Amanda, I am with Elaine on a food upgrade without fooling around with the protein source just yet. I have read of dogs with IBS/IBD who did well on lean white fish (which is a very efficient protein).

There are many brands that make similar recipes. The one I would probably try would be Wellness, but there are many made by far better companies than Eukanuba/Iams. I'd try the canned (easy to digest), and I would try just a little to see what happens.

I believe it's worth it to try it, even though I certainly understand wanting to stick with something that isn't triggering diarrhea; IBS/IBD are terribly frustrating and debilitating. But Eukanuba/Iams has infamous ingredients lists. In fact, it's very hard to GET the RX ingredients.

if he does have IBD (inflammatory bowel)....my foster cat has IBD (in addition to other problems, it's delightful) and at 2.5 years with her, while i had a few quiet periods (hills r/d, but she lost weight) stools and diarrhea have been a constant issue. what has made the difference (i started her on her last flare up) was going grain-free. she gets wellness core kibble and wellness canned food (either the 95% meat or one of the grain-free formulas). if she ate fast enough that i didn't think leaving out raw would be gross i'd give her that. doing research, i found a lot of people w/IBD cats moved them to grain-free or raw and almost all have improved.

if her dog does have IBD (not that some sort of allergy/eosinophilic condition is any fun either) my heart goes out to her. montana's weight has gone all over the place - she was returned to the rescue at 4lbs, i eventually got her up to 7lbs, she dropped down to 5lbs, now on grain-free she's gaining weight again and is at 6lbs last vet check. but your friend will have to vigilant about flareups, it's no fun at all. the best thing i can suggest if it is IBD is 1)raw or grain-free; 2)know how to give sub-q fluids; 3)consider (if not already happening) keeping her on an anti-inflammatory (though this does cause other health problems as well, i see it as the devil i know vs. the one which may come, montana is on 2.5mgs prednisone daily) and having an appetite stimulant on hand for flare-ups (we normally use cyproheptadine).

not to be too catty, but my mom's cat has an eosinophilic condition (skin) in addition to food allergies - she is allergic to some of the foods for allergic cats - also has been on z/d, eukanuba etc like your friend's dog. my mom moved her to a higher quality natural food (wellness, but w/grains like barley) and she's seen some improvement, but i think allergies are something that grain-free or raw will also benefit (i think i've got my mom convinced to go grain-free).

good luck to your friend and her dog!

Edited by Jennifer Mullen (11/27/2007 03:06 PM)
Edit reason: to make sense/add in a bit more info

Amanda, I have to agree too. We did a lot of research into complete foods before deciding on a brand. Ours is a little known one with NO additives, colourings, or other artificial crap. Read the labels VERY carefully.

I don't know what brands are available in the US, but a bit of research - along with recommendations from here - will definately help.

Regards
Rob

I've passed all the information from this thread to her. Thank you all so much. :3

I'm glad she hasn't gotten irritated at me for me pushing so hard to help her. Haha, she's taking it all in with a good outlook.

Why would she? I feel sure that she wants the best for her dog. Many people just do not realize that VERY few vets have any significant nutrition training. IMO, a vet who prescribes Eukanube/Iams is not one of those few.

She can do better. Of course, she will want to go slowly and carefully in making changes to the diet of an IBS/IBD dog.

I agree strongly with Jennifer that she wants to give efficient and nutritious foods.... which of course do not include grains for dogs.

I just know if I talked to my extended family about their dog's allergies they'd laugh at me. Kinda like how my parent's are giving me odd looks when I'm feeding holistic food to my dog at the moment. I haven't said anything about the raw feeding to them, they'd think I was crazy.

But, hey. It's my dog, my business. I was glad I got them to the point of not buying dog food to feed her, since they buy brand-name stuff and would try to slip it to her.