[Rachelle B]

I have a 4 year old boy who’s struggled digestively for the past couple years especially, and it’s about narrowed down to IBD unfortunately (unless it’s something even worse like cancer). I have a feeling it’s this, though.

I was wondering if you have a dog with IBD if you could share your experience with it to confirm my suspicions. Symptoms they had, the process of diagnosing it, and what’s helped your dog the most (foods, medicine, etc.).

I’m torn up inside about my sweet boy, but I’m out of money after over $2k in vet bills since November, mostly emergency situations (including 2 HGEs). I’ve not wanted to go into debt, but I’m thinking maybe I will have to get an endoscopy if that’s what it’ll take to figure it out.

[Patricia A]

Hi Rachel…sorry you are going through this with your poor pup. I’m thinking the vets possibly should have went straight to the endoscope because all these tests are so costly. which really is the only way to determine if he suffers from that or IBS. (Inflammatory Bowel Disease is ultimately diagnosed by a biopsy that shows the presence of inflammatory cells.).
While I don’t have dogs that suffer from this disease I do have one that gets diarrhea when I give too much fat in diet. There are forums you can google though to find others with dogs who do have Ibd I’m sure for helpful information. Hope this helps a little.

[Kathy S]

I’ve also been going through this with my 6 year old Boston Terrier. The past 6 weeks have been test after test to rule absolutely everything under the sun out before doing endoscopy. We just did that and are waiting on biopsy results. We are up to 10,000 between emergency visits, hospitalization for aspiration pneumonia, special GI blood panels, ultrasound and now endoscopy. It’s been a real struggle. My poor boy. He vomits and has severe GERD. The internist is thinking IBD. Started on prednisone along with other meds he’s been on and he is still vomiting. He’s been on a special hydrolyzed food but he still vomits. I don’t know how to help him anymore. I really hope this gives us answers and the proper treatment.

[Patricia A]

Kathy is it possible this could be the problem??? It may be related to her facial structure. Some BT can have Brachycephalic Airway Obstruction Syndrome (BAOS), the shape of their short heads can lead to airway obstruction, so when eating or drinking, they in effect can’t breathe, so they vomit. Other possibilities include elongated soft palate, pyloric stenosis, or megasophagus. All of those could suggest an abnormality that might have a surgical response, some may not. If her food is not even reaching her stomach, but is vomiting very shortly after eating or drinking, the problem might be a congenital structure problem, not related to her food or allergies.
Also have you tried many smalls meals a day? Getting off the kibble and giving only boiled white meat chicken and rice for a few days and see if she vomits? Those with dogs with this facial structure also elevate their water and food bowls .
Also just like people who take acid suppresses, once stopped a rebound effect might occur which makes the acid worse for awhile.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.

[Laura L]

Hi Rachelle & Kathy – I am so sorry for all you are going through with your dogs. It sounds like you both have tried everything within your means that the vets have suggested. I had similar experiences with one of my dogs and ended up finding that I didn’t need all of the expensive tests to help my dog. We treated the symptoms instead of searching for a diagnosis. After much online research, we found a site that seemed to have a lot of experience with pet digestive problems. We started with a probiotic and added some digesitve supplements and saw significant improvement. They are from a site called Ask Ariel: https://www.askariel.com/pet-probiotics-p/81.htm Unfortunately, many vets just want to sell you their special food and medications. Don’t get me wrong…many times the medications are necessary. We never got a definitive diagnosis, but once we switched off the prescription foods and started the supplements our dog really improved. I think the food the vet was giving us was actually making the symptoms worse.

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