with Pancreatitis last March/April, she has been on Natural Instict Sensitive raw food as it is low fat and grain free. We added defrosted raw veg to help bulk it up and she seems to like it. We feed her the upper prescribed portion (250g twice a day) but she is struggling to pass stools (but not constipated). The vet wanted to put her on Royal Canin Allergenic as it has hydrolysed protein but has a 16.8% fat content. After doing some research online I ended up looking at the Tails Hypoallergenic food, which is only 7% fat. Some offsite reviews report that it has undefined gravy digest which can upset a dog's digestion. Thank you for taking the time to read and your knowledge and experience will be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) You might consider making your own food - we have made various low fat meals for our Dogs with great success and you know exactly what's going in them - low fat mince with Sweet Potatoes and left over Veg goes down well - if your Dog is struggling to pass stools you might try adding Pumpkin Puree (Waitrose) as this seems effective, about 1/3 can a day seems to do the trick. Best of luck, Pancreatitis is not a pleasant ailment so endure. As an after thought - have a look at the Lukulus Gusteco (spelling?) range - I swear by this range of food and it might be suitable? Edited February 15, 2018 by bruno22rf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 Im Confused Your dog is losing weight and you want her on a low fat diet. Is this low fat requirement due to the pancreatic trouble , if so i would do same as Bruno22rf and make my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Holliday Posted February 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 Pancreatitis can be caused by excessive fat in the diet. That's what the original vet put it down to. She was on James Wellbeloved grain free prior to that. I would seriously consider making my own if I could follow a proven recipe. The food she is on is 50% beef tripe, 20% chicken and bone and the remaineder made up of sweet potato, seaweed, etc. The thing is you'd think having a healthy diet like that she would stablise with her weight but I was wondering if it could even be something called 'Rabbit Starvation' which is caused by having too much lean protein in the diet. So we either up the fat and risk setting off pancreatitis again (she lost 5kg in 2 weeks last time) or try something different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) Agree with the high fat causing the problem - our Spaniel first went down with it when given a load of Roast Lamb (covered in Fat) left over from a local Carvery . Did you look at the Lukulus Gustico? Get ours from Bitiba online at a reasonable cost (but it's not cheap - going to be around £2/day) and it's really firm as well as smelling so nice that it's hard not to put your finger in and try it. Edited February 15, 2018 by bruno22rf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 have you tried feeding chicken carcass? Not a lot of fat on them, or chicken wings? and you can get loads of different frozen minces. found this book really good for making your own food, its very American but not all science talk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Holliday Posted February 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 Cheers for that Bruno! I'll check them out. Sorry Mice, she can't have too much bone as it binds her right up. To update you though, the Vet has taken a nice wod of cash off Mrs H & myself and has come back with roundworm eggs in her faeces (even though Mrs H worms her religiously). Still, she does scavenge and picks up God knows what given the opportunity and, since buying a water canon some weeks back, local cats looking to drop a pine cone in my back garden are becoming less of a problem. Just have the odd brave (or foolhardy) little *** that fancies his chances. The cheeky beggar (the vet, this is) also said he wanted to do more tests to see if she may have Cushing's Syndrome... for another £440. I've had a read up on this and it seems she has most of the symptoms (bloated belly and weight loss mainly) so have told him we'll hold off and get the roundworm treated first and give it a month to see if she stars to put some weight back on. He still wanted to sell me bloody prescription food. Do they really not make enough money just by being a vet that they need to pile on every possible thing until it feels like they're squeezing your man boob until it's gone purple? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriusgarrulus Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 Usually with Cushings they drink water like it going out of fashion and they suffer hairloss. How old is she. What breed. Is she spayed. If spayed at what age was she spayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Holliday Posted February 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 29 minutes ago, loriusgarrulus said: Usually with Cushings they drink water like it going out of fashion and they suffer hairloss. How old is she. What breed. Is she spayed. If spayed at what age was she spayed. Thank you for questions, lorius. She drinks as and when so I wouldn't say it was a lot. She drank more as a younger dog. She's 13 (a few weeks back now) and she hasn't really suffered that much hair loss. The only place she has really lost it is off her belly and a some round her neck but that's