Best Wet Food - Chappie, Nature Diet etc ??

Harvey has been on ID from the Vets for a few weeks due to tummy problems - its the only thing that keeps Harveys poo's firm - the vet wants us to try changing him onto another complete as the ID is apparently not the best for a growing pup and has suggested Chappie. Every dry complete (JWB, Royal Cannin etc) i have tried within 24 hours turns Harvey's Poo runny, even the dry version of ID gave him the runs!!

So looks like we are sticking with wet but not sure whether to try the Chappie or try Nature Diet as i have heard thats good aswell??

I feel like i have done nothing but talk about poo for weeks :lol:

I know that most people feed dry complete but is there a prefered wet food?

Many vets recommend Chappie, which was once the poor relation food---becuse it was cheap. It comes in original and with chicken flavours and is more or less the same price as other brands, now. The problem, for you, is that it smells aweful; very fishy.

Another well recommended brand, which lots of cavalier owners, including myself, use is Butchers Tripe. I use all varieties because my lot have iron guts, but for a sensitive tummy, stick to original tripe or tripe with chicken. Some people found the tripe with beef did upset thier dogs. my vet reckons it's the next stage up from a chicken and rice diet, after a tummy upset.

For Butchers tripe, look out for really good offers at Iceland, Tesco and Sommerfield. Last year the latter did a tray of 24 cans of tripe with chicken for a mere £4.99. I couldn't believe it so stocked up well.

These two brands are recommended because they are basic, without additives.

If you feed only wet food, you will really need to find him treats that will help remove tartar, and get him into a teeth brushing regimen. Otherwise he will be far more prone to tooth decay. I'd be giving regular raw bones (if you are comfortable with those), dentasticks, rope chew toys, etc and also brushing.

Maxx seems to get an upset tummy on anything other than Burns dry food - we've had no instances of colitis since he's been on Burns :mexwav:

Charlie has Butchers Tripe food and it stinks :grnyuk: My two also have pizzle sticks to keep their teeth clean :grnyuk:

Why is it that everything they like, absolutely stinks? :lol:

Donna, I think Butchers Tripe smells quite appetising; for dogs not people. It's Chappie that stinks.

Wouldn't it be somehwat 'normal', or at least not unusual, to expect some problems the first day or two after changing foods? Maybe the trial periods aren't long enough for the dog to adjust?

KC

I have left it longer than a couple of days but it then turns from just the runs to have blood in the runs - the vets have sent off samples for tests and they have all come back clear!

It just seems alittle weird that the only time he has normal poos is when he is on the tinned ID - even the dry ID makes him have loose bloody stools.

The vets think that its just a very sensitive tummy, possibly because there doesnt seem to be any other answer at the moment.....

I was having major problems with one of my dogs and finally a vet said chicken only - no rice - or white fish only - nothing else for 3 weeks then change the food but take 10 days at least to change it. It seems to have worked for us.

We changed to a complete food Salmon and Potato as we had already been on chappie, natures diet, butchers tripe, and a number of other wet foods, and also we had tried burns and james wellbeloved and others too as this problem had be recurring for a long time, every time I thought we had got a food that was suitable.