Constant GI Problems - YorkieTalk.com Forums

LovemyLilly · 03-09-2012, 07:17 AM

Hi all. This is my first time posting so I apologize if this is long but I'd like you all to have the whole history. I have a 2 year old Yorkie named Lilly (she'll be 2 on Wednesday actually) and for the past 6 months she has been having chronic GI problems. She has always had seasonal allergies along with reverse sneezing but those problems have been addressed and it seems are ok.

When we got her it was near impossible to find a food she liked. After a long search we settled on Beneful (trust me I know how crappy it is). We never had an issue with her bowels when she was on the Beneful. In October I switched her to Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice as I did research and found it to have much better ingredients and she actually liked it. Starting in about November/December she began vomiting and having diahrrea along with trembling. We took her to the emergency vet and our regular vet and after many tests and a lot of $$ they determined it was colitis. She was given Flagyl and Amoxicillin along with Benebec. She seemed to recover very nicely. Along with the antibiotics the vet switched her to Iams Low Residue food (this was a little over a month ago that she switched the food and Lilly seemed to do great with it) but last night she had three bouts of diahrrea along with some vomiting. She's currently at the vet as we speak and they're running a GI panel for bacteria and other issues, but if that comes back negative then next week we will have to go back for tests for her liver function and down the road possibly a biopsy of her intestines. The first time we had this issue with the bowel problems she was lethargic, didn't want to eat or drink, however now, she's sprightly, alert but is having these GI issues along with a little dehydration. The vet also informed me that she's lost roughly a pound since November (partially due to the switch from the Blue Buffalo food to the Low Residue but they want to monitor it).

I just wanted to reach out and see if anyone else has had GI issues with their Yorkies as I have and what your experiences have been. I feel so bad for her and so helpless at the same time. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

Loving Furgie · 03-09-2012, 01:25 PM

I have no advice, Furgie is at the emergency vet right now after having thrown up blood last night...good luck with your baby and I am curious to see what others respond and the results of her tests and follow ups...please keep us posted and welcome to YT...lots of wonderful knowledgable people here that all understand the love for these little loves!

LovemyLilly · 03-09-2012, 06:39 PM

So Lilly is back home after a day at the vet. The gi panel test results won't come back until next week. He said that even though she is acting alert there is something going on in her intestines causing this chronic diahrrea. He put her back on flagyl and benebec. She just had a normal bowel movement which made me so happy but the doctor said he gave her very strong anti diahrreal so the underlying issue hasn't been determined yet. Once the gi panel comes back we will then have a liver panel test and then possibly a biopsy to ultimately determine the cause which at that point can only be done by biopsy. I know this isn't an update with much information but this is where I am. I am encouraged by the fact that she had a normal bowel movement and the doctor thinks she will just need benebec for good 1 x or 2 x a week. Please keep your fingers crossed for her!

LovemyLilly · 03-09-2012, 06:40 PM

Oh and to Loving furgie my thoughts are with you and your precious angel. I will say a prayer for her tonight!

107barney · 03-09-2012, 09:50 PM

Yes, there are a few of us here with dogs who have chronic GI problems. I think you are wise to check out the liver and intestines. I have a dog w/ liver issues and also Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and it is managed medically for her. Once you nail down what's going on, please let us know and we can share our experiences. Best wishes.

Lolasmom1211 · 03-10-2012, 06:25 AM

I had a similar problem with my little male. We had several episodes of vomiting and bloody stools...all about a month apart. They thought it was possibly HGE. My local vet tried several different things beforeI finally took him to Texas A&M Veterinary School to an internist who ran every test imaginable. Nothing came back conclusive. They told me I may never know what was causing the problem, but we could treat the symptoms. They put him on a prescription diet of Royal Canin HP kibble (which he loves) and Tylan capsules 2 times per day. He is allowed no treats - not even pill pockets. It has been 15 months and we have not had 1 bloody stool. We may never know what the exact problem was, but common sense tells me it was severe food allergies and a imbalance of bacteria in his intestines and that is why they give him the Tylan capsules. He will take those for life. Good luck with your little one!

LovinOurYorkies · 03-10-2012, 02:30 PM

We had a little girl who started out eating Purina Little Bites (I know !@!) We too attempted to switch her to a healthier food and ended up with chronic gi problems. She was fine as long as she ate the Little Bites, but if she ate anything else - and I do mean ANYTHING else - she had bloody stools, etc. I watched her like a hawk, kept meds on hand at all times, especially when traveling, and she lived to be 15yrs.

