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5 Year old Shih Tzu gastric problems
My 5 year old female Shih tzu has re-ocurring bouts of vomitting, diahrea, and coughing. She has not eaten for 4 days now. She has seen a vet but antibiotics and special food don't seem to be helping her situation. Any suggestions?
Hello & welcome.......I found this on another forum...Because it would also apply to your Shih Tzu, I copied it for you.....This is wonderful information that everyone needs to read..........Hope this helps, Karla
Expert: Roger McLeskey - 12/11/2010
Question
Hello-
I have an 18 month old male Boxer (Diesel) who has been sick now for two weeks. It started off with heay diarrea and vomiting. I have taken him three times to the vet. The did blood tests, parvo test, and parasite tests and all came back negative.
He just can seem to hold down anything. The vet recommended chicken with rice, and now has recommended the prescription diet from Hills z/d ULTRA Allergen Free. The vomiting stopped after i started feeding him the chicken with rice, but the diarrea continues.
He seems to be loosing hair for the past 6 months and is constantly scratching himself. Also on a daily basis has a runny nose.
Could this be allergies? or is it that his body is not reacting properly to the food that is given?
Answer
Hi Miguel,
Boxers tend to have a sensitive digestive system. They are also prone to have food allergies. I would be very surprised if this wasn't what is going on with him. We've seen it in our store many times.
Classic food allergy signs are loosing fur, constant scratching, biting at feet or ankles, hot spots, loss of appetite or vomiting.
The latest and best information out to help stop vomiting and diarrhea is half cooked ground turkey and half pumpkin mixed and served.
Lean chicken can work but turkey tends to be leaner. You don't want any fat while battling these two issues.
The pumpkin works much better than rice. It's a balancer as it helps with diarrhea and constipation. Just use the canned pumpkin from the grocery store.
Rice can expand too much and can actually ferment in their digestive system. Not the best thing while fighting the other things.
I'm not a vet and I hate to tell anyone to go off a prescription from the vet. But.... If it were me, I would throw that crap as far as I could away. None of the Science Diet/ Hills, or for that matter, Iams, Purina, Beneful, etc., etc. are any good at all. As a matter of fact, they are causing so much harm to our pets that vet visits are at an all time high.
The turkey/pumpkin mixture should right his digestive system fairly quick. If it don't, then he has something else going on.
Once he is over this, get him on a premium food that is grain free. Ones like Orijen, Blue Buffalo (Wilderness formula), The Great Life (I really like this one), Natural Balance, Natures Variety, Core, and even Canadae now has a grain free formula.
These premium foods do NOT contain any of the common allergy causing grains/ingredients like their commercial counterparts. Always look at your ingredients for everything you feed him. You don't want to see any wheat, corn, soy, by-products, gluten, animal fat, animal digest or chemical preservatives to name a few.
This goes for all his foods as well as treats.
Secondly, he needs fresh meat in his diet. Dogs by nature were designed to be on a 70% moisture diet. Dry food only had around 12% moisture. Never feed a dog dry food only. They will live in a mild state of dehydration.
The best diet in the world for a dog is a raw food diet. This is the way nature intended our dogs to eat and thrive for many healthy years. It's when we start introducing too many cooked, processed foods into their diet is when we create many problems.
If you've never heard or thought about feeding a raw based diet, you should research it some more. It contains all the "live" nutrients and moisture dogs need to thrive. There are many good books on the subject or even go see a holistic vet. These guys are trained to heal through nutrition.
A couple of the most important nutrients in a dogs diet are live enzymes and probiotics that they do get in the raw diet. These are vital to a dogs digestive system. Without these in their diet, degenerative type diseases are likely to form.
If you cannot or will not feed a raw diet or even a partial raw diet, then you need to supplement with enzymes and probiotics. You can get these as a supplement and sprinkle on his food daily or some dry foods even have it on the kibble as a coating. Hence why I like "The Great Life" dog food so much. It has the coating on it plus it's grain free (dogs just don't need very many grains) and it is bound together with tapioca instead of potato's.
The next best thing to feed your dogs is homemade foods. Then premium canned foods. You just need to keep the moisture up high in his diet. This will help keep his system flushed out.
The enzymes and probiotics will keep his digestive system stronger. A strong digestive system is the heart of his immune system. You want all these systems strong.
You can find these premium foods and supplements at a local natural pet food store. Typically not the big chain pet food stores. They may carry some but not much. The smaller independent pet food stores will be more helpful.
We feed a partial raw diet to our dogs and cats. They typically get raw by itself in the morning, then maybe dry with canned or home cooked stuff at night. Variety is king, feed different things all the time. Different proteins and even a little veggies and some fruit. Change proteins all the time. Feed chicken for a while then change to beef, lamb, rabbit, venison, etc.
Supplements are important as well. Dogs need omega's in their diet. You can use a good salmon oil, cod liver oil, or give him a can of tuna, salmon, or best yet, canned sardines in water. Just one can a week with some dry food as a meal will give him all the omega's he needs. He will also love it.
Other things you can give off and on are multiple vitamins or kelp for pets. Both provide extra vitamins and antioxidants.
