Hi everyone - what to do about this issue?

Hope everyone has a good New Year.

Looking for some advice here, albeit I have flagged this up with a vet before, he didn't actually tell me anything!

Have a 5 yr old male staff. Good weight, good general health.

For well over a year, been feeding him a dried complete food - I was told plain old Chappie was better than many.

However, every so often, and there can be spaces of many weeks in between, then sometimes three times in one week, this is what will happen.

I will feed him at say 10am.

As late as 7pm that evening, he will literally bring up the pile of dried food.

There is no blood in it or such, however, what often surprises me is that the bits of food are not even digested, you would think that after that length of time, they would have been digested.

It is as if this food sometimes sits in his stomach, doesn't properly digest, so it eventually thrown back up, some nine hours later.

He last did it three days ago, and as a temp measure, I have taken him off the chappie, and given him chicken and rice.

But I know that he cannot go on getting that, can he, albeit he never recycles that hours later.

Any ideas as to what this could be, or what he might be able to eat better?

He could just be intolerant of something in the chappie. I have to admit that i wouldn't feed chappie - there are many better than that!

You could perhaps try one of the hypo allergenic dry foods in case he's intolerant of one of the ingredients. Try a fish based food, or a venison or lamb based food. James Wellbeloved seems to be a good one, or Fish4dogs.

Has he always been on dry food, and if so, has he always done this no matter which dry food you've fed?

Caryll wrote:He could just be intolerant of something in the chappie. I have to admit that i wouldn't feed chappie - there are many better than that!

You could perhaps try one of the hypo allergenic dry foods in case he's intolerant of one of the ingredients. Try a fish based food, or a venison or lamb based food. James Wellbeloved seems to be a good one, or Fish4dogs.

Has he always been on dry food, and if so, has he always done this no matter which dry food you've fed?

Had him since 2009, and cannot be sure what he was eating up to that date, since I got him as a rescue/stray.

But I would say he has almost always been on dry food since then.

I was told that Chappie, despite it's rather bland packaging, was better than many of the more marketed kinds, and it had less colourings etc, in it, which is why I went with that.

The odd thing is he can go weeks in which this doesn't happen, then it happens two or three times, over a week.

You would think if it was something in the Chappie, that this would be happening all the time, not with weeks and weeks of being fine, then not?

I wonder if maybe he is not good at digesting dry food, for some reason.

I am no expert, but I am thinking, it swells up in the stomach, and maybe, for whatever reason, it is that which he cannot sometimes cope with.

Chappie is a very bland food, and is recommended for dogs with a sensitive stomach - well, the tinned stuff is, anyway. It has far too many fillers for me, though.

Do you follow the same routine every day with his food? Is he walked within 2 hours of eating?

There must be something triggering it. Some change in routine maybe.

Caryll wrote:Chappie is a very bland food, and is recommended for dogs with a sensitive stomach - well, the tinned stuff is, anyway. It has far too many fillers for me, though.

Do you follow the same routine every day with his food? Is he walked within 2 hours of eating?

There must be something triggering it. Some change in routine maybe.

No, no change in the routine, at all.

For some reason, I just don't think his stomach acids find this kibble easy to digest.

Some people have said something from the Wagg range, may be better, or something from the James Wellbeloved range.

Or I could try him on a wet food..

I wouldn't go over to wet unless you really have to, it isn't good for their teeth. Try the James Wellbeloved, it's had good reports and all their range is hypoallergenic.

I'd try getting it online, though, as the shops are usually a fair bit more expensive than the internet even with the postage!

Look for a complete that is grain free, or try a raw diet if you only have one dog it could be a better option...

I feed james well beloved and mine do well on that there poop is good and they dont pass wind much not herd anything good about chappie.
I dont think if you havent seen a pattern that there would be anything wrong and they do self medicate regularly.
Many good reputable breeders do advocate a fasting day once in a while they say it rests the digestive system as many dogs are over fed not sure if that would be beneficial to your boy though

If the food is coming back up looking the same as it went in its obviously not reaching the dogs stomach to be digested, so the dog is not being sick it is regurgitating because it has probably got stuck in his easophogus (sp). An animals digestive system is horizontal whereas ours is vertical!

You could try raising the dish off the ground when feeding him so that he is eating at a better angle for the food to go down. Another idea is to wet the kibble with water and let it soak it up so that it is softer and easier to go down.

Lizzie wrote:If the food is coming back up looking the same as it went in its obviously not reaching the dogs stomach to be digested, so the dog is not being sick it is regurgitating because it has probably got stuck in his easophogus (sp). An animals digestive system is horizontal whereas ours is vertical!

You could try raising the dish off the ground when feeding him so that he is eating at a better angle for the food to go down. Another idea is to wet the kibble with water and let it soak it up so that it is softer and easier to go down.

I would have thought if that was the case that it'd be happening more often. A raised bowl may help, though, and wetting the kibble with a little warm water or meat juices may also help.

Rocky has just had a little spate of being sick in the mornings. Not bringing up food just bile. We gave him a couple of teaspoons of plain natural yogurt once a day for about 3 days. This has settled his tummy and got things back into balance. His is fed James Welbeloved dry food with a little cooked chicken mixed with it stuffed in a Kong.

We have put Rockys sickness down to a course of antibiotics he had after being attacked a month ago so this is not exactly the same as your problem I know but the yogurt may well be worth a try to get the guts good bacteria back into balance. It has worked for us.

gem wrote:I feed james well beloved and mine do well on that there poop is good and they dont pass wind much not herd anything good about chappie.
I dont think if you havent seen a pattern that there would be anything wrong and they do self medicate regularly.
Many good reputable breeders do advocate a fasting day once in a while they say it rests the digestive system as many dogs are over fed not sure if that would be beneficial to your boy though

^^^ +1

Does he drink plenty ?

and do you change his diet from time to time ? (anything would get fed up with the same food week after week)

Andy wrote:

gem wrote:I feed james well beloved and mine do well on that there poop is good and they dont pass wind much not herd anything good about chappie.
I dont think if you havent seen a pattern that there would be anything wrong and they do self medicate regularly.
Many good reputable breeders do advocate a fasting day once in a while they say it rests the digestive system as many dogs are over fed not sure if that would be beneficial to your boy though

^^^ +1

Does he drink plenty ?

and do you change his diet from time to time ? (anything would get fed up with the same food week after week)

They dont over drink my girl more so than my boy
I rotate the james well beloved between the three flavours and mine also get fresh cooked meat every day to soak the kibble (both my 2 are getting on a bit now) I feed mince, liver ,chicken ,lamb and fish something different every day just a little to make it interesting Ive always had clean bowls and Im touching wood here but healthy dogs my 2 dont look there ages and are in really good condition in my avitar pic duke is around 7 years old taken at crufts

Nah Jem, I was agreeing with your post, and asking the original poster the questions

'Kay, here is what I am going to try out, and have, as of tonight, because I am putting it down to the Chappie kibble not getting digested.

I have tried out some James Wellbeloved kibble, which appears smaller and less hard, a lesser amount of that, together with some wet food - that being Butcher's Tripe, which I was told, all things considered, is not a bad wet food.

So what happens..

Thanks for your thoughts

Let us know how he gets on with that then