Ibs Dogs Looking For People And Dogs

[Guest 2dogs]

Hi

I am trying to deal with all this IBS stuff and I would love to chat with people

that have gone or are going through this condition. I have read several posts/ treads on this

on this board and one question keeps coming up in my mind. WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED??

 

I am in Hershey, PA and currently using a local Vet in Fredericksburg, PA and Internal Med Ved outside of Philly at Metropolitan Veterinary Associates

 

I am getting very scared. My baby, Natasha has lost 6 pounds since her visit there 3 weeks ago. When she had the scoping done. We just did blood work yesterday and I am waiting for results.

I would like to know if you would share:

where you are going ?

what successes or issues you have experienced?

Or anything else you can offer.

 

Thank you all for your kindness and help in the past to help me find a vet.

 

lisa

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Hello

 

From the symptoms/treatment you describe, I'm wondering if you mean IBD (inflammatory bowel disease)? This is much more severe than IBS which (as I understand it) is usually caused by anxiety, not by damage to/disease of the gut – which I assume is why Natasha was scoped, to look for this?

 

My boy was diagnosed with IBD last year and is doing well now (after becoming seriously ill). I am in the UK so not much use in me recommending a vet, but I'd be happy to share info about diet, tests, meds etc if that would help you - let me know!

 

In the meantime, sending hugs for you and your girl.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Stripeyfan

[Guest 2dogs]

Thank you I will change my topic you are correct.. too may acronyms!!!

 

and I reposted correctly...

 

And Yes I would love to hear about your experience.

I am getting scared. I have not see progress.. on lots of weight loss.

Edited May 5, 2011 by 2dogs

[Walliered]

I would love to know about the diet, tests etc. concerning IBD. Vet said both of my greys have it. Thanks, Nan

[Guest 2dogs]

RePosting I confused my acronyms, Thanks Stripeyfan!!

 

Hi

I am trying to deal with all this IBD stuff and I would love to chat with people

that has gone or is going through this condition. I have read several posts/ treads on this

on this board and one question keeps coming up in my mind. WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED??

 

I am in Hershey, PA and currently using a local Vet in Fredericksburg, PA and Internal Med Ved outside of Philly at Metropolitan Veterinary Associates

 

I am getting very scared. My baby, Natasha has lost 6 pounds since her visit there 3 weeks ago. When she had the scoping done. We just did blood work yesterday and I am waiting for results.

I would like to know if you would share:

Where you are going ?

What successes or issues you have experienced?

Or anything else you can offer.

 

Thank you all for your kindness and help in the past to help me find a vet.

 

lisa

[Guest 2dogs]

I would love to know about the diet, tests etc. concerning IBD. Vet said both of my greys have it. Thanks, Nan

 

 

Nan I started a new topic.. with the correct title...Can we move there, please.

[Guest kydie]

Hi,, my GSP has IBD he is 8 yrs old,, and has had it all his life,, I am from St. Marys Pa

Edited May 5, 2011 by kydie

[Walliered]

Hi, I am from Savannah, Georgia. I just went through the whole deal about a month ago.

[Guest kydie]

2dogs,, I take my pup to Metgzers in St.College Pa.,, and yes it is a long,, long struggle,, periods of remission,, then a big blow out,,, meds out the ying, yang,, diet has made a great improvement,, and we relly have to adhere to it,, meals are small frequent meals and it does get real scary when they continue to loose weight, When your pup was scoped was a biopsy done?

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Apologies in advance as this is a bit of a saga... Here goes!

 

Kelly got sick about 5 weeks after we got him - tummy pain, vomiting, then big D a day later. We thought it was a tummy upset and put him on a bland diet of chicken and rice which seemed to help, but as soon as we tried to reintroduce normal food he got sick again. We took him to the vet who prescribed flagyl. Again, this helped at first but then the big D reappeared AGAIN – basically, every time we tried to take him off the bland diet and get him back on his normal complete food.

