Whats the best food for a dog with a sensitive stomach

ian103

Our collie / springer cross is bringing up bile 2 - 3 times a week, usually after exercise. She is full of energy as normal, wants to go for a walk etc. She is fed on dog meal and meat. She used to have aldi dry food with a very small amount of tinned meat. We then change our shop to lidl and the dry food there reacted badly with diarrhea so we put her on morrisons mixer and meat which solved that problem. from looking online bile could be because shes hungry - so we are looking for a good quality sensitive stomach dog food - any recommendations?

krlyr

How often do you feel her? Mine are fed twice a day, and if they have an early dinner and late breakfast, or dinner is fairly small (mine are raw-fed so meals vary in size depending on what I'm feeding), they can bring up bile in the morning. It could be that feeding an additional meal would help.

However, there are better foods than supermarket meal - and not only that, but it can be more cost effective. Dog food pricing isn't just about cost per a bag, but how much it costs per meal - generally you feed less of a better quality food, so it can be cheaper.

Like I say, I raw-feed so I can't personally recommend particular brands over others, though for 'budget' type foods (a bit higher up in quality than supermarket) I tend to suggest looking at Wainwrights, Skinners, Autarky, CSJ and similar.
Also https://www.whichdogfood.co.uk is a good website that will show lots of the types available, and the cost per meal dependant on your dog's weight. You can search by budget and by rating, to find a food that suits your wallet and (hopefully!) your dog.

ian103

Twice a day, but before it was a small helping of a complete dry food with a small amount of tinned food (legacy from when we had our old dog) and a main feed at night of the same, we then swapped brand of dry food and it didn't suit. We then swapped to mixer and meat - which may mean shes not get enough nutritional food - I'm guessing the mixer is of low nutritional value as well

harrys_nan

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/dog/dog-food-and-treats/dry-dog-food

Have a look at these, they are for dogs with sensitive stomach, also try tinned Chappie, my friends vet recommended it to her for her dog who also had a funny tummy

flowrypot

My daughter has got a springer spaniel with a sensitive stomach and she tried all sorts of expensive dog food , and her vet also recomended Chappie he is doing well on it .

Katiehound

Quite a few manufacturers make specific sensitive dog food. One that springs to mind (sorry- not a pun) is Burgess Sensitive (which doesn't appear on that comparison list) and comes in lamb and fish varities. Also Wafcol do salmon & potato. I suspect the sensitive means it excludes wheat if not other grains.

I have fed my dogs (not sensitive!) on the Burgess mentioned above. Currently they are eating Autarky salmon

My local pet shop sells quite a few brands loose so you can buy just a small bag. It might be worth contacting manufacturers direct to see if there are any free samples once you have explained the problem.

teddysmum

Pets at Home will give you samples , if you ask nicely.


Chappie or Butcher's tripe (original or with chicken varieties) are gentle. A vet friend once recommended these for weaning puppies, as they have no artificial additives and are gentler on the tummy than so called puppy food. Burgess do a no additives mixer, stocked by Pets at Home.


For anyone who uses Butcher's tripe varieties, Morrisons are doing a 12 pack for £5.

joansgirl

Although I don't use it myself, I've also heard that Chappie is good for sensitive tums. My friend, whose dog suffers from colitis, swears by it.
Incidentally, one of my previous dogs used to bring up bile first thing in the morning and we solved the problem by giving him a handful of dried dog food as soon as we got up, and I still do this now, 2 dogs later.

lee111s

It's trial and error. It could be a certain protein from the meat source or it could be one of the other ingredients. I've got two dogs that have sensitive stomachs but they're now both on Harrington's salmon an potato (can get from Tesco's) and they're both doing well on it! Tempted to switch to a "better" salmon and potato buy not sure if it's worth the hassle of one of the ingredients not agreeing with them! Think I'll just stick with what's working for them!

joansgirl

lee111s wrote: »

It's trial and error. It could be a certain protein from the meat source or it could be one of the other ingredients. I've got two dogs that have sensitive stomachs but they're now both on Harrington's salmon an potato (can get from Tesco's) and they're both doing well on it! Tempted to switch to a "better" salmon and potato buy not sure if it's worth the hassle of one of the ingredients not agreeing with them! Think I'll just stick with what's working for them!

Quite honestly, what with all the different ingredients and additives these days I think it's a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

ian103

Thanks all, we have some butchers canned food in the cupboard so tonight I upped the amount of meat in her feed and reduced the mixer, she wolfed it down, so tomorrow she can have a small amount for breakfast and lunch (we will try 3 feeds) then a proper helping for her main feed. Next time we are in town we will call in and get some food from pets at home [tempted to go to aldi and buy what used to suit her] - smallish bags and once sorted I'll order it online