I know this isn't a springer problem, but hey......
My sister in law has a lovely Chocolate Lab who has had regular Colitis throughout her life - she's about 5 yrs old.
She has been treated for the problem regularly, but the cause has not been dealt with - ie there hasn't been any prevention. This last occurrence was helped by prescribed probiotics, so I'm wondering if anyone can steer me in the way of probiotics suitable for dogs on the open market. Surely if she can get them in a regular diet this might help by way of prevention??

Just for info - Millie is doing fine and if I can ever get to grips with the system I'll post some pics!

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Simon

simon can't help you with the problem, but had to comment on this so glad she's settled and doing well, if you want to send me some photos i will post them for you

Liz

Collitus is something I know nowt about but ask Vic or Sandy (Gundogsinc)

Hi and welcome

Just had a discussion with Heather tonight about colitis.....my Tilly has had it and I know Vic on here has had a lot of dealings with the Charlie boy too...me....I'm good on bloat & allergies.....so Vic where are you?

Well it would help us if we knew what she was being fed daily, ie: type of food, brand, how often and any treats she might be getting, more info can lead to better answers!

Sandy

I was sleepy
Here now..my Charlie's problems are mainly chicken based I think, after lots of discussion with Sandy and Selina.
Try this thread, but get back to us about what you feed etc

http://springthing.3.forumer.com/index.php...3477&hl=colitis

Thanks for the replies....

Liz - I'll send you an email once we get back home. Currently in Cornwall enjoying the rain for a couple of weeks!

Vic and Sandy - She's been on Hills I/D and has been for some time as a result of these problems. She gets fed twice daily and strictly has no titbits.

I mentioned the possibility of a chicken intolerance building up but the vet apparently thinks not.

Obviously she's not our dog, but I know how good you lot are and thought I'd see what you could all come up with.

Thanks again
Simon

Well just looking at the ingredients is enough to send a shudder down my spine!

Corn meal, chicken by-product meal (a source of natural chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine), animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), soybean mill run, flaxseed, chicken liver flavor, dried egg product, dried chicken cartilage (a source of natural chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine), taurine, L-lysine, L-tryptophan, L-carnitine, DL-methionine, L-arginine, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid, minerals (potassium chloride, salt, dicalcium phosphate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), rosemary extract, beta-carotene, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin E supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

Corn meal, very hard for a dog to digest, chicken by-product meal what's that all about! animal fat, how's that rendered and what animal is it coming from, soybean mill run again not easy for a dog to digest and heat treated hulls normally fed to cattle, flaxseed, not needed and again a seed, chicken liver flavour how do they make the flavour and what do they make it out of dried egg product, well is it from egg or what sort of product, if it's dried egg then why don't they just say dried egg then dried chicken cartilage The rest are basically amino acids and preservatives which would all be found naturally in a raw diet.
Now all this has been produced, rendered and preserved and is totally artificial for a carnivore to eat so I'm not surprised the poor dog is suffering from colitis, she clearly cannot digest this properly and it's making her colon inflammed, as well as being very expensive 'food' I personally think they would be better off feeding something different and I'm going to naturally say feed her a raw diet as this is what I would do if she were mine. Labs are quite prone to digestive problems but all those that I know that used to suffer from colitis and that are now fed a raw diet no longer suffer from this. There could be an underlying reason and it could even be auto immune related.
I'm amazed the vet has continued to recommend this food especially as she is still suffering and there is no improvement. It will wear her down in the end and she'll start to deteriorate in other ways if they don't get her off this stuff.
Chicken intolerances when fed in it's raw natural state is quite rare but when there are chicken by-products and other chicken things in dried food then this often causes a problem due to the way it's produced so people automatically assume their dog has an intolerance to chicken. Why not suggest they switch to a raw diet or at least to another dried food such as Arden Grange which doesn't contain as many odd ingredients that Hills does.

Hope she gets the chance to make a turn round and gets some relief one way or another, keep us posted

Sandy

This reminds me of Bracken the coeliac ie gluten intolerant cocker I have!

'Fraid I'm for the raw stuff too I was so impressed I changed all mine over. The owners would see a different dog in just a few weeks more lively etc (you should see Jack and he's 7 plus and made the change straight over)