we had an appointment at the local teaching hospital this week for my dog’s recurring diarrhea which we have been dealing with for over a year (and it has become more frequent during that time).
the clinic doesn’t have a sure answer but they are leaning towards it being a form of IBS. the first line of defense is change in diet. they put her on hydrolyzed protein diet for now to see if that makes a difference.
has anyone dealt with IBS in a dog? what was your experience?
One of my chihuahuas has IBD which I think is similar but maybe worse than IBS. We went to a specialist who scoped him in order to get the diagnosis. My boy’s symptoms are less diarrhea and more gas further up in the GI system causing burping and discomfort. He can have soft or loose stools but almost never diarrhea. After trying a limited ingredient diet with a unique protein he hadn’t had before I had to move to a home cooked diet. There is something in the commercial products even the LID ones that he reacts to. For 5 or 6 years after diagnosis he got budesonide every day. It’s a steroid that targets only the GI tract so it’s not bad for them systemically like prednisone. Once I had him back on a horse farm I weaned him off budesonide as horse poop seems to stabilize his tummy just as well. I try to feed him pumpkin and yogurt instead of the horse poop but dogs will be dogs.
My sheltie had a nasty, persistent case of giardia as a young pup and his lower digestive tract has never been quite the same since. So for all intents and purposes he has IBS.
I HATE the ingredients, but the Hill’s Rx Intestinal Diet (I/D) is the only thing that worked when he had a terrible flare up at about a year. The I/D calmed things down (immediately, even) in a way that even a round of prednisone and an entire month of a bland homemade diet of boiled chicken/steak and rice did not.
He spent about 6 months on the I/D while I unsuccessfully tried other foods (Blue Buffalo, Wellness CORE, Wellness Basics, etc… a combination of high quality and novel proteins). Eventually we found that the ticket is combination of Taste of the Wild High Prairie formula (bison and venison) and probiotics/digestive enzymes. I use the NWC Naturals and would highly recommend them.
All I can say is, if my work schedule limits my boxer/labs barn time she doesn’t want to eat for a few days. I even caught her trying to eat her own poop! The look of “yuck” on her face was priceless! When she regularly eats horse poop her tummy seems just fine. Go figure. Can’t tell you how many different meds and diets we have tried. All she gets now is an occasional Pepcid 20mg.
Lazy Palomino
She’s on Hill’s Z/D right now. I do see improvement in her allergies so maybe at least we’ll get one thing sorted out. I was curious what happens “after” and you kind of explained it. What was the process of trying the other feeds? Did you buy one with limited ingredients and feed it for a period of time while watching if the symptoms come back? These were the questions I forgot to ask the vet at our visit.
FWIW, one of my Bouvs would go through bouts of massive diarrhea accompanied by very loud gut sounds (and he was so miserable)…
Ended up being diagnosed as a clostridium perfringens problem. He spent the rest of his life on Tylan (which is actually chicken antibiotic). Never had another rumbly gut/upset GI again.
One of my friends had an Otter hound with massive GI issues. She started feeding raw. Google the BARF diet. Never had another GI issue after she got him off commercial food.
Where’s My White,
My regular vet has been treating her as if it’s clostridium for over a year. He’s been treating it with amoxycilin which as I understand it, is not the best choice for intestinal issues. Did your vets ever explain to you what is causing the clostridium to proliferate in your dog’s gut? I understand that it’s naturally found in the intestines and it only becomes a problem when its numbers increase.
Interestingly, my SIL, frustrated with the vet’s inability to provide answers or successful treatment, treated her pit bull (also suffering from clostridium infection according to the same vet) by feeding her feces of another dog. That was in an effort to restore the flora of the intestines to some normal balance. Our vet poo pooed the whole idea (pun intended) but it worked for her. Put an end to their problem. Interestingly, there is more information out there on fecal transplant as form of treatment in humans rather than animals.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS is a human problem.
IBD or inflammatory bowel disease is a problem dogs can get. True diagnosis requires biopsies of the GI tract. Did the vet school recommend that to you?
Some dogs also have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). This is usually diagnosed via a “GI panel” of tests called TLI, cobalamin, and folate. Has your dog had these tests? These dogs are often responsive to antibiotics such as tylosin and/or metronidazole.
My dog had issues for his first year of life. After multiple tries on various commercial diets and no clear diagnosis from the regular vet, we finally went the holistic vet and home-cooked diet route, and it’s has worked for him. Immediate change in poop and he finally put on weight. He’s a 70ish lb dog, so the cooking is a PIA, not gonna lie. Once we have freezer storage enough for raw, we might give that a try.
Anne
I understand there is a distinction between IBD and IBS. In my dog’s case for now we’re talking about IBS. IBD would require colonoscopy with samples of tissue taken. I’m not sure that I would be willing to put my dog (9 years old, life long heart murmur) or my pocket book for that matter through that ordeal. I think that to the extent current treatment with the diet doesn’t work, we’ll try long term antibiotics and then if that doesn’t work, steroids, which really is the treatment for IBD as well.
