Ahhh...poor baby, reminds me so much of TJ when he had his episodes. You just knew he didn't feel well, he didn't want to eat and had these crazy monster noises coming from his body, then a some point during the day he would poop about 1/2 inch normal then the rest rest would be a glob or orange/yellow muscus. Once this was out, he was back to himself and straving :p

Got it and I will mail it to you Monday.

I use this measuring spoon Norpro Mini Measuring Spoon Set (The Pinch One)

You can get it online, or I do believe they sell it at Bed Bath and Beyond (which I have a 20% off and $5 off coupon, which I will include for you too), or I read Joann Fabric carries it to.

That is exactly what has been going on with Rookie! I have been suspecting IBD for a while but it was weird because it would happen and then just clear up the same day.

I took a fecal sample in last month to be sure it was not a parasite. The other thing I have noticed is that he passes smelly gas a lot. So.... I kind of put it all together and today I called to run it all by my vet. She agreed that it sounded like IBD, so we are trying the food to see how it goes.

Yup ~ TJ had stink butt too...

We tried the Rx Duck/Potaoe food (for the single protein source), but didn't really help. Did Metro 2x and it didn't help. Bloodwork showed high folate levels, and we finally got him on Tylan Powder (and still doing the duck/potato diet). The tylan is what finally stopped these issues. He was good from 1.5 years old till just this past summer when he was 4.5 years old, and the mucus has started again. He is now getting more fiber in his diet and the VSL#3 ~ so far this is working, otherwise he would have to go back on the Tylan and probably have to stay on it for life.

great; thank you so much!

This Z/D smells awful. He ate it, but I do not like the way it smells. :(

ok; picked her up. she's doing fine. the bill was outrageous; don't know what happened over the past few days; but they added $1000 on top of the previous bill. anyway, i didnt have the energy to argue; plus nothing i can do at this point.
as soon as i got home i noticed her ears are very red; and she won't let me touch them. so i am guessing she caught an ear infection. anyone knows if cortisone shots causes this?
i will call him tomorrow to ask; but i think she might have an infection
he gave her prednisone prescription; but no metronidazole; i wonder if he forgot to give it to me.
he seems in a rush and he left the office when i was paying the bill at the front desk.
i am drained at this point, emotionally, physically and financially

I am SO sorry, Elly. Seems to never end for you. I just hope she stays healthy now.

I would call them back and mention her ears...also ask for the metronidazole. What was the extra money for? Had you spoken with him about what the charges would be? I would definitely question it...maybe in a day or so. I can understand not wanting to today, but you need to know where all of this came from.

Just wanted to send feel better wishes to Ava

they gave her a bath and blow dry; maybe that hurt her ears; she never goes to the groomer

i am going to ask tomorrow for the metronidazole; i think she needs it at least in the begining; he gave her no antibiotic whatsoever all this time there; he said he doesnt believe in over medicating with antibiotic

they did give me an itemized bill; and i did ask questions about some fees; adn they seem to have an answer right away; which makes sense but i dont think it's fair

added 250 for extra anesthia; kept her longer to clean the teeth
200 for an extra biopsy site
250 for usign the endoscope a little longer
and goes on and on like this; fees that dont make sense but i have no say; nothing i can do
he already took blood and send for the allergy test; before i got to the office and had charged 200 for that
after paying 3,300 i only could afford to buy 4 cans of food for her today; and that was $10; i will buy more next week if she likes it
no way i can afford another episode like this.

i am going to pull my hair out
i told ava in front of them; now u look healthy and beautiful; but we are homeless. we are going to eat dog food and live on the street.... :)
not funny though, because i am literally broke
i only have few hundreds in my bank


sorry for the long message but i needed to vent to someone

thanks all for ur support

yeah tylan is the lower dose antibiotic than metronidazole. The duck and potato has white potato which is inflammatory to the intestines

i really think ava needs to be on a hydrolized diet like ultra z/d as that worked for dex but he itched on it and now on hydrolized soy diet and it is working well but not all dogs will eat it. The hard part is ava is a picky eater BUT i think she might be picky because food makes her feel sick after all she has been through and she may be afraid of throwing up :(

I knew all along this was ibd in small intestines as we discussed as dogs will vomit with ibd in small intestines and have diarhea with ibd in large intestines. I just think ava has a worse case than dex bc she has had quite a few bouts of it poor thing. She may need to be on long term tylan powder.

I would question why no metronidazole

this is the stuff that infuriates me as you spent 3500 and he rushes out the door and does not sit and explain everything and help you understand and go over treatment plan and give you some answers and why i like dealing with women as i think they tend to take more time with things - men tend to be always in a hurry to solve the problem and fix it and less detailed - I just hope i am wrong about this guy as from his website seemed to be on top of it but I am getting upset now with how you were treated after spending this kind of money :( I know your area and my area are very expensive as my friend lives in new jersey. I just wish you were closer to her as she is really picky and has great vets and internal medicine specialist.