 

Over a month later, the vet finally did a fecal and we found he had worms. They treated once; the problems continued, and he started losing weight. I kept asking if the worms could have caused damage to his GI tract, but the vet said it was unlikely and also insisted he could NOT stay on a bland diet long-term. Another month down the line Kelly was down from 88lbs to 59lbs and was pooping nothing but mucus. The vet wanted to wait another 6 weeks before doing any tests. At that point I did what I should have done much earlier – went to a new vet.

 

What can I say? She was (and is!) fantastic. Within 24 hrs she had Kelly in for a blood test to check his folate/cobalamin levels. These were low, showing he had malabsorption in his small intestine – a classic symptom of worm damage, as this is where they live. She also thought he had SIBO (small intestinal bacterial imbalance). She prescribed prednisone (30mg/day to start) and an antibiotic, oxytetracycline (1500mg day). She also said it was fine to keep Kelly on the bland diet; we just needed to add a complete multi-vitamin and mineral supplement so it was more balanced. We fed little and often to help him regain the weight he'd lost – 4 meals a day to start with. And at first he continued to lose weight, as well as muscle (it took a good 4-5 months for him to get back to a normal weight). We did not have him scoped but decided to adopt a 'wait and see' approach.

 

The pred's side effects were pretty awful – loads of drinking/peeing and heat intolerance. Kelly also had a very weird side effect – spasms in his jaw and head – that we think was down to his months of big D and then peeing a lot causing a potassium deficiency. We started giving him bananas and doggy pedialite which helped instantly, although the spasms didn't stop altogether until we'd got his pred dose right down. We also had to wean down far more slowly than usual – it took us over 8 months, reducing the dose by 2.5 mg at a time.

 

It's now a year later and he is doing well. He has been off the pred since early Jan, and is on a very low dose of the antibiotic (1/3 of what he was taking to start with), which he will probably need for the rest of his life, as every time we have tried to stop them the big D returns. ABs are known to have an anti-inflammatory effect on dogs with diarrhea problems, a condition sometimes referred to as 'antibiotic responsive diarrhea'. Our vet now thinks this is what the problem is – there is a great article about the condition here.

 

Rather than start experimenting with foods and risking him getting sick again, we are keeping him on the bland diet. We feed 3 times a day as it is easier for him to digest several smaller meals. As well as the vit/mineral supplement, we give him a probiotic (with the meal he doesn't get ABs with), and fish oil, which – if the dog can tolerate it – is brilliant for reducing GI tract inflammation. When he has bad flare-ups we fast him for 24 hrs, then feed small amounts of food for a couple of days, as well as giving slippery elm bark powder in a little warm water to soothe his tummy.

 

Whew – I think that's everything! Hopefully others will chime in with their experiences soon too. Good luck!

[Remolacha]

Fletcher has a relatively mild case of IBD. We did not scope him, my vet said (when we had run out of other ideas) let's treat him *as if* he had IBD and see what happens, and that was it. I have learned over the years what he can tolerate, and what sets him off. He is raw fed, because apparently something in the processing of the food to make kibble, even if it is foods that he normally tolerates, does not agree with him. With every new thing, food, treats, supplements, he has to be carefully watched until we know how he will react. And, sometimes, there are flareups for no known reason, but those are usually mild and short lived. A couple of days of runny poop. Unfortunately, he seems to have developed a new sensitivity to chicken. sigh. I am still testing, but that will be a pain in the wallet if he can't eat chicken any more.

 

Once your dog is stabilized, and you figure out what you can and can't feed, it gets easier, but it is a life long management process, and you can't EVER forget, or relax.

 

I am in Phoenix, AZ. Fletcher is 9, and I have had him since he was 2 (racing school dropout )

[greyhead]

Spencer was diagnosed at age 8 via symptoms and ultrasound. He was just coming out of a bad intestinal bacterial infection. Between the two causes, he lost 20 lbs. and was in such poor condition that I couldn't risk a surgical biopsy. (The ultrasound had located the diseased area as where the small intestine meets the large, and a scope wouldn' have reached it.)

