[Michael F]

Hi So Sorry to hear of your dogs, terrible accident. One of my dogs ripped her knee out at age ten and had to have a plate put in, however even before the operation we saw a holistic vet and put both our pups on Cosequin, now the new improved version is supposedly Dasaquin ( but I have not used that) and also Duralactin, even before the surgery the Duralactin immediately helped with joint pain and swelling, both dogs stayed on Cosequin and Duralactin for the rest of their lives and lived to be seventeen and eighteen years of age. Duralactin is an all natural milk protein tablet, it can be purchased through Dr. Fosters Smith and is relatively inexpensive, expecially for your dog’s size. I think the supplements with a quality low fat diet for her to loose weight make the most sense for you.

Good Luck I hope this helps!

[Michael F]

One of my dogs did well on Pure Vita but the other dog did not, he can’t tolerate all the fruits in it. My internist vet says he is seeing a lot of dogs coming in for Irritable Bowel problems and that over 90 percent of them have been eating dog foods with berries in and once they are off the berries things improve, he particularly recommends no blueberries.

There is a product you can order on line called DiaGel, it is all natural and clears up Diarrhea with 24 hours, it is suppose to remove only the bad bacteria and leave the good, just to be safe I add probiotics if this product is used. DiaGel has a long shelf life so I try and keep some on hand, it helps with food transitions, garbage gut etc

[Michael F]

Hi, I was also wondering have any of you done the endoscopic procedure for your dog diagnosed with I.B.D.? From all the reading I’ve done it seems to tell you what type of IBD your dog may have, but no matter which type your dog has it seems that traditional vets treat it with a change in diet and some form of Steroid and that holistic vets seem to recommend probiotics, not prebiotics and also a change in diet and then hopefully stay away from the steroids which really just mask the problem, they seem to gravitate towards trying to rest and heal the digestive system, I’ve also seen that they recommend an herb called slippery elm for loose stools which I have not tried. I have used in the past a great product for diarrhea called DiaGel, its all natural and is great for firming things up and also used for dogs who get into things and have “garbage gut”. I really think the Mercola Probiotics helped my boy the most, they seem to have the biggest variety and highest amount of strains out there. My Vet recommended some Pet Probiotics that were only available by prescription and one had only one strain and the other only two strains. I am wondering how long he’ll need to be on Probiotics, just for a few months or forever?

[Michael F]

Hi Everyone, Thanks so much for replying to my original post, it helps my boy and I not feel so alone out here. I’m happy to say that for now he is doing much better, knock on wood!!! I’m currently feeding three times a day, some lamb and rice kibble, mixed with cooked chicken and rice and Honest Kitchen Brave, I’m slowly weaning him off the cooked chicken and rice and increasing the Honest Kitchen, and trying to get him down to one protein as I was told that dogs with I.B.D. do best on a single protein. His vitamin B-12 level was low normal and I asked the vet if that could have come from eating only cooked chicken and rice but he didn’t think so, I also asked if there was a Vitamin B-12 Supplement that I could give him that would help build that up but he said no, only Vitamin B shots would work. I evaluated the cooked chicken and rice I had been feeding him and found it obviously to be very low on all vitamins he would need and also found that Boiled Chicken is a very low source of Vitamin B-12, in addition the amount of that I was feeding was way too low on Calories, before having to go on the bland diet he had been eating Tuscan Natural Lamb and Rice which he did well on for 60 pounds worth, and then starting having strange clay like poops, I realized that it was very low in fiber, so now I’m mixing it with the Honest Kitchen Brave, seems to be giving him the fiber he needs. I also did some research with some Holistic Vets and put him on Mercola Pet Probiotics and in addition I found a Vitamin B-12 Supplement for pets from Wonder Laboratories called Pet Factor B-12 with Folic Acid Intrinsic Factor, they both seem to have really helped and his B-12 level has come back up. I didn’t want to overdue the B-12 and I didn’t want to mix it in on his other medicine day so I only give him a single capsule every other day. I read about the Wonder Lab B-12 product on a website for dogs with SIBO which apparently can also be coupled with IBD in some dogs. I will say that the internist wasn’t overly helpful in what to do except to keep trying to find a food he could eat. I really believe that the Mercola Probiotics have been the most beneficial thing in settling down his digestive system and I think having him on a very small amount of kibble and mainly the soft dehydrated food have also helped calm things down, and for him the B-12 capsules have also helped to increase the B-12 level, I know the vets say the shots are the only way, but these tablets seem to work. Please let me know what things you guys are having luck with, Thanks! I forgot to mention, my Internist said that most of dogs he was seeing with IBD were eating dog foods that had a lot of fruit in them and he felt blue berries and other fruits just were not appropriate for dogs, he did think some apple’s would be OK but that was about it as far as fruit went. (Note my dog was never on a food with a bunch of fruit in it, so who knows)

