Any Dog Experts or Veterinarians in the house?

[barbarossa]

I have two dogs. Both eat the same grain free, high quality dry food and both are doing great on it.

I have access to a good supply of venison. I process my own deer and I cook the scraps up for my dogs. Just 10 minutes in the pressure cooker to eliminate parasites.

Both dogs go nuts over the deer meat. But only one tolerates it well. The other one always gets diarrhea from it.

This has been going on forever. Put her back on the dry food and everything is perfect. Add in the meat, even a little at a time, and I'm getting up every two hours at night because she has to go.

I was hoping she'd get used to it eventually, but it isn't happening.

Now, I want to feed the meat because I don't want it to go to waste. And I can't just give it to the dog who tolerates it, because then she gets jealous and tries to steal it from him. She loves it despite the trouble it gives her.

Is there anything I can do? Probiotics maybe, or something?

 

[BayouSlide]

Not a vet or an expert, but my thoughts are you might want to try cooking the meat more, which would make it more easily digestible. I feed my pointer food with a higher protein content than my other other dog and I can see a huge difference between the two dogs' stools.

I was reading a sporting dog thread on another forum recently: the owner smoked his excess game meat and used it as dog treats.

 

[Scylas]

Is feeding them separately an option? So the one that isn't getting the venison won't get jealous?

 

[themcfarland]

So, this strikes me as pancreatitis .. dogs are very susceptible to it from a high protein/fat diets, or even a diet that is more than they should have..
You might try what the others have suggested.. or feeding the sick one less food in general..

This is vague, but gets my point across..
http://pets.webmd.com/dog-pancreatitis-symptoms-and-treatment

 

[barbarossa]

Nah, she doesn't have pancreatitis. She's healthy and young (2 1/2 years) and they run 10 miles a day. Full of energy and ideal weight. They get their food measured out and they don't get anything in between feedings.

She just doesn't digest pure meat well. In fact, I used to feed them raw meat and she did better with that. But my vet scared me into not feeding them raw food. She's a good vet, but not exactly the holistic type... I told her my dog gets diarrhea from meat, what should I do? Her answer: "don't feed her meat."

 

[nola_]

send a pm to ReilleysMom32 . She's not as active on here as she used to be, but I think that's bc she's about to start Vet school. She's worked with animals for a long time and knows her stuff. Good luck.

 

[themcfarland]

give Sara a call, she will give advice.. Tell her the McFarlands sent ya..
http://www.riverlandsanimalhospital.com/AboutUs/Staff8.aspx

 

[Jmfox3]

Have owned a few dogs but not veterinarian. Some can be garbage disposals but many need a steady diet. Some suffer with even small changes in the regular diet; vomiting from a raw hide. Try very small portions mixed into the regular food and gradually increase. Once she shows any signs of digestive issues I'd back off by half for a regular diet. Feeding a regular diet of food that doesn't agree with the animal could result in catastrophic digestive problems.

 

[Jack]

From my fiance.

It sounds to me that your dog could possibly have a food allergy/sensitivity to venison. Food allergies occur it two forms: dermatological and gastrointestinal. The skin type results in chronic itching and chewing at the skin, while the gastrointestinal type results in vomiting and diarrhea. Some dogs are just sensitive to specific proteins. One way of testing for this is to stop feeding the protein altogether to see if the symptoms resolve, then slowly introduce the protein back into the diet. If the symptoms return then there is a sensitivity to that protein. From what you have said it already sounds like you have gone through this. There is no way to develop tolerance to the protein by slowly added more of the protein over time. Your best bet is to keep the venison out of your one dog's diet, and stick with a well balanced dry food. There isn't one food that is perfect for all dogs. Which is why your other dog handles venison just fine. The best signs that a diet is acceptable for your pet is if there is no vomiting or diarrhea and the stools are small. (Small stools indicate your pet is digesting the majority of it's diet and the diet isn't full of fillers). Some households have to feed different foods for different dogs. If you still want to feed your other dog venison, then I would recommend feeding them separately so the other one doesn't see and attempt to pick up any leftover pieces. You could also trick her, by feeding another protein, such as chicken, at the same time so she doesn't get jealous. I do not believe this is pancreatitis, which can occur at any age, because the diarrhea usually occurs along with vomiting, decrease in appetite, and abdominal pain. I have one dog who recently developed an allergy to bison although my other dog had no problems. I switched both of them to a duck diet, since it was easier that feeding two different foods.

 

[LACamper]

Jack, I think your fiance is dead on. I have a lab that has severe allergy issues. We tried dog foods that were duck, venison, bison, heron, etc. based. Finally settled on Science Diet Metabolic (I know some have problems w/ science diet...but it works).
anyway dogs are often allergic to certain proteins. Its very hard to build tolerances to food allergies (I know, I've been battling an onion allergy for years...). Contact allergens are much easier to be desensitized to.