 

For the past two and a half years he has taken an immunosuppressant, budesonide; that is similar to prednisone but targets the gut, so has few side effects. He also takes Flagyl and Tylan. We tried to many different foods before we figured it out that he developed an inflammatory response to chicken, beef, buffalo and rabbit. So now he can only have venison. No grains, just sweet potatoes. So that kind of kibble, dressed with gravy made from canned venison, and one-third of his diet is raw venison. We found by trial and error that that diet and only that diet works for him. He regained 10 lbs. and has done well despite occasional flares.

 

But we just ran bloodwork that showed his liver enzymes through the roof. Internist says that could be from a situation with his teeth, but it could also be from the long course of budesonide. We will know in about two weeks.

 

We're near Seattle, so we can't help you with vet recommendations. But hopefully you're already getting good information on that. Were they able to get any samples through the scoping that showed what kind(s) of inflammatory cells are involved? (That may or may not help, but the vets like that info.)

[Guest 2dogs]

Yes we had the scope done 3 weeks ago.

What Diet are you feeding.

Right now we are on the Purina HA and the Z/D I mix them up to give variety. I have always offered my dogs variety.

I know I would not like the same old stuff day in and day out. Of course we are on medicines like crazy.

I have the vet write the script and call it into Costco for the dog. Its cheaper then getting it at the vet. I learned that by accident.

This is all new to me, thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge.

This all started in December. But she has been like this all her life. I just always thought it was stressers.

impacting her bowels. But in December is stayed and didn't go away for over 2 months. I knew something was different this time.

 

 

2dogs,, I take my pup to Metgzers in St.College Pa.,, and yes it is a long,, long struggle,, periods of remission,, then a big blow out,,, meds out the ying, yang,, diet has made a great improvement,, and we relly have to adhere to it,, meals are small frequent meals and it does get real scary when they continue to loose weight, When your pup was scoped was a biopsy done?

 

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH for sharing, you have no idea how valuable that information is. It gives me hope and light at the end of a very LONG tunnel. The pred meds is a real nasty with the side effects.

I wasn't told the small meals but started to do that on my own, thinking that would help with the pred side effect.

 

Apologies in advance as this is a bit of a saga... Here goes!

 

Kelly got sick about 5 weeks after we got him - tummy pain, vomiting, then big D a day later. We thought it was a tummy upset and put him on a bland diet of chicken and rice which seemed to help, but as soon as we tried to reintroduce normal food he got sick again. We took him to the vet who prescribed flagyl. Again, this helped at first but then the big D reappeared AGAIN – basically, every time we tried to take him off the bland diet and get him back on his normal complete food.

 

Over a month later, the vet finally did a fecal and we found he had worms. They treated once; the problems continued, and he started losing weight. I kept asking if the worms could have caused damage to his GI tract, but the vet said it was unlikely and also insisted he could NOT stay on a bland diet long-term. Another month down the line Kelly was down from 88lbs to 59lbs and was pooping nothing but mucus. The vet wanted to wait another 6 weeks before doing any tests. At that point I did what I should have done much earlier – went to a new vet.

 

What can I say? She was (and is!) fantastic. Within 24 hrs she had Kelly in for a blood test to check his folate/cobalamin levels. These were low, showing he had malabsorption in his small intestine – a classic symptom of worm damage, as this is where they live. She also thought he had SIBO (small intestinal bacterial imbalance). She prescribed prednisone (30mg/day to start) and an antibiotic, oxytetracycline (1500mg day). She also said it was fine to keep Kelly on the bland diet; we just needed to add a complete multi-vitamin and mineral supplement so it was more balanced. We fed little and often to help him regain the weight he'd lost – 4 meals a day to start with. And at first he continued to lose weight, as well as muscle (it took a good 4-5 months for him to get back to a normal weight). We did not have him scoped but decided to adopt a 'wait and see' approach.

