Inflammatory Bowel Disease

[YorkieSue]

Is anyone on this forum dealing with this heart wrenching problem with their Yorkie? I adopted Buddy (some of you may remember his plight from last Feb.and in the end I adopted him) and he has been pretty sick since about the first week I had him. He is being treated with Reglan, Flagyl and pepsid but his flare-ups happen way too often anyway. It breaks my heart when he suddenly withdraws, will not eat, is obviously miserable and has either or both vomiting and diarrhea.

I would really like to hear from any of you that have dealt or are currently dealing with this malady. What successes have you had, if any? Thanks...YorkieSue, Buddy and Dixie's Mom

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by YorkieSue

Is anyone on this forum dealing with this heart wrenching problem with their Yorkie? I adopted Buddy (some of you may remember his plight from last Feb.and in the end I adopted him) and he has been pretty sick since about the first week I had him. He is being treated with Reglan, Flagyl and pepsid but his flare-ups happen way too often anyway. It breaks my heart when he suddenly withdraws, will not eat, is obviously miserable and has either or both vomiting and diarrhea.

I would really like to hear from any of you that have dealt or are currently dealing with this malady. What successes have you had, if any? Thanks...YorkieSue, Buddy and Dixie's Mom

Dexter has it and it caused him to get pancreatitis we think - he cannot tolerate a potato based diet. He is now on purina ha and he has made it 3 months with no meds and no vomitting or diarhea. He likes his food too. I feed him 3 small meals so as it is easily digestible. He is on kibble - the food is a hydrolized diet of soy - he was on dd salmon and potato and ivd white fish and potato when he got sick - what are you feeding? If you have not tried this food please do as it has been working - dexter was on pepcid before and gave it 30 minutes prior to food but he does not have to do this anymore.

[Wylie's Mom]

I'm growing curious about this. Marcel doesn't have vomiting, BUT, he has on/off firm/soft stools - with absolutely NO change in his diet.

He'll have 3 days of gorgeous stools (yes, firm stools are now gorgeous to me, lol), then out of nowhere - softserve, mushy stools for 1 day or 2 days - and resolves out of nowhere.

Any ideas bc I am totally at a loss over this - it's so frustrating!

[TLC]

TJ has IBD. We tried all sorts of stuff, but we couldn't get the episodes under control. Those noises coming from his body, the pure mucus poop that would come out and then the vomitting. This was like every 3 days. Poor fella.

Anyway, the Vet finally gave me some Tylan Powder to try. I had to give TJ a pinch everyday in his food. What a miracle that was. The episodes quickly started to get less and less until they were gone!

Ask your Vet if Tylan would be worth a shot? It is very harmless to dogs, even if they have to be on it for their whole lives.

Bets of Luck!

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by TLC

Those noises coming from his body, the pure mucus poop that would come out and then the vomitting. This was like every 3 days.
Anyway, the Vet finally gave me some Tylan Powder to try.

TLC - Marcel has those gurgly noises (so loud!) every so often from his tummy. And the 3 days firm/2-3 days soft stools. Can it be IBD even though he never has vomiting? (altho I can immed. tell in the a.m. if he's feeling "low" and if something is brewing)

What is Tylan?

[TLC]

I knew as soon as he woke up that he was going to have an 'episode'.

From the breeder he was on Eukanuba. One week of having TJ (4 months old and 1.8 lbs) he started to have diarrhea, with a little mucus and a little drop of blood here and there. Going into week 3 and for the next approx. 8 months, TJ would have horrible episodes.

After 3 weeks of having him and finding YT for advice, I changed his food to Innova, but the Innova seemed to be too rich - very stinky poops. So that only lasted 1 bag long.

The episodes that TJ would have would be at least every 3 days. When he woke up, I could hear those noises coming from his little body. He would just sit there in his bed. No food and No water, just sitting there sick. I think I started to try boiled chicken and white rice now, he would eat a piece and then 5 minutes later he would poop it out whole Literally, the food went right through him, it was bizarre. But that only happened a couple of times, b/c for the most part during the episodes he didn't eat.

Anyway, sometimes, only 1 hour would go by (other times 10 hours) and he would poop a normal 1 inch poop and then just pure orange/yellow mucus - globs of it. Once he got this out, he was a new man, he would run to eat and drink and everything was just fine.

Of course I was at the Vet at least 2-3 times a week. They would give him a shot, we did the flagyl (2x) - but nothing really stopped it. The Vet said, he might have a food allergy, he might be eating things from around the house that is upsetting him, or there is an intestinal problem.

Well, TJ was certainly eating things from around the house. #1 poop, which could have been causing the episodes, #2 he would chew on the wood mouldings and the wood doors, pretty much anything he could put in his mouth, he did. I tried to 'puppy' proof as much as I could, but I just couldn't stop the poop eating completely.

So, than we tried a restricted diet from the Vet. I chose IVD - Duck and Potato, and that was the ONLY thing he ate. We went through 2 BIG bags of this food. The episodes didn't really get better, they happened less, but now he was starting to vomit really, really bad too!

I am not thrilled at all with Vet food. I didn't want to feed my dogs anything with corn and def. nothing with By-products. So I stopped the IVD and bought Natural Balance Duck and Potato. But like I said the episodes were not stopping.