[Michael F]

Hi, I was just wondering what part of the country do you live in? My border collie did well in Arizona but did horribly bad in Florida and they put him on Atopica which did seem to help, in between he had also been on several vacations to Michigan where he was also much better. In the end it was determined that he actually did not have allergies like the vets thought, he had lymes disease which had gone undetected in Northern Florida as they don’t have it there and unknown to us their snap test used there did not test for that. Once we treated him for Lymes and stopped the Atopica all problems went away, he did live to be almost 17 years old, however because he had lived with untreated Lymes disease for so long he developed bad lymes related arthritis in his later years. Inconclusion it seemed the Lymes disease was creating his allergy problems, even so, the problems were not as severe in the other states as they were in Florida, although we did still live in Florida for awhile after having the Lymes treated and he did not seem to be bothered anymore. Like you we tried many different foods and special bath’s but nothing seemed to help. He suffered for 4 years before it finally stopped and then lived another eleven years and felt good.

[Michael F]

Sorry, it should read B12 was at the low end of the normal range, normal but low.
Should say, I have changed his diet to partial bland, partial dry and partial dehydrated

[Michael F]

Hi, my dog was on Nutro and he always had sloppy yellow bowel movements, but as we all know the food that works for one dog, doesn’t always work for another. You might try Nutri-Source Weight Management dry food, I’ve had good luck with some of their other foods and they are a small plant out of Minnesota and have had no recalls. Is your dog healthy enough to get out and walk, when my other dogs were elderly we did four short walks per day and it really helped them with their weight and arthritis, they had a much easier time getting up and down and moving around. It interesting how several short walks provide less stress on the joints and you still burn a lot of calories that way throughout the day. You might also just try a regular dog food and make sure to feed the amount for his required weight so that he gets a balanced diet and not the amount for the weight he is at, and between that and increasing his exercise, he should take weight off. Good Luck with everything!

[Michael F]

Hi, Thanks for your reply, yes I agree with your thought on Vaccines, when my last dogs were 8 and 9 years old, we had titers done and there vaccine levels were way higher than the required amount that they needed to have in there system, in some cases 200000, times higher, anyone, those guys never were vaccinated again and lived to be 17 and 18 years of age, both were medium sized breeds, one a border collie and the other an Icelandic sheepdog mix, I did do titers more than once to make sure their levels were holding and they were fine.
Yes, for some of these diseases I really don’t think they know what causes them, hopefully veterinary medicine will keep improving over the years as it has been. I read an article the other day that certain areas of the country are really lacking in Veterinarians, Phoenix Arizona being one of them, not enough vets per capita for the number of sick animals. I think that can make getting good care more difficult.
Anyway, thanks for responding!

[Michael F]

