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Thanks for the info on added tests and probiotics. I keep probiotics in the house since I have a rat who gets frequent oral infections and is often on antibiotics (and will be getting surgery to remedy that soon), so I added that into Artie's Wellness canned food tonight.
I'm not sure which labs we have vs. in-house fecal sample analysis at the vet's. I've never been given that as an option, and I've used that vet for 18 years. My mother brings her dog there, and the dog came to her with a Giardia and Cryptosporidium infection, so there were frequent samples going to the vet. I'm in Ontario... not sure what specialist labs we have around here.
As of today, he's off the dry stuff and I'm tapering down the Fancy Feast while adding more of the canned Wellness and a bit of pumpkin, plus the probiotic. I'll get the Slippery Elm when I'm out tomorrow, and I'll look for a high-quality carb-free food. Unfortunately, I am low income, so this might be an issue, depending on how much these cost. If I need to, can I use human-grade cooked meats for him as well? I can get meats at a lower cost than many ready-made pet foods. Mixing the human-food meats with the canned food would stretch out the budget a bit.
What do you folks think about giving him un-processed foods like chicken, beef, and other human-grade cooked meats?
I think he's teething, too. He has developed a huge liking for having his gums massaged, has started chewing on toys, his brush, and my hands... not biting, really, but chewing, never running the risk of breaking the skin, but being very serious about it nonetheless. Always during brushing and petting. He also still has some suckling behaviours, like bumping his mouth up against my palm and shoving upwards repeatedly. He's been doing that more for the past few days too.
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