For years, one of our dogs fought this problem, and we kept him on Pepcid as a maintenance and would switch to Cerenia if things got bad. Surprise, after so long the pepcid stopped working at the recommended dosage and we needed to switch to a higher potency. Endoscopy showed inflammation. The symptoms got worse. As much as I love my vet in general, the diagnosis “IBD” and being offered z/d and cerenia for life was just plain not good enough for us.
Like Jenni M, we decided long term, drugs weren’t a good option for us, and we did the Apple Cider Vinegar as she suggested and it worked. While the flare ups still happened, things got better. We worked closely with a homeopath who was able to pinpoint the rest of the symptoms and select a remedy that knocked it out for good. Upon reading about GERD (Dr. Becker has excellent articles on this, as does the ottawa valley dog whisperer), it was mentioned that high stomach acid has the same symptoms as LOW stomach acid (just like it does in humans). Our dog was actually experiencing low acid, and we were treating his stomach as if it were highly acidic and we were giving him MORE things to reduce his stomach acid which he didn’t even have. That itself led to mild pica and vomiting as, without any stomach acid left, he was unable to break down his food and it had nowhere to go but up. (It also makes me think twice before popping a pepcid, myself.) I’m extremely grateful for conventional veterinary medicine, as it truly does save lives (you can’t fix a broken leg with coconut oil and herbs.) But when something, conventional or not, isn’t working, it’s time to look elsewhere and try something else. JMO.
