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STEFANIE

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  • in reply to: Short Bowel Syndrome #154580 Report Abuse
    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 “coxão 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]
    ********* account: @brotherscolliebr

    in reply to: Short Bowel Syndrome #117056 Report Abuse
    STEFANIE
    Member

    Hi Karen. I read your post and got really excited! My dog, Maui, is a Border Collie and now had 11 months. When he was 6minths old, he had a mesenteric issue and had to undergo 3 surgeries!! He now has only 30% of his small intestines (a portion of the duodenum, almost nothing of the jejuno, and no iliac valve). I am STRUGGLING with everything, from nutrition problems, stools and vitamins deficit. He takes weekly shots of Magnesium and B vitamins, and intakes a lot of meds (s.a. loperamid, pepto bismol, metranizadol, and others). I would LOVE to hear from you, what did you do to get to 2/3 poops? Dry food? Protein? High in calories? Everything. All I can learn is special! I live in brazil and here we have little (almost no) studies of this issue. One of the vets even suggest putting him to sleep… which for me is DEFINETELY NOT AN OPTION!!!! If you want to, lets exchange info. My email is “[email protected]”. I would love to hear from you. Thank u so much. Best Regards, stef and Maui.

    in reply to: Short Bowel Syndrome #110155 Report Abuse
    STEFANIE
    Member

    Hello everyone! My name is Stefanie, and I am from Brazil, so for starters, let me apologize for my not-so-good English, but I’ll try my best! My dog, Maui, a 7th month old Border Collie, just went through three surgeries (yeah! amazing survivor!). On Jan 4th, 2018, he ate a HDMI cable and had it removed by undergoing a 3 and 1/2 hour surgery which ended up removing about 9cm of his jejunum. One week later, his internal stitches from the anastomosis had problems, and he ended up with about 800ml of fecal liquid on his stomach cava. With this severe peritonitis diagnosed and confirmed with an ultra, he had his 2nd surgery, which then removed about 10cm of the jejunum again. Less than 72hrs later, the same problems occurred with the internal stitches, and Maui had to undergo his third surgery. On the last surgery, the vets are not sure of the length they removed from his jejunum, and unfortunately, they had to remove his iliac valve. His duodenume and colom are still 100% intact! It has now been 20 days since his last surgery, and he has been home for the last 8 days (blessed!). As predicted by all vets, we are really struggling to help him out since he now has all the signs of SBS. He started all this nightmare with 15.200kgs, and now weights only 10.700kgs. He is currently on a restricted diet, which includes, only 600ml of water a day, served in small portions of 100ml, and now eats 4x times a day the following meal: 2 spoons of mashed potatoes (home cooked) + 2 spoons of a high-caloric meal (canned), which includes turkey, carrots, beet, olive oil, pumpkin and some other ingredients. 3x times a day, I give 1/2 smashed banana with a scoop of whey protein (for dogs, in Brazil named Caninus Protein). With all his 4 main meals, I give him a teaspoon of Pancreatin (mix and wait 15minutes before serving). And 2x a day I give him Omega 3 (1000ml), L-Glutamine (1 teasp), Taurina, a probiotic (in Brazil named Lactofos), and a medicine to help him hold his stool (in Brazil named Duspatalin).
    By now I havent really seen any major improvement with his diarrhea, and my MAIN concern is that it is obvious that he cant really digest the food. We can observe the pieces of his meal on his stools. On the poop chart (http://www.epi4dogs.com/poopchart.htm) he has never scored more than 6! and often has an 7.. He varies from 5-9 diarrheas a day.
    We have a nutritionist and exchange facts and info on a daily basis! Next week I am considering changing his meals for dry nibble ROYAL CANIN VETERINARY GASTRO INTESTIONAL FIBRE RESPONSE, since the canned options are very wet and it is clear that whenever he drinks water his stools get worst, since the canned meals include 70-80% of water, I am really considering giving him PROCESSED dry nibble and only adding some small spoons of water (so I can control the amount of water taken).
    I would really appreciate ANY ideas, suggestions, feedbacks, information on this subject! I am reading a lot about SBS, and am totally committed on helping him as much as I can. Maui is an amazing dog and deserves to live for as long as he wants – and it seems he wants to outlive us all!  He is a little FIGHTER and I love him with all my heart.
    For now, I would really like to know how all of you guys managed to help them better DIGEST the food, and also what helped with the stool problems. Did you guys give them Metamucil (Psyllium)? If so, how much? Any feedbacks about the ROYAL CANIN VETERINARY GASTRO INTESTIONAL FIBRE RESPONSE? What seemed to work best as a probiotic?
    Thank you all for the help and attention! Its very warm to know that there are so many people out there willing to help.
    Best Regards, Stef and Maui

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