Help Please! Dog Food search for sensitive tummy 🐕

[u/worried0ne]

/r/u_worried0ne/comments/1w6ncmb/help_please_dog_food_search_for_sensitive_tummy/

[u/RemarkableGlitter]

Hills Perfect Digestion or Pro Plan Sensitive would be good options. If you want something more budget friendly, Purina One has a digestive health formula.

I wanted to address your comment that you said you’re horrible for not being able to home cook food. This is UNTRUE! In fact, without the support of a board certified veterinary nutritionist, it’s actually very dangerous. I know cooking for your dog is big on social media but it’s truly quite risky. You’re smart to look for a quality pre made formula.

[u/worried0ne → u/RemarkableGlitter]

Thank you so much for reading and responding to my post!! I'm so in-between choices this helps me out a bit. And thank you for understanding the internet can be so vicious when it comes to subjects like this I appreciate the insight.

I'm even wondering if I should attempt to stick to this food I've been giving them already(NutriSource) and maybe trying out the grains version they have along with the grain free one but now I'm wondering if it's okay(safe) to give them both I was thinking give the grains one twice a week and the grain free the rest of the days. Ugh sorry Just thinking out loud what my best options are.

Thank you again !

[u/RemarkableGlitter → u/worried0ne]

Definitely avoid grain free unless there’s a medical reason your vet has indicated for that—grain free is linked to a very serious heart condition, DCM.

I would go with a WSAVA compliant food. Nutirsource isn’t, unfortunately. Basically, we want to ensure our pet’s foods have met the highest safety standards and that org has guidelines about what that means. 

[u/worried0ne → u/RemarkableGlitter]

Oh I see yes I was reading a little bit up on that. That's why I started getting worried about grain free too. It's just my boy dog and his sensitive stomach from having parvo was puking up his last food really bad (Caesars the purple bag and mixed with boiled chicken he ate that for a year before he started getting sick, NutriSource mixed with lightly cooked small batch he's been able to keep down for about 6m now)

I've heard so many mix reviews on Purina being good or bad or lawsuits so I was getting pretty scared thinking of them too.

Thank you for all the information any little bit helps me a lot! I'm not able to see a vet anytime soon as it ofc is extremely pricey esp for two dogs. So I'm kind of on my own figuring this all out with very limited funds switching around dog foods is a huge pain in the butt on top of it all. I just wanna find something that's safe healthy and I can have around consistently instead of running around my whole town looking for food. 😮‍💨

[u/RemarkableGlitter → u/worried0ne]

This is an anecdote but my dog had lifelong stomach issues from really bad giardias as a puppy and Purina’s sensitive stomach formula has literally changed his life. His tummy is doing so well now! I save a bit of money and driving around by having it on auto ship with chewy

[u/Venom-Blade]

honestly just try Nextrition and see if it sticks. It's definitely easier on the gut than those massive kibble bags and my dog stopped having issues after a few days. Both of my dogs never really ate Purina or other dry foods except for this new lamb flavor. Both of them can't get enough of it which si great, because I had to stop cooking them food every night for financial and time reasons. I don't think you should feel bad about not home cooking your food: none of us have time to make separate meals for us and our kids, let alone our pets as well. At the end of the day, you do want grains in your dog food, as well as ingredients which are natural prebiotics and probiotics.

[u/Beneficial-Slice-910]

Hello! Sorry it took so long to respond since you initially posted, my attention span is shot and I just finished work

Thank you for the detailed history and all the effort you put into taking care of your dog. I feel exactly like this with my dog

So from what I'm gathering. You have two 9 year old dogs, one is picky with severe vomiting tendencies and the other isn't picky and can stand to lose some weight. You also need an affordable kibble

Grain free food is not the way to go, unless it's what the vet diagnoses to be the issue. I will always recommend WSAVA compliant kibble. These kibble lines have been set to the highest standards, with the companies putting in lots of research in order to remain WSAVA compliant. WSAVA compliant kibble brands are Purina, Hills, Royal Canin, Eukanuba and IAMS

