Originally Posted by dwerten (Post 2883923)

stick to what works if the chicken is working stick with it you know your dog best so do what works. yes if she is tolerating chicken stick with it and if she tolerated cesars and it had chicken follow that ingredient as well - I think yes you need to try to feed a good diet BUT if it is working there are many dogs that live long lives on crappy food so while i prefer better foods and not vet foods sometimes vet foods like with my dog and crappy food work for certain dogs so you have to stick to what works best for your dog. when I talked to the petco vet last night she told me in order to do the elimination diet correctly I would have to feed her food she has never had before.

I would never mix RAW with a regular food you either feed raw or you feed other do not mix or you may be borrowing trouble as well - UGH!! I asked if this would be ok and the folks at the store told me yes. I only did it twice and than that is when the problem started.

Dogs have a smaller intestinal tract and why they tolerate raw better than humans as the food does not sit in the digestive tract as long so less likely to get ecoli or salmonella but if your dog gets constipated then this is not good as the food will sit too long and cause issues. If the raw has too much bone in it then it will stop up the dog so it depends on what raw you are feeding but mixing with another food I would NEVER recommend. Some say it is a falacy but i just would not mix raw. It takes 2 hrs for the food to digest and why when you give pills it is 2 hrs after eating or one hour before eating as the pill takes 1 hr to activate and food 2 hrs to get out of stomach so pill can go on empty stomach. I fed her venison with no bones.

You really need to stick to what works and give it time and not bounce around to a bunch of different things. In having an allergy dog myself you have to really step back and do one thing at a time and when you get a good combo you stick with it until it no longer works. Keep the lactulose on hand and go with what works. I looked for that at Petco but couldn't find it. Is there where they sell it at?

I would not do carrots in a dog like this unless steaming and mashing up as carrots go through whole they cannot digest vegetables unless juiced or food processed as they have a smaller tract again and the cellular wall has to be broken down for the dog to absorb. Also with hard carrots you run the chance of them choking. Again i would go very basic with this dog and once you get the diet figured out i would stick with it. Dogs that have issues should not be getting a bunch of treats, etc. I was going to mash them up in put them in her food. I give her baby carrots cut up into small pieces because I am afraid of chocking. The folks that had her before me used to give them to her everyday. Nope, I was using the meat and cut up carrots for treats. and I never give any of my babies to many.

I hope this helps and i would never think you were brushing off info as you have to get all the info and process it and do what is what you think is best. All we can do is throw a bunch of options out there as to what exeprience we have and you need to choose with your vet the best options keeping in mind vets take one nutrition class so they know very little about it :(

Originally Posted by dwerten (Post 2883927)

just because it is a good brand does not mean it is the right diet for your dog. Unless you are making it yourself and know what is going into food it is very tough to really know what brand is good or not i think personally as the whole pet food industry scares me but i am too afraid to homecook and work full time so until I feel i can get a proper balanced diet and have time to keep up I have to do what i have to do for mine the best i can :(

Originally Posted by dwerten (Post 2883934)

when having intestinal issues there really are no tests other than scoping which i would not do unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. You just need to do xray rule out blockage and then do trial and error with food. Honestly if this were my dog and it was doing great on little cesars and no issues i would feed that but if what is working now is working stick to that.

I hope this helps as i know you are very frustrated and i have been there with my allergy dog and my dog that almost died of intestinal and pancreatic issues so it is frustrating but try to hang in there it will all work itself out in time just be patient and we are here to try to help

Originally Posted by bjh (Post 2883961)

Have you tried adding a probiotic to her diet? If not then maybe you should give it a try. It can be very beneficial to her.
Probiotics for Dogs | Natural Supplements for Dogs

Originally Posted by bjh (Post 2883961)

Have you tried adding a probiotic to her diet? If not then maybe you should give it a try. It can be very beneficial to her.
Probiotics for Dogs | Natural Supplements for Dogs

Originally Posted by dwerten (Post 2883998)

Probiotics are great as i use them but i still think very basic now and then add this later. Probiotics work more for diarhea and allergies but constipation i would get a handle on diet before supplementing

Originally Posted by bjh (Post 2884013)

But if the dog is having digestive problems the Probiotic could help, no matter what the dog is eating.

From the article on Probiotics: