Nutrition and health challenges

Hera has been on an elimination diet of saithe and sweet potato for 12 weeks. We introduced 1 ice cube per day of pork stock for 1 week in week 13 and 2 ice cubes of stock for 1 week in week 14. In week 15, we started with 1 tbsp of pork per day in addition to the saithe/sweet potato recipe. After 4 days of meat, Hera became very unwell. She was vomiting blood-tinged saliva and passing blood in her stools, so we rushed her to the emergency vet, where inflammation of the stomach and intestines was diagnosed. She received two types of antibiotics via injection and tablets at home for 3 days, along with anti-nausea medication, painkillers and B12 to aid healing of the stomach and intestines. She has now been on a bland diet for one week, consisting of pollock and rice five times a day, plus probiotics. I have now started replacing 20% of the rice with sweet potato and pollock as usual. I’ve been giving her this for four days now. I will eventually switch to a 50/50 mix of rice and sweet potato. The question is, when can I start giving the supplements that go with the diet? And I suppose I should increase the amount gradually now?

So sorry to hear that Hera has been so unwell. Given the bloody vomiting/saliva and blood in her stools, I would think that her stomach and intestines need to be given a complete rest now, and that you shouldn’t stress the system with lots of supplements. The supplements that are part of the diet can wait. The most important thing now is for Hera to become completely stable first: normal stools, no vomiting or nausea, a good appetite, normal energy levels and no signs of stomach pain. After such a severe reaction, I would wait with the usual supplements until she has been stable for 3–4 weeks on salmon or sweet potato again. Dogs can easily go for 8 weeks without supplements. I don’t know what kind of probiotics you’re giving her now, but I’d recommend S. boulardii anyway once her stomach…
Thank you so much for your reply. I’ll give the probiotics you suggested a try.
Hello again. Hera has now been on a diet of sweet potato and saithe for 5 weeks with nothing else in her food after completing a long-term bland diet.After she was ill, she started licking the paw where she received intravenous fluids, and this has led to itching and licking behind her right front paw; she has developed red fur in both places. She has been on calcium for a week now. The itching and licking started before the calcium supplements. Should I continue introducing the supplements? She has been without them for a long time now. Should I continue with the same diet, or should I stop for a while and give her hypoallergenic food, even though I don’t want to? We were making such good progress, and it was really awful that she got so ill. She had some issues as a puppy before she cam…
Hello again 💛 The first thing I would consider is whether Hera is actually stable enough right now for you to interpret her reactions. A period of illness, a visit to the vet, intravenous fluids, medication and general strain on the body can affect the immune system, gut flora and stress levels afterwards. Stress alone can also exacerbate licking and itching in some dogs. The fact that she is licking the spot where she received intravenous fluids may be entirely localized to that area, but when she also licks behind her front paw and develops red fur, it is difficult to know whether this is due to stress, irritation, an allergy or something else entirely. Since the itching started before the calcium supplement, I wouldn’t suspect the calcium as the cause. As for the diet, I think the mos…
Thank you for your reply. She seems fully recovered and her stools are normal. But if I choose to continue with your diet (which I would prefer to do), should I also continue to introduce more supplements? If so, in what order? She hasn’t had any supplements since April 31 and it’s starting to be a long time. Could it also be a lingering reaction to pork protein? It did take 10 weeks for her to get rid of the itching and watery eyes when we first started the diet.
I would prioritize Aniforte Barf Complete and calcium, and if that goes well, you can gradually introduce zinc and copper. Then B vitamins, and then wheat germ oil (small amounts, increase gradually). She can easily manage without supplements for now, so take your time introducing one thing at a time. Yes, it may be that she’s still reacting to something, so it’s important that she becomes completely symptom-free before you continue testing other proteins 👍🏼
Thanks again😊 I've planned a week for each new addition and hope it goes well😊