Does Champ have Boxer colitis?

[Champthedog]

He has been sick for a few weeks now. Fever of unknown origin is what the vet says. He's had fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, diarrhea, weight loss, head tremors. The vet started with antibiotics then went to another antibiotic, anti fungals and now steroids. All the blood work is normal. He tested negative for Valley Fever and tick fever. It's so frustrating because we don't know how to help him. Oh yeah, I had him on bland diet for a while. Now he's back to eating his dry food....Nutro lamb and rice. This morning he went in for a rectal swab to test for colitis.

We won't know the results for 4-7 days, but vet says it won't go away unless treated with baytril or like drug depending on if that's what he has.

I saw some other threads from a couple of months back on this subject. Have your dogs recovered from this or does anybody have experience with these symptoms?

I'd appreciate any feedback and not to mention it's getting very expensive. We love the little guy, but this issue has cost us about $1,000 so far. Help!

Thanks!

 

[teresalg]

re; boxer colitis

I read your post and have a question - how is a rectal swab going to diagnose colitis? I had a male boxer who had boxer colitis his whole life - started at 6 months and he died just short of age 10 and it was diagnosed by upper and lower GI where the bowel can be scoped and biopsied. This might be a new method but hang in there - it is a tough disease but can be managed - sometimes by trial and error.

 

[Champthedog]

I'm not sure...

Your guess is as good as mine. I think the vet is at a loss as to why he is sick for so long and she found something about young male boxers getting colitis.

As to how a swab can determine that? I asked that question and she told me the lab can determine which bacteria are normal and which are not. Therefore, if it will respond to meds and which one. Personally, I'm not convinced this is what he has.

How did you deal with it? Any advice would be helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my post.

I just want Champ to feel better. He's such a young dog and we love him, but getting to a diagnosis is getting frustrating. He was a rescue so unfortunately we don't know any of his past medical history.

 

[Champthedog]

Boxer colitis it is

We got word today that Champ does in fact have the boxer colitis. Six weeks of meds for the little guy. Hope he gets better soon.

 

[teresalg]

re; boxer colitis

sorry to hear that it is indeed boxer colitis. We dealt with it by taking one day at a time. At one point early on we had a very severe bout of pancreatitis due to steroids that occurred due to my dogs severe skin allergies so that eliminated any future use of steroids. Because Gus had so many problems it was always a case of trial and error trying to manage eliminating or decreasing the diarrhea, keeping his appetite up and stopping the itching. The best was when we used a single source protein food source and I also used the same thing for treats - we used venison. If you like and trust your vet as I did - I did my own research and often would share it with my vet and and vice versa. Although Gus finally died last September - he lived almost 10 years with so many severe problems and looking back - he had a long and wonderful life and although he is greatly missed - I wouldn't have changed a thing.

 

[Champthedog]

Looks like Valley Fever also!

Last weekend we took Champ to a different vet because he was doing so poorly. The colitis is under control, but he still had so many symptoms. Upon doing xrays, we found that one half of his lung was filled with fluid. Now he has started the fluconazole and is a completely different dog! Haven't gotten the blood titer results back, but considering the complete turnaround, I'm going to have to agree with the Valley Fever diagnosis. We are so glad the little guy is feeling better!

 

[bucksteemom2]

My boxer Steeler has colitis and pancreatitis. He is six and doing great He was on salfasalazine for years but it stopped working. He now takes 20mg of famotidine tablets a day along with a no grain diet of Natural Balance sweet potato and fish. He gets 2 tbs of yogurt in his food each day which also helps create good bacteria in his system. He is also only drinks Culligan drinking water. All these daily routines have helped keep him stable and regular. He has a bad spell every once in a while but on that day we double his meds, take his food away for a meal and he goes back to normal Best of luck to you and hope you can find a routine that works for Champ!!

 

[momtomav]

Hi, I have a 10 mo old who suffered from severe diarrhea and weight loss, we first started really struggling with diarrhea at 6 mo old. The long and the short of it... all test came back normal. Some came back slightly altered, so the vet ran with it and treated. However, in the end... he has a severe allergy to chicken and colitis! We were led in so many directions, so I can understand the frustration and fear. You may want to try a food that had ingredients he has never had. And I suggest that you go ALL the way down the line of ingredients... just because it says fish formula, it my (and probably does) still have chicken, or beef... It honestly sounds like he could have a number of things going on. The best advice I can give is to try to get the symptoms under control so that they can try to find out what the underlying cause is. Mav was on soooo many meds, including the steroids that, the side effects gave the vets a run around. Oh yeah... and I suggest keeping a can of pumpkin on hand at all times for the colitis... we actually fill it in his toys and he thinks it’s a treat.
Good luck!