[Lizzie07]

I can just tell you what I have been through. I have a 15 year old IG that would have digestive upsets for time to time and everytime she was checked out by the vet, it appeared nothing was wrong. She had gotten picky and was slowly losing weight. By the time I took her to an internist she was quite thin. After more extensive bloodwork and an endoscopy she was diagnosed with irritable bowel disease due to food allergy. Her vet put her on prednisone, mitirzapin, and she gets B12 shots once a month (which I give). The vet also had me feed her ZD too, because it has hydrolized protein and a protein source is usually the cause of food allergies.

Gracie started eating well, and I did feed her the ZD. I also only fed her the ZD. She started to gain a little weight, had no diarrhea and no vomiting. I was extremely careful to make sure she got nothing, absolutely nothing besides the ZD. I found out Science Diet also made a hypoallergenic treat and I got that for her too.

After doing more of my own research, I decided the protein she was most likely to be allergic to was chicken. I have almost always fed chicken to the dogs in their food and I might have tried a beef or lamb once in a rare while, but it wasn't likely the problem protein. Feeding one protein source to dogs can result in a food allergy developing.

As Gracie started getting tired of the ZD, I decided to switch her to a raw diet. I was feeding her Nature Variety raw beef for a while, and she ate it like crazy and really put on the weight. Recently, I switched her to Primal Raw beef and I just got the lamb too. I want to feed more than one protein source. I am really careful about what they get. There is nothing with chicken in it for the dogs to eat around here and I am VERY, VERY careful about that. Gracie has gained more than her best previous weight and looks really good.

It sounds like your vet may be thinking food allergy too. I would consider what I had been feeding my dog, then decide on a protein source you haven't fed or fed much of and go with that. Make sure NOTHING you give your dog has anything but that protein source. If doing that doesn't make a difference, try a different protein source and see if that one will make a difference.

The only reason I fed the ZD was that I was thrilled my dog actually ate something for more than one or two meals. She looks great now and is eating the Primal raw really well.

I have a friend with an IG that had stomach issues. She had a veterinarian come in to where she worked who told her that sometimes putting the dog on prozac helped. She asked her vet about it, put BiBi on it and she has been fine since.

Don't know if any of this will help you out, but I wish you luck. It's frustrating trying to figure out what is going on sometimes. I'll keep you baby in my thoughts. Please let us know how he is doing.