been over years and have put it down to her being an indoor dog. She was spayed after her first season when we got her as we didn't know when her previous one was but she would have been 2.5 maybe 3 from memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriusgarrulus Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 15 minutes ago, Doc Holliday said: Thank you for questions, lorius. She drinks as and when so I wouldn't say it was a lot. She drank more as a younger dog. She's 13 (a few weeks back now) and she hasn't really suffered that much hair loss. The only place she has really lost it is off her belly and a some round her neck but that's been over years and have put it down to her being an indoor dog. She was spayed after her first season when we got her as we didn't know when her previous one was but she would have been 2.5 maybe 3 from memory. As she wasnt spayed too early and is 13 now that rules out some problems that affect bitches and dogs earlier in life due too early neutering or spaying.. Cushings normally have dramatic hair loss like a bad flea epidemic. Sometimes thyroid problems can cause weight loss and slight hair thinning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Holliday Posted February 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 I'm sure thyroid was one of the test done but I'll double check when I speak to them next. Thank you for the intel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted February 20, 2018 Report Share Posted February 20, 2018 no worries, our old dog went onto raw food when we got our pup and it certainly seemed to improve his general well being in his final few years, the veg slop in the book is really good. hope she improves ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy george Posted February 21, 2018 Report Share Posted February 21, 2018 My 10 year old lab has just come down with Pancreatitis over the last weekend so will be interested on how yours gets on Doc Holliday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted February 21, 2018 Report Share Posted February 21, 2018 until you get her sorted try feeding her rice and chicken which you have cooked....maybe boil the chicken pieces ............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Holliday Posted February 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2018 1 hour ago, landy george said: My 10 year old lab has just come down with Pancreatitis over the last weekend so will be interested on how yours gets on Doc Holliday The last lot of tests included a pancreatic retest which came back as normal. At the time we had her on James Wellbeloved Grain free and the vet wanted to put her on a Hill's diet of some sort. I checked the ingredients and third one was 'wheat', which makes her stools go soft and kind of fluffy, almost like a an ice cream off the ice cream van, if get me. When I said it wouldn't be suitable the vet it would be the lesser of two evils. I told her that wasn't good enough for my dog and did some research. Fortunately, we have a very good pet food supplier and they really know their stuff and were extremely help, not to mention they have the best prices of anyone around or online. Just don't take the vet's words as gospel as they always seem to have their own interests slightly ahead of your own and won't hesitate selling you stuff you don't really need. We ended up narrowing things down to 2 types of raw food. One was Benyfit Natural and the other was Natural Instinct. BN had 80% meat and bone (that's how we found out high bone content binds her up) and NI has 50% tripe and 20% chicken & bone with other foods and minerals making up the rest. Both are low fat and therefore suitable for a dog with pancreatitis. I have to confess that I was starting to panic a bit and was thinking we would have to change her food again but that was before we found she had the roundworm parasite so we are going to wait and see how she goes over the next month. 1 minute ago, ditchman said: until you get her sorted try feeding her rice and chicken which you have cooked....maybe boil the chicken pieces ............ We did that when she first had the signs of pancreatitis last year, thinking she just had a bug of some sort. Chicken and rice should only be used for 2 weeks or so. Any longer you run the risk of them becoming malnourished, at least that's what we were told by the vet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landy george Posted February 21, 2018 Report Share Posted February 21, 2018 We've always feed all of mine Autarky which only has 7% fat so should be ok. I did use it dry but have started adding water to it now with the other 2 dogs, may just have been something he picked up when out on the coast wildfowling. Will just have to see how he gets on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeonshooter22 Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 I looked into Tails when I bought my pup. It is just a advertising scheme and the food is rubbish. They have a handful of types of food and just say its 'made specially for your dog' when its really a advertising con. It is very expensive for what it is, Take a look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk, very good website. You could contact Millies who are very good and one of ours is on essential which is a good brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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