Feeding advice please
Hi, about 4 weeks ago I adopted a 2 yr old rescue lab, (we are his 4th home) He came to us straight from his privious owners on a very poor quality dry food mixed with tin food. He was/is underweight and in generally poor condition. I was advised to put him on a better quality diet and told he has a sensitive tummy. Tinned food is the worst for him but it was the only way they could get him to eat the dry food. After trying and failing to get him to eat dry food on its own, (except bakers which upsets his tummy) I now have him on supadog sensitive mixed with a small amount of sardines in oil, his bowels are better but not brilliant. Any advice welcomed! He also moults more then any dog I have ever known, I hoover twice a day and brush him every day.

I thought I would pop bk and introduce myself. My name is Lucy, married to Gary,we have two children, (boy 10, girl 4) and Frankie is our first dog. He was 2 in april and as I said before we are his 4th home in that short time. He is working line and very tall. He is very playful and loves people. He is also very clumsy, I'm not sure if its because he was shut in all day before he came to us with very little exercise :cry: or because he has not yet learnt to co-ordinate those long legs :roll: I have read other posts on here and tried to add a pic to my profile using photobucket but it comes up giant size with my message squashed down the side :?:

Hi! Have you taken him to the vet to see if there's an underlying problem causing his sensitive tummy? You might be interested in craskehouse's thread about Bens Colitus.Anyway i'm sure others willl be along soon to give advice and I hope you get whatever it is sorted out quickly!

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Hi my dog is called Barney he is approx 5-6years old we have had him for 2 years. He is food sensitive, so we use a prescription food from the vets but from experience of other owners James Wellbelove is meant to be very good quality dry food, and comes in various flavours. Barney is not keen on dry food and we have used plain yoghourt to help settle his stomach in the past. Also I have found a wet food called naturemenu which is hypo allergenic, has no red meat, gluten etc in it and we use a small amount added and mixed in his food and he eats his dry happily. :lol: If you are struggling with a runny tummy, my advice would be to get him checked by the vet, has he been wormed lately....if all this has been done then try feeding him boiled chicken and cooked rice, this in general helps their sensitive tums. :? Hope this helps, but from experience labradors can have sensitive stomachs, are scroungers they eat anything they see and more..... :lol:

Your boy looks lovely! He has had a lot of upheaval in his life - so many home changes and who-knows-what else, that may possibly have made him chronically stressed. Stress builds up and it can take some time for their bodies to recover. It also affects their immune system and possibly their digestion too - not to mention the fallout from all the possible diet changes he may have had. stress can also cause hair loss (just as it can in humans) - both my rescues lost a lot of hair a few weeks after coming to live with me. my labs are moulting at the moment anyway, and yours might be losing even more due to stress. (I'm not sure that lots of brushing would be beneficial - so it might be worth checking that with your vet). One of mine also had 4 previous homes when I got him aged 2 and he took many months to really feel safe and secure. In humans, clumsiness is most certainly a sign of stress - not sure about dogs but it may well be the same! Food with coloured bits like Bakers is packed with additives which wouldn't help a sensitive tum so I think it's a good idea to change to better quality food. A lot of people (including vets) recommend Chappie as a wet food for sensitive tummies. personally, I use James Wellbeloved and mix in NatureDiet - but it's probably worth asking your vet what he/she thinks (beware, though that some vets try to sell you expensive diets which just happen to be on sale in reception!!!) If the runs have been pretty much constant, it probably is worth having a word with your vet, as other people have suggested. your vet may indeed suggest giving boiled chicken and rice for a while but might also put your dog on antibiotics to clear up any possible bacterial infection such as campylobacter. Worming might be another issue, especially if he looks thin and with a poor coat. It would be worth even just ringing the vet for advice. It's not uncommon for these sorts of issues to raise their heads in the early months - but there are plenty of people on here who will tell you that not long down the line there are happy endings :D

We had trouble finding a food to suit Ben,we have had him a year next month.Over the last month or so his had Colitus,the Vets given him jabs and his on Antibiotics.I thought they would try to sell me some expensive food,but when i told her he was on Chappie compleat as i found this best-she said its one off the best you can get also James Wellbeloved was good.Chappie may be cheap,but its been around for years and because its basic its good for sensitive tums.Hope his colitus settles after this lot off pills-or ill have to collect poo samples for -*test*-('")ing,she didnt want to do them yet as it costs £50 a time! If i was you id give chappie a go,Ben isnt under weight and has a lovely glossy coat so if cant be to cheap and c**py as someone once told me :roll: His on James Wellbeloved at the moment as i brought some when he was poorly-that seems fine for him too.

