Cassie-
Oh Colitis... We know about it all too well in our house! Colitis is just the general term for inflammation of the colon. It can be caused by many things: Internal parasites including worms and giardia, dietary indiscretion (eating things they shouldn't, like garbage!), Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or anything that bugs the good ol' digestive tract. We had the same problems with our puppy- she would have semi-normal bowel movements (like soft serve ice cream) for about a week, and then all of a sudden she would get a bout of explosive diarrhea. Diarrhea was her only symptom- she was happy, healthy, energetic, and hungry! Then we would try a new medication or a new food, and her stool would firm up. Sometimes it would be covered in mucous (another sign of colitis). Then a week later it would all start again. We had her tested for giardia, fecal tests for round worms, whipworms, etc., we had her on a dozen different medications (metronidazole, sulfasalazine, etc.) and prescription foods (eukanuba low residue, science diet i/d, etc.) and new regular foods (Nutro, Solid Gold, California Natural). She came up negative for everything, and all of the foods and meds were like band-aids. I did not want her on a prescription diet forever because she was so young and because the ingredients suck (to put it nicely). My vet (who I really do trust, but I had to go with my gut feeling) wanted to keep her on meds forever. I knew it wasn't inflammatory bowel disease or chronic colitis (which some dogs do have). The vet wanted to do a biopsy for inflammatory bowel disease, but I wasn't convinced. I knew she did well on the eukanuba low residue, so I started researching different kinds of dog food that had similar ingredients. Since low residue has chicken and rice, and she was fine on that, I found a food with chicken and rice in it. It's called Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and Rice, and I should be their spokeswoman ( www.eaglepack.com ). Summer's first bowel movement after starting the Eagle Pack was the most perfect poop I had ever seen. She has not have a single bout of diarrhea since.
Sorry about the long history. Okay, the vet gave you science diet w/d which is a weight loss food, but commonly given to dogs with digestive problems that will repsond to an increase in fiber. People give their dogs canned pumpkin for the same reason... some poop problems get better with more fiber. I would definately bring in a poop sample to your vet tomorrow. If its not worms, it could be giardia. Giardia cysts often do not show up in a fecal sample that is run at your vet office (a fecal floatation). We had our poop sample sent out to the lab to have it tested for giardia (to rule it out). If you do this, make sure it is the ELISA giardia test. I would guess that your vet may prescribe metronidazole. It has mild antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties, so it will reduce the inflammation in your poor pups colon and hopefully kill any bad bacteria. I would also give a pro-biotic to try to fix the imbalance of bacteria. They get what is called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) that also can cause colitis because the good bacteria in the system is out of whack. You can find them online or in some pet stores.
Once you rule out worms and giardia, I would switch foods. Something hypoallergenic may work. But, if I had to do it all over again, I would try different foods before medicating the dog.
With Summer, I really think she is allergic to wheat and beef. She hasn't been tested for allergies (that was going to be the next step) but if she has anything with beef or wheat in it, her stool gets soft. Eagle Pack holistic chicken and rice, and many of their other varieties are wheat free. Common allergens are wheat, corn, beef, chicken, dairy. She eats Buddy Biscuits Veggie Madness treats which are wheat and corn free. It's not that bad, she just can't eat steak and we have to be careful about what we buy her at the pet store! She stills gets lots of treats though- buddy biscuits, dried chicken breasts, cheese from a can, etc.
I am VERY sorry about this excessively long post! And I'm sorry to those of you who have read our saga before! I hope this helps though. Please keep us posted and let us know what the vet says. It's no fun with a sick puppy, and I remember those sleepless nights. I hope he gets better.
Oh Colitis... We know about it all too well in our house! Colitis is just the general term for inflammation of the colon. It can be caused by many things: Internal parasites including worms and giardia, dietary indiscretion (eating things they shouldn't, like garbage!), Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or anything that bugs the good ol' digestive tract. We had the same problems with our puppy- she would have semi-normal bowel movements (like soft serve ice cream) for about a week, and then all of a sudden she would get a bout of explosive diarrhea. Diarrhea was her only symptom- she was happy, healthy, energetic, and hungry! Then we would try a new medication or a new food, and her stool would firm up. Sometimes it would be covered in mucous (another sign of colitis). Then a week later it would all start again. We had her tested for giardia, fecal tests for round worms, whipworms, etc., we had her on a dozen different medications (metronidazole, sulfasalazine, etc.) and prescription foods (eukanuba low residue, science diet i/d, etc.) and new regular foods (Nutro, Solid Gold, California Natural). She came up negative for everything, and all of the foods and meds were like band-aids. I did not want her on a prescription diet forever because she was so young and because the ingredients suck (to put it nicely). My vet (who I really do trust, but I had to go with my gut feeling) wanted to keep her on meds forever. I knew it wasn't inflammatory bowel disease or chronic colitis (which some dogs do have). The vet wanted to do a biopsy for inflammatory bowel disease, but I wasn't convinced. I knew she did well on the eukanuba low residue, so I started researching different kinds of dog food that had similar ingredients. Since low residue has chicken and rice, and she was fine on that, I found a food with chicken and rice in it. It's called Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and Rice, and I should be their spokeswoman ( www.eaglepack.com ). Summer's first bowel movement after starting the Eagle Pack was the most perfect poop I had ever seen. She has not have a single bout of diarrhea since.
Sorry about the long history. Okay, the vet gave you science diet w/d which is a weight loss food, but commonly given to dogs with digestive problems that will repsond to an increase in fiber. People give their dogs canned pumpkin for the same reason... some poop problems get better with more fiber. I would definately bring in a poop sample to your vet tomorrow. If its not worms, it could be giardia. Giardia cysts often do not show up in a fecal sample that is run at your vet office (a fecal floatation). We had our poop sample sent out to the lab to have it tested for giardia (to rule it out). If you do this, make sure it is the ELISA giardia test. I would guess that your vet may prescribe metronidazole. It has mild antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties, so it will reduce the inflammation in your poor pups colon and hopefully kill any bad bacteria. I would also give a pro-biotic to try to fix the imbalance of bacteria. They get what is called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) that also can cause colitis because the good bacteria in the system is out of whack. You can find them online or in some pet stores.
Once you rule out worms and giardia, I would switch foods. Something hypoallergenic may work. But, if I had to do it all over again, I would try different foods before medicating the dog.
With Summer, I really think she is allergic to wheat and beef. She hasn't been tested for allergies (that was going to be the next step) but if she has anything with beef or wheat in it, her stool gets soft. Eagle Pack holistic chicken and rice, and many of their other varieties are wheat free. Common allergens are wheat, corn, beef, chicken, dairy. She eats Buddy Biscuits Veggie Madness treats which are wheat and corn free. It's not that bad, she just can't eat steak and we have to be careful about what we buy her at the pet store! She stills gets lots of treats though- buddy biscuits, dried chicken breasts, cheese from a can, etc.
I am VERY sorry about this excessively long post! And I'm sorry to those of you who have read our saga before! I hope this helps though. Please keep us posted and let us know what the vet says. It's no fun with a sick puppy, and I remember those sleepless nights. I hope he gets better.
