Severe wt loss in 8mo old

[momtomav]

Hello.... sorry for the lengthy first post, but I am very scared right now and my husband and I feel lost. I have an 8month old boxer with "digestive absorption" issues. Just a quick history for you.
I have contacted the breeder and there are no known problems with mom or dad. Since we got Maverick he has always had softer stool. Our vet said to watch it and integrate boiled chicken and rice if the frequency continued. We went through this for months.
He was neutered on 11/22, he recovered well. However the following Saturday, 11/27/10 he had 4 hours worth of uncontrolled diarrhea. We went back to the boiled chicken and oatmeal this time, however by Thursday morning he appeared to have dropped a significant amount of weight. The vet took us in that afternoon and he had lost 7lbs since he was neutered. Thus far, we have treated for parasites (no change in symptoms), bowel inflammation, small intestine bacteria over growth (no change) and we are now on steroids for inflammation. We had an x-ray (neg for findings) had an entire blood work up which the blood panel was sent to Texas. This panel was supposed to determine a number of possible problems including: any B-Vit deficiency or pancreatic enzyme deficiency. However, everything came back within normal limits. At that point our vet (which we have 4 in one facility and our original Vet) contacted the GI vet that created this blood panel and they concluded that we should start treatment for the small intestine bacteria overgrowth (which did not show up in the panel, but thought it was worth a try to treat), then progress to the steroids if no improvements. At this point he is down 13lbs. He was already very thin and under weight to begin with. (His brothers are 65lbs at this point, per the breeder and Mav is only 37lbs)

As I'm sure you can assume, we are very scared and at this point we are open to any options. The next step is going to be a biopsy to determine IBD or Cancer.

Current food: 2 cups (1AM, 1PM) of the low res chicken and rice food by Iams and we were told to increase his overall diet to include 2 more meals in the middle of the day with 3/4c of the low res and 1/4c of our previous food which is the TOTW Pacific Stream.

Current meds: 375mg of Metronidazole (2x/day) (for inflammation), 1/3 tsp of Tylan Powder (2x/day) (for small bowl over bac growth), 10mg of Prednisone (2x/day) (for inflammation), 1 capsule of Proviable (1x/day) (as a probiotic)


Thank you for your time. I know that the holidays are a busy time of year. I appreciate any information you can share.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I would first say get off the low residue food it's crap. TOTW is fine. Secondly I will say Metronidazol GAVE my dog severe diarrhea and that didn't stop until 3-4 days after he got off of it. Have you guys just tried maybe one thing at a time? seems like his system is getting hit hard with a lot of very hard drugs all at once. How did he do on the chicken and rice? Have you tried ProZyme or a probiotic?

My boy has colitis and eats a grain free food (TOTW Pacific Stream), ProZyme, acidophilus capsules with each meal (twice a day), and psyllium and this keeps his stools nice and normal (otherwise they're cow pies) and his tummy happy. Just my experience with a dog with severe food allergies and colitis. Knock on wood we haven't had any symptoms for a good 2 1/2 years now.

Good luck!

 

[EAO76]

Is there blood in his stool? His breed & age are suggestive of Boxer Colitis or HUC (HISTIOCYTIC ULCERATIVE COLITIS). It’s a very breed specific disease and some vets don’t know about it or how to treat it. We have gotten a lot of these dogs into the rescue lately. As a matter of fact we almost lost a young female few weeks ago. She was surrendered with runny bloody stools & low body weight. Lost so much weight she almost died. After a few weeks on Baytril (enrofloxacin) & a special diet she has come around and was well enough to be adopted on Christmas Eve. I’m neither a vet nor an expert but I can tell you in the last year I have seen three or four Boxers with this condition totally turn around after the use of Baytril. Also I’d get her off the Iams. Some foods that work well are limited ingredients diets (like natural balance duck & potato), there is a prescription food is called Royal Canin HP 19 that worked wonders for a colitis dog that I know, there are also some other Rx high fiber foods that work well. (BTW Many people on this board frown upon Rx foods but they really can be a god send when trying to get this condition under control. And often the dog can eventually be weaned off the Rx food & put onto regular food once their condition is under control). Good luck!

I cut & pasted this from a website to give you more info.

This condition is also called "Boxer Colitis" because the Boxer breed seems predisposed. This form of colitis is particularly ulcerative and involves infiltration of the tender colon lining with cells called "histiocytes." These cells are the cells that are normally called into the scene of inflammation relatively late so that they can absorb the dead cells and debris that have been created by the inflammatory event.
Dogs with this condition typically show symptoms at an early age (less than 2 years) and become more debilitated by their symptoms than the usual colitis patients do. It is currently believed that this condition results from an inappropriate immune response against the common bacteria of the colon. Dogs with this form of colitis do not respond well to the usual remedies listed above but instead seem to show an excellent response to the antibiotic enrofloxacin. This antibiotic is particularly effective against gram negative bacteria (so classified because their cell wall's staining properties when tested). It has thus been inferred that these bacteria are at the root of the problem.
Histiocytic ulcerative colitis can be confirmed by biopsy though signs of colitis in a young Boxer are highly suggestive of this condition.

