Sharing Joy Over Diagnosis (Ibd, Not Cancer!)

[Urismom]

Doris has been having regurgitating issues since the spring, and last week we came to the end of the diagnostic road with an endoscopy (after x-rays, barium swallow, ultrasound). She had been bringing up her food and water daily, sometimes twice daily, and had no appetite, and things were not moving through her at the normal pace, even on motility drugs. When I spoke to the specialist after the endoscopy last Thursday, he said he thought Inflammatory Bowel Disease in her bowel, and then there as a large, bloody growth/tumor in her stomach wall. He took biopsies but it seemed like all signs were pointing to stomach cancer.

 

He called today, and it's not cancer!! Praise God! It's a severe case of IBD, severe enough that he believes it has caused the stomach problem...and that with the proper medication and diet to manage IBD, the stomach wall could even heal up. So she will start Prilosec and anti-inflammatories, and after 2 weeks, reassess and possibly steroids. I also started changing her diet to homemade this past weekend, and giving her very small portions every 1-2 hours instead of a few big meals...and she has not regurgitated since Sunday morning. Moreover, Doris has always been obsessed with food, loves food, moreso than most normal dogs...and for the last few months, she hasn't wanted any part of it. Since I've been giving her the homemade stuff (complete with smelly fish and broccoli, her fave) and since she's not been throwing up after ever meal, she is back to eating voraciously and enthusiastically, so excited at mealtimes, standing and watching me cook. It does my momma heart good.

 

(She was on Kirkland chicken and rice, and I'm thinking I should stay away from chicken for her in case that was an allergen/problem...will probably switch her brother too.)

 

I feel like I have a new lease on life. I really felt like we were giving a death sentence Thursday (the vet sounded pessimistic Thursday) and I was devastated. Now I feel like I could jump the moon! God exceeded my expectations...

 

I'd love suggestions from anyone dealing with IBD on diet...

[XTRAWLD]

YAY!!!

 

I personally suffered from IBD in my teens and I can tell you it is no picnic. Even drinking water wouldn't agree with me.

 

Have you been able to find out what kind of dietary trigger she might have? Is she always regurging the same stuff? Food trials are never fun. Try to start perhaps with a Limited Ingredient Diet and build off of that? Are you feeding kibble or raw? I see you mention homemade, but what was she having before?

[ramonaghan]

What a relief! Hope things continue to improve for Doris.

[Urismom]

YAY!!!

 

I personally suffered from IBD in my teens and I can tell you it is no picnic. Even drinking water wouldn't agree with me.

 

Have you been able to find out what kind of dietary trigger she might have? Is she always regurging the same stuff? Food trials are never fun. Try to start perhaps with a Limited Ingredient Diet and build off of that? Are you feeding kibble or raw? I see you mention homemade, but what was she having before?

 

Yes, she would even regurgitate her plain water.

 

All she was eating was the Kirkland chicken-and-rice kibble, and in the end I was mixing in some canned food (different flavors, but all seem to include chicken) to entice her. She would regurgitate the water and kibble mostly. I am going to feed her a variety things but cut out all chicken and see how she does with that. Without the chicken/kibble since Friday/Saturday, she seems quite markedly better, so perhaps we are ok as long as I avoid chicken. (I have been using fish, eggs, and ground lamb as the protein source in the homemade.)

 

I think tolerating the homemade blend better is probably a mix of factors - content, consistency, and the smaller portions rather than trying to fit a whole meal into her at once. I might start increasing portion size after a few more days of not regurgitating it back up.

[Guest Roux]

So very happy for you and Doris!

[FiveRoooooers]

It's so nice to see good news in this forum. Home-cooked is awesome, so glad you've found something that works for Doris. Keep up the good work!

[MaryJane]

My Lucy got IBD from one of the meds used for her seizures. I home cook and over 1 year was able to get her back up on the weight and keep all the other symptoms of IBD at bay.

 

If you are not already giving probiotics, consider them as they can help repopulate the good bacteria in the GI system. I also give Lucy B12 shots every few weeks as bad absorption can result in deficiency of B12.

 

I never gave steroids, flagyl or other drugs as the internist and I discussed the pros and cons - since Lucy is on so many meds for her seizures, adding more meds could cause side effects and neither of us wanted to go down that road. We decided instead that I would adjust her home-made diet so that the only main protein she was getting was white fish. She still got her oatmeal, toast, veggies, yogurt, applesauce and rice but, the only protein was white fish.

 

So, to answer your question - get her off the chicken. I found that many of my dogs and my fosters didn't do good on chicken - just too many antibiotics that plays havoc with the immune system and that is not just n dogs -- people also. Try a fish diet (Walmart has 4 lbs of frozen tilapia for $12.00 - what a deal). Also, don't do commercial food - just too many preservatives that you cannot control.

