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Food and Vomiting

davidg

Member
Hi all,

My name is David and I am new to CavalierTalk. I have a 2 and a half year old tri colour male King Charles called Charlie, original name I know!!!!

I am looking for some advice from Cavalier Talk members, (particularly Karlin as I have read a lot of your tips advice before which I have found helpful). I have been feeding Charlie Royal Canin Cavalier breed specific food since he was a puppy, firstly the puppy one and now the adult one. I feed him once in the morning and once in the evening which has always suited him. In the last week or so everytime he eats his food he has vomited straight after, it has been kind of white and foamy with a good bit of food in it. He otherwise seems his usual self, happy and energetic and not doesn't seem to be in any sort of pain and after getting sick he runs straight back to his bowl looking for more food. After contacting a vet by phone and going through all the symptoms I was told that he more than likely has an upset stomach and to try feeding him some chicken and rice or egg and rice for a few days to see how he is. I have been doing this for the last three days and he hasn't vomited except for this morning when I added some of his Royal Canin in with his rice and egg! What quantity of chicken and rice is a suitable daily amount for a Cavalier King Charles, who is approximately 11kg and walked regularly!

Just to note that a couple of weeks ago he did have an incident with a bone, which seemed to get partially stuck on the way down which made him very uncomfortable. I rushed him to the vet and by the time I got there he was fine but I still had the vet check him out and I was assured that he was fine. I am not sure if this is relevant but thought that it might explain him having a sore tummy and vomiting?
I WILL NOT BE TREATING HIM WITH BONES AGAIN, LESSON LEARNED!


The last week or so has encouraged me to go and research Royal Canin and other dog foods to see if there are any other foods I could or should be feeding Charlie. After reading loads of stuff both on Cavalier Talk and online I am more confused. Some people say that certain brands of food are premium quality and good for your dog while others say that the same brands are unhealthy and not good for your dog. I would like to find a dry food that I can trust and feed Charlie regularly, as well as making home foods for him such as chicken and rice. Is Royal Canin a wise choice or not?

I realise that different dogs are going to have different tastes etc. but all advice and opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks,

David.
 
Well it sounds to me like a normal case of tummy trouble. Just like kids dog can get little stomach bugs from time to time. I suggest since Charlie is not vomiting on the eggs and rice to just continue that a little longer before slowly adding him back to his regular food the Royal Canin. It seems odd that it could be the Royal Canin could be causing this problem since he was been eating it for 2 years. I would switch back to eggs and rice for another 4 or 5 days then try a small amount of kibble at a time....Also if he has any behavior changes I think it would be time to for a vet appointment. You can change Charlie's diet (type of food) if you choose to, but either way the vomiting needs to stop. There are lots of opinions about how to feed your cavalier....personally I go with a high quality kibble but I have been persuaded by a member of this forum to switch Fletcher's morning meal to wet food only and kibble at night.

Please let us know how Charlie does. Good luck!
 
Hi Melissa,

Thanks for taking the time out to replying to my thread, I appreciate it. I am going to keep him on the egg and rice for the rest of the week and slowly add his dry food in with it to see how he goes. I am pretty confident it is just an upset tummy cause he is his usual happy self and will be sure to take him straight to the vet if that changes. I am going to continue to look into other brands of kibble to see if I can find one Charlie and myself would prefer to Royal Canin.

Thanks again,

David.
 
Hi David and welcome to the board.

There could be a few things going on here. One that you have made clear is that there seems to be some issue with his dry food. It may be that he has developed an intolerance to a key ingredient -- chicken is often a culprit but you are giving him whole chicken and rice so doesn't seem likely it is chicken. It could be a grain in the RC perhaps. Also: how quickly does he eat? With many dogs, vomiting is simply a reaction to eating food far too fast. You could try feeding him by packing his dry food, mixed with some wet, into a Kong toy (which is more interesting forhim anyway and it will take time for him to work the food out of the toy). There are also bowls designed to slow feeding but as they tend to be larger dog sized they sometimes are not adequate to slow down a cavalier.