 

The pred's side effects were pretty awful – loads of drinking/peeing and heat intolerance. Kelly also had a very weird side effect – spasms in his jaw and head – that we think was down to his months of big D and then peeing a lot causing a potassium deficiency. We started giving him bananas and doggy pedialite which helped instantly, although the spasms didn't stop altogether until we'd got his pred dose right down. We also had to wean down far more slowly than usual – it took us over 8 months, reducing the dose by 2.5 mg at a time.

 

It's now a year later and he is doing well. He has been off the pred since early Jan, and is on a very low dose of the antibiotic (1/3 of what he was taking to start with), which he will probably need for the rest of his life, as every time we have tried to stop them the big D returns. ABs are known to have an anti-inflammatory effect on dogs with diarrhea problems, a condition sometimes referred to as 'antibiotic responsive diarrhea'. Our vet now thinks this is what the problem is – there is a great article about the condition here.

 

Rather than start experimenting with foods and risking him getting sick again, we are keeping him on the bland diet. We feed 3 times a day as it is easier for him to digest several smaller meals. As well as the vit/mineral supplement, we give him a probiotic (with the meal he doesn't get ABs with), and fish oil, which – if the dog can tolerate it – is brilliant for reducing GI tract inflammation. When he has bad flare-ups we fast him for 24 hrs, then feed small amounts of food for a couple of days, as well as giving slippery elm bark powder in a little warm water to soothe his tummy.

 

Whew – I think that's everything! Hopefully others will chime in with their experiences soon too. Good luck!

Edited May 6, 2011 by 2dogs

[Guest ravenchilde]

I thought I would chime in here too! My girl, Miley, is 2.5 years old and has been diagnosed with IBD via ultrasound (we could scope, but don't need to, as she's responding to treatment!) She has been on 1000mgs/day of Metronidazole (Flagyl) since mid-February.

 

Miley has been responding really well to her new diet!!! We could not find a kibble that she could tolerate without having diarrhea 24/7. It was really sad, and she lost a lot of weight - about 10 pounds, and she looked extremely skinny. She's only 53 pounds right now - and she could use about 4-5 more pounds to be at her ideal weight.

 

We now feed her a raw diet of bison patties (meat/organs/bones), sweet potatoes, and oats. Bison is pretty lean, which is why we went there - too much fat seems to set her off. She cannot tolerate beef at all. She did lose some weight initially off the raw diet, but I think she's starting to gain a little back now. We've just begun to feed raw chicken backs - that has lots of bones and has a constipating effect, which is nice for a dog with runny poop! If her tummy gets upset, she gets pureed pumpkin and we're going to pick up some slippery elm soon too. Also, you might want to try Manuka Honey - we haven't had to use it often, but it does seem to settle their tummies.

 

Within 24 hours of beginning the raw diet, her poops were instantly firmer!!! Knock on wood, she hasn't had a big D blow-out in 6 weeks!!! And the best part of all, we've been able to reduce her Metronidazole to 250mg per day. So, it's coming along. And her poops are so firm, we couldn't be more happier about poop!

 

Anyways, it took us about 5-6 months of experimentation with foods and medications before we got her straight. I think we've got her figured out, so hopefully you'll be able to get your grey on the right path soon too!!

 

ETA - I should mention we give her sweet potatoes and oats to bulk up her poop and give her extra fiber. Our internist indicated that fiber would do her colon some good. However, it's a balancing act - too much fiber and you've got the runs again. So everything is trial and error.