Saying a prayer for Lilly, and looking forward to good news from the labs next week

Loving Furgie · 03-10-2012, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovemyLilly

Oh and to Loving furgie my thoughts are with you and your precious angel. I will say a prayer for her tonight!

Thank you so much! She is home resting...thank goodness! Talk about scary and stressful!!! Will be praying for your baby too!

Wylie's Mom · 03-10-2012, 03:46 PM

I feel so bad for you and your kiddo

. GI problems are so frustrating to get to the bottom of.

This will sound simple, but one thing I'd do is get her on some probiotics...maybe do Benebac paste for 4-5 days, and then switch to the powder after that. Especially w/ GI issues, the small intestine gets really an imbalanced flora and giving probios for a good 6 mths can really help.

It does sound kind of IBD-ish and I hope you get a definitive answer soon.

LovemyLilly · 03-20-2012, 04:13 PM

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in responding but the gi panel came back negative so the doctor did a bile acid test to test her liver functions. The results came back today and the results were abnormal. The doctor explained that the results are consistent with microscopic vascular dysplasia. The Ibs is a symptom of the mvd. From what he explained the blood vessels in her liver are not normal and there's a deposit of toxins because it's not filtering properly. Luckily weve caught it super early so she doesn't have any shunts. Unfortunately the treatment is just medical. A diet that's low in protein and medicine to help her body improve liver function. Luckily the prognosis is good. He wants to keep her on probiotics twice a week as well. Unfortunately this is a chronic problem and she will probably have bouts of diahrrea forever but we've begun the process of managing her problem. So at least we have a resolution and now we know where to go from here. I thank you all for your help and well wishes. I think I'll sleep a little better tonight.

03-09-2012, 07:17 AM	#1
LovemyLilly Yorkie Talker Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: White Plains, NY, USA Posts: 15	Constant GI Problems Hi all. This is my first time posting so I apologize if this is long but I'd like you all to have the whole history. I have a 2 year old Yorkie named Lilly (she'll be 2 on Wednesday actually) and for the past 6 months she has been having chronic GI problems. She has always had seasonal allergies along with reverse sneezing but those problems have been addressed and it seems are ok. When we got her it was near impossible to find a food she liked. After a long search we settled on Beneful (trust me I know how crappy it is). We never had an issue with her bowels when she was on the Beneful. In October I switched her to Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice as I did research and found it to have much better ingredients and she actually liked it. Starting in about November/December she began vomiting and having diahrrea along with trembling. We took her to the emergency vet and our regular vet and after many tests and a lot of $$ they determined it was colitis. She was given Flagyl and Amoxicillin along with Benebec. She seemed to recover very nicely. Along with the antibiotics the vet switched her to Iams Low Residue food (this was a little over a month ago that she switched the food and Lilly seemed to do great with it) but last night she had three bouts of diahrrea along with some vomiting. She's currently at the vet as we speak and they're running a GI panel for bacteria and other issues, but if that comes back negative then next week we will have to go back for tests for her liver function and down the road possibly a biopsy of her intestines. The first time we had this issue with the bowel problems she was lethargic, didn't want to eat or drink, however now, she's sprightly, alert but is having these GI issues along with a little dehydration. The vet also informed me that she's lost roughly a pound since November (partially due to the switch from the Blue Buffalo food to the Low Residue but they want to monitor it). I just wanted to reach out and see if anyone else has had GI issues with their Yorkies as I have and what your experiences have been. I feel so bad for her and so helpless at the same time. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

03-09-2012, 01:25 PM	#2
Loving Furgie Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Tucson, AZ, USA Posts: 217	I have no advice, Furgie is at the emergency vet right now after having thrown up blood last night...good luck with your baby and I am curious to see what others respond and the results of her tests and follow ups...please keep us posted and welcome to YT...lots of wonderful knowledgable people here that all understand the love for these little loves! __________________ Mindy and Furgie

03-09-2012, 06:39 PM	#3
LovemyLilly Yorkie Talker Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: White Plains, NY, USA Posts: 15	Update on Lilly So Lilly is back home after a day at the vet. The gi panel test results won't come back until next week. He said that even though she is acting alert there is something going on in her intestines causing this chronic diahrrea. He put her back on flagyl and benebec. She just had a normal bowel movement which made me so happy but the doctor said he gave her very strong anti diahrreal so the underlying issue hasn't been determined yet. Once the gi panel comes back we will then have a liver panel test and then possibly a biopsy to ultimately determine the cause which at that point can only be done by biopsy. I know this isn't an update with much information but this is where I am. I am encouraged by the fact that she had a normal bowel movement and the doctor thinks she will just need benebec for good 1 x or 2 x a week. Please keep your fingers crossed for her!

