My dog has IBD symptoms and is picky. What low-fat food helps?

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Feeding a high quality, high fiber, low fat, and low allergen diet will be important. Hill's HA or z/d are good places to start, and then you can introduce other foods in slowly, one at a time, to determine what food is causing the allergy. Some dogs do well on Hill's HA, ID or ZD and just remain on that food strictly their whole lives. You can talk to your vet about different immuno-suppressive drugs that can be trialed. Immuno-suppressive drugs have side effects, so using as few drugs as possible is ideal. Also, since Scooby has urinary crystals, you will need to get a food that will help with the crystals as well, especially if you are going to start on immuno-suppressive drugs. Best of luck with Scooby!

It is common that dogs will develop diarrhea from a sudden food change, but it can be challenging to do a slow diet change when they stop eating their regular diet. If Chi won't eat a bland diet, adding cooked white rice or cooked white or sweet potato to a diet may be a good option for her. I think at this point, you could continue the previous food since she was eating it well or try to introduce a new limited ingredient diet if that was what your vet had recommended. Sometimes 95% meat diets are too rich for dogs alone, but Chi may tolerate it with white rice or potato. However, you may also need to talk to your veterinarian about medication for the diarrhea since she has IBD and those dogs will sometimes have a harder time getting their diarrhea to resolve with diet change alone. I have included a handout with more information on IBD below. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598 Good luck! I hope that was helpful and that Chi feels better soon. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Most cases of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require hypoallergenic diets composed of hydrolyzed proteins (proteins broken down to the point where they will not stimulate the immune system). These diets are prescription based and include Royal Canin Ultimano, Royal Canin HP, Science Diet Z/D and Purina HA. In some cases of IBD, a dog can tolerate a novel protein diet (one protein source and one carbohydrate source) after a period of time on a hypoallergenic diet. Some novel protein diets are prescription based (such as Science Diet D/D), but others are available over the counter (such as Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet). Most cases of IBD also require some form of corticosteroids for management in addition to the diet change. Before making any changes in Peaches' diet, be sure to consult her vet to make sure this is appropriate for her case. I hope this helps!

Hi there. If you just need something to give her for a short time (up to a week or two), you could feed her plain boiled chicken and rice - this is bland and very low in fat, and shouldn't upset her stomach while you're waiting to be able to get her prescription diet again.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While you could do this longterm, it would have to be supplemented with a more balanced diet. For example, you could consider switching Izzy to a diet of chicken and white rice combined with a dry diet such as Hill's zd which would be good for inflammatory bowel disease. Good luck and have a great day!

I'm sorry to hear of your concerns with Snowball. Inflammatory bowel disease can be a frustrating problem to deal with. The only way to definitively diagnose it is via intestinal biopsies. Food trials with hypoallergenic diets can be helpful in cases of inflammatory bowel disease, but do not always solve the overall problem. Sometimes a course of steroids, supplementation a certain vitamins and even antibiotics are needed to get things back on track. Given that it sounds like Snowball has a sensitive stomach, I would not recommend feeding lettuce as it is difficult to digest. Oftentimes feeding a low-fat, easily digested diet can be helpful. If the diarrhea continues I would recommend having Snowball seen by your veterinarian. There are certain blood tests that can be beneficial to determine if any additional vitamins are needed and they can help you to develop a plan for further diagnostics or management of symptoms in a long term.

Dietary management is key for reducing the severity of both IBD and pancreatitis but it is not always easy to find a food which suits both conditions. A restricted, low fat diet such as royal canin gastrointestinal low fat or hills i/d low fat can be very helpful in such cases. Depending on the degree of the heart disease, your vet may wish to prescribe heart medication or continue to monitor closely for any changes