A trip to the vet

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tnscott

Boxer Booster
It's been a while since I posted but have lurked regularly. Ever since Gretchen had her bouts with diarrhea and the vet was pretty sure it was due to separation anxiety when I traveled and prescribed a medication to give when I left, she has been very healthy. She was 2 in April.

Last Thursday morning when we got up, Gretchen's right eye was puffed up and almost swollen shut and the left swollen. Took her in and vet said it looked like she had hives, so gave her intravenous injections of a steroid and another with Benedryl. I had to go to Walmart and get Benedryl tabs to give her for 2 days also. Friday morning she looked normal but was still was not her perky self. I had noticed the past days prior she seemed to be slowing down on her eating, but she does that from time to time.

Well, my wife and I left for TX on Friday afternoon for a quick trip and had a friend stay over and take care of our 3 dogs and 3 cats. When we got home Sunday night, she said that Gretchen hadn't eaten since Saturday and had diarrahea. It was dark so couldn't see anything in the yard. She was lethargic and sort of humped up. Scared me to death.

Yesterday morning she went out and had a movement and was like bloody water. She wouldn't eat her treat and went and immediatley laid down. Called the vet, took her in, and they were immediately concerned as the stool sample showed dark blood which they said meant bleeding in the upper GI as blood had been digested. Ran radiographs and blood work and after almost $500 and 2 hours, determined as close as possible that she has Irritable bowel desease, similar to Chron's in humans and she will have to be on Science Diet ID and Pepsid AC every day for the rest of her life. No treats, human food, other food or anything. I have 5 pills to give her for the next several weeks. She is much improved today with still loose stools but no blood. We are just sick an very worried as the vet said that if in 2 weeks she has not improved they would have to do an Endoscopy and see if there may be cancer or other problems. We are just praying that even though the diagnosis now is not great, it is better than the alternatives.
 

CosmoH

Boxer Booster
Hi,

I think you mean inflammatory bowel disease? Irritable bowel syndrome is often mixed up with IBD. Crohn's and Colitis fall under the IBD umbrella. I'm sorry to hear your pup is sick with IBD. I have Crohn's so I guess I can kinda sympathize :)

The good news is that IBD is manageable with diet and medication. You'll probably find foods that trigger his symptoms more than others. You might want to keep a food diary to see what's setting off her bowels so you can avoid it. Though it's not always consistent but generally you can find those "absolutely not" foods. Hopefully it's a mild case and she'll be as good as new soon.
 

winn dixie

Super Boxer
i agree with tiffany...i too,have crohns disease,and have food triggers,and a food diary is a great idea...sending well wishes ,keep us posted...
 

tnscott

Boxer Booster
I'm sorry. You are correct. Inflammatory Bowel Disease. You mention keeping a food diary. According the vet, we are to absolutely, positively not give Gretchen anything other than Science Diet ID, either canned or dry from now on plus the Pepsid. According to my wife, they said no treats, no other foods at all. This concerns me because since she is only 2 she will get tired of that diet pretty quick I would imagine. What do you suggest I do?

As an update, I took her out for her afternoon "relief" walk and her stool was firmer with no signs of any blood, dark or fresh. Only the last portion was a little loose so am hoping that she is on the road to recovery.

What concerns me the most is that they would put such limitations on her diet so quickly. Any ideas of why they would do that and not allow any deviation at all? I want what's best for Gretchen and would hate to give her any treats or anything else and have this turn in to something even more serious. This is a real dilemma for me!
 

IluvLucy

Boxer Insane
I don't have any advice other than to do a search in the "feeding" forum to see if anyone else has experienced the same thing. It seem suspicious to me that they want to put her on that food exclusively instead of finding out what foods cause the problem. Science Diet is bad news and a lot of vets push their products because they make money from it.
 

tnscott

Boxer Booster
I don't have any advice other than to do a search in the "feeding" forum to see if anyone else has experienced the same thing. It seem suspicious to me that they want to put her on that food exclusively instead of finding out what foods cause the problem. Science Diet is bad news and a lot of vets push their products because they make money from it.

I did a search and really did find some information from other but did not find what I was hoping for I guess. To give a little background, we started out Gretchen on Chicken Soup, which she stayed on until she was about 7 months. She would get diarrhea every time I would travel and after several trips to the vet and tests, they thought it was separation anxiety and suggested switching food. We switched to Nutro Ultra and she has been on that ever since. She has not had a bout with this from that point on until last week. I would love to find an alternative to Science Diet ID but every vet I know recommends that food so will probably not get any support from them. I am also afraid of not feeding the SD ID for fear that by using something else it will continue to cause problems and may cause new ones. That is where the dilemma is.
 

ELubas

Boxer Insane
Have you checked out this thread?:
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69731&highlight=irritable+bowel

You might want to look into home cooking or even raw if you can't find a kibble she does well on. There has to be something better than the Science Diet that she can eat. It may take some time, but once her system settles down you might want to try some different foods to see what she might be able to tolerate.

I agree but for now would stay with the SD until she is well again (eating, good stool, and perky). Do you have access to a vet that specializes in nutrition? That is the route I would take to get some good advice. Agree that you want to avoid scraps, various cookies,etc as I think the most important thing is to get her stable and then see what your alternatives are. A few months of a lower grade food are tolerable if she improves. Best of luck to you
 

CosmoH

Boxer Booster
My gut reaction is that you don't need to limit her diet that much all the time. But I'm not a vet :) Going from my own experience, there will be times where yes you have to stick with the safe foods. Or as we humans have to do, go on a bland or low residue diet. AKA boring! If the Science diet is that food, then that's what you do. I find it hard to believe that she can't have any treats or anything else other than that food. You're right, she will get bored of it. Have you considered getting a second opinion? IBD is tricky and if a vet (heck a doctor) doesn't really know about it, they can make rash decisions. I bet there are vets out there who know more about it than the average vet, though they might be hard to find. Maybe someone on here knows more on that.

Winn-Dixie - sorry to hear you're in the club too ;)
 

New Mom

Super Boxer
My little Spottie is on a restricted diet due to allergies. We feed her Royal Canin Whitefish & Potato. We were also instructed to not give anything else...even treats. DH was upset by this.

What I've done is to take the canned food and spoon it into little "cookies" on a cookie sheet and bake it. It makes the house smell really bad temporarily, REALLY fishy, but she loves them and to her, they are treats.

Just a suggestion, but for us it works.

Marilyn
 
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