Hello from a newbie!

snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
Hi @Sally and a warm welcome to our little forum. Cooper is a very hansum boy indeed!

I am currently monkey butler™ to Willow and Shadow, who are six-year old twins and generally quite sensible these days (although certainly not still without their personality quirks!) and Luna AKA Squidge, who is four years old and a fricking hooligan. But we love her all the same. Most of the time :D
Labradors aside, we also have Ginny, who is an elderly (about 16 years) three-legged mix and more recently added two other older ladies, Nisha and Talia to our home, although they aren't house dogs because they're too scared of people.

Squidge went through a few months of apparent allergies a couple of years back that we never really got to the bottom of, but it's not recurred so we're not sure what caused that. I hope you can find a solution, it's not fun for anyone!
 
Natalie

Natalie

Hi @Sally and welcome from Monty and Bear, my two Choccie boys.

Monty is seven and a complete softie darling, Bear is 11 months and a whirlwind of biting, destroying and racing around at a hundred miles an hour, but is also adorable and hilarious! Bear has had some tummy troubles for around six months now, and I'm sure it is food related.
(Yesterday I accidentally locked him in the garage for five minutes and when I realised, I found him climbing up the racking in there scoffing a box of Monty's gravy bones. Lo and behold, we were out with him in the middle of a the night with a squirty bum Again.)

Sorry, hope that's not too much information :tmi::giggl:
 
MrChew

MrChew

Oh, Chewie also has the odd tummy trouble but we think that's due to our toddler feeding him random bits of his meals. Our solution (still in trial mode) is a kong in the courtyard while we eat. Fingers crossed...
 
Sally

Sally

Thank you for your lovely welcomes, I'm hoping you'll bear with us if we get mixed up with which dog goes with which owner - there's a lot of names to remember.

I appreciate the words of support regarding Cooper's allergies & to try and answer the questions.
His reaction shows mainly as skin issues where he has large red welts appear around his groin area, and under his armpit the skin is black, moist and itchy for him, since these started last summer he has also had anal gland issues which our vet has said is very common in allergic dogs. Since we've had him he has always had soft poop but thankfully not vomiting or diarrhea so there may be some digestive issues but not as severe as his skin issues.

After 5 months of nearly constant antibiotics/steroids in Dec he had an Artuvetrin Immunotherapy Skin Test, where he was tested for a number of environmental allergies, as the vet had suspected a bad hayfever/grass/pollen type allergy. He had no reaction to any of them which has lead us to the food elimiation diet.
We know he struggles with beef and chicken and finding a food with no chicken or chicken fat/digest etc has been interesting.
He is very fussy about food - is that normal for a lab? - currently he's been on a mainly fish based diet, having Wellness Core Ocean kibble, he does have some raw veg and a spoon of JWB HA Lamb & Veg wet with it as he refuses dry kibble, his treats (these aren't all given every day) are Skippers fish biscuits, occasional bits of sausage or cheese as high reward, fish flatties and the occasional Whimzees veggie chew, but he does have a bedtime bonio every night.

We have just got him a bag of Purina Pro Plan Vet HA, and will be trying to get him onto that over the week, but I am concerned he will just refuse it point blank let alone last 6 weeks eating only that. We do use treats for his training (this is very much at the one step forward 2 back stage) so if there's any suggestions as to how to make treats that can rival a sausage or bit of cheese out of HA food I'm definitely interested!
 
snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
Hi again Sally!

If he doesn't eat the kibble dry, you might find that he will eat it if you soak it in a little warm water for a while. Sometimes it seems to make it more appealing - maybe the warm "gravy"?
For training treats, it can really be tough when you're on an elimination diet, but one thing that can be really useful (and might work with his meals, too) is to put the kibble in a bag with something really smelly - smelly cheese, or freeze-dried tripe or liver, for example. The smell permeates into the kibble, but he never actually has to eat the smelly thing. It's worth a try, anyhow!

