IBS - Diet help

[LavenderRott]

My mom's dog has been diagnosed with Irritated Bowel Syndrome. She has bouts of explosive diarhea (sp) and she just screams when she is going. This has happened several times but she had an episode earlier this week and the last one was just barely a month ago.

Mom is feeding her Canidae and for treats she gets Canidae biscuits. She has been on this diet for a month now and yet still had an episode Monday.

Bloodwork and x-rays have been done and came back fine so far as everything else. My brother is worried as his former SIL had a greyhound who had the same problem and died of a cancer related to her digestive system (sorry, he didn't know what kind).

I know she is a nott-weiler, but mom wanted me to ask you guys if you had any ideas for diet that she could follow. Her aging poodle is having some major issues and she is not sure she can emotionally deal with losing two dogs too close together.

[RottiMomCT]

The Canidae may be too rich for her system - maybe a 'simpler' food such as California natural or one of the Wellness "Simple Solutions" food for dogs with allergies. There are foods out there made by Hills (NOT Science Diet) especially for IBD.

A friend of mine has IBD - not fun for her, I can only imagine what a dog must go thru - at least we humans can TALK about it and explain our symptoms to a doctor...

I did a google search and found this link: Hope it helps or at least shed some light on the problem...

IBS - Irritated Bowel Syndrome

[LavenderRott]

She has been on the Canidae for at least six months and it seemed to be fine until last month.

Will be looking for your suggestions! Thank you. I hate the dog - she is very dominant and snappy, but I really love my mom.

Mom says that previous episodes included vomiting, but these last two seemed to be much milder.

[luv2beanurse]

So sorry to hear your mother's poodle has IBS. I know EXACTLY how she feels!! My Angel has IBS. Still kinda new to all this, but I have learned lots of information from this website, from vets, and from books. Look in the archives for "Sick Rottie for six months and no diagnoses" (or something to that effect). Any who, that was my story...before, during and after she was diagnosed with IBS. My Angel is on Prednisone and Pepcid. Angel has not been able to tolerate any dog food, not even the vet prescription dog foods! So, we home-prepare her dog food. Don't laugh!! I laughed the first time someone suggested it.. but finally when nothing else worked, I tried it and was very happy and over joyed to see that my rottie was able to eat and keep her food down!! <she never had diarrhea...just LOTS of vomiting>. There is a wonderful book called "Home-Prepared Dog and Cat diets" by Dr. Strombeck. It is a book that discusses gastro-intestinal problems and the proper diets for that particular disorder. It is easy..because it has strict guidlelines as well as receipes. However, if your mother decides to do this, I suggest you start with tofu, white rice or over cooked macronic noodles, and cottage cheese. I would do this for at least three weeks or more before I tried a new food. Also keep in mind, it takes eight weeks for the dog's "system" to detoxify or clean out all that unwanted stuff from the other diet it ate... so switching to the home-prepared diet might take a week or two before you start to see the slightest change...maybe a little longer. But I urge you to buy the book (amazon carries it and so does barnes and nobles) and give it a try. There are many people on this website that have alot of experience with this disease. Moondog, god bless her soul, held my hand through my ordeal and told me exactly what to do. And she will answer any questions you may have. So definitely, any advice she gives, please try it and/or follow to a "T". I would agree about that whole cancer thing you were talking about. One of the vet's I spoke to said that if we didn't get her vomiting under control that it could lead to cancer down the line... but don't worry about the "if" "ands" or "but". Just focus on the problem at hand. Worrying about things that may or may not happen will just cause you that much more of a headache. I urge you to try the home-prepared diet. I make about a week's worth each time I cook her meals and freeze the stuff I don't use right away. I really doesn't take that much time. I promise!! Good luck honey! Please keep us updated. And if you have any questions or just want to talk.. we're here!

[Tara]

I would definitley get the dog off Canidae. We had Diesel on it and it has way to many protein sources. He has IBD. He's currently thriving on Natural Balance Duck & Potato. We find foods with one protein source...so far he's been on venison, trout, and now duck. He was on the other 2 for a bit before he started not tolerating. We also give him a 10mg pepcid 1- 2 times per day (especially when traveling).