Digestive Supplement

BostonBanker

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Gusto's had a sensitive stomach pretty much forever. Nothing terrible to deal with or that dramatically affects our lives, but it is there. He's been to the vet probably 2 or 3 times total for it (over 4 years); once it was typical vomiting and diarrhea, the last time it was just throwing up saliva during the middle of the night/early morning hours. A bit of Cerenia and Pepcid for a few days gets him back to normal, and he's fine for months and months. He's also a chronic grass eater, and when grass is "in season", it isn't unusual for him to throw up a clump of it maybe once every 10 days.

It doesn't seem related to what he's eating at any point (other than sometimes a very reasonable upset stomach from too many training treats), or anything I can pin down most of the time. He's been seen by the vet for it, as I've said. His blood work is fine, there's never any blockage aspect to it.

I've started to split the dogs' dinners, and give them half at the regular time and half before bed, so he's not sleeping on an empty stomach. Almost all of his issues tend to happen between 2 am and 5 am, so I have a feeling the empty stomach plays a part. Sadly he's a VERY easy keeper, so he doesn't get a ton of anything. But feeding him more right before bed is certainly doable.

The thing is - if he were a horse, I'd have him on a supplement. Succeed probably, and maybe some sort of stomach buffer. Is this a thing for dogs? I see a lot of digestive supplements, but they mostly seem to be probiotics/enzymes. I want to speak to the vet about how often Pepcid is okay to use, but I am wondering what other options exist.

Is there anything you've tried and liked? Any supplements that you've heard about that seem interesting? Something else that you think I'm missing?
 
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#2
I've seen/heard of people adding rice to the feeding to help settle the stomach. There is a digestive probiotic that Purina makes.
 

JacksonsMom

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I honestly don't know if this helps that much, but I often give Jackson the Cloud Star Tummy Trouble when his poop doesn't look as great and it seems to firm it right up. But no idea if it would help in Gusto's case or not.
 

Beanie

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I use two things with Payton.

https://naturesfarmacy.com/store/products/dogzymes-digestive-enhancer-dissolvable-powder-1/
I use twice as much of this as the jar recommends per one of the ladies who works there. She suggested I could do twice as much of this or switch to this:
https://naturesfarmacy.com/store/products/dogzymes-probiotic-max-1lb/

I still had plenty of the first, so I've just been using that and will probably stick with it. It didn't solving his random diarrhea so when I told her his story, she was like "oh, I know exactly what you need." She wanted me to keep using the digestive enhancer but to also try give him this:
https://naturesfarmacy.com/store/products/dogzymes-immuno-guard-1/

This is "the stuff for dogs who got 'weird stuff' as a puppy." Parvo puppies, et cetera. Payton had that really bad round with clostridium so she recommended this. I started using this along with doubling the first stuff and ZERO diarrhea since. *angels singing* And that has been since March. We have ever gone that long without any poo troubles. It's awesome.

BUT I don't know about vomiting. You could try e-mailing the dogzymes folks and ask their advice and see what they suggest - the lady I talked to was at a show but she was super helpful, did not try to sell me anything more than what she thought I really needed, and it sure did fix the problem.
 

*blackrose

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#5
I've seen/heard of people adding rice to the feeding to help settle the stomach. There is a digestive probiotic that Purina makes.
That's Fortiflora. People say it doesn't work as well as X product because it doesn't have X amount of different live cultures...but honestly, every single time I've ever used it, I've had very good results with it. I just had Butters on a course because his poop was STINKY and kind of loose. The stuff I'm using is expired and even that helped with the stink (not quite yet with the firmness). I don't know how it would work with a vomiting dog, though?

If he's having some acid reflux overnight on an empty stomach, I wouldn't be above just giving him a dose of pepcid right before bed. I don't believe it has any long term effects and would probably help him out? Cynder was on it daily for a very long time in order to help with her regurgitation issues and I know of other dogs that are on it chronically for acid reflux overnight-type issues like what it sounds like Gusto has going on. Definitely ask your vet!
 