[Remolacha]

Wonderful news! IBD is a pain to deal with, but you can manage it, and more important, it's not cancer! It may take some trial and error to figure out what she can eat, and what triggers a reaction. Start very, very simple, one or two ingredients, and slowly add things, one at a time, so if there is a reaction you know what the culprit is. You are probably going to have to do home cooked or raw, it sounds like her case is too severe to ever go back to commercial food. You just don't have the ingredient control you need. Turkey and duck are other things you can try, they are different enough from chicken.

 

It took awhile to figure things out, but once I did, my Fletcher ate well, and was a happy healthy boy for 11 1/2 yrs.

[tbhounds]

Wonder news but confused on your Vets recommendation on starting an NSAID.

[Urismom]

Wonder news but confused on your Vets recommendation on starting an NSAID.

 

Specifically he wants to put her on metronidazole (flagyl) which, though an antibiotic, he uses for anti-inflammatory purposes, so that's not an NSAID, I believe. If she does well in 2 weeks, he would reduce that dosage as much as possible, and if not, then move to a steroid.

[tbhounds]

Ahhhh-not an NSAID. Yes-Metronidazole is actually an antibiotic-it has gi anti-inflammatory responses and some anti-parasitic properties.

[SanTanSnuggles]

Wonderful to hear such good news.

[XTRAWLD]

Chicken does cause problems in many dogs. Can you switch to pork or beef? Turkey is not in the same "family" so that is also an option.

[Batmom]

Good news!

[greysmom]

Many IBD dogs are on a dose of Tylan powder every day - it's a chicken antibiotic mostly, but works for dogs with intestinal/GI issues much like Flagyl, only less strongly.

 

My Lilly has IBD with a chicken intolerance. Which one caused the other, we're not sure, but we stopped *all* chicken products - and it is HARD! There is chicken or chicken by-products in EVERYTHING! You have to read labels like crazy - Lilly can't even tolerate a preservative called "tocopherols" because they are usually made from chicken fat. Even foods that say they have no chicken will have this listed, so you really do need to read everything.

 

Lilly is eating only canned food, with added sweet potato for fiber and vitamins (Weruva Kurubota Hero). It's a "complete" food so we don't have to add a supplement, and she also gets a probiotic (NaturVet Digestive Enzymes). We did try home cooked, but she didn't really like it, and I found it kind of fiddle-y to make it every week. We have also recently started adding kibble back into her diet (Weruva again) and she is eating that as well.

 

The biggest thing we did was acupuncture treatment. Our vet recommended a holistic, chinese medicine practitioner (who is also a licensed regular veterinarian). We did 6 treatments with needles and massage. By the third treatment she was markedly better - she was eating better, her poops were better, she didn't have that horrible gurgley tummy all the time. Also, her terrible car sickness completely disappeared. We did several food trials and decided on turkey and tuna for her protein, and sweet potato for her carb - then it was just a matter of finding a food she liked. During the 5th and 6th treatments we also began giving her a chinese herbal supplement which she continues on currently.

 

She finished her acupuncture treatments a year ago and has been good ever since. She is eating well - even treats! - and sometimes will even act hungry and ask for food. Her poops are indistinguishable from my other two dogs. She is much happier and healthier!

 

I hope you have as good of luck with your girl.

[Urismom]

Thank you everyone for the input. I am just on cloud nine today, because I spent all weekend reading articles about 2-month prognoses for stomach cancer. And Doris (and her bro) seemed to enjoy the lamb-salmon-based food I made for them today....and Doris did something she used to do at every single mealtime but has not done in months....after she finished, she went over to her brother's dish to see if he left any remnants that she could eat. Typical Doris. I was over the moon.

[Guest OPointyDog]

That is great news! I'm sure it must be a tremendous relief to you to have something potentially treatable.

 

I have an IBD/PLE dog - she gets Tylan Powder (1/4 tsp, twice a day), budesonide (2mg, once a day), 20mg aspirin (to prevent clotting), and Pepsid.

 

Finding a food that will calm the inflammation can be tricky. My girl is currently on hypoallergenic food and doing well. She gets about 3.5 to 4 cups of Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein dry food, plus some spoonfuls of the same wet food. She also gets Hill's Hypoallergenic treats. Sometimes I also give her dried banana chips, which she loves. She's actually gained so much weight that I cut her from 4 cups to 3.5 recently, which I consider a good sign.

[Scoutsmom]

I have IBD myself. In my case it is Ulcerative Colitis. I won't go into all the medicines we've tried that have and have not worked as dogs probably use different medicines. One thing that you may find helpful is that I find that raw vegs cause me to cramp up and feel miserable. Cooked veggies are fine. Good probiotics also help some.

[greyhoundgang]

More info and links about helping IBD/IBS here. There are many natural supplements to help, but reducing the inflammation (I like Yucca), and feeding a home cooked or raw meal is key.