If you want to learn more about a proper diet, allergies, supplements and more, please visit a web site we set up at http://www.411-for-dogs.com.
I hope this helps and you can get your guy on the road to great health. If there is anything else I can do, let me know.
Roger
Expert: Roger McLeskey - 12/11/2010
Question
Hello-
I have an 18 month old male Boxer (Diesel) who has been sick now for two weeks. It started off with heay diarrea and vomiting. I have taken him three times to the vet. The did blood tests, parvo test, and parasite tests and all came back negative.
He just can seem to hold down anything. The vet recommended chicken with rice, and now has recommended the prescription diet from Hills z/d ULTRA Allergen Free. The vomiting stopped after i started feeding him the chicken with rice, but the diarrea continues.
He seems to be loosing hair for the past 6 months and is constantly scratching himself. Also on a daily basis has a runny nose.
Could this be allergies? or is it that his body is not reacting properly to the food that is given?
Answer
Hi Miguel,
Boxers tend to have a sensitive digestive system. They are also prone to have food allergies. I would be very surprised if this wasn't what is going on with him. We've seen it in our store many times.
Classic food allergy signs are loosing fur, constant scratching, biting at feet or ankles, hot spots, loss of appetite or vomiting.
The latest and best information out to help stop vomiting and diarrhea is half cooked ground turkey and half pumpkin mixed and served.
Lean chicken can work but turkey tends to be leaner. You don't want any fat while battling these two issues.
The pumpkin works much better than rice. It's a balancer as it helps with diarrhea and constipation. Just use the canned pumpkin from the grocery store.
Rice can expand too much and can actually ferment in their digestive system. Not the best thing while fighting the other things.
I'm not a vet and I hate to tell anyone to go off a prescription from the vet. But.... If it were me, I would throw that crap as far as I could away. None of the Science Diet/ Hills, or for that matter, Iams, Purina, Beneful, etc., etc. are any good at all. As a matter of fact, they are causing so much harm to our pets that vet visits are at an all time high.
The turkey/pumpkin mixture should right his digestive system fairly quick. If it don't, then he has something else going on.
Once he is over this, get him on a premium food that is grain free. Ones like Orijen, Blue Buffalo (Wilderness formula), The Great Life (I really like this one), Natural Balance, Natures Variety, Core, and even Canadae now has a grain free formula.
These premium foods do NOT contain any of the common allergy causing grains/ingredients like their commercial counterparts. Always look at your ingredients for everything you feed him. You don't want to see any wheat, corn, soy, by-products, gluten, animal fat, animal digest or chemical preservatives to name a few.
This goes for all his foods as well as treats.
Secondly, he needs fresh meat in his diet. Dogs by nature were designed to be on a 70% moisture diet. Dry food only had around 12% moisture. Never feed a dog dry food only. They will live in a mild state of dehydration.
The best diet in the world for a dog is a raw food diet. This is the way nature intended our dogs to eat and thrive for many healthy years. It's when we start introducing too many cooked, processed foods into their diet is when we create many problems.
If you've never heard or thought about feeding a raw based diet, you should research it some more. It contains all the "live" nutrients and moisture dogs need to thrive. There are many good books on the subject or even go see a holistic vet. These guys are trained to heal through nutrition.
A couple of the most important nutrients in a dogs diet are live enzymes and probiotics that they do get in the raw diet. These are vital to a dogs digestive system. Without these in their diet, degenerative type diseases are likely to form.
If you cannot or will not feed a raw diet or even a partial raw diet, then you need to supplement with enzymes and probiotics. You can get these as a supplement and sprinkle on his food daily or some dry foods even have it on the kibble as a coating. Hence why I like "The Great Life" dog food so much. It has the coating on it plus it's grain free (dogs just don't need very many grains) and it is bound together with tapioca instead of potato's.
The next best thing to feed your dogs is homemade foods. Then premium canned foods. You just need to keep the moisture up high in his diet. This will help keep his system flushed out.
The enzymes and probiotics will keep his digestive system stronger. A strong digestive system is the heart of his immune system. You want all these systems strong.
You can find these premium foods and supplements at a local natural pet food store. Typically not the big chain pet food stores. They may carry some but not much. The smaller independent pet food stores will be more helpful.
We feed a partial raw diet to our dogs and cats. They typically get raw by itself in the morning, then maybe dry with canned or home cooked stuff at night. Variety is king, feed different things all the time. Different proteins and even a little veggies and some fruit. Change proteins all the time. Feed chicken for a while then change to beef, lamb, rabbit, venison, etc.
Supplements are important as well. Dogs need omega's in their diet. You can use a good salmon oil, cod liver oil, or give him a can of tuna, salmon, or best yet, canned sardines in water. Just one can a week with some dry food as a meal will give him all the omega's he needs. He will also love it.
Other things you can give off and on are multiple vitamins or kelp for pets. Both provide extra vitamins and antioxidants.
If you want to learn more about a proper diet, allergies, supplements and more, please visit a web site we set up at http://www.411-for-dogs.com.
I hope this helps and you can get your guy on the road to great health. If there is anything else I can do, let me know.
Roger
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