Myrt's Food

I do wish that the premium dog food makers could make a high fiber food.

Cant you buy a premium food and add your own fibre to suit your dog?

I have tried adding extra fiber,pumpkin,missing link,psyllium,slippery elm bark and several more that I cant remember the names of all with the same results.
Myrt's poo problems have been a new experience for me.None of my other dogs every had any troubles like this.

I tried all the supplments for IBD and didnt have any improvements.

 
Does your dog have IBD?  What kind of poo problems are you having?
 
My IBD dog cannot handle too much fiber, especially in the form of grain---it actually makes his problem worse.
Once we eliminated all grains from his diet, and stopped feeding kibble, we have not had any problems. 
 
 

Have you tried Canidae Platinum? Plus a heavy duty fiber source like psylium. That's what I'd do if I were unhappy with the prescription product. It's a very kind food to troubled GIs. []

How big is your dog? If your dog is small you might want to consider a prey model diet. That's where your dog eats things like whole rabbit with fur, whole fowl with feathers - the "trash" in this diet naturally regulates the gi. This was a lifesaver for a dog I had, that had IBD. I call such dogs trash guts, because honestly they respond best to really trashy diets. Throwbacks to scavenger or pariah dog days, I guess.

What foods have you tried?

You might want to give Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish a try.  Willow has lots of GI issues and also irritatable bowel and does really well on this. 
 
 

I have tried Wellness,Nature's Variety,Canidae,Natural Balance to name a few.
I do not know why Myrt needs a high fiber food.I'm not able to afford the trip and expense to a internal med vet.
Myrt weighs 50 pounds and is 3 years old.When she eats something that does not agree with her,her stools are loose,large and mucus covered or like pudding.
I do sometimes add canned food to the dry kibble.The canned chicken from Nature's Variety and the Natural Balance venison and rice agree with her.
My husband grips at me for giving them canned food because he thinks it with rot their teeth out but I do brush their teeth everyday. 
Treats also cause Myrt to have bad poo.

My husband grips at me for giving them canned food because he thinks it with rot their teeth out but I do brush their teeth everyday.

 
Actually, the kibble will rot their teeth before canned will--kibble contains more grains/carbs which will provide a good breeding ground for the bacteria that cause plaque, tartar, and toothe decay.  Canned food, in general has way less carbs.
 
Brenda, I have a dog with IBD with colitis--we struggled with gurgly stomach and mucousy stools on a daily basis.  I have found that too much fiber in the form of grains made the condition much worse.  Grains cause an inflammatory response in the body.  Maybe you are feeding too much fiber.....
 
We had good luck cutting out all kibble and feeding only canned food ---we used Nature's Variety canned venison to start.  He was then able to eat all the varieties of the canned--we have since switched to a raw diet, and have had the most success with that.
 

The canned chicken from Nature's Variety and the Natural Balance venison and rice agree with her.

If I were you, I would stick with canned food until you straighten things out----canned food is way easier to digest and easier on the GIT than kibble. 
 
If you want to feed kibble, stick with a simpler formula, such as the Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato (as Willowchow mentioned), or the NB Duck and Potato formula, and continue to supplement with canned food.
 
As far as treat go, maybe stick with something soft and simple like Wellness Pure Rewards, or Solid Gold Jerky treats.

ORIGINAL: tzu_mom

Actually, the kibble will rot their teeth before canned will--kibble contains more grains/carbs which will provide a good breeding ground for the bacteria that cause plaque, tartar, and toothe decay.  Canned food, in general has way less carbs.

Not true.

Studies have shown there is NO DIFFERENCE between canned and dry foods. If low carbohydrates had any impact on dental health, you can bet the high protein foods would use it as a marketing tool. Foods cannot claim this however, because there is an organization that exists to help regulate such products. A food company must get VOHC approval in order to substantiate these claims.

Feed what works for you, and good dental care will take care of the rest. There are dry diets that use special fibers to create some abrasion of the tooth surface to reduce plaque.

ORIGINAL: BrendaK

My Australian Cattle Dog Myrt eats Royal Canin Vet Diet Calorie Control High Fiber.It took me almost a year to find a food she could eat that agreed with her.
When she and her brother,Frosty started the change from pup to adult food(science diet puppy to s/d adult)Myrt started having all kinds of poo problems.My vet suggested Prescription Diet W/D.Thats when I started reading about what goes into dog food.P/D W/D is made of peanut hulls for a fiber source.Myrt and Frosty got pretty thin eating this food.I tried alot of the remium dog foods but Myrt still had oo problems.She needed more fiber in her diet than what these had.I tried all the supplments for IBD and didnt have any improvements.
I do wish that the premium dog food makers could make a high fiber food.

 
So she's on Royal Canin now, and it's agreeing with her? Why not stick with that?

Sooner,
The Royal Canin does agree with her and her brother Frosty eats it too. I guess I worry to much about Myrt.
I have tried foods with no grains like nature's variety raw instinct and both Myrt and Frosty had bad gas and poos.

ORIGINAL: BrendaK

The Royal Canin does agree with her and her brother Frosty eats it too. I guess I worry to much about Myrt.
I have tried foods with no grains like nature's variety raw instinct and both Myrt and Frosty had bad gas and poos.

I don't blame you for wanting the best for your dogs! [] I just asked what foods you had already tried because I didn't want to recommend something that already didn't work, and just wanted an idea of which foods those were. I'm not sure what ingredients the Royal Canin high fiber has, but based on other prescription foods I've seen, they're probably ones I wouldn't want to feed. To me it seems like yes, some of the veterinary diets can be good at keeping certain symptoms at bay, but not so sure whether they provide truly adequate nutrition overtime to help a dog truly thrive rather than just survive.

Here's my suggestion; do with it what you will. lol But I think Eagle Pack Holistic Duck & Oatmeal might be worth a try. It has a single protein source and oats are supposed to be easy to digest. Plus it has beet pulp, which is a fiber that's actually supposed to be healthy for the digestive tract. Another thing about Eagle Pack is that it has supplements like probiotics that are added AFTER the cooking process, and at guaranteed levels. I think those healthy bacteria could be really good for your dog's system. If you do decide to try it, I would recommend a very, very sloooow switchover to avoid any digestive upsets. But I personally think that food would be a worth a try.

One other thing that I add to Willow's meals in Fresh Digest from the company InClover.  []

Here are some of the ingredients in Myrt's food
chicken meal,corn,cellulose fiber,wheat,wheat gluten,pea fiber,corn gluten,rice hulls,chicken fat,beet pulp.salomon oil,natural flavors,psyllium husk.
The Eagle Pack food is not available in my area and ordering it online is not a good idea at this time.My husband was laid off from his job of 20 years and it has really been hard on the old pocket book.
I guess I wanted to write about Myrt's food troubles because there are not many people I know that have had a dog with a problem like this.
I even had one a##hole of a guy from work tell me just shoot her and go on.Needless to say that a##hole is on my dont speak to list.
I wish I could have found this list over a year ago when I needed help and support.