In need of advice
Posted: 05 May 2022, 11:32
Hi,
my wife and I adopted a 2 year old French Bulldog with EPI three days ago. Her name is Winnie and she is amazing. She was given up because the previous owners couldn't manage with her EPI and she was with the Dogs Trust for 4 months before we adopted her. She came in weighing 8.2 kg and they started feeding her with Purina Hypoallergenic wet food with Lypex, increasing the amount and frequency of meals over time because she wasn't putting on much weight. Finally they landed on 4 meals a day of 300g Purina Hypoallergenic wet food (1200g total/day) with one whole capsule of Lypex per meal and 1 capsule Cobalaplex every other day in her morning meal. They didn't try any other foods or enzymes. It was recommended we keep her on this regimen with the Purina food and Lypex and Cobalaplex.
She is still quite skinny (ribs and hip bones showing) and in all the time being fed 1200g daily of Purina Hypoallergenic wet food she has only gone up in weight to 9.2 kg. As you do, we read around extensively and considering her weight hasn't gone up much and her stools are sometimes firm but mostly loose we have our doubts that we should keep her on this regimen (the horrendous cost of the Purina food also being a small factor, but mainly that it doesn't look very nutritious and doesn't seem to do her much good).
Since her stools have been predominantly loose since we got her we added in 1/4 tsp of Slippery Elm into her meal this morning after which she had the firmest poo we've seen, but then after the 3rd meal today she was back to loose stool. The colour is always the slightly yellowish/clay colour.
We've looked at alternative foods (bearing in mind Winnie is also allergic to chicken) and have come up with a bit of a plan, but being first time EPI dog owners we thought it best to sense check on this forum to make sure what we want to do is actually a good idea.
Our plan:
1. Wait 3-4 more days and keep her on the current regimen with Purina to know how much of it is just down to nerves from being in a new home. Continue with 1/4 tsp slippery elm in her morning and evening meals.
2. Gradually switch her over to Pooch and Mutt's "FISH, POTATO & PEA WET FOOD" (ingredients below). Continue with 4x meals a day and 1 whole capsule of lypex per meal but while transitioning to the new food also gradually reduce down the portion size to arrive at 750g total/day (1200g a day seems like an insane amount for such a small dog and it just doesn't look like she is digesting much of it anyways). We would check her weight throughout to make sure she doesn't start losing any.
3. If that transition works out (from one wet food to another) and once she is doing well we want to reduce the meal frequency down to 3 times a day (for convenience and to cut down on the daily amount of Lypex).
4. We then want to try introducing kibble gradually to get to a half dry/half wet diet. Pooch and Mutt's "HEALTH & DIGESTION DRY FOOD" seems like a good option (ingredients below).
Here our questions:
- Does this sound like a good plan and like good new foods to try out? Anything we should do differently or watch out for?
- Could we introduce the new wet food and kibble at the same time or is that too many variables at once?
- Lypex is very expensive, so once she is stable on the new diet would it be fine to look at reducing the daily dose say to 2 capsule spread over 3 meals (she is currently on 4x what is recommended on the package)? Are there alternatives to Lypex in the UK that we should try?
Sorry for the long message and thank you in advance for any advice!
Best wishes,
Alex, Rebecca and Winnie
Pooch and Mutts "FISH, POTATO & PEA WET FOOD":
Ingredients/Composition: White fish (64%)(sustainable catch of the day), potato (6%), pea (6%), prebiotics (fructooligosaccharide) (0.5g/kg), seaweed.
Nutritional additives: Vitamins: Vitamin A: 3,6000 iu; vitamin D3: 300 iu, Zinc (as zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 30mg, Iron (as Iron (II) Sulphate Monohydrate) 14.4mg, Manganese (as Manganous Sulphate Monohydrate) 2.4mg, Copper (as Copper (II) Sulphate Pentahydrate) 1.44mg. Analytical constituents: Crude protein 9%, crude fat 2%, crude fibre 2%, inorganic matter 2.5%, moisture 79%.
