Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). any advice would be much appreciated

[Mrs JT]

Our 9year old has recently been diagnosed with suspected IBD.  Her main symptom is runny poos and occasional vomiting.  It can often seem that she has a flare up for no apparent reason after having done well for several weeks.  She’s also had pancreatitis a couple of times.

I’m beginning to realise this whole thing is a minefield,  and I’m simply asking if other folks with dogs who have IBD have found anything in particular to be useful?  I’m not sure if for example I should have her tested to see if she’s reacting to anything in her food? (Is there even such a test?). I’ve also read about Hydrolyzed proteins in food, and not sure if any of that is worth investigating.

Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks

[phoenix]

Is she in pain?
It's obviously still guesswork, but for a start, what do you feed her on?  After pancreatitis  you should have been given advice.   So this bout of illness is different? What colour and consistency of poo is produced? Pancreatitis can cause damage that leads to EPI(exocrine pancreatic insufficiency)...greyish fatty stools with Mr Whippy consistency .  I had a dog with this, and it is controllable with pork enzyme supplements.  It is rare, and often missed by vets.

If there is pain, blood, the runs etc there should be treatment to help this. Harmless Slippery elm powder, from Holland&Barrat etc is very helpful for a  week, giving a quarter of a Teasp. mixed with a bit of water  in the food. It smells like cinnamon,  but is ideal because it makes a mucous lining on the  gut wall, which protects it from acids,  allowing it to heal. Humans use it.  If the vet could be sure of IBD, they would have prescribed anti-inflammatories, eg a steroid.

Allergies are a huge area, so I would want to know what you use now, especially after the pancreatitis.   Hydrolized food is a temporary fix,  the food is highly processed to obliterate the protein markers. It is very very bland, and contains a lot of rice.  Prescription only.
Do pm me if you want to.

[aljeana]

I have a cocker that has had IBD since she was a few months old caused by another condition a mega oesophagus she is now 8 years old.

Jodie was diagnosied via a series of tests including a fluoroscopy where she was fed food & they watched her food go through her gut also checking for inflammation.

Jodie was diagnoised with IBD the medication has only ever been ranitidine (zantac) syrup to help with motility basically to help the gut move the food through as some IBD dogs have poor motility.
The other adviced was to feed her a noval protein food they suggested duck based kibble with rice or tapioca and to feed 4 meals a day.

We had Jodie on Millies Woolfheart Riverside for a number of years & she had been fine she is prone to bloat as sometimes due to the motility her food sits in the gut causing fermentaion, we also get regurgitation.

Recently she has suffered with some serious cases of bloat so our vet suggested we tried a more controlled produced food Hills DD duck & rice as unknown to me at the time Millies & a lot of our kibble foods are produced at the same factory & he feels that there is a risk of contamination from other foods bit like a human having a nut allergy so the food label may say there may be traces of nuts. 

He explained to the average dog its not a problem but it could be enough to trigger Jodie’s IBD, we changed to Hills DD duck & rice at the beginning of March & the results have been very encouraging no bloat attacks & Jodie has put weight on so we will keep her on this food as long as she is responding well.

I hope that helps

[Mrs JT]

Thank you very much for responses and my very belated reply

She’s been doing a bit better.  We think that the food has been quite a lot to blame and has perhaps been too rich for her.  From nearly the end of April we gradually moved her over to Purina HA kibble and she’s so far been a lot better.  Still early days I suppose.

Thanks for the tips and ideas so far and best wishes with your pooches!