Well its been a week on the new grain free food. Vet has asked me to keep a little diary so i can review after 6 weeks. We swapped to this food with no introduction due to the delivery going very wrong. They didnt leave it next door as advised so took it to central post office but as it was easter weekend i didnt get it till tuesday but had ran out of dog food by this point and had even fed her bakers from local shop for 2 meals. Ive gone with the lamb flavour as i thought this would be a nice change for phoebe as she has only had chicken/turkey dog foods for about 5 years and the vet said it would be the best one to help with the weird weight situation we have going on. So far it is all looking good. She really enjoys it. No adverse reactions as yet but vet says i cant claim "all clear" till we pass 6 weeks. Her poop is normal if slightly firmer than before. Ears are pale pink and lovely ( i keep kissing them as first time in ages they not been red or sore or dirty ) No new hives but waiting for old ones to clear up. Only downside is we have had some wicked wind and it comes out both ends. Even had a fart burp the other day which panicked phoebe but really made me laugh
Good luck with everything, hope it goes well. Thanks for keeping us informed. Don't worry about the wind coming out, thats good. At least it reduces the risk of Bloat. Good luck Phoebe...Enjoy!!x
This all seems very promising - so pleased. And the wind is a small price to pay if the new diet works!
Good luck with the new diet, I put myself on a grain free diet about 9 months ago and the difference was almost instant. Although for me the grains were definitely causing wind and grain free made me a wind free zone. Perhaps she'll take a bit longer to settle down, although I guess it could be the lamb causing the wind as some dogs find it a bit rich.
To be fair she has always been a windy dog. It only last for a while after shes eaten. I think more than likely because she gulps her food so quick.
Our whole household's grain free...absolutely amazing how it's benefitted us(humans and canines alike). Hope Phoebe enjoys similar results!
just in to week 3 of the grain free diet. So far all looks good. Im extra happy today as Phoebe has been weighed and her weight is exactly same as last month. So there has been no random weight loss this month. Not sure if the food has played any part in this but the vet did say lamb would help so maybe it is the food. Hope next months weigh in is as good as the random weight up down thing has had me worried.
Well we have hit 6 weeks and all is good, no hives, no ear infections, no new black patches. I have also stopped the "yeast eater" tablets about 2 weeks ago so im pretty confident this new food is working. I have also tried the new shampoo today its tea tree so hopefully will be good for her skin as i was told it will work wonders if she isnt allergic to it. So we have 5 days to wait and see if we get any hives. My plan to cut back on how much vet products ect we use looks like it could work. I could soon have a normal dog that i just feed and bath occasionally and dont see the vet on a monthly basis. This will save us so much money as the yeast eater were expensive as was the shampoo at £20 a month just on shampoo let alone the cost of vets all the time. If we make it 6 months with out a skin or ear infection that will be a record and i will be happy then that we have finally cracked it. I am worried she is to slim so im going to take some photos tomorrow and let you guys have a look as my vet keeps saying not to worry im just used to seeing over weight dogs but im sure i shouldnt see ribs, her waist is tini! and i can see lots of spine he says the spine showing is because she is old and things have gone south and i can see that as she now has a saggy belly but still dont like the spine thing.
All sounds good Maybe Phoebe is slimming down because there are no fillers in the food. I've noticed a big difference in Finn since he went grain free but I think its partly to do with apoquel keeping his itching at a minimum.
Not sure this has been going on since September. Weight going up down up down. All vet could find was a trace amount of liver enzymes in her pee but said the test barely picked it up and its normal in old age. I havnt managed to get her back to her full weight and vet keeps telling me to leave her as she is as it will be better for her joints ect now shes a oap and that im just used to seeing over weight dogs and she hasnt lost much weight her body shape has changed, this i can believe to a point as shes only 2kg down from her normal no bones showing weight and now she looks like a right skinny minnie. But i think its gone down again which is a shame as we managed to get her up to 53kg and keep her there for 2 weigh ins. Monthly weigh in is next week so will find out if it has changed.
tea tree shampoo - epic fail. Only bathed her thursday and by friday the hives were already popping up so started piriton right away.
