Omaspride has raw rabbit too. Forgot to mention.

Glenn, just another thought: maybe it's best not to feed your Dobe right after hard exercise, let him rest 30 minutes or so, especially since he's prone to digestive probs and eating fast.

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.....I am a little concerned with the super high protein level of these foods and I'm really not sure why. I believe it is from something I read in the past that said too high a protein food for dogs was bad or perhaps someone in the past told me it and I believed it. Don't know......

Here's what dogs have evolved to eat: meat, fat, and bones, all raw, plus some produce in the form of partly-digested prey contents and/or fallen ripe fruit and berries.

No grains. Canids have never eaten grain until Purina and Hills came along. They are not equipped to process grain-heavy foods.

I can tell you this: a natural diet eaten by wild canids in ideal prey conditions breaks down this way: (Approximately) 55% protein, 33% fat, and 12% carbs.

Check a food label sometime. No relationship. And the fat that's included is cooked (often leftover restaurant frying fat), which is a different chemical makeup from raw fats.

BTW, all big food changes should be very slow, especially with a dog who has digestive issues already. (The switch to smaller more frequent meals can be immediate, of course.)

All JMO.

Going to start the switch to Evo. No grains of any type. I also went to the cookie sheet and it definately slowed down the consumption. She had another attack tonight, more gasx and I'm sure the attacks will subside in a half hour or so. I even bought the evo treats. Also I will incorportate many of the other suggestions as well.

We will see if this makes the difference. I will probably take a week or so to complete the switch and then I would suspect another week before any conclusions can be drawn.

I want to thank everyone for the feedback, it was very helpful. I will post the progress as it happens.

glenn

Thought I would post a short update. Did the following, food being fed in shallow pan to slow down the gulping of food, short slow walk after eating, switched to evo from innova and am feeding twice per day.

I switched foods over a two day period (yes I know it is better to take longer but I didn't figure the situation could get worse) besides I wanted to get the switch done.

She still has some gas but its not causing any discomfort as far as I can tell. Actually it is causing me some discomfort smelling it but the good news is she is letting it out so no pain. This might be because of the quick switch to the food and will settle down but removing the grains seems to have produced a good result, so far.

Every time I think I've made progress on this she reverts so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If this food doesn't work I'll try something else but so far, so good.

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Thought I would post a short update. Did the following, food being fed in shallow pan to slow down the gulping of food, short slow walk after eating, switched to evo from innova and am feeding twice per day.......Every time I think I've made progress on this she reverts so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If this food doesn't work I'll try something else but so far, so good.

Good job! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Again I spoke too soon <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. Yesterday was horrible, started about 3hrs after she ate, pain so bad it cause her to yelp out and shut down. And the pains kept comming. So, a couple of gasX and an hour later all was well again. I took a hard look at what she had eaten, the EVO I'm going to continue to assume is not a problem, I gave her 1/4 can of Merrick WingAling (just to make the food better) and we had gotten some chicken breast strips "Waggin Train" brand from Walmart for treats. Previously I had bought these strips from Costco, at $11.99 for a 2.5lb bag it seemed like a great deal and I figured Chicken strips couldn't hurt her. Found them at Wallmart for a buck more but I don't have to drive 20 miles so we got them there.

I also noticed the pup was very gassy, he is still on the merrick but he only seemed to get gassy after we started giving the strips as treats again, he is also very loose.

Putting on the detective hat I'm trying to draw a correlation between all this problem with gas and loose stools and these Chicken strip treats. It does seem as though we have had problems whenever we have used this product as treats for the dogs. After getting none of these strips and only EVO treats, a trip to the store for EVO canned and giving that last night and this AM she seems to be without pain right now. She has had her two mile walk, a small romp in the yard with the pup, and her food. Right now she is sleeping and has not jumped up and moved around which is symptomatic of this problem.

We are not giving the treats to the pup either and I want to see if he stops letting gas and firms up. We run out of these treats and have gone as much as a week without giving them, when that happens it seems as though these problems either go away or become much less of an issue.

Here is my question. Has anyone else had a problem with these treats? All that is in them is CHICKEN, what could be the problem? The are manufactured in China so who knows what the chickens were like if they were used for dog food by their standards.

Anyway, my challenge continues, today so far so good. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Poor dobie <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
Just a couple of thoughts Glenn: wonder if she needs an x-ray, determine if there's some other problem going on in there, like maybe something stuck. Don't know if a dog can have twisted intestines or not, but might be worth checking out (don't know if x-rays can determine this). Are you happy with your vet? If not, maybe think about switching to someone who is more concerned. Also, she may just have a super sensitive digestive system (who knows what she ate before you got her, or maybe she got kicked there once, any number of things). If she's just super sensitive, I would quit the chicken strips (used to give to my dog with no probs but I believe they put a preservative in them that your dobie may be sensitive to). Also try the acidophilus. Here's a quote from a website I visited (Google "acidophilus for dogs"): "Beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus is called probiotic - A Friendly Bacteria." Acidophilus is the bacteria that is found in yogurt. However, I wouldn't feed her yogurt as it is a dairy product and she may be sensitive to that also. But the acidophilus in powder form for dogs is non-dairy (find one that specifically says "non-dairy"). I hope you can figure this out for your dog, it's hard to see them suffer with pain.
Edited: oops, Glenn, re-read your first post and saw you already had x-rayed her twice.