Elrohwen

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#6
https://naturesfarmacy.com/store/products/dogzymes-digestive-enhancer-dissolvable-powder-1/
I use twice as much of this as the jar recommends per one of the ladies who works there. She suggested I could do twice as much of this or switch to this:
https://naturesfarmacy.com/store/products/dogzymes-probiotic-max-1lb/
I went to a conformation handling seminar with a top level handler and he highly recommended this product. He cares for a lot of dogs and goes to a lot of shows, and he said he only uses what works in his experience, not what is hyped. So if he says it works, there's probably something to it. I use a small amount with my dogs daily and up the amount on the day of a show. Generally Watson doesn't have a sensitive stomach, but he does get diarrhea when he's excited/stressed at shows and this seems to help.
 
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BostonBanker

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BUT I don't know about vomiting. You could try e-mailing the dogzymes folks and ask their advice and see what they suggest - the lady I talked to was at a show but she was super helpful, did not try to sell me anything more than what she thought I really needed, and it sure did fix the problem.
Hm, I think I will shoot them an email this weekend and at least ask. The Pepcid certainly does seem to do the trick, but as I said, I haven't actually asked the vet about how long it is okay to keep him on it. I'm so used to horses and the plethora of supplements for stomach ulcers, hindgut ulcers, probios, and a multitude of other tummy issues that I figured there has to be something out there for dogs. Heaven knows that if any dog could internalize their worries enough to produce an ulcer, it would be Gusto. He has perfectly normal poops throughout this (and is as right as rain by afternoon and evening even when he doesn't feel well at night), so I don't think most of the usual 'dog tummy' supplements would be what he needs.

I also picked up a new bag of food for him tonight. I generally rotate both of mine through the various grain free Fromm flavors (using a very scientific formula involving buying whichever bag is on top of the stack), but I don't use any with red meat very often. They are on it now, and while he's been fine for a lot of the time he's been getting it, he's had two rounds of this icky night tummy during it. Maybe he just doesn't handle lots of red meat well. Meg is (of course) fine, so she can finish off that bag and I'll put him back on one of the more familiar poultry/fish varieties.

Thanks for the ideas!
 

SizzleDog

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If you're looking for a decent probiotic, I really like Proviable. It's about as good as Prostora, for a fraction of the cost.

I've found it tends to even out yucky gut, improves absorption, and actually helps with any bad doggie breath they might have going on as well. Good stuff. :)
 

skittledoo

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If you're looking for a decent probiotic, I really like Proviable. It's about as good as Prostora, for a fraction of the cost.



I've found it tends to even out yucky gut, improves absorption, and actually helps with any bad doggie breath they might have going on as well. Good stuff. :)

I really need to look into this stuff.

I have similar issues with Itztli off and on. Nothing else will be off, but he will occasionally throw up and has diarrhea or super soft stools once in a while and quite a bit frequently recently. But... He will have liquid diarrhea and then hours later produce a normal stool only to have diarrhea the following morning.
 
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I went to a conformation handling seminar with a top level handler and he highly recommended this product. He cares for a lot of dogs and goes to a lot of shows, and he said he only uses what works in his experience, not what is hyped. So if he says it works, there's probably something to it. I use a small amount with my dogs daily and up the amount on the day of a show. Generally Watson doesn't have a sensitive stomach, but he does get diarrhea when he's excited/stressed at shows and this seems to help.
Interesting....Hudson is an excited pooper, maybe something like this would help it from being a liquid mess in his leg floofs
 

Beanie

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Payton also gets excitement poos and it hasn't helped with that.
But what it has helped with is poop all over my floors, so I'm pretty a-okay with the result LOL.
 

BostonBanker

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Eww, small things that are nice about smooth coats!

I've got Gusto off the Pepcid now, and am just doing 3 meals a day instead of 2, with the last being right before bed. No issues yet. It's so random that it is hard to say if that is actually fixing it. I may play around with using Pepcid when we are traveling and competing, since that tends to mess up his regular eating schedule. He's never been sick in those situations but..preventative? Maybe?

Meg is pretty sure that she has finally found the silver lining in the cloud of Big Sisterhood. Eating 3 times a day is definitely the best thing that has happened to her since she first discovered the McDouble.
 

Elrohwen

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Watson likes to fan his butt feathers out on the ground behind him and then excited poop all over them. At dog shows. LostandConfused is a witness.

I would pay lots of money for something that fixed his excitement pooping.
 

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