Hills have changed their Z/D and now my dog can't tolerate it! Any help?

[christodoulos]

Hi there,

My spaniel has been on Hills Z/D wet food for more or less 11 years now. It has been the only dog food he has been able to tolerate. Other foods with hydrolzed protein have also been no good (such as the Royal Canin one).

He doesn't tolerate any dry foods. The ones the vet has recommended me I have already tried previously and he couldn't tolerate them.

However Hills recently changed the recipe of that particular food, and now he doesn't tolerate it well at all. He drinks a lot after eating and gets tummy churning noises a few hours later and goes very quiet and drowsy. I can tell he's having digestive discomfort.

What I've got him on at the moment is an alternation between Hills Z/D, a very healthy Austrian hypoallergenic food made from Insect protein, and I alternate that with meals made up of white fish and carrots. If I stop alternating and give him the same thing over and over again he starts to react to it.

However judging from how he is reacting to it I think I might have to cut out the Hills Z/D.

Does anyone have any advice? Could anyone recommend anything that I might not have tried?

Thank you very much

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@christodoulos Have you tried a pet allergist?

 

[christodoulos]

@imagebeastmarkbeast I haven't but I spent months when he was a puppy and since trying him out on different foods and dog foods so I have a pretty good idea of what he can tolerate and for how long. But if nothing else works I could try that thanks for the suggestion.

 

[anniekins13]

@christodoulos Purina also makes a hydrolyzed-protein diet (Pro Plan HA) in both dry and cans. Ive had a lot of clients (im a vet tech) use it mainly for GI cases and like it. I had a cat that was on the Royal Canin AND the z/d cans for years and did great but when I couldn’t get the Royal Canin I would switch to the Purina and she did ok with it.

 

[christodoulos]

@anniekins13 I can't seem to find the Purina HA wet food anywhere in the UK!! He doesn't seem to tolerate the Royal Canin hydrolyzed.

I may try him on the dry food and cross my fingers.

 

[haydnp]

@christodoulos I second trying purina, as it’s worked for many of my clients, as well as a limited ingredient diet or allergy testing

 

[christodoulos]

@haydnp Thank you a few people have mentioned Purina. He has never tolerated a dry food before (even when I have put water on it and mashed it up) but hey at this point I'll try anything. Thank you.

 

[basedluther]

@christodoulos Purina makes wet food as well! Maybe give that a try

 

[christodoulos]

@basedluther Unfortunately I can't find the wet food anywhere in the UK, only the dry

 

[basedluther]

@christodoulos Have you tried looking on Amazon for the wet food?

 

[christodoulos]

@basedluther Tried yes, they only have the HA dry food not the wet. It would be the HA with hydrolysed protein that we would want.

 

[jamaix]

@christodoulos I have worked at a vets office for 16 years. In my opinion, that food has more problems with dogs able to digest it properly than all others combined. I'm not knocking Science diet food, that's the brand I feed my dogs and cats. Just a observation.

 

[christodoulos]

@jamaix I would like to change it's just finding something that works.

 

[jamaix]

@christodoulos Is the problem diarrhea?

 

[christodoulos]

@jamaix Stomach churning, drinking lots of water, low energy. Stool not all that solid. Symptoms normally a few hours after he's eaten it.

 

[jamaix]

@christodoulos Ever been on meds for the diarrhea, Ever had the stool checked for clostridium? Died he chew on stuff while outside?

 

[christodoulos]

@jamaix No to the meds. He's had this problem since he was a puppy even before he'd been outside.

Not had any checks, no.

 

[jamaix]

@christodoulos Checked for intestinal parasite?

 

[christodoulos]

@jamaix When he was a puppy they did all kinds of blood tests on him. It was 11 years ago so I can't remember exactly but I imagine they ruled that out.

 

[christodoulos]

@jamaix And I've just been told we had a stool sample examined back then too.