[Karen G]

Hello Lily and everyone,

Karen Here…Mom of Abby who is doing so great you would never know she lost 70% of her small bowel. Lily, What I have learned is Baker needs time to heal, It took close to 2 years before Abby was completely healed (and as a nurse I can tell you, even with humans, a wound may be closed but the healing underneath takes up to 2 years). Secondly, getting a good home made dog food recipe really made the difference for Abby. She hated all the prescription kibble and her poops were always watery and frequent, up to 10 times a day, when she was on some of those foods (Purina in particular)
Thirdly, Metronidazole daily helped to keep her gut flora in check. She was on Metronidazole 2 times daily for about 10 months. when we could see that she was improving we slowly weaned it….really slowly
Four: If Baker lost his ilium, he will need injections of B12 for the rest of his life. B12 is absorbed in the ilium so if you don’t have one anymore then you can’t absorb it.
Five: get Baker away from probiotics. We were giving Abby probiotics for a year after the injury thinking we were helping her but if you look at the type of bacillus in probiotics, at least half of the species are lactose-bacillus. Lacto bacillus is the most common bacteria in the stomach, duodenum, and jejunum. If Baker lost his lower intestines then giving him more of the bacteria he naturally produces in the upper intestines will overrun what little lower GI bacteria he can produce, which will contribute to more diarrhea and discomfort.
I can’t help you with the hind end pain problem, but certainly when Abby was pooping 10 times a day she wasn’t comfortable. Could it be a post surgical/scar tissue problem? That hurts.

Anyway, I am happy to send you any and all information I have. The prescription home made diet recipe was a game changer for Abby and I have shared this recipe with Stephanie too. I believe it also had a very good result for Maui. The recipe is specifically designed for dogs who have lost much of their small intestine (the part that absorbs most nutrients). It is a low fat, high carb, high protein, lots of veg diet and we add a vitamin supplement and a small amount of canola oil every meal (very small amount…1ml to each meal). The recipe was created by a clinical nutritionist veterinarian at the Ontario Veterinary College…which is 15 minutes away from where we live (The OVC saved abby’s life that fateful night, another regular vet office would not have been able to save her –her story has even been used in case studies at the OVC)
Finally, Abby’s weight dropped significantly in the first year after her surgery, she lost almost 25% of her post op weight after 6months. That is when we started the homemade diet and daily metronidazole and stopped the probiotics.
Let me know what you think….Karen
my email address is karengrantrn@gmail.com