Food sensitivities in dogs. What do you do?

January 10, 2025

It's no fun when your dog doesn't feel good. If it's something they're eating, you can take control of the situation and help them feel better.

DOES YOUR DOG HAVE TUMMY TROUBLE?

You want the best for your dog. You take them to the vet as needed, you spend time with them, exercise them, feed them healthy food. But what happens if, in spite of all that, they still feel poorly?

Sometimes it’s not you; it’s them. Certain dogs are prone to having sensitivities to foods. Often, the issues aren’t going to resolve themselves, so you need to find ways to adapt for your dog.

Feeding a dog with a sensitive stomach can be tricky. How do you know what to feed and what not to feed? Figuring out what the problem is and finding ways to solve it is the answer.

FIGURING OUT THE PROBLEM.

A good place to start is a trip to the vet. They can give your dog a good once over to find or rule out any significant issues.  If it turns out to be a food related problem, they’ll have some recommendations to help sort out what the culprits are.

A few years ago, we rescued a shepherd-type dog that had been wandering the streets and was about 20% below his ideal weight. We tried feeding him up on the home-cooked diet our other dogs were on. But instead of gaining weight, he lost it, with the added problem of frequent vomiting and diarrhea. 

It was time to go to the vet and see if we could figure out how to help. It turns out some dogs, especially herding breeds, as in his case, have trouble with higher fat proteins. It was more or less like an allergy. The vet told us we should feed him a rigorously controlled diet until things cleared up.

At first, we fed boiled skinless chicken or canned fish, cottage cheese, green beans, pumpkin, and brown rice. That’s it. No extra treats, no straying from the 5 things so we didn’t confuse our results. We kept him on that diet for 90 days. Not an easy thing. 

The vomiting and diarrhea stopped shortly after, but we maintained the diet to clear out his system. Once we were sure we had a diet that wasn’t causing problems, we started adding some other proteins and vegetable for variety and balance, one at a time.

Many dogs have food sensitivities or allergies that make them feel bad. Vomitting or diarrhea can be part of that. A trip to the vet and careful management can help them live a normal life.

LIVING WITH A DOG WITH SPECIAL DIETARY NEEDS.

Years before, we started cooking for our dogs after getting tired of hearing about one recall after another and not knowing just what was in the food we gave our dogs. Home-prepared foods can be a bit time-consuming, but at least we knew what we were feeding and could adjust as needed. In this case, we could manage what ingredients we needed to avoid and which ones we were adding. 

With our careful observation, our dog lived several years without any further difficulties. We figured out ways to avoid problem foods and feed him a balanced diet.  If you're dealing with a dog with stomach issues, it isn't the end of the world.  Talk to your vet, maybe a nutritionist, take the necessary steps and before long, your life (and theirs) can be almost normal.

If your dog has a sensitive stomach, there are things you can do to help them be healthy and happy.

ARE YOU FEEDING A DOG WITH A SENSITIVE STOMACH?

It can be a challenge, but managing a diet can make a big difference and let your dog live a happy, healthy life. It’s worth the extra work. There are many theories about helping your dog, so some experimentation will probably be needed. Read more about feeding a dog with a sensitive stomach in this post from Topdogtips.com.

Have you had to deal with diet issues like fat intolerance or food allergies? Tell me about it in the comments below.