Edited May 6, 2011 by ravenchilde

[Guest pologal]

Hi,

 

I have 2 hounds, Carie (6) and Roger (3). Roger was a rebound dog. His first family returned him for pooping issues. He also reportedly ate random things in the house (gloves, toys, people food). I adopted Roger with this in mind. We figured he just needed the company of another dog and a house with no children. He continued to have pooping issues. He would be crated and I would come home to a filthy mess. I started leaving him free in the LR and that helped for a short time. My vet said there was nothing physically wrong with him. Then after another month or two he started losing a lot of weight and continued to have both poo and urine accidents. I took him back and after tests and a biopsy surgery he figured out it was IBD. Roger was placed on prednesone and purena en diet. The meds made him pee A LOT and we were still having IBD and urine accidents every day. The vet did not know what to do and said he'd "get back to me" - well I said screw this and got another vet in a different place to look at him. She started him on metronidizal, kept the same food and slowly wanted to wean him from the pred. she also added fortiflora (probiotic) for 30 days and dewormed him. IT WORKED!

 

I also figured out that Roger has some slight separation anxiety as of 2 months ago started to have urine accidents when no one was home or at night. He also had broken a vase with flowers and tried to chew up some towels etc. So, on advice from my adoption grup and vet I tried a DAP colar. Did not work. Then tried a DAP diffuser and Thundershirt combo. WORKS! In the last month, Roger has only has 1 accident and we think that is because we got home much later than usual that day.

 

We have a routine, specific times to be fed and let out. It works so much better and he is not having accidents anymore. The DAP diffuser is a miracle. It does make him calmer and almost more confident. He NEVER rolled on his back before the diffuser came into play. Now, he is a silly-butt and does it all the time.

 

Its good to know there are others out there that are going thru or have gone thru the similar situation. I fought to work through this and there were many times we thought that we'd have to return him as well because of this issue. But i did not want to do that. Im glad that we waited it out and now he is on the right meds (metranidizal (sp?), and food - Purena EN - for him.

 

Each IBD dog is different. One treatment may work for your IBD dog, and it wont work for mine. However, i am really glad i have the support of my adoption group and SO to work thru this. you are not on your own.

 

I am not from your area, so I cant you with your vet search. ask your friends fore personal recommendations. Call clinics and check to see if they have vets with experiance in treating IBD or food allergy dogs. good luck!

[Guest 2dogs]

Within 24 hours of beginning the raw diet, her poops were instantly firmer!!! Knock on wood, she hasn't had a big D blow-out in 6 weeks!!! And the best part of all, we've been able to reduce her Metronidazole to 250mg per day. So, it's coming along. And her poops are so firm, we couldn't be more happier about poop!

/quote]

 

I quite honestly have never talked about poop so much in all my life!!!

Good to know I am not the only one yelling in the yard--yippeee good poopies!!!

[Guest Stripeyfan]

About 90% of my conversations last year (here, with DH, with the vet...) were about poop! Hope you will be doing the happy poop dance again very soon!

[Guest mcsheltie]

One thing I did not see mentioned yet is the amino acid L-glutamine. It reduces bowel inflammation as it helps to heal damaged intestinal epithelial cells. Is useful for a dog with IBD, "leaky-gut syndrome" (which is the precursor of food allergies) and helps protect the gut of dogs under going chemo and radiation.

[greyhead]

One thing I did not see mentioned yet is the amino acid L-glutamine. It reduces bowel inflammation as it helps to heal damaged intestinal epithelial cells. Is useful for a dog with IBD, "leaky-gut syndrome" (which is the precursor of food allergies) and helps protect the gut of dogs under going chemo and radiation.

Would it be good for dogs who have been treated for hookworm recently too? I know of a couple of them.

 

I forgot to mention that we have been using L-glutamine for Spencer's IBD, to very good effect.

Edited May 7, 2011 by greyhead

[Guest 2dogs]

Thansks where would I find this? VET? Herb store? Health store? I will look on line too. Sometimes easy just ask.

One thing I did not see mentioned yet is the amino acid L-glutamine. It reduces bowel inflammation as it helps to heal damaged intestinal epithelial cells. Is useful for a dog with IBD, "leaky-gut syndrome" (which is the precursor of food allergies) and helps protect the gut of dogs under going chemo and radiation.