You could also try a different, grain free food. Some good brands are James Wellbeloved (which is the kibble I use when I feed some dry) or Burns or Robbie's ( the latter is carried by Dog Training Ireland). I have found JWB works well with dogs wth sensitive stomachs -- comes in a variety of less common proteins and no grains.

BUT I feel pretty strongly these days that evidence increasingly shows that dry food is a pretty darn poor main or solo food source for dogs. At the very least I would supplement with 'real' food -- some meat, some veg, etc -- or bring in some cooked meals or a raw diet. If you are interested in cooked meals we have a fundraiser CD available called Rupert's Recipes, more info pinned to the top of the Rupert's Fund forum here. There also are some recipes posted in the Caring for your Cavalier part of the Library.

I feed a prepared raw diet. This makes it easier to get the nutritional balance right. Dog Training Ireland in Dublin carries Nature's Menu which I feed to both dogs and cats (and was especially converted to raw after my 14 year old cat who had not had a solid stool in years and was beginning to waste away and grow increasingly lethargic, totally recovered on a raw diet and had a solid stool within 48 hours. My vet was amazed -- we had tried various things over the years and we'd thought she was now in the 'palliative care' stage. There's also a brand called gRaw made in Newtownmountkennedy and the guy delivers free around a route in Ireland or you can go to their plant to buy. I've tried it and also like it for the animals.

One reason I like raw or cooked meals by preference is that all research in humans and animals is showing that gut flora/bacteria are a critical part of maintaining our overall health. Gut flora thrive when they have a good varied fresh diet. They do not do well on processed foods. Kibble is a processed food. Indeed it may be, as some scientists think, that we are not so much feeding ourselves a varied diet for good health but feeding our 2.5kg of gut flora and other tiny creatures that live in harmony with us. :lol: This isn't loony tunes stuff but solid science -- gut flora health seems linked to health issues as varied as some severe, to mild, autoimmune conditions, to neurological issues like autism. To put it in human terms, feeding kibble daily is like feeding a child cornflakes every single day rather than a balanced fresh diet. Sure cornflakes are fortified to put needed vitamins and minerals in but no one would think that would be an appropriate diet. Why we accept that this is ok for dogs and cats, I don't know -- especially when for cats, there are specific health issues, some life-threatening, associated with dry food diets. :( (urine crystals for example which is common in males as they don't get enough moisture in a dry food diet and a blockage can kill a cat very quickly, in great pain :( ).

I think for many people it may be a good idea to feed some kibble simply to get the other vitamins etc a dog needs as an unbalanced home or raw diet can also lead to poor health (and too many people think feeding raw chicken wings for example is enough).

I do feed some very good quality prepared tinned food as well. One I really like as ingredients are very good and basic is NatureDiet which comes in little plastic trays rather than tins. I also like MaxiZoo's Nature and Gold lines of tins which are handy of I don't have any raw.

Bones can be a healthy supplement but the MUST be raw -- cooked chicken bones are especially lethal as they splinter and d not digest and can pierce internal organs. However there is a risks still with bones that some prefer to avoid.

Just as a final comment this breed does seem to have a higher risk of pancreatitis and this can come on any time so is also something to watch if he continues to be vomity.
 
Hi Karlin,

I appreciate you taking your time to write your comprehensive reply, it is very helpful indeed.

Charlie eats his food remarkably fast and this is something which I thought could also be responsible for him vomiting but if so why would it only begin now? I have always supplemented Charlies dry food diet with veg (he goes crazy for carrots) and small amounts of meat but I could probably do with doing this more regularly than I have been, I might also try him on some NatureDiet. It may also be time for a change of food so I will probably try James Wellbeloved or Burns and see how that goes, they are brands that I know and have recently researched.

There is plenty of information in your post so I probably need to do have a look into all my available options and choose one that suits Charlie. If the vomiting continues I will bring him straight to the vet to make sure everything is alright! I will let you know how it all goes with him.

Thanks again,

David.
 
Hi Karlin,

Just a quick question, have you heard of Rupert and Frank dog food? They are an Irish company that only started last year. They have a small range but appear to use high quality ingredients. They also allow customers to choose a dog charity or shelter which they will donate the same amount of food to as you purchase. Just wondering if you have had any experience with their product?

Thanks,

David.
 
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