Susan, I sympathize. IBD SUCKS.
We almost lost Beau last year. First thing is how was he diagnosed? Beau was diagnosed via open exploratory abdominal surgery. The biopsies revealed severe IBD.
Beau was down to 52.4 pounds. It was so frightening. The first thing we did after the surgery and because we had a diagnosis was put him on prednesone. 40mg. He was not eating, he was so sick. We elimated ALL proteins he has had in the past and gave him tilapia becasue that was the one thing we were sure he didn't have and it was mild enouigh for his stomach. After lossing more weight over the course of the next week or so, he slowly began to eat the tilapia. I keep a journel of how much he ate. I brought him to a board vertified IM but she waas saying basically the same thing as my vet. 3 weeks later we raised the pred to 50mg and we added in the imuran. that's when things staarted to turn themselves around. He was eating every 3 hours round the clock and I do mean round the clock. We would set our alram in order to wake up and let him out to pee and to feed him. The pred was making him ravenous and we were thrilled. When we started Beau on the imuran we also started him on z/d which is a hydrolized protein. Which is a predigested protein. There is no allergic reaction. Some dogs have loose poops on it. Z/d has a wet and cookies too. We bought a dehydrator and we make tilapia strips for him. So, Beau has treats like everyone else.
This past Feb. after 1 year, 1 month on imuran and pred, we weaned him off and put him on budesonide. That has a lot less side affects.
You should join the IBD dogs yahoo board. In order to join you have to have your dog diagnosed by either scope or surgery otherwise they will not let you join! Just tell them what they want to hear. The people although, not warm and fuzzy are extremely knowledgable. Feel free to ask me any questions.
As long as you are really diligent 110% of the time, and stick with the diet and meds, Wizard will do fine. It's a challenge in our house with 5 dogs and crumbs which Beau can not have any taste of, but we are so diligent. Remember, a crumb of something he should not have could throw him into a full blown flare.
ETA- Dante2zoe- it is true that IBS and IBD are 2 completely different things. I only wish Beau had IBS which is very manageable and not life threatening.
An IBD dog would not have the same treatment as an IBS dog.