258 Kcal/Pack
Pooch and Mutts "HEALTH & DIGESTION DRY FOOD":
Composition: Freshly prepared salmon (25%), sweet potato (25%), dried salmon (17%), potato, peas,salmon oil (1.5%), salmon gravy (1.5%), alfalfa, beet pulp, linseed, parsley (0.08%), brewers yeast, psyllium (0.08%), cranberry (0.04%), glucosamine (260 mg/kg), chondroitin sulphate (160 mg/kg), minerals, vitamins, mannanoligosaccharides (prebiotic mos) (0.015%), fructooligosaccharides (prebiotic fos) (0.01%), yucca schidigera extract (0.01%).
Nutritional additives per kg:Vitamins: Vitamin A (as retinyl acetate) 18,000 I.U, vitamin D3 (as cholecalciferol) 1,800 I.U, vitamin E (as alpha tocopherol acetate) 400 mg, L-Carnitine 450mg, vitamin B1 1.2mg, vitamin B2 1.0mg, biotin 0.72mg.
Trace elements: cupric sulphate pentahydrate 58 mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 133.5 mg, manganous sulphate monohydrate 105 mg, ferrous sulphate monohydrate 160 mg, calcium iodate anhydrous 1.6 mg, sodium selenite 0.6 mg.
Technological additives: Enterococcus faecium cernelle 68 (sf68; ncimb 10415) 1,000,000,000 cfu as an aid in the establishment, maintenance and restoration of a balanced gut flora in dogs.
Analytical constituents: Protein 24%, crude oils and fats 12% , crude fibres 3.8%, crude matter 6.5%, moisture 10%, omega 6 1.5%, omega 3 0.5%, calcium 1.1%, phosphorus 0.8%, sodium 0.1%.
Kcal/100g - 328.25
Food she is on currently:
https://www.purina.co.uk/dog/dog-food/p ... rgenic-wet
Food we want to transition her to:
https://www.poochandmutt.co.uk/products ... d-for-dogs
https://www.poochandmutt.co.uk/products ... n-dry-food
my wife and I adopted a 2 year old French Bulldog with EPI three days ago. Her name is Winnie and she is amazing. She was given up because the previous owners couldn't manage with her EPI and she was with the Dogs Trust for 4 months before we adopted her. She came in weighing 8.2 kg and they started feeding her with Purina Hypoallergenic wet food with Lypex, increasing the amount and frequency of meals over time because she wasn't putting on much weight. Finally they landed on 4 meals a day of 300g Purina Hypoallergenic wet food (1200g total/day) with one whole capsule of Lypex per meal and 1 capsule Cobalaplex every other day in her morning meal. They didn't try any other foods or enzymes. It was recommended we keep her on this regimen with the Purina food and Lypex and Cobalaplex.
She is still quite skinny (ribs and hip bones showing) and in all the time being fed 1200g daily of Purina Hypoallergenic wet food she has only gone up in weight to 9.2 kg. As you do, we read around extensively and considering her weight hasn't gone up much and her stools are sometimes firm but mostly loose we have our doubts that we should keep her on this regimen (the horrendous cost of the Purina food also being a small factor, but mainly that it doesn't look very nutritious and doesn't seem to do her much good).
Since her stools have been predominantly loose since we got her we added in 1/4 tsp of Slippery Elm into her meal this morning after which she had the firmest poo we've seen, but then after the 3rd meal today she was back to loose stool. The colour is always the slightly yellowish/clay colour.
We've looked at alternative foods (bearing in mind Winnie is also allergic to chicken) and have come up with a bit of a plan, but being first time EPI dog owners we thought it best to sense check on this forum to make sure what we want to do is actually a good idea.
Our plan:
1. Wait 3-4 more days and keep her on the current regimen with Purina to know how much of it is just down to nerves from being in a new home. Continue with 1/4 tsp slippery elm in her morning and evening meals.
