malabsorption?

[mocket1]

hi there,

does any one have a boxer who suffers from malabsorption or pancreatic insuffiency?

I own a 9 month boxer boy (Guinness) who has had problems with chronic diarrhoea. About a month ago it was really bad so the vet presribed sulfasalazine (anti-inflammatory tablets) and advised that i feed him cooked chicken and rice til his stomach settles.

He was doing really well and i started slowly introducing Burns dog food kibble in with his chicken and rice. This seemed to suit him but yesterday for no apparent reason the diarrhoea came back.

It is very watery/mucousy and he vomited too so we went back to the vet today. The vet thinks it could be a pancreatic problem as Guinness is very underweight, his ribs, spine and hip bones are all too prominent (he weighs 18kg). Blood samples were obtained so now i have to wait a couple of days for the results.

Has any one had a similar problem?

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[gmacleod]

Well, there was a post about that exact issue a couple of years ago, but unfortunately if a solution was found, the poster didn't update us. You might still find the thread useful though: http://boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51309

I'd also suggest doing a forum search using terms such as "pancreatic" as there have quite a few related issues over the years. You may be able to get some useful information that way.

It doesn't sound to me as though a kibble diet is ever likely to suit your pup. Kibble is not that easy for dogs to digest (well, not easy at all, in fact due to it's grain content), so you might find you do better sticking with the homecooking for him. Better yet, you might like to think about trying a natural raw diet - raw is the natural state for dogs to eat their food, and that's also when the nutritents are most accessible to them. Certainly worth a thought, anyway.