Hi Lucy, nice to have you join us too. Frankie looks a lovely boy - well done for taking him on - bear with him, he will settle soon - it may take some time but he'll come around. We have Willow on James Wellbeloved too - she was very sloppy on Bakers! We inter swop it with another Muesli based dry food called Gilpa - it is specifically for working dogs with Green Lipped Muscle Extract for their joints - Willow is currently being trained up as a Gun Dog. She is much better on these 2 and only goes 2-3 times a day - she went a good 4 times before! Lovely subject eh! :roll: Keep us posted on his progress - we love to know how the newbies are going too! :D

Frankie
Thanks for the advice everyone :D I'm so glad i found this site because i come under LRSE&C I wormed and fronlined him the day we got him. We have been to the vets today because his booster was over due. He is in perfect health (apart from needing to gain 2kg in muscle and fat) and the vet recommends that i keep him on the sensitive diet and fish (as it gets him to eat the dry and is very good for him) for a couple more weeks as there has been some slight improvement. Thinks it is prob a combination of sensitive tum, stress and lots of food changes. If it does not get any better I will definately be trying the foods you have all recommended. He was so worn out when we got home its about 20 mins walk each way. I also discovered that in the enclosed waiting room he was petrified of male dogs, he hid behind me and cried :cry: Apart from this I think we have been very lucky with him, he needs lead training but a HORTI has helped alot, it means i can hold my youngests hand rather then 2 hands on the lead, I am trying to train him to recall to a whistle as he respobnds better to my hubbys voice then mine, we are having mixed results! He lets our youngest roll all over him and hug him without moving, he does not scavenge or steal food, he knows sit and down (most of the time). Despite being intact ha has not tried to hump anyone other then my father-in-law :lol: The only real prob other then his tummy is that he gets over excited and a bit rough when playing, But what 2 yr old male lab doesn't, a trip to the vets maybe needed to sort that out. I had to replace my sons friends coat yes2day as Frankie nicked it and run away with it, so my son chased him and tried to retrieve it but this just turned it into a big game and the coat got ripped :twisted: Sorry to go on about him but I just want to share how lovely he is and can't believe that 3 families would want to part with such a lovely boy, but i suppose that is our gain. Lucy

We all "go on" about our Boys/Girls-thats the good thing about this site! We all understand how much love we have for these big hairy things! AND we are all nuts-that helps!!

Another Q for all u lab experts!
I just thought of something else I wondered if any of you could explain. Frankie will not eat or play with anything while we are out or in bed. If it were not for him bounding up to us when we walk in we would not know he had been there. I got him a kong to occupy him while we go out but he does not touch it until we return. The same thing happens when we leave him biscuits while we go out or to bed. He waits for me to come in and tell him he's a good boy before touching anything, the same thing happens with his meals, he won't eat until i tell him he can. I hate to think that he might be bored/scared/hungry/unsure/frightened? If it helps shed any light I know before he came to us ha was left alone for very long periods and only fed one huge meal a day, (I feed him two smaller meals. regards Lucy xx

Not sure why this is but after 2 years Barney still just lies on his bed sleeping when we are out nevwer touches food or toys, is very naughty and playfull :lol: when we are home and on walks...demands lots of attention in the evenings after work, which we accept to a point. :lol: Have concluded he was left alot before we had him, found abandoned so he is happy to wait for us, as he knows we are coming home. Would be interested in others theories...

Hi Luci - can I suggest you film him with your camcorder? When we got Willow our rescue, we wanted to make sure she and our old gal Bess were ok when they were left. Once we'd got over the initial first few days, we started leaving them for short periods of time - maybe just 20 mins at first. I know I sound a bit barking (hee hee - excuse the pun! :roll: ) but I placed the camcorder in a place where I could I thought they would be. It was a terrific help to us and really set our minds at rest. We found that Willow whined for about the first couple of minutes and then would just go to sleep on the mat by the front door. Eventually, she stopped that and was relaxed enough to snuggle in her bed once we left. Maybe if you film Franki - you will see how he is when you are out and then look at ways of helping him if he is showing distress. With a bit of luck, you could find you are worrying for nothing and as soon as you are gone, he may just be enjoying a lovely long kip without any disturbance - after all, next to eating, this is a Labs most favourite thing! :wink:

I think filming with a camcorder is a great idea :D Usually it's thought that dogs don't touch food/Kongs etc when alone because they feel a bit anxious. It's one of the ways of telling separation anxiety from separation 'boredom' (the latter being when a dog trashes the house because it has too much pent-up energy) with frankie - it might be worth investing in a baby gate and popping him on the other side with a Kong and seeing if he'll get used to playing and eating when you are there but not actually with him - he might develop a bit more confidence.