2. Gradually switch her over to Pooch and Mutt's "FISH, POTATO & PEA WET FOOD" (ingredients below). Continue with 4x meals a day and 1 whole capsule of lypex per meal but while transitioning to the new food also gradually reduce down the portion size to arrive at 750g total/day (1200g a day seems like an insane amount for such a small dog and it just doesn't look like she is digesting much of it anyways). We would check her weight throughout to make sure she doesn't start losing any.
3. If that transition works out (from one wet food to another) and once she is doing well we want to reduce the meal frequency down to 3 times a day (for convenience and to cut down on the daily amount of Lypex).
4. We then want to try introducing kibble gradually to get to a half dry/half wet diet. Pooch and Mutt's "HEALTH & DIGESTION DRY FOOD" seems like a good option (ingredients below).
Here our questions:
- Does this sound like a good plan and like good new foods to try out? Anything we should do differently or watch out for?
- Could we introduce the new wet food and kibble at the same time or is that too many variables at once?
- Lypex is very expensive, so once she is stable on the new diet would it be fine to look at reducing the daily dose say to 2 capsule spread over 3 meals (she is currently on 4x what is recommended on the package)? Are there alternatives to Lypex in the UK that we should try?
Sorry for the long message and thank you in advance for any advice!
Best wishes,
Alex, Rebecca and Winnie
Pooch and Mutts "FISH, POTATO & PEA WET FOOD":
Ingredients/Composition: White fish (64%)(sustainable catch of the day), potato (6%), pea (6%), prebiotics (fructooligosaccharide) (0.5g/kg), seaweed.
Nutritional additives: Vitamins: Vitamin A: 3,6000 iu; vitamin D3: 300 iu, Zinc (as zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 30mg, Iron (as Iron (II) Sulphate Monohydrate) 14.4mg, Manganese (as Manganous Sulphate Monohydrate) 2.4mg, Copper (as Copper (II) Sulphate Pentahydrate) 1.44mg. Analytical constituents: Crude protein 9%, crude fat 2%, crude fibre 2%, inorganic matter 2.5%, moisture 79%.
258 Kcal/Pack
Pooch and Mutts "HEALTH & DIGESTION DRY FOOD":
Composition: Freshly prepared salmon (25%), sweet potato (25%), dried salmon (17%), potato, peas,salmon oil (1.5%), salmon gravy (1.5%), alfalfa, beet pulp, linseed, parsley (0.08%), brewers yeast, psyllium (0.08%), cranberry (0.04%), glucosamine (260 mg/kg), chondroitin sulphate (160 mg/kg), minerals, vitamins, mannanoligosaccharides (prebiotic mos) (0.015%), fructooligosaccharides (prebiotic fos) (0.01%), yucca schidigera extract (0.01%).
Nutritional additives per kg:Vitamins: Vitamin A (as retinyl acetate) 18,000 I.U, vitamin D3 (as cholecalciferol) 1,800 I.U, vitamin E (as alpha tocopherol acetate) 400 mg, L-Carnitine 450mg, vitamin B1 1.2mg, vitamin B2 1.0mg, biotin 0.72mg.
Trace elements: cupric sulphate pentahydrate 58 mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 133.5 mg, manganous sulphate monohydrate 105 mg, ferrous sulphate monohydrate 160 mg, calcium iodate anhydrous 1.6 mg, sodium selenite 0.6 mg.
Technological additives: Enterococcus faecium cernelle 68 (sf68; ncimb 10415) 1,000,000,000 cfu as an aid in the establishment, maintenance and restoration of a balanced gut flora in dogs.
Analytical constituents: Protein 24%, crude oils and fats 12% , crude fibres 3.8%, crude matter 6.5%, moisture 10%, omega 6 1.5%, omega 3 0.5%, calcium 1.1%, phosphorus 0.8%, sodium 0.1%.
Kcal/100g - 328.25
Food she is on currently:
https://www.purina.co.uk/dog/dog-food/p ... rgenic-wet
Food we want to transition her to:
https://www.poochandmutt.co.uk/products ... d-for-dogs
https://www.poochandmutt.co.uk/products ... n-dry-food