03-09-2012, 09:50 PM	#5
107barney T. Bumpkins & Co. Donating YT Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: New England Posts: 9,816	Yes, there are a few of us here with dogs who have chronic GI problems. I think you are wise to check out the liver and intestines. I have a dog w/ liver issues and also Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and it is managed medically for her. Once you nail down what's going on, please let us know and we can share our experiences. Best wishes. __________________ T. Bumpkins & Co. Washable Doggie Pee Pads (Save 10% Enter YTSAVE10 at checkout) Cathy, Teddy, Winston and Baby Clyde...RIP angels Barney and Daisy

03-10-2012, 02:30 PM	#7
LovinOurYorkies YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: MS Posts: 638	We had a little girl who started out eating Purina Little Bites (I know !@!) We too attempted to switch her to a healthier food and ended up with chronic gi problems. She was fine as long as she ate the Little Bites, but if she ate anything else - and I do mean ANYTHING else - she had bloody stools, etc. I watched her like a hawk, kept meds on hand at all times, especially when traveling, and she lived to be 15yrs. Saying a prayer for Lilly, and looking forward to good news from the labs next week __________________ Tracy Tillie & Bella Tanna DD DS DH

03-09-2012, 06:40 PM	#4
LovemyLilly Yorkie Talker Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: White Plains, NY, USA Posts: 15	Oh and to Loving furgie my thoughts are with you and your precious angel. I will say a prayer for her tonight!

03-10-2012, 06:25 AM	#6
Lolasmom1211 Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 664	I had a similar problem with my little male. We had several episodes of vomiting and bloody stools...all about a month apart. They thought it was possibly HGE. My local vet tried several different things beforeI finally took him to Texas A&M Veterinary School to an internist who ran every test imaginable. Nothing came back conclusive. They told me I may never know what was causing the problem, but we could treat the symptoms. They put him on a prescription diet of Royal Canin HP kibble (which he loves) and Tylan capsules 2 times per day. He is allowed no treats - not even pill pockets. It has been 15 months and we have not had 1 bloody stool. We may never know what the exact problem was, but common sense tells me it was severe food allergies and a imbalance of bacteria in his intestines and that is why they give him the Tylan capsules. He will take those for life. Good luck with your little one!

03-10-2012, 03:46 PM	#9
Wylie's Mom Furbutts = LOVE Donating Member Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 35,889 Blog Entries: 2	I feel so bad for you and your kiddo . GI problems are so frustrating to get to the bottom of. This will sound simple, but one thing I'd do is get her on some probiotics...maybe do Benebac paste for 4-5 days, and then switch to the powder after that. Especially w/ GI issues, the small intestine gets really an imbalanced flora and giving probios for a good 6 mths can really help. It does sound kind of IBD-ish and I hope you get a definitive answer soon. __________________ ~ A friend told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn. ~ °¨¨¨°ºOº°¨¨¨° Ann \| Pfeiffer \| Marcel Verdel Purcell \| Wylie \| Artie °¨¨¨°ºOº°¨¨¨°

03-20-2012, 04:13 PM	#10
LovemyLilly Yorkie Talker Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: White Plains, NY, USA Posts: 15	Diagnosis! Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in responding but the gi panel came back negative so the doctor did a bile acid test to test her liver functions. The results came back today and the results were abnormal. The doctor explained that the results are consistent with microscopic vascular dysplasia. The Ibs is a symptom of the mvd. From what he explained the blood vessels in her liver are not normal and there's a deposit of toxins because it's not filtering properly. Luckily weve caught it super early so she doesn't have any shunts. Unfortunately the treatment is just medical. A diet that's low in protein and medicine to help her body improve liver function. Luckily the prognosis is good. He wants to keep her on probiotics twice a week as well. Unfortunately this is a chronic problem and she will probably have bouts of diahrrea forever but we've begun the process of managing her problem. So at least we have a resolution and now we know where to go from here. I thank you all for your help and well wishes. I think I'll sleep a little better tonight.