How many of you have dogs with IBD

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by DianaB

Siena was diagnosed with IBD when she was 5 years old.

5 months?

[lisgje]

I have found from my own experience and been lucky as well, that if you can get it under control with food and meds, most dogs can do very well. My vet says he has some patients though that have to adjust food and meds every month. Thankful neither of my babies have been that bad. THankful every day that I have a wonderful vet who works with me and listens to me if I bring him new research. He has helped me make the best of this. If I could bottle him up and send him to everyone who has a dog with this disease I would!

[Judahsmom]

Hi all - I just did a search on this because I have an appointment for Judah to have a biopsy next Wednesday because my vet suspects he has IBD. I have no prior knowledge of this and after reading this post, I'm a little devastated. Judah is only 2 days shy of 8 months and I am already more attached to him than previous ones. I have been working with him to become my D.A.D [diabetic alert dog] and he already does great. I can't stand to see him sick. He has had diarrhea since we got him at 8 weeks. It never permanently clears up. I've already gone through home cooking chicken and rice, beef and rice and now he's on **** Van Patten's brand of sweet potatoes and venison. Last night was the first time he threw up...only diarrhea up to now. The vet already had a TLI test done and he said he had concerns about the results and that's why he wants him to have the endoscopy. I defintely am open to all information. Thanks.

[Mika140]

My 5 yr old GSD has also been diagnosed w/ IBD. I suspect he may have also developed SIBO & EPI, but I'm waiting on an appt with an internal medicine specialist to learn more. He has the symptoms to some extent of those in addition to the IBD, but tested negative some years back. Now I wonder how borderline he was. He probably should have been diagnosed with the IBD several years back too...but unfortunately he wasn't, which allowed the disease to progress further.

Mine is currently on probiotics (NOW acidophilus), L-Glutamine, and metronidazole. Fortunately his is a moderate case of IBD.

We keep ruling out more foods as time goes on though. So far, chicken, venison and lamb are definitely out.

He has done fantastic lately on Honest Kitchen Zeal formula though. It's expensive, but the only thing he was able to tolerate other than Hills i/d canned. I've been adding in some Wellness Simple Solutions Salmon & Rice formula, and hope to get to a 50/50 mix with the HK to help with the price.

If you do get a diagnosis from the biopsies of IBD, I would suggest getting a consult with an internal med specialist. I wish I had gotten one earlier, but better late than never I guess. Also, there is an excellent group for IBD dogs on yahoogroups.com. Very informative and supportive!

[LisaT]

I think IBD is a bit of a cop-out diagnosis with a GSD. They have all sorts of inflammatory disorders, and they have all sorts of digestive disorders, so, yes, they will often have the symptoms and biopsy results of IBD.

A number of these dogs can be treated with diet, supplements, and antibiotics before going to the serious drugs, much like Sienna was treated.

That's not to say that there aren't some very seriously ill dogs that do present exactly like crohn's disease. I sometimes wonder if these dogs would test positive for the PF dna test, since it's thought to be similar to crohn's. I think PuffinGirl tried just about everything one could try....

[PuffinGirl]

Hi Lisa! You're right, I tried SO many things, and oddly enough, ended up with a routine that most IBD people would insist wouldn't work. We did initially go with the recommendations of the IMS who suggested a prescription diet and imuran, and after a couple months, I just wasn't noticing much of an improvement.

Jones gets a lower fat diet that is made specifically for him, out of foods that I've noticed he does better with. It's essentially home-cooked and then frozen for him. I did not go the novel protein/carb route with him because he has had most of the available proteins already, and I wanted to leave a couple to use in case things get worse in the future.

I also use several supplements for him, and do acupuncture every couple weeks. As it stands now, he's doing well, and has been stable for many months. He's still young, so we don't know what will happen in the future, but I prefer to keep him med-free as long as possible.

[LisaT]

I thought that you had him on imuran? I'm so pleased that you've found a way to keep him stable AND med-free. That's outstanding news!

[PuffinGirl]

We did the imuran for 2 months, but I wasn't noticing much of an improvement, and it was making me very nervous having him on it, so I talked to the IMS and we weaned him off. He's still not a completely "normal" dog, but he's got SO many issues, and I don't expect that he ever will be. He's normal for Jones though, so that makes me happy. =)

[rollo0205]

Originally Posted by Mika140

Mine is currently on probiotics (NOW acidophilus), L-Glutamine, and metronidazole. Fortunately his is a moderate case of IBD.

Hi everyone,

I know this forum is older. My beagle has been diagnosed with IBD (he had chronic vomiting that eventually progressed into anorexia) and we initially started treatment with Prednisone. It worked great! However, since then he has had to come off that because he had very high Bile Acids, and the massive amount of muscle wasting it caused (he can barely climb the stairs now). We are trying probiotics, L-Glutamine, and metronidazole. So far, he hasn't been responding well (it has only been 1 week though).

@Mika140 is your dog still doing well on this treatment? How long did it take for you to see results?

Thanks for your help.