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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on June 25, 2012 at 11:35am

California Natural is a good quality limited ingredient pet food.  I know someone who has used it for years with all her dogs and she told me they have their own manufacturing plant.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on June 25, 2012 at 11:56am

Hi Lori, what was the reason for I/D? how long was he/she on? When and how often are the vomiting episodes? What else does she / he gets besides I/D?

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on June 25, 2012 at 12:29pm

I/D can be fed as a permanent diet so if it works and your dog likes it there is no reason to switch. If its a money concern (because prescription food is EXPENSIVE!!!) you can try a food like Blue Buffalo Basics or California Natural or any of the other limited ingredient dog foods. Blue Buffalo I think makes a food specifically for sensitive tummies. Just pick a food with one protein source and one carb source so you can isolate what makes your pup vomit. A food trial should last a FULL 8-10 weeks with NO OTHER FOOD offered during that time.  Your vet may have some suggestions on the over the counter limited ingredient diet he/she prefers. My dogs like the I/D, I always have a bag around incase somebody has tummy issues and I know dogs who are on it their whole lives with no issues. .If you suspect a food allergy it may be worth trying the Z/D for a few months and see if that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Lori A. Haskett on June 25, 2012 at 1:55pm

Well I guess I should give more info. I gave both Callie and Cooper their first dose of Trifexis on May 11th with no vomiting  then. About 2 weeks or so later Callie started throwing...generally she ate grass and then up came the grass with bile. Sometimes times it was only once but then other times it would be as many as four times. Always the same grass and bile. Then as time went on would be small amounts of red food/treat or something?? Of course we went to the vet twice and were put on Diarsanyl paste to help coat her stomach, "Tums" and a med to help her not to vomit. I was suspecting the Trifexis but both doctors  keep saying that only causes vomiting in the first 24 hours...well okay but it is in the system for a month right! Really she was acting fine otherwise...playing, eating etc but just couldn't get the vomiting to stop. So  I decided to try the ID bland food. Then Cooper vomited too but only once. So now we seem to totally be past the voming. I'm guessing the Trifexis is now totally out of their system if that was indeed part of the issue and I have been trying to make sure not to give anything with red dye (do you know how hard that is?). Now we are about out of the small bag of ID and I'm thinking it's time for a food more for sensitive tummies and certainly nothing with at least red dye... So there we are... 

 

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on June 25, 2012 at 2:47pm

I'm with you on suspecting the Trifexis had a hand in it.  If that's the case, you should not be looking at a permanent condition.  I would play it safe and stay on what you have been feeding now until this is totally in the past, since you don't want to backtrack and then,after say another 3 or 4 wks, start to mix the I/D with whatever food you had been feeding prior to this incident. Go slow with the changeover.  My guess is that you will be able to return to her regular diet and put all this behind you....

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on June 25, 2012 at 5:44pm

I would suspect it was whatever the red food/treat was and not the Trifexus. As your vet said, you generally see side effects within the fist 24-48 hours, not a few weeks later. My guess is whatever had the red in it was causing a partial obstruction. This has happened to Franklin and went on for WEEKS before resovling by either a) he threw up the object causing the obstruction, b) he finally pooped it out, or c) it was removed by the vet. He had some bright red specks in the vomit one time and it turned out to be blood. He had a partial obstruction that was found on x-ray. The Trifexus begins being absorbed within 30 minutes so it doesn't make since that it would take 2 weeks to see effects. Yes its still in the system 2 weeks down the road, but it has been in the system for a full 2 weeks by that point and not causing any side effects.

What kind of heartworm medication did you previously use? And flea medication?

 

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Permalink Reply by Allie May Thitte on June 25, 2012 at 5:57pm

Have you considered giving probiotics? Our obedience trainer is a big believer in trying to balance their systems with probiotics before resorting to sensitive type foods!

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