Purina Pro Plan Elemental “EL” saved our dog
We have an almost 6 year old Male Carolina dog that has had GI issues since we adopted him at 6 weeks.
Aug 25’ He had dark blood in stools and was referred to Texas A&M veterinary clinic for potential anal gland removal . (No internal bleed)They put him on a hills z/d Hydrolyzed chicken diet and he went from 115 to 88 pounds in 6 months.
Jan 26’ He began vomiting randomly about 1x a week (randomly after he’d eat or drink) just exorcist type volume. It was random. So some days he was normal and then the following week or 2, puke fest.
Our vet switched him from the chicken z/d canned/kibble to soy. He ate it for about 2 weeks and puke fest returned.
We had chicken z/d kibble sent by mistake and he ate it for another couple weeks. In Feb’26 he started to skip meals and hide.
In March, he started vomiting large clumps of clotted blood and had large amounts of dark red blood in both vomit and diarrhea.
4 grand for the overnight emergency hospital stay and testing resulted in a terminal bile duct carcinoma diagnosis and possible ruptured ulcer.
We were referred to a new vet to handle end of life care and given 4-6 weeks to say goodbye.
In May he developed an infection/abscess/ blood pocket on his left rear leg so we took him in to see if cancer had spread and to get q.o.l. Opinion. He hadn’t eaten in 3 days and started peeing blood . Took him to our vet mid June.
Vet asked if he had been exposed to any rat poison. I made a joke that no rat poison, but he started this whole shift in health once he started the Hills Z/D food. She humored my conspiratorial approach and said “ let’s run bloodwork again” to rule out any possibility of poisoning.
She aspirated the leg and entire syringe of pinkish blood was removed. Tests revealed he had a massive infection in his leg and that his other bloodwork looked better than his hospital visit in March. He received 2 weeks of clindamycin. She couldn’t explain the bleeding or him withdrawing.
She told me to toss the Hills z/d and purchase Purina Pro Plan Elemental “EL” very expensive kibble. Feed him tilapia and sweet potato prepared plain with half normal portion of the new food. If his appetite returns, he should respond well to the EL since its amino acids and not chemically enriched.
Well 3 weeks later, he’s back up to 90 pounds and no large hematoma, no vomit or diarrhea or blood loss anywhere. He runs around and seems like a very healthy and happy dog. He returns Jul 15th for a new ultrasound and bloodwork to see anything changed internally.
Moral of the story, go with your gut. Don’t be afraid to ask weird questions if all else fails.