I am so sorry elly you have been through so much with her and I really hope with a good diet she will be on track. The prob with ibd is they can do ok on a diet for a little bit then not be able to tolerate it after time is what our vet said so you are constantly rotating the diets with ibd dogs but luckily purina ha worked with dex and i would have kept him on ultra zd for life he did not itch like crazy but it has worked for some dogs but i will pay for the vet food as it has saved us i think in vet costs - I just hope this works for you and ava

did they pluck her ears?

i dont think so; just gave her a bath and blow dry

oh; forgot to mention
he gave her Bene-Bac probiotic gel ; the nurse there told me to give her 1gm per day
but when i went online to check it says 1/2-1 g, 12-24 hours before feeding and 2-12 hours after feeding.
does anyone have better and easier directions

he wanted to give her nutrigest capsule; but i didnt buy it
anyone knows about these products

also he said eventually he want to switch her to NV prairie food
i didnt think that food can be fed to dogs with IBD

that is a raw diet ???

probiotics are to be given 20-30 min before food and 2 hrs after an antibiotic so not sure not familiar with that probiotics

nutrigest sounds like a digestive enzyme to me not sure never heard of it

metronidazole is an antibiotic?? but i do like his philosophy as feel they are way over prescribed in the vet profession

she didnt tell me when to give it; i will ask tomorrow
he said she might benefit from digestive enzymes
it's powder; do u think i can mix it with water and give it to her by syringe

sounds like large intestinal ibd

many feel you should not feed raw because if large intestinal it can sit in the intestines too long causing issues as the food does not travel quickly through the intestinal tract with ibd dogs as they are inflamed and food gets caught air etc so that is why the gas and rumblings etc as stuff gets stuck not going through normally

if large intestinal i would do pumpkin and probiotics

small intestinal is more of a prob as the dog gets backed up and vomitting occurs then can trigger the pancreas so food never gets out of the small intestinal area - if i had to choose between the two i would take large intestine

no you cannot as digestive enzymes have to go on the food to help digest the food and they are used for dogs that eat home cooked or processed foods not dogs that eat raw as the raw has natural enzymes which help digest the food

i am not feeding raw; she's on the iams low residue canned food
he wanted to add nutrigest which is digestive enzyme in caps; but i can open it and sprinkle it
but she wont eat her food; the nurse said it has a smell to it
do u think she needs digestive enzymes; or probiotic will be enough


the nv prairie he suggested for later; is kibble and canned; it comes in raw too; but no way

nv prairie is a dehydrated raw diet though

will she not eat the food they gave you?

Personally i would just do the probiotics and i would give them 30 minutes before food but the brand you got I would ask them how to give but i would assume it would be the same - I mix dd in a little pumpkin and she licks it up but i know you have a harder time with ava

ultra zd is the hydrolized diet - i prefer ultra zd over z/d -- sounds more like colitis from what you are describing than ibd so you may want to use probiotics mixed with a little pumpkin

make sure ultra zd not zd there is a difference

ibd is a food intolerance

yeah i am starting to feel he is about the money too sadly as food allergy cannot be determined by that allergy testing as blood cannot determine food - this guy is bumming me out big time ;( after reading this now

the endoscopy was to determine if large or small intestines but sadly you do not need that to determine this as a dog with ibd in small will vomit and in large will have diarhea :( this is why i opted not to do the endoscopy with dex as i knew it was small intestines as he never had diarhea like ava has not :(

From my understanding, the most common cause of colitis is ibd.

Actually, I might want to do just what I am doing for now. :)

Ava was vomiting blood and I surely would have done an endoscopy if suggested to rule out something else. What IF she had an ulcer and ended up bleeding out because it had not been diagnosed?

To each his own....but, I am very careful about refusing necessary tests. I don't know how you have run up the bills you say you have since you seem to refuse a lot of tests and operations. Your vetting must be terribly expensive.

i refuse when unnecessary but dex was not vomitting blood - I never refuse what is necessary like the plasma transfusion for pancreatitis etc. But i refused endoscopy and refused scintigraphy. Dexter cost me 10,000 over the course of a year and there were alot of unnecessary ultrasounds in there 400 times about 4 for what to say yep pancreas is inflamed well the cpli tells you that for sure so why the ultrasounds. I learned then that they can rack the stuff up real quick just like this vet just did $3500 and we are back to ibd in small intestines that is sad. It could have been ulcers but then what are they going to treat if ulcers sulcrulfate?

i have spent 10,000 on dee dee in trying to find a cure for allergies and guess what we are back to square one steroids lollll so honestly I am starting to think it is a racket on some of this stuff sadly

the food allergy test did it for me with this guy so i am very disappointed.

actually the number one cause of colitis is stress

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/colitis-in-dogs/page1.aspx

ibd info

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/inflamm...ogs/page1.aspx

My point was that you said the endoscopy was to figure out if it was large or small intestines and I beg to differ on that. The test was done to get a diagnosis and yes, if ibd, where.

I already had stated my opinion on the blood test for allergies. I think the vet is just covering all angles...I do NOT think he is money hungry...just looking for answers. He is going to do whatever he is allowed to do. That is why people need to question the whys of everything. This is the FIRST vet who has done for Ava what should have been done imo. Good grief, Banfield diagnosed pancreatitis from what Elly said...and there were no labs to support that from what she said.

I would not be dumping this vet if I were her. I would simply start questioning him a bit more and letting him know my pockets are not that deep.