GSD's have extra sensitive stomachs?

[StellaSquash]

My Riley is 3 now and I imagine we've had a super diarrhea episode at least a dozen times. Today was the second time I had to rush her to the emergency vet for bloody diarrhea and vomiting. No fever, clear xray, blood work fine. Gave her a shot of something to help with nausea and vomitting and fluids. Came home with a three different meds too, and to add famotidine as well.

This almost always happens when there is a change in diet or she's given something totally different. When I enrolled her in puppy classes after we got her, the treats they used caused her her first awful diarrhea bout. Taking her to daycare caused frequent diarrhea and I suspect they were giving her treats there as well. Changing her diet caused diarrhea if great care wasnt' taken in the switch. Bad dog food (ProPlan sensitive stomach no less) caused diarrhea in BOTH dogs after they'd been on it for a few weeks.

This time, I was trying to change her to a rabbit and lamb and turkey protein from the salmon she was on with Acana and Orijen. She's been very itchy and I thought she might need a protein change. Now that I type that, I realize what I may have done. two different foods, one is rabbit.. one is lamb and turkey. I mixed them together and started replacing her regular food with a small scoop of that mix. I wonder if I got a little heavy handed with the new mix. Or just not using my brain and too many protein sources at once.

Or maybe she ate some of the cats food. Or she ate Tuckers food. I have no idea. But it's almost always food related when she does this (once we believe happened because she drank soapy water in the driveway when my husband was washing cars).

Is this a GSD common issue? Is Riley's stomach just a diva.

right now she's lying down (drooling from nausea I assume) and trying to rest. She's definitely not well and not acting well at all. I'm hoping bloat would have shown up clearly on the Xray while we were there... she doesn't have a bloated abdomen but she is definitely not herself, and I panic about the possibility of bloat. This diarrhea started yesterday so again, assumption is if it were bloat, we'd know by now.

I hate this. I hate that my poor dog is miserable and I'm the blame. I'm very much ready to switch her to raw and I pray this will be our answer. although I'm nervous about that but I've posted in that forum for that concern.

Please tell me at least i'm not alone and that she's just a sensitive dog that needs me to use my brain more. If she's not perked up by morning I'm going to take her to our regular vet. Sadly I feel comforted knowing we have plenty of meds here to "fix" her, but I really wish I could avoid this all together.

[shepherdmom]

My Buddy has a really sensitive stomach as well. My other GSD's have not had this problem. Natures Recipe has an Easy To Digest formula that works well for my old guy. Natures Recipe gotten a bit pricey recently (from 34 for a 35lb bag to 39 for a 30 lb bag and the last time I went it was up to 44 for that same 30 lb bag so and I switched him slowly to Diamond Naturals which is very close to the same ingredients in Natures Recipe and so far so good. He seems to be doing well on it.

[Todd]

Heidi had a very sensitive stomach. Fat free plain yogurt seemed to really help...I gave her one tablespoon per day and that cut down the explosive bowel movements. Fortunately, she was very good about waking me up in the middle of the night so it never happened inside...she was such a good dog.

Abby is a garbage disposal...she can eat anything and her stomach handles it just fine if you get my drift.

[Sunflowers]

Mine sure does.
Doesn't tolerate fat and can't digest bone very well.
We have had lots if battles with not eating and vomiting.
Had him tested both for SIBO and EPI. All tests came out perfectly normal.
We seem to have it under control for now, but I always have to watch what he eats.

[StellaSquash]

Originally Posted by Todd

Heidi had a very sensitive stomach. Fat free plain yogurt seemed to really help...I gave her one tablespoon per day and that cut down the explosive bowel movements. Fortunately, she was very good about waking me up in the middle of the night so it never happened inside...she was such a good dog.

Abby is a garbage disposal...she can eat anything and her stomach handles it just fine if you get my drift.

that's my Tucker (lab). He could eat a diner and the greasy food they serve I'm sure and never even fart. Riley walks too close to the refrigerator and gets the poops. I think I'll try the yogurt once we're back in firmer business. She loves it.

[StellaSquash]

Originally Posted by Sunflowers

Mine sure does.
Doesn't tolerate fat and can't digest bone very well.
We have had lots if battles with not eating and vomiting.
Had him tested both for SIBO and EPI. All tests came out perfectly normal.
We seem to have it under control for now, but I always have to watch what he eats.

would you mind sharing what you feed him?

[KZoppa]

Some dogs have extra sensitive stomachs while others do not. Zena and Shasta will eat anything you put in front of them if you let em. Riley had to be restricted to specific things.

[Mikelia]

One of my boys is super sensitive as well. Any food changes started off with 100% old, 3 kibbles of new, next day 98% old, 6 kibbles of new and so on. Certain foods he cannot tolerate at all, no matter how slowly we switched. I just put all my dogs on raw and was really worried about his transition. Made sure I was off work for a few days so I could take him outside a lot. Fasted him for a day and went to raw 100%, no transition. He had about two days of softer poops but no explosives and his digestion is now the best I have seen from him in 3 years of owning him. No more unexplained diarhea, his previous huge, stinky, soft poops are now these little hard, barely smelly marbles. I love it and wish I had have done it sooner!

[llombardo]

Originally Posted by StellaSquash

Please tell me at least i'm not alone and that she's just a sensitive dog that needs me to use my brain more. .

I am going through the icky poop now. No parasites and EPI has pretty much been ruled out by the vet. I think that we try to hard sometimes and make things worse The dog next to me has perfect poop and he doesn't eat half as well as my dogs, but I guess sometimes the best is not always better.

[StellaSquash]

Originally Posted by Mikelia

One of my boys is super sensitive as well. Any food changes started off with 100% old, 3 kibbles of new, next day 98% old, 6 kibbles of new and so on. Certain foods he cannot tolerate at all, no matter how slowly we switched. I just put all my dogs on raw and was really worried about his transition. Made sure I was off work for a few days so I could take him outside a lot. Fasted him for a day and went to raw 100%, no transition. He had about two days of softer poops but no explosives and his digestion is now the best I have seen from him in 3 years of owning him. No more unexplained diarhea, his previous huge, stinky, soft poops are now these little hard, barely smelly marbles. I love it and wish I had have done it sooner!

Oh I'm so glad you posted! That's what I was hoping to hear. I'm sure she should be on Raw but I am terribly scared of rocking an already shaky boat. My plan is to (after fasting her today and possibly tomorrow morning depending on how things go), and putting her on the magic boiled chicken/boiled ground beef diet for a few days and then transition her to raw.

I hate that I have so much kibble left over but oh well.