And here are some more threads on this topic (also you can search “colitis” and find a ton more info)
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/do...s/148154-chronic-bloody-diarrhea-colitis.html
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-health-issues-questions/149827-bjs-sick.html
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-health-issues-questions/149713-medicine-colitis.html
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-health-issues-questions/150787-huc.html
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/do.../152923-ibd-prednisone-advice-kinda-long.html

 

[momtomav]

wow... thanx for all of the info. i'm going to call our vet first thing in the AM. at this point he has said to start thinking "outside the box", since his weight loss has not been controlled. i dont want to offend him, however... this is our baby and i have a great list of questions for us to discuss!
to answer some questions... yes we have him on a "vet" probiotic its Proviable and the only time he has blood in his stool is when the diarrhea is continuous (for hours at a time). at this point, we are rating his poop at a 7/10 (10/10 is solid), kind of like frozen yogurt, however he continues to lose weight. i just cant bare to see him like this anymore.
thank you again for all of the great resources, you guys are really amazing! i will be happy to update you.

 

[gmacleod]

Has the possibility of some partial blockage/obstruction been considered? I'm not sure why your post makes me think of that (malabsorbtion issues probably seem more likely given your post), but nonetheless, that's what your post made me think of. Partial obstructions are often missed because, unlike a full obstruction, the dog still eats, drinks and defacates. However, a foreign object in the digestive tract (often things like raw hides, bullysticks, or other "chews") will cause bacterial growth and can cause the sorts of problems you describe. Perhaps something worth mentioning to your vet? IF it was the case, the steroids or other medication would have limited or no effect (and even if they did help, the symptoms would return as soon as the medication stopped - as the cause of the problem would remain).

 

[EAO76]

I think gmacleod makes a great suggestion. The HUC dogs that I have seen have very bloody diarrhea & no form to their stools so it’s a little different than what you describe. However, I’d still look into HUC as being a possibity as this condition does get progressively worse so the dogs that I have seen may have just been in more advanced stages. Good luck & please keep us posted.

 

[momtomav]

our vet was out of the office today, however we will go tomorrow to weigh him and chat. i'm going to ask about the partial obstruction. we did have an x-ray taken to r/o an obstruction, but i believe that it was to see if there was a string or metal (like a coin). however, i have had to take away all stuffed toys since i caught him eating them??? i wonder if an ultrasound would find something like what you are talking about. he is so thin right now, i'm open to trying anything if its a possible diagnosis, since at this point, i feel we are treating totally blind.
my friend (another boxer owner/lover) and i were talking today and came up with a theory...
what if he does has colitis and what if he has an intolerance to chicken? which is a diet he has always been on... even when we switched to TOTW pacific stream, which is chicken free, i would boil chicken/sweet potato and puree it for his kong, give him chicken/sweet potato biscuits and pieces of dried chicken chews. the day he had the major diarrhea explosion, which began this extreme decline in weight, i gave him 3 kongs with the chicken/sweet potato puree. also, consistent with colitis, is how it flares up with stress. he was neutered just 5 days before this huge weight loss. he also has really bad separation anxiety that seems to be getting worse.
all this being said... i dont know how all the meds he has been on hasn't improved his weight at all? Colitis is an inflammatory disease that should respond to steroids… but we have not stopped the chicken kibble (working on that by the way... getting him back to TOTW)

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I will say the only thing that helped my colitis dog was diet change his his colitis was being caused by food issues.

If you think it may be chicken then you can do beef and sweet potato or fish and sweet potato or just regular non chicken kibble and take out all chicken. It may take a couple of weeks to see any major results but you can try it out easy enough.

Good luck.

 

[prittiegirl]

Hi There,

I'm sorry for all you're going through, but you are certainly not alone!

I have an almost 10 month old boxer who we believe has collitis. The runny bright orange diarrhea, blood in the stool and cramping to the point of vomitting drove us into the vet about a month ago and that was their best guess.

We were told to put her on 4-6 small meals a day that were soaked in water. The justification for the water being that it makes the food easier to absorb in the intestines.

We had already discovered that she may be sensitive to chicken and grain (diarrhea with both), so we kept her on her Evo Salmon and Herring and are now feeding her 4 times a day (although we started with 6 very small meals every couple of hours). She is also taking 1-2 tablespoons of plain yoghurt every day - probiotic.

It has helped tremendously and cleared up the blood and loose stools within several days. She has also regained the weight that she lost, which was about 4 pounds in as many days.

Good luck with this, I know it is scary!

 

[EAO76]

Colitis is a very broad term. If its Boxer Colitis / HUC then the steroids are NOT recommended. Boxer Colitis /HUC is linked to to invasion and persistence of E. coli which (as I'm sure you know) is a nasty bacteria that only will respond to strong antibiotics (hence the Baytril). If its just a food intolerance then finding the right diet should help.

PS if it is HUC she would need to be on the Baytril for at least 6weeks.