Sally said:
He is very fussy about food - is that normal for a lab?
Click to expand...
I guess every dog is an individual. None of my Labs are fussy, but there are things the girls will eat that Shadow won't, such as most raw veggies. In general, I find very little distinction between the speed that a "high value" something is eaten and a crumb of stale cracker :giggl:
I'd say that, while Labs are known for their voracious appetites and love of food, it's not unheard of to have fussy characters.

My first dog from the kennel was incredibly fussy when we first got her. She wouldn't eat anything except the cheapest supermarket kibble, and she wouldn't entertain veggies. Now, she eats like a queen! It took a while to get her weaned off the rubbish, but it was definitely a process.

Oh, another thought I just had was that my youngest, Squidge, was kinda fussy as a young puppy. She seemed to find eating from a bowl really boring, so I would scatter it over the floor for her to eat or, even better, hide it around the room for her to sniff out. She adored that game and found every bit! One time, I was in a rush and so just gave her her breakfast in a bowl. She looked at it, then blatted it with her paw to send the kibble flying, then happily snuffled around and found it all :D
 
Natalie

Natalie

Sally said:
Currently he's been on a mainly fish based diet,
Click to expand...
I'm doing something similar with Bear, sticking to moistly white fish / salmon, with the occasional tin of sardines thrown in. I've ordered from Skippers too - fish cubes, squid strips, and training treats, though the highest value fish treat I can find are sprats, which we use for games around the house as well as high value treats. I use fish4dogs, as do a few people on here - they do single protein fish pouches of food which you could mix in with some kibble.

Do you think the fish diet is working for him? If you do, and have the time / patience / energy :) You could look at making your own treats - I do quite a bit of home cooked, but am now considering how practical air drying / dehydrating either white fish or salmon might be for Bear.

My boys are not, at all, fussy, but I know they snaffle up wet food even quicker than kibble. I use fish4dogs kibble, as do a few people on here - but they do single protein fish pouches of food which you could mix in with some kibble.
 
SwampDonkey

SwampDonkey

Sally said:
Thank you for your lovely welcomes, I'm hoping you'll bear with us if we get mixed up with which dog goes with which owner - there's a lot of names to remember.

I appreciate the words of support regarding Cooper's allergies & to try and answer the questions.
His reaction shows mainly as skin issues where he has large red welts appear around his groin area, and under his armpit the skin is black, moist and itchy for him, since these started last summer he has also had anal gland issues which our vet has said is very common in allergic dogs. Since we've had him he has always had soft poop but thankfully not vomiting or diarrhea so there may be some digestive issues but not as severe as his skin issues.

After 5 months of nearly constant antibiotics/steroids in Dec he had an Artuvetrin Immunotherapy Skin Test, where he was tested for a number of environmental allergies, as the vet had suspected a bad hayfever/grass/pollen type allergy. He had no reaction to any of them which has lead us to the food elimiation diet.
We know he struggles with beef and chicken and finding a food with no chicken or chicken fat/digest etc has been interesting.
He is very fussy about food - is that normal for a lab? - currently he's been on a mainly fish based diet, having Wellness Core Ocean kibble, he does have some raw veg and a spoon of JWB HA Lamb & Veg wet with it as he refuses dry kibble, his treats (these aren't all given every day) are Skippers fish biscuits, occasional bits of sausage or cheese as high reward, fish flatties and the occasional Whimzees veggie chew, but he does have a bedtime bonio every night.

We have just got him a bag of Purina Pro Plan Vet HA, and will be trying to get him onto that over the week, but I am concerned he will just refuse it point blank let alone last 6 weeks eating only that. We do use treats for his training (this is very much at the one step forward 2 back stage) so if there's any suggestions as to how to make treats that can rival a sausage or bit of cheese out of HA food I'm definitely interested!
Click to expand...
There are loads of different foods with no beef and chicken if you look on allaboutdogfood website. If he can't tolerate chicken don't feed him egg. Egg is chicken. It's good he's been tested at least you got a good start. Simpsons do great treats so do Millie's wolf heart. You could try the one I use www.natural-trears.co.uk they do loads of stuff to try. Apple's good too.
 
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