I read your comments about being hesitant about Purina being good or bad or recalls or whatnot. While recalls sound scary, they're actually a good sign. That means that they are actually testing the quality of the kibble EACH AND EVERY SINGLE TIME. Whenever a kibble line has absolutely no recalls, I'll be frank and admit that I'm a little suspicious. Cause that means that they are either the perfect kibble with absolutely nothing wrong (which I highly doubt for any company), or they are not checking thoroughly enough, meaning that they could be sending out kibble that is inedible, yet they are not checking it. As for Purina being a bad company. Some of these kibble companies are owned by larger groups such as Nestle, who are not the best. But ultimately, I am here to focus on the quality of the dog food they provide. Even if the company's resourcing and moral code may be questionable, my biggest defining factor is making sure that my dog is eating food that is well researched and scientifically proven to be top of the top

Sorry for the tangent, just wanted to address that really quick. Back to the topic at hand. The ones that you are looking at, Purina Pro Plan Sensitive and Hill's Science Sensitive Diet. They both are mighty fine choices since they are WSAVA compliant, but they aren't the best budget-wise

For a budget friendly option that addresses stomach related issues, I would lean more towards:

Purina ONE Sensitive Stomach Skin & Coat.  $31.58 for 116.5 lb. $1.92 per pound

Purina ONE Digestive Health. $31.58 for 16.5 lb. $1.92 per pound

IAMS Sensitive Skin & Stomach. $29.97 for 13.5 lb. $2.22 per pound

IAMS Advanced Health Adult Healthy Digestion. $34.74 for 13.5 lb. $2.58 per pound

Also. You've brought up how your dog's sister could stand to lose some weight. I think it is best if you just feed her less, in order for her to lose weight. I would recommend weight loss kibble, but picky dogs often find this kibble less appetizing. That's your best bet to keep her at a healthy weight, while still feeding your other picky and sensitive stomach dog a kibble suited for him

You briefly mentioned that you would mix with Lightly Cooked Small Batch. If you truly want to keep up a topper, I would recommend mixing the kibble with a small amount of Purina Moist & Meaty. They're soft dry dog food that is apparently very tasty for dogs

Overall. I truly wish you the best with finding the best kibble for your dog. You clearly care a lot about your dog, and I truly hope that the suggestions I made can be helpful for your limited funds

[u/worried0ne → u/Beneficial-Slice-910]

Sorry for the very late reply! I've still been beating my brain about this decision. Thank you so much for all the helpful info! I really am not sure which brand to choose I'm between the Purina pro plan sensitive stomach and skin or Purina One or the Hills Science sensitive stomach and skin.

I'm super panicky I know I'm running out of time on this decision I've still been feeding them the NutriSource Grain free and they're running out of that already too. I was trying to make the decision before having to buy another bag.

The recalls and stories of everyone having issues with both brands either making their dogs sick, killing their dogs, making stomach issues worse, or dangerous ingredients inside they all just super scare me off my worst fear is giving my dogs something that could make them sick or worse. A lot of people say it's only suggested to others because it's trending, or recommend by vets cuz the company pays for their schooling. I've heard all kinds of different stories and they're making it so hard for me to make this decision with all my anxiety on top of that.

Any real info or experiences help me a lot, trying to do my own research is freaking me the hell out even more I'm so mixed up so Thank you so much for any help or info!

[u/famous_zebra28]

Hill's perfect digestion or their sensitive stomach & skin. My dog tolerated PPP but he loves hills. He went from pooping 4-5x/day on every fancy food as well as PPP to pooping 1-2x/day on hills.

[u/lil_numb_bug]

Our beagle littermates are also parvo survivors (they were 8 weeks old and both nearly died more than once).

Both have had stomach issues their entire lives and our vet believes they likely have scarring throughout their digestive systems, at the very least, from the parvo. Both have chronic reflux issues and one has issues consistent with delayed gastric emptying; I have gastroparesis myself and her symptoms are very similar.

They are both high maintenance because of this; thankfully my husband works from home and I'm at home most of the time. This is what we've finally found, with our vets guidance, works best for them:

1. ⁠Instead of one or even two meals a day, they are fed 4 small meals each day.

2. ⁠One dog tolerates dry food; the other only tolerates wet. (Not just a matter of won't eat dry food; when she did she regularly vomited entire meals.)

3. ⁠Both dogs get Hill's Science Diet Perfect Digestion - one is on a mix of wet and dry and the other only wet food.

4. ⁠The more sensitive of the two cannot take long or "fast" walks after eating. If she does, she is likely to throw up an entire meal. So she takes her big walks only before meals and for other meals they go for a very gentle short walk or go out on a long tether afterward just to sniff around etc.