OK, if you've read this blog since the beginning, you know we're having problems with Zeus' shit... no pun intended. It seems to go from nice and solid to stench and mush. This has been going on for the last 4 months or so and to deal with it, I've been cooking rice to mix in with his dog food. Now... he's been on some good quality dog food for over a year. It's Natural Balance and the flavor is Venison and Sweet Potato, a 28 lb. bag costs $55... That's expensive stuff... but he's worth it :) The whole reason we put him on this stuff was diarrhea - he had diarrhea probably around this time last year and we asked his doctor what might be causing it. She said food sensitivity. See, I didn't realize it at first, but when I took Zeus to his vet for the first time after I bought him, she told me that deaf dogs tend to have a really weak immune system (wish I'd known that BEFORE I bought him!) and they usually have more health issues... It was at that time I saw this little thought bubble over my head with a picture of me paying thousands of dollars for vet bills and medications... Anyhow, we asked her opinion on what food he should be eating and then went dog food shopping at some different stores and asked managers for their opinions as well. We ended up loving the help at Pet Saver in Greece. The manager there really seemed to know her 'shit' about dog food and we followed her advice. She said he probably needed a grain free diet because most likely he's allergic to grains. She also said that sweet potato helps dry up diarrhea. She showed us a few different brands, pointed out what flavors would be good for Zeus and we ended up with the Natural Balance. All was good in our world for almost a year. His stool was solid, he had very little gas and everyone was happy in Poopsville :) Until 4 months ago...
We couldn't figure out what was causing his diarrhea to act up again. We went to the vet's office, had his anal gland expressed a couple of times thinking it was impacted again. We put him on steroids and antibiotics a couple of times. He's been on rice and dog food and one day he's got solid poop, 3 days later it's mush again. The madness has been driving me crazy. Calgon, Take Me Away!! Remember those commercials?? Well, that's me lately...
So, I decided to start asking about food again. I talked to the owner of Orchard Kennel about his diarrhea and his food. She suggested that we put him on grain free food (during our conversation I didn't remember that he's already on grain free food) so she gave me a spiel about why grain free is best. I took her info and went back to Pet Saver and spoke to the people that were there. I didn't see the manager who had helped us last year, but all 3 of the people I DID speak to said the same thing: grain free is NOT best for sensitive stomachs. Grain actually firms up the stool and clears up the diarrhea. I was told the best food would be one without fruits or vegetables, the fewer the ingredients the better. So I was shown a food that literally has 2 ingredients: lamb and rice. It's called California Natural. A 30 lb. bag costs $44 and because it's so few ingredients, they said that it won't take weeks to switch him over gradually. It'll be more like days... Oh Happy Day!! This is a win-win situation... if this works... I'm very hopeful that it will. Everything they said makes alot of sense to us. AND at 4:00 in the morning Zeus had to go to the bathroom since he hadn't gone all day... AND IT WAS SOLID POOP!! Yeah!! :)
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