Have submitted questions re my dane's irritable bowel syndrome and have always received excellent advice. He is somewhere around 9 yrs. old. Have gone for nearly a year with no episodes of diarrhoea but with no change to his GI food or routine, he has been having diarrhoea and now cannot keep his feeds down despite pouring hot water over kibble to soften it and giving him smaller feeds. I haven't had him to the vet's because it's difficult to get him into the car, the ride bothers his back, he is so stressed there and I'm not sure the vet can do alot for him at his advanced age. I would not subject him to anything invasive at this point (although we did recently manage to draw blood for a geriatric panel, the results of which we haven't gotten back yet.)

Am wondering about feeding. I seem to be having some success with soft boiled eggs and a slurry of half a cup of his usual canned food. Have been giving him 2 or 3 eggs around three times a day. He was 185 lbs. some time ago but has lost weight with age and is probably closer to 175 now. Any idea how much I should be giving him? Is this a good enough protein source?

Hi, Kim,

First, I'm not a health professional.

I have some concern about the eggs ... not that cooked eggs are a bad food for dogs, but that it seems like a lot of eggs, containing a lot of fat (in the yolks), especially for an IBS/IBD dog, and also that so many eggs constitute a major part of the diet and don't contain the calcium that the canine diet requires. (Not only is calcium a necessary part of the dog's diet, but it's also something of a poop-firmer, which is part of the reason why the condition of the poops is such a strong hint for a feeder of raw food as to whether there is or is not enough digestible bone -- calcium -- in the diet.)

Calcium isn't something that falls in a "the more, the better" category, so it's important when giving a diet that's largely (or wholly) homemade, or non-commercial, to give the right amount of calcium. One option is ½ teaspoon of ground eggshells per pound of boneless non-commercial food. (The calcium in the canned food you are adding to the eggs is enough for that canned food, but does not cover the eggs. And just to add ... it's far too much calcium to include all the shells from the eggs. The ½ teaspoon of ground eggshells per pound of boneless non-commercial food is the correct proportion.)

Both Mary Strauss (Dogaware) and Lew Olson have articles about feeding dogs with various health challenges.

My personal experience and opinion make me trust Mary Strauss ( frequent contributor to Whole Dog Journal) and also Lew Olson in matters of canine nutrition.

http://dogaware.com/health/digestive.html#ibd (Mary Strauss on IBD)

http://dogaware.com/health/digestive.html (Mary Strauss on diarrhea, etc., in general)


Also, here's an article from Whole Dog Journal about IBD diets for dogs with IBD who respond well to reduced-fat diets.
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/12_1/features/Homeade-Dog-Food-Recipes_16093-1.html

Again, this is all JMO, and I'm not a health professional.

Will check out those resources. Thank you. (My success with the eggs was short-lived anyway--he
still has diarrhoea).

Yikes, recipes all written for small(er) dogs. Buying raw meat would be hard for me (vegetarian) not to
mention hugely expensive. Rice and cottage cheese? Lots of good information--hard to tease it all apart as dozens of products suggested.....

Low salt cottage cheese!

I was re-reading your O.P. When you say "keep down," do you mean that he also has vomiting in addition to diarrhea? Also, did the vet who originally diagnosed IBS/IBD give diet recommendations? And they were followed for nine months with apparent success but now there is diarrhea and weight loss? And vomiting?

I'm just wondering if there's reason to suspect more than IBS/IBD ... again, I'm no health professional, but if there's diarrhea and vomiting, then several possibilities come to mind (including pancreatitis, kidney problems, viral infections, etc.) ... and again, I'm NOT a health professional.

Here are a couple of articles:

https://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2012/mar/when_your_dog_vomits_has_diarrhea-13351

http://www.vetstreet.com/care/gastroenteritis-vomiting-and-diarrhea-in-dogs-and-cats

How is his coat, skin, and gums?

I would get him checked for renal failure, and stick to rice and chicken. Cottage cheese is great.
I would call again for those results. I had mine within 24 hrs for Dot.

Yes, and for sure keep him hydrated ....

As Bob says, if you use cottage cheese, use unsalted. The regular kind has a load of sodium (more than many potato chips) ... much more than dogs need.

Thank you for the great advice. Have vet appt this afternoon. He has had bouts of diarrhoea ever since we've had him at age 2. He came to us v. thin, probably with parasites--the typical rescue with little or no history. He has been fairly good on a vet prescription GI kibble but has still had the occasional bout.
He has been vomitting occasionally now for the last six months or so, often 8 hrs. or more after his last feed, the kibble looking undigested. I've tried feeding smaller portions and making it soggy. Lately it doesn't seem to matter what I do, he vomits it back.

Will grit my vegetarian teeth and go buy some chicken and look for low salt cottage cheese. Thank you
everyone for all your input.

Hi, Kim,

I'm not at all trying to be discouraging, but I'm hoping you're not planning on a raw diet without a bit more research/questions (including what chicken parts contain digestible bone, skin removal at first, etc.).

But you probably meant some skinless white-meat cooked chicken with soupy overcooked white rice (which is what you give a dog with run-of-the-mill diarrhea), with some plain canned pumpkin added (not pumpkin pie filling ... just one-ingredient pumpkin). This works short-term even without adding calcium, with standard diarrhea, to firm up his poops.

If you call in advance, the vet will probably want a fresh fecal. And if the dog has been vomiting, you might want to add that when you call.

Please post back and let us know what happens with the visit and the blood work. Good luck!