Colouring In Food

[Sadie]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

We have noticed when ever we feed Jacques tit-bits or biscuit with added colouring, he never makes it thru the night. Even chewy sticks - anything that has been added to makes him loose and `needy`! Has anyone else noticed this?

Sadie x

 

[Tigernidster]

That doesn't surprise me Sadie. I check the ingredients in all food and treats that I feed to the girls - anything with excess fat, added colour or derivatives is strictly off the menu! :ermm:

 

[banana]

I've never had this issue before, but I guess it's reasonable to think that some dogs will have an IBS type reaction to colourings?

 

[lurcherman]

ive never had a problem either but dont like giving the colours but found a food that goes well for mine and got to admit its got a few colours in :>

 

[chelynnah]

If you consider that one of the number one causes of hyperactivity and other problems in children is related to food colours, then it makes sense to think they will also have adverse reactions in dogs. Food like Bakers makes me cringe at the amount of E numbers and colours in it. If you fed those to a child they'd be bouncing off walls floors and ceilings so why would anyone think their dog would be different.

It does seem like your dog does have an extreme reaction to a small amount of colour though. Is it a specific treat or colour? It may be something else in the treat aside (or as well as) from the colour.

 

[Sadie]

We dropped the midday, small handful of Wilkinson's `meaty dog treats` yesterday, and last night Jacques slept from 11.30pm to 6.30am this morning without stirring. (Sounds like baby talk doesn't it?!!) This is one reason hubby won't consider another dog, as Jacques gets him up 1-2 times most nights, and it's usually to do "the other".

We will continue this reduced food regime `cos he is quite big enough but I will def be looking more closely at what is put in his food. Once he gets back into the habit of going thru the night, we will be on more solid ground! PS Our old boy Josh had a violent reaction to coloured biscuit, chucking everything back within minutes so we bought plain meal from then on. As has been said, if it effects children, it follows that dogs could also have intolerance of some things. (w00t)

Thanks for your thoughts guys!

Sadie x

 

[eingana]

Molly has a sensitivity to all sorts of things, from wheat to colours to some of the proteins in cooked meat, which is why she lives on a raw diet with very few other things added. She has what is colloquially referred to as German Shepherd dicky tummy which, as the name suggests, is really common in GSDs.

As a result of seeing so many dogs made so very ill by prepared and processed food which contains a whole load of things which many dogs may not be able to digest and some things which produce allergies in a wide variety of dogs, I'm now a firm believer in a raw diet in circumstances like this. Molly went from projectile diarrhoea 5 or 6 days a week to having no diarrhoea at all apart from when she's got a very unusual stomach upset on the second day on her raw diet. Diarrhoea always seems to be worse with nervous dogs (which is probably due to overactive sympathetic nervous system fight or flight response) but it's important that Jacques does have treats that don't upset his stomach so that you can give him lots of positive reassurance.

Molly doesn't have any biscuits of any type and instead has dried black pudding as her treat of choice. I get this from here:

http://www.petaroni.com/

Alternatives would be small cubes of cheese, cut up bits of chicken breast, rice cooked in meat stock or similar.

Good luck on finding him a treat that doesn't upset his stomach

 

[Sadie]

We invested in a Kong on Sat and have stuffed it with chicken/salmon paste etc and Jacques loves it. Takes him 10 mins or so to lick out the contents but I'm wondering if we should have frozen it first??

Aldi do some super chicken pieces that aren't expensive and both Jacques and Sam loved them. We will def avoid colouring from now on. Night two last night of no disturbances!! I can see a canine companion for Jacques appearing about Spring time! Perfect!

Thanks for your good wishes!

Sadie x

 

[eingana]

You don't need to freeze a Kong if it takes them a decent length of time to empty it, but if he can get the contents out in only 10 minutes then it sounds like you need to work on your fillings a bit Freezing works well, but so does gluing the bits together with cheese spread (Dairylea and cheaper own brands are very sticky) and wedging the resulting goo in with a really solid piece of biscuit that you have to work really hard to get in through the hole.

If you go with freezing then don't forget that many dogs love yoghurt and that freezes really well too.

Glad to hear that you may be working towards chipping the edges off Jacques' problems bit by bit

 

[Sadie]

Thanks Eingana! I never thought of yogurt! I put chicken pieces in the Kong last night, and Jacques spent nearly an hour wandering around the house with it in his mouth! Just like prey!!

He is a lucky boy in lots of ways. We "hide" little treats under cushions and covers throughout the day and are teaching him to "search" or "look for it". My youngest son plays "puppies" with him every night around 6.30 which is hilarious. Dean pretends to be a pup and does noises and movements across the floor which Jacques finds great fun. He twirls round and round in exitement!

We still do his 10 mins "training" each day and he spend lots of time playing with his fav toys. The best one being his Panda which is actually a glove puppet that we pretend is talking to him. Jacques senses that our hand is inside this though, and never bites too hard, whereas with his other toys he "dispatiches" them at every opportunity!!

Who knows, we may find our proper whippet boy beneath the surface, after all! o

Thanks for your advice!

Sadie x

 

[TTT]

I've never had this issue before, but I guess it's reasonable to think that some dogs will have an IBS type reaction to colourings?

so................youv'e got to ask yourself 'what exactly are they made of..........?' and ......'are they really good for my dog?' Well meaning people buy coloured chewy stuff for my dogs every Xmas.......I smile, say 'thank you' and put them in the bin.

 

[TTT]

and just to add, years ago......my dog who has a gut like the proverbial 'tin bucket', ate a red coloured chewy stick and a few minutes later hurled it up over my sofa........leaving a big red coloured dye stain..............it was at this point I started to wonder.........'what is that made of?' and more importantly 'does that really do my dog any good?'

 

[Northolm]

Made me smile TTT I can just imagine if you had to ring the insurance company trying to explain that one! lol! xx