I wanted to see what other owners are feeding their Corgis.  My little guy Finnegan, has been eating Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream since I brought him home a year ago.  It started early this spring where he has had several bouts of bloody diarrhea.  It started when I switched him to High Prairie.  

The vet suggested putting him on a prescription diet food, Hills Prescription I/D.  My concern with the food is a lot of grain and I was told that it was bad for dogs long term.  I still do not know what is triggering his colitis but wondering if anyone has experienced this and/or what may be another brand of food I can try.

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Try boiled chicken and rice until the diarrhea is under control. His gut needs to rest. After his stools are more normal, slowly switch him back to a fish based food. Rosie had inflammation in her colon and her vet says beef and chicken can irritate the colon although the chicken and rice seems to be OK for her. She eats Nutrisource Grain Free Seafood Select. It is salmon and whitefish based. He will produce much smaller stools while on the chicken and rice but don't worry. There isn't much waste to get rid of with the chicken and rice. I would feed several small meals per day, like 3 or 4, rather than large ones. No treats-let his gut settle down. The Hills ID would be fine for the short term also to let his gut settle down then switch him to a fish based kibble. Rocky also has bout of colitis which is caused, in him, by stress. He is a worrier and does not do well in the heat.

Our Frodo used to have periodic bouts of bloody diarrhea. After trying and tracking lots of different foods I discovered he seemed to be allergic to canola oil, which is in a surprising number of food and treats. The best food that seemed to keep our guy stable was Avoderm, Revolving Menu. There are 3 different varieties where only the protein source is different (Duck, Turkey & Trout). You can periodically switch the protein without upsetting the dog's system, and it could help prevent other food related allergies. I've had vets push the HiIls Rx food numerous time for our animals. Read those ingredients! It's NOT a good dog food. Good luck with Finnegan! Track everything you try for him and journal his "issues" to try to determine a pattern.

I personally would try one of the kibbles with limited ingredients. I believe Wellness, Blue Buffalo and Natural Balance all have them, I'm sure there are others too. Maybe it would help narrow down what is bothering his stomach.

Did you try the Hills? Just wondering if the higher grain content worked better for him or not.

I have given him the Hill's because that is what the Vet prescribed and all I wanted to do was make sure the bloody diarrhea resolved itself.  I'm not sure if it helped much because I put him on the Hill's this time after letting him fast for 24 hrs and it didn't help much.  I actually took Karen's suggestion about the rice and it seems to have firmed up the stools.  There is still some blood and mucus but not at runny nor does he have the urgency.

When the Vet did recommend that I move to the Hill's permanently, I started looking at the ingredients of the food and was concerned by the ingredients.  Once I get him under control, I want to take Dana's suggestion of journaling and then start attempting to try other foods that have been suggested.

I think this is a good plan. With Rocky's bladder crystals, I didn't want him on Hill's permanently either so I switched him when the crystals were gone back to his regular food. I had him rechecked several times since then and he has been fine. I would look into a fish based food for your boy based on what the vet at the vet school told us about Rosie and her inflammation of the colon. The inflammation was discovered during a colonoscopy she had before she had surgery for rectal polyps. There was no cancer involved and the polyps were removed. She is now in a study for dogs with colon inflammation. We don't know if she is getting the probiotic being studied or the control. They are testing a powerful human probiotic to see if it helps dogs with colon inflammation. It will be interesting to see the results of the study. Her stools are consistantly firmer since she's been on the "blue pill" than before. She used to have some runny ones depending, on part, on what she ate (how many raw veggies the hubby fed her) and how many times she pooped on our walks. 

Natures Variety too has it. Natures Logic is very good too.

I'm on my second corgi now and the first had many food issues and hot spots, it wasn't until I removed chicken from the diet that things started changing. I had her on Blue Buffalo Salmon. With second Corgi, Milo - he has a sensitive stomach and I had to limit the high protein dry foods. I found Blue Buffalo Basics to work but it's hard to find in some stores and I often wondered how long food was on the shelf before someone bought it. With all the choices out there I just wonder how fresh some foods are. I recently came upon Life's Abundance brand. It is all mail order. It's fresh and I can even tell the difference of the dry food pellets. All stomach issues for Milo are gone, he's at a really good weight - I don't overfeed and we get 3/4 of a cup twice a day and a cookie at night. A few times a week he gets some wet food mixed in with the dry for some variety. I've had the over weight corgi with my first corgi and am hyper diligent with Milo - corgis gain weight so easily.

The chicken and rice diet is good to get through the stomach issues but I'd recommend low protein % and can highly recommend the www.lifesabundance.com food.

If you want to go with a more limited ingredient diet stick to either Blue Buffalo Basics or Natural Balance. Many other "limited ingredient" diets have several protein sources still. You want one protein and one carb so you can rule out what is causing the issue. Feed it for about 8-10 weeks. Slowly switch to the new food by mixing it with the I/D. I/D is good for periods of upset tummy, it does meet the nutritional requirements to be fed for life but there are better (and cheaper) foods out there. I believe Blue Buffalo Basics even makes a sensitive stomach variety. High protein diets are all the rage in the pet world right now but those diets are also known to cause colitis and other tummy issues so I would jump straight to grain free and high protein. Grains aren't a bad thing, its bad when a majority of the diet is grain though (like when corn is the first or second ingredient). Dogs are not obligate carnivores like cats are and wild dogs and wolves do eat grain in their diets. 

The Hills I/D is the only food I have found to help our Doberman with constant colitis. Not all dogs have a problem with grains just as not all humans have to be gluten free. It really is more about finding something that helps. Our dobe is 10 and has been on Hills for 4 years and is doing great! I tried many other options before sticking with the Hills for the same reasons you are concerned so I do understand but don't rule it out.

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