 

[asianpersuasion]

Don't feed the dog venison. This comes from someone with a Masters in nutrition and DVM

 

[barbarossa]

Yes Jack, many thanks to your fiance for the detailed and well thought out answer.

I could have thought of that, as I had another dog before (Golden) who was allergic to everything. Including most proteins, the only thing he could tolerate was kangaroo (no joke) to the tune of $80 a bag. But with him the allergies always presented dermatologically, hot spots, resulting staph infections, etc. Never any gastro problems.

Now one remaining question just out of curiosity is why she tolerates raw venison better than cooked?

But at any rate, I'll lay of feeding venison. Next pig I shoot, I'll try that on her (cooked, of course).

- - - Updated - - -

Don't feed the dog venison. This comes from someone with a Masters in nutrition and DVM

Is this a general statement? Can you give a little more detail?

 

[JadeRaven]

Yeah you have to choose either if:

1) you care about your dog more, or
2) you care about letting "the scraps" go to "waste" more so you feed it to your dog who then suffers.

I know you mean well, but there's nothing you can do to change your dog's digestive system.

 

[barbarossa]

Oh, and here they are, couple of rescued mutts:

 

[asianpersuasion]

Some dogs just don't digest meat well and it's upsets the GI. And my wife's favorite thing when someone mentions raw meat for their pet is, "Would you eat that meat raw?" The answer is always NO and then she ask them then why give it to your pet?

I'll be waiting for all the raw food lovers with their TONS of experience and research to back up the raw claim appear soon........

 

[barbarossa]

Some dogs just don't digest meat well and it's upsets the GI. And my wife's favorite thing when someone mentions raw meat for their pet is, "Would you eat that meat raw?" The answer is always NO and then she ask them then why give it to your pet?

I'll be waiting for all the raw food lovers with their TONS of experience and research to back up the raw claim appear soon........

Well, I like to eat meat raw, or as close to it as possible. Back strap carpacchio, anybody?

I appreciate your answer, but I'm not sure I follow the human/dog analogy. It's not like I'd eat kibbles, either.

 

[anakha]

Look into prey model raw diet, I have my youngest apbt on it and plan to switch my other 2 to it as well,

If you're going to give them meat, give it to them raw, wolves didn't build fires.
Wolves also never ate grain or rice which is mostly what kibble is.
Kibble requires different ph in the stomach to process than raw meat and if you feed this together the raw meat will sit in the stomach and start to decay causing stomach problems. If you decide to start feeding raw expect stomach problems due to the fact that you are completely changing their diet from what they have eaten since 4 weeks old.

My pup is 8 months old and has been on the raw diet since he was about 2 months old and is doing amazing

 

[03protege]

Nah, she doesn't have pancreatitis. She's healthy and young (2 1/2 years) and they run 10 miles a day. Full of energy and ideal weight. They get their food measured out and they don't get anything in between feedings.

She just doesn't digest pure meat well. In fact, I used to feed them raw meat and she did better with that. But my vet scared me into not feeding them raw food. She's a good vet, but not exactly the holistic type... I told her my dog gets diarrhea from meat, what should I do? Her answer: "don't feed her meat."

I remember watching a show on TV about a business that takes the undesirable scraps of processed animals (skulls and meaty bones) and turns it into pet food. Their big thing was to freeze it asap to prevent the bacteria from taking "root" in the first place. (although I am sure they had some seriously fancy freezers)

The owners would just toss the meat popsicle outside and the dogs would eat it as it thawed.


Anyway, I'm not recommending any of that, certainly call the pro.

 

[barbarossa]

Look into prey model raw diet, I have my youngest apbt on it and plan to switch my other 2 to it as well,

If you're going to give them meat, give it to them raw, wolves didn't build fires.
Wolves also never ate grain or rice which is mostly what kibble is.
Kibble requires different ph in the stomach to process than raw meat and if you feed this together the raw meat will sit in the stomach and start to decay causing stomach problems. If you decide to start feeding raw expect stomach problems due to the fact that you are completely changing their diet from what they have eaten since 4 weeks old.

My pup is 8 months old and has been on the raw diet since he was about 2 months old and is doing amazing

I just can't get a real handle on what to think about the raw food thing. Yeah, "wolves didn't build fires", but they didn't live to be 15 years old either.

I had started feeding them raw meat and bones, and truthfully, they did seem to do well. But my veterinarian put a stop to it. I can't argue with decades of first hand experience, and she told me she operates perforated intestines from bone splinters all the time. As far as raw venison, apparently there are potentially fatal parasites and diseases that dogs can catch from it. Again, I just have to defer to the expert on this...

 

[kz45]

I tried feeding my pup raw chicken years ago, I'd give her a big breast and it'd disappear! Turns out she was planting them, letting them season! Then digging up later to eat it, I put a stop to that lol