Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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roaniecowpony
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Post by roaniecowpony » Sun Jul 14, 2019 8:48 am

It's been a few years since I hung around here. But I wanted to post my experience with the idea it may help someone else's dog with this issue. It's a bit long, but if you have a dog with this and haven't solved it, it may be worth the read.

I acquired an older, well seasoned pointer from some friends, after loosing 2 in one year. The dog always had loose bowel movements. When we'd go out for a run, the dog would eliminate 8-12 times on average. Of course it was mostly loose and smelly and eventually clear fluid at the end with the dog straining. The dog seemed well enough and fairly spry otherwise. Last summer, after having the dog for half a year, the dog started to have sporatic loss of appetite. It got worse and we consulted our vet. Did the usual blood and stool tests, xrays, and probaby things I don't recall. Vet prescribed a specific antibiotic and some probiotics. 30 days of that and no change. Our regular vet referred us to the Animal Surgery & Emergency Clinic in west Los Angeles, where they had an internal medicine vet. We've been to this clinic for our past dogs when their expertise was needed. Good experiences in the past. We met with the internal med vet. He recommended a biopsy of the intestine. We did that. It came back negative for cancer but they observed a lot of intestinal inflammation. They advised that the dog would have to be put on a strict "hydrolyzed" dog food for the rest of his life and no other foods or snacks. We got a bag of the food. It had less that 300 kcal/cup and something like half the protein and fat of PPP Sport that he'd been on all his life. We tried it for a couple weeks and watched his muscle melt away. No improvement was observed in his stool and elimination. I stopped it and consulted with our regular vet. We both agreed these hydrolyzed foods were for common house dogs, not athletic working dogs. We searched the manufacturer sites for a suitable substitute. We could not find a hydrolyzed food that had enough protein and fat. We went with a "Limited Ingredient" food that was close in the nutritional content but didn't contain chicken or grain. Tried that for a few months.

The hunting season arrived. I took off on a 3 week trip to hunt huns, chukar, quail and pheasant. The dog started refusing food on the first day of the travel. When I arrived, I tempted him with canned chicken with limited success. This went on for several days, until I thought his stomach must be irritated by acid. Based on past experience with dogs and my vet's prescriptions, I gave him some Pepsid AC I had with me. He perked up and started eating again. I looked up his dosage online and gave him more, inline with his weight. He responded well. I contacted my vet by email and explained the situation and my success. I also copied the internal med vet. The internal med vet recommended I drop the Pepsid and get some OTC Prilosec. I did that. The dog deteriorated right away. I kept at it for 4 days, knowing it was a slower working drug having used it myself. But after 4 days, I put him back on Pepsid and contacted both vets. They said keeping him on Pepsid was OK and adjusted the dose up a bit.

When I returned home, I consulted our regular vet. I had decided to drop the internal med vet, since their approaches had not worked, nor had they been considerate of an athletic dog's needs. Our regular vet referred us to a vet in Los Angeles known for her nutritional expertise. We set an appointment by phone and were asked to write a brief of the dog's medical history. My wife and I worked on this for a couple evenings and put together a 2-3 page brief. The new vet also got the records from our regular vet, which included all the test results, along with the biopsy test results from the internal med vet. When we met, she covered every topic we had written, line by line. She had comments and her medical position on every bit of it. She was so thorough, my wife and I were very impressed just by that professionalism alone. She walked us through her diagnosis of the dog by addressing all the past efforts of vets, eventually leading to her conclusion of the cause. The irritable bowel syndrome was a forgone conclusion by the time we came to this vet. It was just a matter of the cause and treatment. She believed that the IBS was caused by an immune deficiency that caused the dog to react to foods (maybe all foods) in this manner. She had seen this many times and recommended a specific, intense, probiotic treatment. She prescribed a probiotic brand Visbiome. She recommended keeping the dog on the Pepsid, but we could reduce or eliminate it if the dog tolerated it. She also put the dog on a prescription salmon based Purina food, but said it wasn't likely to matter which food the dog was on. Additionally, she advised to add some small amount of Fiber One cereal to his food, starting with 2 tablespoons. She advised that if this did not work, the fall back approach was steroids and that it would have risks for an athletic dog. We didn't get into the risks, but she didn't want to go that route.

It's been about 3 months since we put the dog on this treatment. After a few weeks, we had a telephone consultation with her and advised of the improvement we observed, but we stated he was still loose and eliminating 6-8 times on a run. She prescribed double the probiotics and fiber. By the next consultation a month later, the dog was about what I'll call 75% improved. That is: his elimination had gone down to about 2-4 times per run. We've bumped the fiber up a bit and we're seeing about 1-2 eliminations per run now. The second elimination is loose. But the first is normal. We tried reducing the Pepsid, but he didn't react well. The vets have all advised that longterm effects of Pepsid on a dog are not detrimental like they are with humans. This is where we're at with the dog now. The dog's appetite is great and his disposition is more active and playful. I've consulted with the vet and intend to move the dog back to PPP Sport and maintain phone consultations with this vet.

The cost of the Visbiome probiotic is fairly high, but it can be purchased online on Amazon without a prescription. It's intended for people but it's the same as the veterinary prescription probiotic by the same brand, per the vet. This probiotic is targetted toward the IBS treatment of people. There are other brands out there for the same targetted market. Some may work fine and be cheaper. I just don't know and frankly, I just want to keep the dog healthy and cheaper isn't a priority for us.

The vet is Dr Lisa Weeth and works through the Metropolitan Animal Specialty Hospital in Los Angeles. I know she does phone consultations, but likely want's a physical exam at the start. If you're long distance, maybe she'll accept your local vet's exam and records in lieu of traveling.

I hope this may help someone out there with a dog with this issue.

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Urban_Redneck
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Post by Urban_Redneck » Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:42 am

I wouldn't be concerned with the second, third, fourth, loose stool when running the dog, mine does the same - sometimes I think she's going to turn herself inside out :roll:

For the other issues, you could add a tablespoon of cottage cheese, yogurt, or the best- goat milk kefir to his dish. Best yet, consider eliminating all the vegetable matter and grains, feed a balanced raw meat/bone/organ diet.

shags
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Post by shags » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:54 am

OP,
Your dog is very lucky to have an owner who is willing to go the miles to get all that sorted out. Good on you for doing so.
Thanks for taking the time to relate your experiences; you never know who might benefit from sharing what we've learned.

Best wishes for continued success with your dog's health.

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roaniecowpony
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Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Post by roaniecowpony » Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:53 pm

Urban_Redneck wrote:
Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:42 am
I wouldn't be concerned with the second, third, fourth, loose stool when running the dog, mine does the same - sometimes I think she's going to turn herself inside out :roll:

For the other issues, you could add a tablespoon of cottage cheese, yogurt, or the best- goat milk kefir to his dish. Best yet, consider eliminating all the vegetable matter and grains, feed a balanced raw meat/bone/organ diet.
As I posted above, my dog's intestinal tract was severely inflamed due to a chronic condition. He never had a normal stool, ever. I didn't post all the things we tried with diet. But suffice to say a diet change did not and would not cure his condition as he could not process any food without negative reaction. His condition was severe and becoming life threatening. Even with what we've done so far, he has some residual signs but continues to improve. While I appreciate you are trying to help, we're going to follow our vet's counsel. This vet knows and prescribes diets like you mentioned, but immediately recognized this dog's condition needed the treatment I mentioned. Evidently, she has seen this condition before.

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