Sensitive Stomach

[rep]

I have a 5 year old Beagle Mix who has "always" had a chronic sensitive stomach. I've tried Science Diet for Sensitive Stomachs, Science Diet Prescription ID, New Balance for Sensitive Stomachs and he has been evaluated by the Vet, whose recommendation was to give him a Pepcid AC...which, after a period of time, "seems" offer temporary relief.

However his problem is recurring in that he might go a few days to a few weeks without a problem, then suddenly we hear the sounds of gurgling stomach, he won't eat, except for grass, and then more often than not he throws-up which is usually accompanied by diarrhea. This will last for about 4 - 6 hours, then he is back to normal.

The last few days, he has suddenly thrown up his entire meal then back to normal.

I can't seem to find a food solution and am now thinking that it perhaps might be more than a food problem??

All advice will be appreciated

REP

[Karen]

Try the basics - one-ingredient options. Start by giving him some plain cooked chicken, see if that stays down. Then add some either rice or sweet potato, see if those two stay down, etc. He's obviously reacting to something he is eating, And by trying one ingredient at a time, you can often work out what it is that's causing the issues.

[wolf_Q]

All of my huskies seem to have somewhat sensitive stomachs, but with Nebo it's a bit ridiculous. It will only take one bite of something that doesn't agree with him to have really bad diarrhea/sometimes puking episode...often he'll act really ill for the rest of the day too. I took him to the vet for this multiple times, had blood tests, x-rays, etc. and nothing was ever found. I found he does much better on lamb or venison based food, I used to feed him a chicken based food and it was way worse. He will still periodically get these episodes (came home to one last week it was pretty awful) sometimes he'll go a few months and be fine and sometimes he'll have problems twice in a week. Usually I can trace it to something he ate but sometimes all I thought he had was dog food so I'm not sure.

Personally I don't think Science diet has very good ingredients, especially for the price. Most of their formulas contain corn and by-products which are ingredients I would want to avoid. I've had him on multiple foods over the years (he's almost 10) and he's had the same problems with all of them (just worse with chicken based foods). When Nebo gets ill I don't feed him anything until the next day to give his stomach a chance to settle down. Usually that's all it takes and he's completely fine after. I have given him pepcid AC tablets as well which help some and also plain canned pumpkin (not the kind with any spices) is good to help with the diarrhea.

[Karen]

What I should add is, if the chicken makes him sick, try a different protein - lamb, for example. The whole point is add things one ingredient at a time until you can figure out what's safe.

As a human with food allergies, I have to do this whenever I develop a new one. It doesn't make for thrilling meals, but it is nice not to dread what I might feel like afterward.

[Woodnymph]

Dog foods with Grains,additives,chemicals cause skin,stomach problems. Try Taste Of The Wild,Bison or others like it.... Google it and you will see. I used to cook for my dogs, which ended the stomach-skin issues. After 2007, people woke up and demanded food without cheap grains. I have been feeding my dogs this food for 3,1/2 yrs. NO problems. Don't just believe the "Natural" claims, but get familiar with what's really in these dog foods.

[Freedom]

You can learn about dog foods and how to read labels here:
www.dogfoodanalysis.com

For a start, read a few 6 star reviews and then read a few 2 star reviews. You will catch on quickly!

As already said, Science Diet is not a very good food; the Taste of the Wild mentioned is an excellent choice!

It could be the issue is not his food, but perhaps a treat? Or, being a beagle, something he finds and eats while outdoors? Because you said it seems random with him being fine for a few days to a few weeks at a time

Getting him on a quality food will be a good first step.

[Craftlady]

Snoopy my beagle mix has IBS and his flair ups were awful (couple within 6 months). I have had him on Taste of the Wild, Lamb for almost a year now since his last episode which was June of last year. I caught the flair up quickly and his "fizz pill medication" works great and we started him on it right away and it didnt go into full blown attack. I swear by the TOW food. I've used a pepcid tablet a couple times in past year (always keep it on hand just incase).

Coco (lab mix) is on the Vinson and the cats all 8 of them are on fish flavor (TOW). It's an excellent food. The RX foods from the vet's are JUNK so is so called "sensitive stomach foods" all these have corn (guess what that does to humans).

TOW isnt cheap but it's worth every penny. They actually eat less because they are getting filled up with out all the fillers and junk in store brand foods.

Good Luck..