Feeding a liver disease dog with colitis

[gaijingirl]

I've been feeding Snickers 4 times per day for the 1.5 years because of his diagnosed (by biopsy) MVD. In what seems to be a separate problem...or so his specialist thinks, he's also had chronic digestive problems with colitis-type symptoms....there is a lot of guessing and testing about what could be the cause of all this, although he seems to do better on a high fiber diet.
I came across a post on another dog forum where someone talked about how feeding too often can lead to loose stools because their body does not get a chance to absorb everything. I don't know if this is a factual statement or not.

As I mentioned, I have been doing 4 feedings per day (about every 4 hours) because of the diagnosed liver disease. He is not showing any HE symptoms right now, but since I know he has MVD, I thought it was better to keep up the frequent, smaller feedings to prevent extra stress on the liver and avoid more future problems. But could this be making things worse for his colitis? I never made the connection between frequent feedings and loose stools, but after I read that comment and started thinking about it, it does look better when he first gets up and has had the night to fast as opposed to during the day when he has been eating more often.

Would it be better to do 3 feedings per day? I want to keep him asymptomatic with the liver disease....but if less frequent feedings are better for a dog with digestive problems and that's what he is symptomatic with now...maybe it's better?

[kjc]

Is he on any meds for the MVD? Probiotics?

[107barney]

My dog has MVD and IBD - I feed her a high fiber diet twice a day and she does very well.

[Ellie May]

Were there ever HE symptoms? Some do believe the smaller feedings are good. I really don't think this is something you have to do unless it's the only way symptoms are controlled.

I've never heard that about loose stool and frequent feedings. Somehow doubt it, but it could be true. Intestinal problems are common in dogs with liver disease and Yorkies in general.

What are you feeding? I think the best way to go is to talk to a veterinary nutritionist about what you're feeding and how often. There would be nobody better to advise on this.

My dog has some type of disease that raises her bile acids. Negative for MVD although it could be a localized form. She has never had HE symptoms. I feed 2x daily. I could never keep up 4x daily. She has severe intestinal and pancreas problems also, so we had to find a food that worked well for all of it. It's just a lot of trial and error.

BTW, so many dogs are free fed and don't have loose stool. I'd have to guess this is an internet myth (unless your pup is overeating).

[gaijingirl]

I do give the probiotic VSL#3 once per day. He gets Denamarin and he is also on 50mg of Tylosin (2x per day). The vet he was seeing at UT wanted us to try to wean him off the Tylosin, which he was originally put on for Clostridium overgrowth, but he started having bloody stools when we got the dose lower, so he's been back on that now. It's been about 1.5 years on that.

He's never really shown HE symptoms....He used to get these really bad pain-induced fevers when he was off antibiotics and then he would sometimes stagger around when he was trying to walk, but it was more just weakness from pain, I think. He hasn't had a fever since July 2011 and it was probably August of 2010 since he has had any extreme pain that would cause him stagger around.

He was on L/d for over a year and initially did better with that, but still had a lot of loose stools. We were instructed to add Metamucil to his diet, but it really didn't have much of a positive effect. In February, we put him on w/d for a month and that definitely cleared up the colitis he was having. But, he also became quite lethargic on it and was pooping about 6 times per day, which seemed a bit excessive. He also wasn't exactly thrilled about the w/d...ate it, but with much less enthusiasm then the L/d. Just within the last couple of weeks I started giving him The Honest Kitchen (Force) and he seems to be doing alright with it. Has got a lot more energy back and really, really likes it too. But, I do notice that sometimes, but not always, things come out a little bit like they went in, like he is not absorbing everything. In the mornings, this doesn't seem to be as noticeable, but during the day when he has eaten several times, it does. Which is why I wondered if he was not able to absorb everything from eating too often. He had the same problem on L/d.
But, its true what Ellie May said about free feeding dogs not necessarily having loose stools so maybe this idea of eating too often is not true.
I don't think he is over eating. He has always had a good body condition and I keep track of how much he gets in treats and subtract that from what he should be getting in food. (I make his treats by baking his food).

[Ellie May]

Have you tried Royal Canin Hepatic 14? Homecooking? A lot of liver and GI pups benefit if nothing else is working. For intestines - if the tylan is necessary, it's probably not the worst thing in the world. Sometimes switching out protein and carbs sources can help with intestinal problems.

Some of us really like Purina HA for dogs with liver and intestinal issues. It's low protein while being the correct kind. It's low fat. It's a novel protein for most dogs. But it is very low fiber. Some IBD dogs do well on low fiber and some need higher fiber. If that's the case then sometimes can be added to it to help with that.

BTW, when my dog needed fiber added in, her nutritionist was going to have me try metamucil AFTER trying sweet potato and pumpkin. So I think you do have other options. But if it's a clostridium problem, changing fiber % may not do a thing.