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Reply To: Short Bowel Syndrome

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STEFANIE
Member

Hi Eszter, and everyone else:

First of, hope everyone is doing fine and staying at home. We are facing difficult times, but Im sure we will all get by in a couple of weeks (or months, depending on the evolution of a number of facts that right now are very unpredictable). Here in Brazil, and in my city Rio de Janeiro, the government has imposed rigorous restrictions, which part of society has been collaborative, and another part is just simply not aware of how serious this is. All in all, we have started our quarantine in a very early stage, and we are all hoping this will bring us a positive outcome in the medium-long turn.

As for your dog Eszter, I am very glad he has overcome all of these surgeries and is out of risk. In our case, my Border Collie (Maui) had a really really hard time with the post-surgical phase – we really did not know he would survive at all. He had aprox. 75% of his small intestines removed (basically all of his jejunum and ileum – only his duodenum was kept). In Brazil there were no registered cases of survival for dogs/cats that had this amount of small intestines removed, so he is really the first recorded case here – which is a victory, but was REALLY hard since we had NO IDEA of how to handle the first couple of months.

Since his ileum was removed, we did in fact suffer with his fesses. In the first two months, he went to the bathroom on average 20x a day, in practically liquid form. He lost A LOT of weight since the first surgery (he had 3 in total), and after his 1 month hospitalization, he only weighted 9kgs! (he started with 17kgs). He was practically skin and bones.

Now, it has been almost 2 years since he was released from the clinic, and since then we had a LONG JOURNEY. But this is a story of success, and now Maui is VERY strong. He weights 21kgs, all of his vitamins are great, and he goes to the bathroom 2 or 3 x a day! His stool is still very mushy.. the first one of the day, we can collect, the other 2, is king of a puree.. which makes is hard, however, since he got his ileum removed, there is almost no expectation that his stool will someday get back to being 100% “collectable”. He does ingest and absorb most of the good vitamins, what is the best part and it very clear since he is healthy, strong and his exams are all good.

It is hard to say exactly what will be best for your puppy… since every case is singular, but in our experience some things were essential for this positive outcome:

1) cooked Home food instead of kibble: We cook it weekly . Daily portion is about 1.2kgs (separated in 3x of 400g each). In summary each portion contains 1/3 meat without fat (in Brazil we use a meat called “Patinho” and “coxĂŁo mole” and “lagarto” – all red meat. We tried giving him chicken, but it led to 3 or 4 infections or gastroenteritis, so we never tried again. Fish was also ok, but I though he did not gain weight); 1/3 carbohydrates basically sweet potato, cassava, and a little of parboiled rice, and 1/3 vegetables: carrot, chayote, zucchini, beets, spinach or kale, string bean…

2) Pancreatin: With every meal, we give him a capsule of Pancreatin. Humam type (https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Pancreatin-10X200-250-Capsules/dp/B000776KK0)

3) Food supplements: With every meal, we give him a serving (In Brazil, we use the brand called Food Dog : https://www.petlove.com.br/suplemento-vitaminico-botupharma-pet-food-dog-adulto-manutencao/p/destaque?sku=1949715&utm_campaign=GS_&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsrKigKmx6AIVghGRCh3VlQutEAQYAiABEgLdP_D_BwE)

4) Probiotics: it really depends on your dog which type is best, and the amounts…

5) B12 vitamin replacement: in the beggining every week, and now he takes the shot every 1 or 2 months;

6) Metronizadol (in Brazil, called “Flagyl”): Initially I think he took 400mg per day. Now he takes 250mg every 3 days – which is still a lot, but it keeps him from getting intestinal infections.

I think this is it. If you wish to send me an e-mail, please feel free. I had great help from Karen and Abby (they are part of this forum too). We exchanged many many emails, info and experiences since both of our dogs had similar problems – this was a HUGE relief for me and I am very VERY thankful for all the help I had from them.

Wish all of you the best,
Stefanie and Maui
email: [email protected]
instagram account: @brotherscolliebr