So, now the Vet did a blood test. Everything was good, except his folate levels were really really high. They told me he has some form of IBD - an over growth of bacteria some where in his intestines. The Vet said lets try Tylan Powder, it may or may not work. I had to give TJ a very tiny pinch of the Tylan Powder everyday in a small 'meat ball' of wet food so I knew he ate it. Well, what a miracle the Tylan Powder was. Weeks started to just roll by and the episodes got less and less and less.

So, I started to wean TJ off the Tylan. I went to every other day for the next month. Then every 3 days and so on, month by month. I got down to giving it to him every 6 day. By that time, the Vet said that I could stop, b/c the Tylan had worked. TJ was episode free! He could eat anything, no more restricted diet.

The Vet did say though that TJ will always have IBD and he may have to back on the Tylan Powder, but at least we know it works. Tylan Powder is very safe, hardly no long term side effects for dogs, so even if TJ had to be on it his whole life, there's no worries.

Well, sorry this was so long. I have tried to remember everything, but like I said you can do a search here on YT and you'll find my past posts of desperation and my TJ story.

Do a google search for: Tylan for Dogs

You'll find lots of info

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

TLC - Marcel has those gurgly noises (so loud!) every so often from his tummy. And the 3 days firm/2-3 days soft stools. Can it be IBD even though he never has vomiting? (altho I can immed. tell in the a.m. if he's feeling "low" and if something is brewing)

What is Tylan?

IBD is just an 'umbrella' - there are all sorts of stuff that fall under it. Colitis, Crohn's Disease, etc..(I don't remember them all).

He could have a form of IBD even though he is not vomiting.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by TLC

I knew as soon as he woke up that he was going to have an 'episode'.....

Oh, TLC - THANK YOU! That was so helpful and informative. This sounds like Marcel, but less severe in each symptom. I will have his folate level checked - he's already had a ton of bloodwork for other stuff, so I'll review that.

Amazon has the Tylan for $38 (100gm) - I wonder if I should just go ahead and buy it, and then make an appt w/ my vet. What did your vet charge for it, if you don't mind?

THANK you again! This may finally solve the mystery.

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Oh, TLC - THANK YOU! That was so helpful and informative. This sounds like Marcel, but less severe in each symptom. I will have his folate level checked - he's already had a ton of bloodwork for other stuff, so I'll review that.

Amazon has the Tylan for $38 (100gm) - I wonder if I should just go ahead and buy it, and then make an appt w/ my vet. What did your vet charge for it, if you don't mind?

THANK you again! This may finally solve the mystery.

My Vet charged me about $17 for a little amber pres. bottle filled with the Tylan Powder (light green in color). I still have pretty much all of it, b/c like I said, you only have to give the 'tiniest' amount.

Good Luck, let me know what the Vet says???

[Rockster's Mom]

I am sorry that you baby has this. My cat has it and we controled it with diet but we still have the occassional episode.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by TLC

My Vet charged me about $17 for a little amber pres. bottle filled with the Tylan Powder (light green in color).

Wow. The jar online is huge. Profit, schmofit.

[Sadie's Mom]

I think Sadie has it, too. The vet has never called it that, but does usually refer to it as colitis. We've put her on a prescription diet (Hill's Prescription W/D) and this helps with the occassional episode. This usually consists of a day of diarrhea, then mucousy poop, then nothing but blood. If I catch it in time (which I do now because I know what signs to look for) the vet will give me an antibiotic which usually helps. She doesn't vomit. And I know what y'all mean about the noises coming from their little bodies.

[LoveMyJake]

I have never dealt with this problem in a dog before, but I have IBD (Crohn's Disease). I've had it for close to 30 years, so I could tell you my own experiences if you think that will help at all.

I also used to talk to a woman online who has Crohn's, and she had a cat who also had it. The cat would have times of remission where he didn't have symptoms and did very well. He had other times when he had to be on medication and eat a special diet. I haven't talked to her in a long time, but her cat lived a pretty normal life and was about 10 years old at the time.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by LoveMyJake

I have never dealt with this problem in a dog before, but I have IBD (Crohn's Disease). I've had it for close to 30 years, so I could tell you my own experiences if you think that will help at all.

So, do you sometimes have symptoms without changing a single thing in your diet?

[azkaty]

I have dealt with the exact same issue. Here is what I finally got to resolve.

IBD and things like this, which cause the gurgling stomach. vomiting and diareah are due in most part from FOOD INTOLERANCE.

The answer was a two part change. first .. a food with one unique protein and one carb. such as Wellness Venison and potato.

Then I also had a prescription from the doctor for Metronidizole.. a low dose of 2mmls twice a day till the diarrhea resolved. No treats or any other food besides his special one protein and one carb food.

The I found a tiny pinch of metmuscil or equivalent.. We had been having very bad..even bloody diarrhea until we went thru the above.

Now it has been 4-5 months, and Ralphie is fine. Food intolerance comes from allergies to usual food sources, thats why you have to go to unique food proteins like venison, duck --things like that.

After seeing many posts from YTers here, I have seen the same kinds of issues over and over. I have been very happy now with Ralphie's progress.

Hope this helps everyone.