Limitless
She’s been on home cooked diet for years and at the time she developed this recurring diarrhea.
I think that home cooked diet might work if we confirm that whatever we cook is not causing an irritation or allergic reaction.
[QUOTE=marta;7469561]
My regular vet has been treating her as if it’s clostridium for over a year. He’s been treating it with amoxycilin which as I understand it, is not the best choice for intestinal issues. Did your vets ever explain to you what is causing the clostridium to proliferate in your dog’s gut?[/QUOTE]
Arrrgggghhhh, replied and got bit by the database error issue 
My vet was in a small animal clinic (i.e. not teaching hospital). I think we figured it was some type of immune system issue. Having said that, my Bouv was on tylan most of his life (started at 2 and lost him at about 13).
He ate ProPlan Turkey/Barley and did well on it. Tried TOTW once and both my Bouvs didn’t handle it well.
We had to make the tylan capsules ourselves as it comes in a nasty tasting yellow power. Also pretty sure that the tylan is what kept his gut under control as I tried weaning him off it a few times and simply got rumbly gut back until he got the tylan again.
“IBS” is really just a “we haven’t the foggiest idea what is wrong with your dog” diagnosis, and then you do trial and error until something works to alleviate the symptoms.
Intermittent diarrhea could be linked to all sorts of things- sneak-eating forbidden foods, stress, anxiety, food allergies, food intolerances, gut infections, gut bacteria imbalances, gut inflammation, etc.
things to try include anti-anxiety meds, diet changes, fiddling with fiber content, probiotics, flagyl, immodium, etc.
Raw diets often seem to help dogs with IBS, and is worth a trial, but due to the heterogeneous nature of the “disease”, no single cure will help all dogs.
[QUOTE=marta;7468781]
Lazy Palomino
She’s on Hill’s Z/D right now. I do see improvement in her allergies so maybe at least we’ll get one thing sorted out. I was curious what happens “after” and you kind of explained it. What was the process of trying the other feeds? Did you buy one with limited ingredients and feed it for a period of time while watching if the symptoms come back? These were the questions I forgot to ask the vet at our visit.[/QUOTE]
I made the switch like you would any dog food change (gradually over a week or 10 days). For most of the foods I tried, I bought a small bag and let him finish the bag before I made a decision about whether it was working. He doesn’t eat much so that was usually 3-4 weeks. The improvement on the I/D was always immediate, and the TOTW is the only brand of food I’ve found that sustains that improvement. Your pup may need a bit of food roulette to figure out works for him too.
Good luck, I know this is a very frustrating problem! :yes:
thanks all for your feedback.
i realize we probably have a long road to hoe but at least there is some plan now with a goal other than getting her on amoxicylin every few weeks.
i am hopeful that in the process we’ll be able to sort out her skin allergies. she’s been off steroids since last wednesday and she’s doing better than she was while taking steroids as far as itching. so there is a plus 
Hi Marta,
My dog has been battling candida for years, only recently have we gotten everything under control. 6 vets diagnosed him as having allergies and prescribed antibiotics and steroids which destroyed his immune system and made the problem progressively worse, with the only breaks in symptoms when he was on the immune destroying medication. Besides skin issues he had recurring diarrhea. Look over this site to see if the symptoms match your dogs.
http://www.nzymes.com/store/pc/index.asp
there are some better supplements out there then this brand but the site is informative.
[QUOTE=marta;7470222]
i am hopeful that in the process we’ll be able to sort out her skin allergies. she’s been off steroids since last wednesday and she’s doing better than she was while taking steroids as far as itching. so there is a plus :)[/QUOTE]
I have a dog with very bad allergies. Systemic steroids are not the answer. Ask your vet about Atopica.
equisusan
i did. i was told nothing works better than steroids. that is another reason why i decided on a consult with a teaching hospital. my regular vet is affordable and great for regular “every day” stuff but i think over the years i came to a realization that he’s just not interested in putting too much effort into the more complicated conditions.
[QUOTE=equisusan;7471077]
I have a dog with very bad allergies. Systemic steroids are not the answer. Ask your vet about Atopica.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=marta;7471235]
equisusan
i did. i was told nothing works better than steroids. that is another reason why i decided on a consult with a teaching hospital. my regular vet is affordable and great for regular “every day” stuff but i think over the years i came to a realization that he’s just not interested in putting too much effort into the more complicated conditions.[/QUOTE]
Ah sounds like a good idea… general vets are just that. A good vet specialist can make a huge difference. A vet dermatologist will want to eliminate food allergies as the culprit so you could do that yourself before going to see one. Pick a protein your dog hasn’t had before and a veggie and feed only that for 4-12 weeks. If the symptoms aren’t gone or improved significantly then you likely don’t have a food allergy. The dermatologist will want to do allergy testing first before starting on Atopica. It’s not cheap to keep them on Atopica but it does work miracles and doesn’t hurt your dog long-term.
Here’s a link on the food elimination trial process:
http://www.vetvine.com/article/17/food-allergy-elimination-diet
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