Hi Anonymously, thank you for your link to skeptvet, I guess it is called skeptvet, because the person is skeptical! I wanted to make it clear that I’m not trying to knock vaccinating your dog, but obviously my dog had too many vaccinations before he came to me, it is ridiculous to think that you would give a dog three rabies vaccines in six weeks time, along with multiple doses of the other normal puppy shots. I do believe that all puppies need to be vaccinated, however, years and years of vaccinations for dogs with titer levels plenty high are not necessary. My post is not really about what caused my dog’s ITP, I’ve spent over 13000 dollars with vets trying to help him and in the beginning figure out what the actual cause was. Some dogs develop ITP from underlying diseases and some just end up with it for no discovered cause. In this case it was determined that my dogs cause of I.T.P. was most likely due to over vaccination from when he was a rescue dog and also possibly a reaction to the Lymes Vaccine and or the Lepto vaccine he had at age 14 months, per his veterinarian he is never allowed to be vaccinated for anything again.
What I am trying to find out is if there are other dogs out there with this same condition who have been treated with Azathioprine long term and what kind of side affects have they had from being on that drug for so long.
My Internal Medicine Specialist, says that it is my choice whether or not to take him off the drug. It might work or it might not, the drug may be causing side affects or it might not, so as you can see I am not getting good answers, anyway I just posted this to see how things went for others who were in my shoes.

[Michael F]

I have insurance through petsbest, My deductible is only $50 and I have two young dogs and the premiums started out at $40 per month, I have had issues with each dog, one ended up with lymes disease and the bills were over $3000 of which the insurance covered 80 percent and my other dog has had issues as well, $980 dollars of tests and ultrasound the other day and I’ll get 80 percent of 930 back, plus if you have to go to an emergency vet the bill is always over $250 in my area and you get 80 percent of that back, so for me the insurance has paid for itself, I didn’t take the policy that covers vaccines and dental because then you put out so much in premiums you might as well pay for the vaccines and dental yourself. Having the policy gives me piece of mind and if something is going on with the dogs that bothers me, I’m don’t have to worry about going to emergency vet and where the money is going to come from. There are a lot of companies out there to choose from and I think it’s a great thing for pet owners with high cost of vet bills these days.

[Michael F]

Hi, My last two dogs lived to be 16 and 17 years old, they developed arthritis and we used
Duralactin and all natural anti-inflammatory, you can read more about it her https://www.vetinfo.com/duralactin-canine-side-effects.html it doesn’t have the side affects of Rimadyl, I’m not to saying you should stop her rimadly, I’m not sure how bad her arthritis is and it is a choice your and your vet would make. With the Duralactin we also gave our dogs Cosequin, or I guess now they make Dasaquin, we gave our dogs both the Duralactin and the Cosequin and they did quite well, I also found that four short walks a day, made it easier for them to get up and down and move around. For your weight loss, I would keep her on her diet food that works for her, and feed her the amount of it she is suppose to have for her required weight, as a topper for a treat, you might try a little boiled fat free ground turkey and or boiled skinless boneless chicken breasts, those will be much lower fat options and should still feel like a treat to her. To make it easy you can cook it up ahead of time and freeze small amounts in freezer bags, and then you’ll have a pre-made topper for her food. It’s not easy getting a dog with arthritis extra exercise, but if you stick to the amount of food she is suppose to eat for the weight you want her to be at and avoid extra fatty food additives and other people food and give her the low fat kibble as treat, rather than a fatty dog treat, she’ll eventually take weight off, you don’t want to under-feed her, because then she get malnourished, she needs a certain amount of food each day to get her needed vitamins. Give it some time and you’ll see results! A cute story about the need to feed your dog too many special treats….My parents had a toy poodle named pete, they only fed him buddig lunchmeat, they said he would not eat dog food, at age six, he looked awful, instead of being chocolate brown he was grey and going bald, his eyes looked sickly and he limped on his hind leg at time, unfortunately my parents passed away at that time, anyway, pete came to live with me and my other two dogs, and guess what, I fed him dog food, not lunchmeat, in a few months time, his coat was nice and chocolate brown again, his eyes looked great, he got daily walks with the other two dogs, and he lived to be almost 18 years old! So that is my story about table scraps versus dog food! That doesn’t mean I’m knocking a raw diet for dogs or home cooking for dogs, they are preferred to dog food by many vets and many of us dog owners, however, they have to be a balanced diet, not just luchmeat and table scraps.

[Michael F]

Hi, yes I would do the treatment too, I found a rescue talk last year that was seven years old while I was out walking my dogs, she had escaped from her temporary foster home and she had heart worm as well, she was treated and is now happily in her forever home. She is a brown lab, all turned out well! Good luck with everything!!!

[Michael F]

Sorry Internist not Interest

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