Your Staffordshire Bull Terrier’s life and yours can be exceptionally uncomfortable if they are experiencing diarrhoea, gas, regular upset stomachs, or vomiting. Sensitive stomachs aren’t fun for anyone.
Fortunately, you can address Staffordshire Bull Terriers’ digestive problems at home with a few simple natural remedies or vitamins. The only exception is if your Staffy is experiencing diarrhoea or vomiting too frequently. If it’s happening far too often, it would be advisable to pay a visit to your vet; something more serious might occur with your Staffy.
When your Staffy has a stomach problem, you want to do everything possible to make them as comfortable as possible. Ensuring they’re eating the right foods has a big part to play.
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There aren’t many complicated parts to a healthy Staffy diet. One thing you should know about Staffies is they are susceptible to food allergies. Staffies are more suited to grain-free foods to help prevent allergies.
For new owners of Staffordshire Bull Terriers, you may be wondering what constitutes a healthy diet. Staffies don’t have many nutritional requirements specific to the breed, but their food should offer excellent nutritional value to keep them in good shape.
It’s well worth it to find the best food that keeps your Staffy happy and keeps them in the best of health.
Why Does My Staffy Have a Sensitive Stomach?
With Staffies, sudden dietary shifts can lead to severe digestive problems. Avoid substituting another food brand if you’re running low on your usual one.
Your Staffy’s digestive tract can get totally out of whack by changing their regular diet and potentially wreaking havoc on your Staffy’s digestive tract.
For dogs with chronically sensitive stomachs or those who have not had an adverse response to a dietary change, this could be a sign of underlying severe health problems, such as IBD, pancreatitis, or food allergies, which can affect some Staffies.
With Staffies and delicate stomachs, sometimes vets refer to this as ‘dietary indiscretion’, which means your Staffy is eating stuff they shouldn’t be eating. If your Staffy enjoys scavenging for food in the trash, you must put protections in place.
Begin in the kitchen and the bathroom and secure the trash and recycle bins so your Staffy can’t get in them. Always keep the cabinets locked to protect your Staffy from hazardous cleaners and other chemicals.
Make sure your Staffy avoids toxic plants if your Staffy has access to an outdoor garden area. Dogs can lick the harmful chemicals off their paws, so be careful about applying them to your lawn. It would be best if you also were wary of indoor floor cleaning chemicals.
If you’re happy to give your Staffy a few treats, it’s best if you make sure they are appropriate for your dog. Human snacks are not designed to be fed to your dog and can easily give a dog an upset tummy.
In addition, if you think your Staffy might need health supplements, it’s advisable to consult your vet to ensure that’s the case. There might be no reason to supplement your Staffy, and you could be doing more harm than good.
Staffy Vomiting
Vomiting could be another sign of what we discussed earlier, ‘dietary indiscretion’, which could also explain your Staffy’s vomiting. However, if it’s severe and continues for more than a day, vomiting may indicate more severe and potentially life-threatening diseases that require immediate medical attention.
It’s critical to distinguish between regurgitation (the absence of effort indicated when the dog brings up food or liquid) and vomiting (the use of effort demonstrated when food or liquid is brought up), as the two have quite distinct causes and treatments. Your vet will advise you on their reasons and appropriate treatments.
Staffy Stomach Problems
If none of the above are reasons why your Staffy has a sensitive tummy, it’s time to think about elimination.
Something in your Staffy’s diet may be to blame for your pet’s sensitive stomach. It doesn’t matter how much supplementation, dog-proofing, or meal-scheduling you do if they’re allergic to one of the ingredients in their daily meals.
The elimination diet can be highly beneficial to many Staffies in these circumstances. Elimination entails offering your Staffy a new and balanced diet of healthy, uncomplicated foods or a hypoallergenic diet for eight to twelve weeks and watching how it affects them.
The elimination diet shouldn’t contain any dietary items that your Staffy has previously eaten. In addition, no other food treats or supplements, including flavoured vitamins and parasite preventives, should be consumed during the diet.
If they are getting along fine, with no further issues, then add to their food one type of food and determine how that affects them. If symptoms return, you have found the food causing the problems.
Common Staffy Food Allergies
Proteins, particularly those derived from dairy, beef, chicken, chicken eggs, soy, or wheat gluten, are Staffies’ most prevalent food allergies. This reaction occurs every time the pet eats food containing these ingredients, which causes symptoms.
On the other hand, practically any dietary item can cause a Staffy to experience a food allergy. Various other elements, including but not limited to proteins, can also be to blame.
Food allergies in dogs have no known treatment. The only way to deal with it is to avoid the food causing the problems. Medications may be necessary for certain dogs with more severe symptoms. However, hypoallergenic diets are adequate for the majority of Staffies.
What Food Is Best for a Staffy With a Sensitive Stomach?
Feeding your Staffy a bland diet for several days is the best option for sensitive stomachs. Some suggestions for that would be:
Chicken and rice are bland and mild, with the bonus of being easy to prepare. White rice is the better choice, even though brown rice has more nutritional value. Make sure to stick with boiled, plain chicken no oils, butter or seasonings.
Another chicken dish is shredded chicken. Once again, boiled and unseasoned. Chicken like this is easy for your Staffy to digest and has plenty of vitamins and minerals.
Pumpkin and sweet potato, cooked, unsalted and peeled pumpkin, has plenty of vitamins and minerals.
If solid food is a problem, you might try bone broth. This mild liquid meal is easy on a dog’s digestive system.
Sometimes veterinary hospitals feed baby food to dogs that are sick and receiving treatment. If you try this idea, pick baby food for toddlers where the food includes meat such as chicken, lamb and turkey. However, check the ingredients to ensure no onions or garlic.
