daccydog Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Hello everyone is there any one on here, that there dog has suffered with colitis and there ongoing treatment I want to compare notes thankyou DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) My dog's had colitis. I tend to find that some Vet's reference to it is as though it is a diagnosis of the problem. In my humble opinion (I'm not a Vet) I think it is merely the name for the evidence of something having caused an irritation to the bowel. It is the "something" that is the more important to know, than the colitis itself, if that makes sense. Consequently I think that one person's remedy is not necessarily going to remedy or even be good for your dog and therefore a "comparison of notes" I don't think will help much. Pardon me to all the good Vets, but it seems to me that a common response to colitis is the administration of anti-biotics. Perhaps in more than some cases that is what is required, but in the absence of taking fecal samples to determine the necessity of it, IMO it isn't a good way to go. In fact, I can't see why or how the anti-biotics themselves might not irritate the stomach/bowel even more than it already is. I'm happy to stand corrected if I have the wrong end of the stick in that respect. But that aside, if the anti-biotics are not necessary then all we are doing is supporting a resistence to the drugs so that they aren't going to be as effective when we most need them. In my boy's case we still don't know the cause of all his upsets at this stage (the first sign of it all being the colitis - all blood tests, which were numerous - have proven clear) but we are on a food diet program designed to detox his body to see if that will rectify things. He doesn't have colitis so much in the more recent times, but his stools are intermittently runny (albeit that the ones in between are much better and they are 'good' more frequently than otherwise). However, all his treatment (prescribed by a Vet) is designed to remain drug and chemical free. Edited June 21, 2009 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowanbree Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I very nearly lost my Mac to this. We had tried everything the vet could throw at us and nothing helped, he had basically lost all control of his bowels. The vet told me to pts but as a last shot I contacted a homeopath. She asked me to blood test him and run a T4 which showed his thyroid was extremely low. He had a complete diet change, started thyroid meds and was on 2 mixtures from the homeopath as well as probotics. He is about 95% better, still has the occasional bout but currently other than thyroid meds it is controlled by diet. Also cleared up most of his skin issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I agree it is an interesting problem. One of my dogs had always had what I would call a "sensitive stomach". She used to vomit every now and then, and had bouts of diahorrea and also a hard, bloated stomach and all this gradually got worse the older she got. Initially it was diagnosed by the vet as just being something she had eaten or a stomach bug. However, she was diagnosed by the vet as having colitis about 6 mths ago after going through a very bad period and had bloods done but no other problems were evident. I have been feeding her on Eukanuba I/D Low Residue diet for some time now and she has had no problems with vomiting or diahorrea whilst she is on that. It certainly does keep all the obvious symptoms at bay but I still have a sneaking suspicion that she sometimes gets stomach cramps. I know if I give her a chicken neck or anything else other than bland food, she will have a stomach upset. She has always been a good eater and inclined to put on weight quite easily, something I thought may have made her problems worse over the years. I am now considering trying her on Dr. B's BARF Kangaroo diet as they say this is suitable for dogs with pancreatitis. Personally whilst I found the vets opinion helpful in pointing me in the right direction, I think that it is still a matter of trial an error on my part to find what suits my dog best and what she can tolerate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daccydog Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 Thankyou for your replies my boys problem has gone off/on for 6 mths , and I truely believe he has a low immune system , since he was a puppy there has always been problems with different food ,but not to the extent he has now, he is 5yrs old now Anyway he spent all of last week in hospital on a drip and antibotic meds , came home saturday much better ( thought we were going to lose him)in the early part of the week our vet diagnosed him in January and has done bloods and fecal test with nothing showing up, he is now on science diet zd only, i've read a lot of negetive reports about this product though, In may he had another very light bout of collitis , so i tried a different vet , she suggested feeding eukanuba f/p fish and potato , which i did but after a few weeks of this diet this latest servere bout came upon him again , so it was back to my original vet , after spending lots of dollars and gettting the same result anyway again thankyou for you input , perhaps i should try outside the circle to a homeopath, it is so confusing and hard to deal with when you think that youve always done your very best with diets , DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I had adog who suffered from it for 14 yrs. She would have major/minor attacks .When bad she went on tribacterial when minor we let her system deal with it. We would give her a pro biotic at that time . Her diet was very simple & plain & she thrived .If she was given anything fancy or rich there would be an attack. We did find the best thing for her was "apples".It seems apples help with the acid build up & it worked a treat for her & she was apple obsessed anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) Daccydog ..... are you in Victoria? I'd recommend you go to see Dr. Bruce Syme in Castlemaine. He is a Vet, but he has an "avoid drugs and chemicals if possible" attitude. He is the founder of "Vets All Natural" and understands the internal workings of a dog extremely well. It is a two hour drive for me to get to him, but IMO on each of the occasions I have needed to (for two different dogs) it has been very well worth it. He will most likely recommend you to the VAN product "Allerblend" which is a mixture of 100% preservative free Roo mince and a small proportion of the VAN complete mix, together with other things. HOWEVER, I have known him to not suggest that diet when it wasn't what the dog needed, so he's not a "one size fits all" person either. Edited June 21, 2009 by Erny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redarachnid Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) My 11.5yo afghan girl has collitis. She was always a "sickly" dog and always had a sensitive stomach and often vomiting food back up. About 4 years ago she was REALLY bad... diarhoea, vomiting, very frail, depressed and thin. Ther local vets were USELESS and just kept giving me Lectade and anti-diarhoea solution. Even told me to give her aloe vera juice!! Well this went on for several months even with me carrying on saying "you have to be able to do something, she's slowly dying!!!" Still they were no help. I went to another vet in desperation, on referral from a friend also with afghans. He ran tests, examined her and diagnosed her with collitis immediately. Put her on a 10 day course of cortisone and she was good as new in a few days. Every 3mths or so, it flares up and she has a course of cortisone and is fine again usually within 24hrs. Why the previous vet couldn't have done this is beyond me. Now she lives on a diet of Royal Canin Senior dry food and small amounts of lean chicken or roo. She is healthy and plump and has great quality of life now. Over all this time i have worked out what she can and cannot tolerate and her menu is very limited. Virtually no treats...small cheese or chicken treats only. Nothing else human or dog wise. This has worked so well for her, but as someone stated, it may not be right for you. Wishing you the best of luck with your dog. Edited June 21, 2009 by redarachnid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daccydog Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 redarachnid thanks for reply my dog has also been on many antibotic tablets , including cortisone like you I went to another vet in complete desperation , well he has been home for a week now appears to be ok,but still on medication so its fingers crossed there isnt anther flare up soon, DD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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