our daschund

Question
QUESTION: our mini daschund has a terrible time digesting his food, he vomits daily. We are currently feeding him a high end food from a all natural pet store.  The main ingredients are fish and potato. You can recognize all the ingredidents in the food but he still  has problems.  Any suggestions.

ANSWER: Hi Debbie,

Well, this sounds to me like it could be unrelated to diet.  Is he getting any treats or extras? I would have him checked by a vet, to eliminate things like pancreatitis.

A few questions for you as well:

1) How long has he been on this diet? Did the vomiting start as soon as you switched him, or was he ok on the food for a while and then started?

2) Any history of health problems? How is the stool? Does he vomit the food right up after eating, or a few hours later?

3) How old is he?

Now, because a food is premium doesn't mean it works well for all dogs. The trick is to know two things: one, which ingredients work well for an indvidual (one of mine doesn't like lamb, go figure, so that rules out several of the best foods) and then, you need to konw which nutrient levels are ideal. Some dogs do very well iwth high protein and fat diets. Others handle protein well but need lower fat, and so on. So you have made a good start by switching to a premium diet, no question; now it may be you have to do a bit more research.

But - I'm not convinced this is the food. Fill me in some more and I will be able to help you further. I very much feel a vet check is in order, too.

All the best, Catherine

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: 1.) he has been on this diet for 2 months. He has always frequently vomited since i got him. rarely gets extra treat because of his weak stomach. He has been on 3 different diets since i got him. tried all different types of food. even went to rice potatoes carrots and deli fresh food mixture at one point. I have another dog that is allergic to rice so with all the different diets i think we have ruled out food allergy.

2.)no history of health problems has been to vet twice for shots regular checkup. dr says its the diet so we try different things but nothing works and he is not much help. stool is normal. not right after eating. it is usually later even hours later. sometimes he drinks water real fast and vomits. sometimes he vomits after eating but not as often. I sometimes wonder if it is an anxiety issue as he seems to get scared sometimes and causes him to vomit as well.

3.) almost 2 yrs old\r

We have tried dry food, wet food, mixture of wet and dry, real vegetables cooked with deli fresh brand food. Nothing seems to stop it. sometimes it is worse than other time. My dr never said anything about getting him checked for pancreatitis so i will look into that. It would almost make sense when none of the different diets seemed to be effective. If you have any other thoughts or advice please let us know.

Thank you for your help the little guy appreciates it :)

Answer
Well, I'm going to suggest a
specialty food, a few supplements, something called Tellington Touch for anxiety, and a new vet.

1) Some sensitive foods to try:

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/LambDog.html

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/VenDog.html

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_simple_food_solutions_index.html


http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products/default.asp?id=3

Ideally this dog should be on a home made diet - I don;t know what you mean by deli-fresh brand, but a dog should not be fed smoked or cured deli meats at all, a home made diet might use cooked trukey, a small amount of liver, ground lamb, canned sardines, eggs, plus brown rice and sweet potato -  for gastric issues I would choose one protein (dark meat turkey for example) and one carb ( very well cooked brown rice) and build the diet around that. but you should not be doing that yourself,  the home made diets I've analyzed are almost always unbalanced. I do this professionally if down the road you want to try a home made approach, I would be happy to help you.
www.thepossiblecanine.com

All you can do is keep trying with the kibble, but I urge you to use premium foods because with any dog so sensitive, the wheat-corn-soy- low quality proteins and minerals will only exacerbate his issues. the premium may not fix anything, but it's still better food. If your child had cancer, would you use hot dogs and french fries or salads, wholesome casseroles, soups etc? We can't always expect diet to "cure" ailments, but it is always in the best interest of the organism to provide high quality nutrition.

It's important to note that allergy and intolerance are two separate things, and your dog may indeed have a food intolerance, but without a professional relationship I can't ascertain that or build diets to help address it.

2) Some supplements that may aid digestion and ease stomach issues:

A) Digestive enzymes. This one is very popular and seems to have helped a large number of dogs with digestive issues. Many of my clients with severely ill dogs have reported improvement with digestive enzymes. I encourage you to look into this for your dog:

http://prozymeproducts.3dcartstores.com/ProZymereg-Plus--Lactose-Free_p_4.html

B) Slippery Elm:
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/slippery-elm-000274.htm

I usually make a paste of the powder (available at your health food store or online) using a little cooked oatmeal, and some honey, and about 1/4 tsp for a small dog, and feed it before bed. If that doesn't do the trick I  feed it twice a day. Slippery elm is marvelously healing.

Links for ordering:

http://www.iherb.com/ProductsList.aspx?cid=2348&gclid=CIOagc7y95gCFQquGgodTTQxnA


http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkherb/s.html


3) Tellington Touch - a unique and highly effective method for addressing  common canine (and other species) issues: if nervousness is a part of your dog's issue, TTouch will definitely help.
www.ttouch.com
I recommend ordering a book and starting the techniques yourself, even better if you can ifnd a practitioner nearby to help.

I often use  a glycerite of oats for nervous dogs as well:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/extract/glycer.html


4) A second opinion:
I'm not a vet, but my father was and I worked for him for 17 years, and now as a consultant I work with vets on a daily basis. I never like to advise  outside of my own expertise, unless I think you might mention something to your own person that he or she might not have considered. This sounds like reflux more than pancreatitis since it's been chronic and dogs with acute pancreatitis are very ill.
http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/digestive/c_multi_gastroesophageal_reflux

For this condition, I've used a vegetarian diet with excellent results. the several small meals a day might be something to start trying now anyway. But if your vet hasn't looked at this, maybe it's a good idea.

I hope some of this helps! Start with the slippery elm at night, and smaller feedings and check in with your vet too. Many good companies make a lower protein food if you don't want to make your own or if the sensitive foods don't help. Adding some well cooked and mashed sweet potato to the kibble - just a Tbsp per meal - could be helpful as well.

All the best, Catherine