Does anyone have a dog with IBD?
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| Laurie's Oscar does. Sorry Jake is having another flare up  |
| I'm so sorry about Jake. Laurie's the best person to talk with on IBD. Hemopet/HEMOLIFE has testing available for food sensitivities for both itching and IBD. http://nutriscan.org You might contact Dr. Dodds for more information if you've run out of options. I've run it on Bumble... some foods twice. Answers aren't always a clear cut, immediate yes or no... there can still be some trial and error to it. I need to try beef again... Bumble was moderately reactive to it last October and was to avoid it. I tested again in May along with new foods recently added. This time he was negative for both Ig responses. If he's clinically reactive when he eats it, Dr. Dodds says that beef is then out for life. Hoping Jake will soon find balance.  |
| Sorry I didn't respond more quickly, but I haven't been on the forum in days, so I didn't see this until today. Oscar does have lymphocytic/plasmacytic IBD in his small intestine, which was diagnosed by an endoscopy when he was 10 months old, after 7 months of testing and food switches. His symptoms were loose stool, vomit burping, diarrhea, and constant digestive rumbling, due to the severe inflammation. At the time of his diagnosis, he was already taking Metronidazole every day (500 mg, 2 X per day), as well as Benadryl (50 mg, 3 X per day), and Pepcid AC to cut down on the acid to help with the vomit burping. Once diagnosed with IBD, Oscar was put on prednisone, to quell his body's inflammatory response. I think we started at 10 mg per day. Within a week, I could see a difference. After two weeks, he had solid stool for the first time in his life. As is customary with pred, we started to wean him off, going to 5 mg per day, then 2.5, but anytime we tried to make an adjustment lower than 5 mg per day, all of the symptoms would start up again. We started seeing an holistic vet to see if we could add some supplementation that might help boost him immune system, in an attempt to get him off the prednisone. We tried for 2 years. Nothing worked. So he currently takes 5 mg of pred per day, and has for the last 6 years. (Prednisone is a steroid that can be really hard on the body, with some brutal side effects, which is why my vets only use it as a last resort. I always say that I have a love/hate relationship with it. It's made Oscar's quality of life much better, but we will probably have to trade that for the length of his life.) Once Oscar's guts were no longer so inflamed, we were able to get more meaningful results from the food switches. We had tried venison "pre-pred", and it did not agree with him, but "post-pred", he did well on it. FYI, Oscar did not do well on z/d either. Oscar currently takes the following meds for tummy issues and IBD: Prednisone: 5 mg per day Metronidazole: 500 mg, 2 X per day Benadryl: 50 mg, 3 X per day Pepcid AC: 40 mg per day Amitriptyline: 50 mg, 2 X per day: this is an anti-anxiety med that has had some positive results in humans with IBD One more thing. Try to only change one thing at a time. In the beginning of this, we were in crisis mode and throwing a bunch of different darts at a board, hoping one would stick. It was tough to ascertain what was working, and what wasn't, with so many variables. Now, we only do one thing at a time, and limit any non-priority things, like vaccines, routine bloodwork, etc., until we've gotten the issue under control. I hope this info helps. Please keep us posted on how Jake is doing. Also, feel free to post here or PM me if you need me. Laurie and Oscar |
| I know there is a love/hate relationship with prednisone but I have to take it and so far outside of the weight gain the side-effects have been minimal. Our first oes was on prednisone for several years due to an undiagnosed condition, it was a kill or cure priescription by a very good vet but nothing else was working and they could not pinpoint the dx. He lived to almost 12 years old when his body just started shutting down. Would he have lived longer without the pred I don't know but I do know it gave him a much better quality of life. He received the lowest dose possible and I don't remember what that was but from the very first dose it made a difference. Carl called me at work and said your puppy is back and he was, just a couple hours after receiving the medication. Think if it was me and the pred did make a difference I would go with it, poop puppy has to be miserable the way he is. |
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