Ibs Treatment

[greysmom]

Our 4 year old greyhound Lilly has been dealing with IBS and an allergy to chicken since she was about 18 months old. She has never been a good eater, even as a small puppy, and it has only gotten worse as she's gotten older.

 

She had terrible stomach sounds - like "hunger pangs" but much louder and angry sounding. She got nauseous easily and threw up frequently. She had chronic diarrhea due to her intestines being inflamed.

 

When we did an elimination diet and identified chicken as a trigger allergy, we cut out all chicken from her diet. This was very difficult as nearly everything has chicken or chicken flavor or chicken fat or chicken meal in it. It was especially difficult with treats. I have to keep reading ingredient lists, even on things I have checked before, as companies are constantly changing recipes and ingredients. She is also a *very* picky eater, probably due to her nauseau, and she won't eat kibble at all.

 

Cutting chicken from her diet helped a LOT for a few months. Then the tummy squeaks and diarrhea started again. At that point, in discussion with our vet, we began to try accupuncture. After the first couple treatments, she was already getting better. Much less nauseau, more enthsiastic (for her) eating, and her car sickness cleared up completely. Our accupuncturist is also a veterinarian, and specializes in alternative chinese medicine. We did a home cooked diet for about 4 months (which Lilly ate but was not thrilled with), and then we switched to finding a commercial diet. At the same time we were doing a course of traditional chinese herbal treatment.

 

We did this for about 6 months. Lilly was doing great. No stomach noises, no barfing, her poops were really good for the first time in years. She had more energy and seemed happier. We found a food she liked - Weruva Kubota Hero, which is a turkey and pork combo canned food, which she eats along with sweet potato (about 9-10 oz per day of canned and about 5 oz of sweet potato per day). Though I still have to spoon feed her nearly every bite of food. She also gets a small can of solid white albacore tuna (5 oz cans) every day, along with between 2-5 patties of Stella and Chewy's dehydrated raw food (depending on how many she will eat). She eats on a strict schedule every day - the same thing at the same time, every day.

 

Her accupuncture and herbal treatments were over the first of October. We changed nothing except for tapering off and finishing her chinese herbs. Same food, same schedule, same treats, same exercise daily, no stress. DH and I are home nearly all the time and she is rarely left alone. She did get her annual shots in mid-October (not rabies), and got a treatment with Revolution as she can't have oral flea medicine.

 

Last week, the stomach gurgles started again and she has had them daily for 5 days. She hasn't had any for months until now. She threw up once or twice. And her poop has started going back to diarrhea. This morning it was mostly liquid again.

 

After writing all this out, it looks like I should just start up her accupucture again. The issue there is the cost (about $300 per month), and the travel time to the clinic. We have access to great internal specialists, and I suppose that is the next step. Then there's the cost again. I just don't know where to turn for help with this anymore. So I'm asking here for your experiences and ideas. What has worked for you? What hasn't? How are you managing this disease?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Remolacha]

Is there some reason you stopped the Chinese herbs and acupuncture? Fletcher had IBS and we did taper his acupuncture down to about once a month, but didn't stop, and he stayed on his Chinese herbs for his whole life. I would have to ask my vet exactly what he was on, he passed in 2013, so I have forgotten exactly what he took. I also gave him canned pumpkin with every meal, I know it doesn't work for all dogs, but it worked for him. He was also raw fed. Anything processed just didn't agree with him, even if it was a protein source that he could eat just fine if it was raw.

 

Good luck, dealing with IBS is a life long struggle

 

Oh, I just saw what you said about the acupuncture, maybe start it again, but not as frequent?

Edited November 18, 2015 by Remolacha

[Time4ANap]

Not IBS, but Rocket would go through similar symptoms at regular intervals with what the vet decided was "Stress Colitis." Sometimes we knew what brought it on, other times we had no idea. Maybe his portfolio was losing money....not sure....

 

After trying just about every option out there, we put him on Tylan (up to 3 times a day), typically he gets it with each meal, but will get a third if he has a treat that we think might cause an issue. Between the Tylan and Olewo Carrots with each meal, he rarely has the tummy gurgles any more, and most days, every poop bounces when it hits the ground. He's been on this combination for quite a while now with no real episodes other than the occasional last poop of the day being a little runnier than the others. Prior to the Tylan we would see bloody, gelatin type diarrhea on a regualr basis, and be woken up in the middle of the night by horrible tummy squeals.

 

I don't know if there's any reason not to use Tylan for IBS, so some research would be necessary. All I can say about it is that it was our "miracle drug."

 

I do know of another hound that had great success for IBS using Precise Sensicare Lamb Based Food. It may have the sterilized rendered chicken fat as an ingredient - although they swear that there is no trace of chicken left once it's in that state. I'm not sure about though - would need to check a current ingredient list. When I tried that food for Rocket, I couldn't keep any weight on him. We use a different Precise food now, but it is chicken based. That same hound also stopped having seizures when the food was changed to Sensicare.

 

Sorry you are going through this. It's no fun for the human or the hound.