Inflammatory Bowel Disease

[Proud Mommy]

Originally Posted by OwenandDaisy

Hello to everyone dealing with IBD in their Yorkie.

In our case, it has come to pass that IBD was not the correct diagnosis for our five year old male dog. He actually had kidney disease and he passed away today.

It is our hope that sharing the details of his illness will help someone else achieve a proper diagnosis.

First, I must make the point that Owen was our first dog. We did not recognize subtle signs in him that a more experienced owner might have realized to be kidney trouble.

Still, our misdiagnosis could well have happened to anyone.

So, here is our story:

In August of 2007 our dog began vomiting several times each day. He also had wicked diarrhea. He had thrown up many times in the past, so we were used to this and expected him to stop after two days. When he did not, we took him in for treatment.

The vet looked him over and gave him a short acting steroid and an antibiotic - believing he had eaten something (he was notorious for getting into garbage and buried treasures on a walk) that contained a chemical or other toxin.

The steroid and antibiotic ended his trouble - at least temporarily.

About a week later the vomiting began again - with some yellow bile present - and this worsened until he had to be seen at the local animal emergency. After a course of blood work and other treatment he was diagnosed with IBD or possibly a pancreas issue. He was started on a low fat diet after getting fluids from an IV and a host of helpful injections.

When the low fat diet seemed to work, and Owen returned to normal, the diagnosis of IBD seemed to fit his history of gastric troubles. He sometimes burped a bit of bile and we learned to control this with liquid Zantac.

When Owen became ill recently, we began the usual course of treatment for a flare up of IBD. We administered Zantac twice a day and gave Metachlopromide when there was vomiting. He wasn't getting better.

After four visits to the vet or emergency in 10 days, we had Owen on steroids and he was not responding. It became apparent that something more was wrong with him. We went to a new vet, ran blood work (which the emergency had refused to run the previous night stating that the blood work would be out of line due to his steroid medication) and discovered that his kidneys had completely failed.

We now clearly know that Owen had kidney disease, not IBD, but presented with symptoms of IBD. His blood work in August 07 at the emergency was actually normal with only slight elevation in creatinine.

His blood work today was off the charts and we ended his suffering peacefully.

The loss of this lovely dog at the age of five in a family where we do not have children is devastating. Our hope is that sharing our story might prevent another dog from improper diagnosis and to help people be aware that kidney disease can be diagnosed as IBD.

Thank you Owen for the joy you brought to our lives. You will never be forgotten.

I am so sorry for your loss

[Proud Mommy]

I wish you would re post this in the "In Memory of " thread so other YT members could start to help you heal it will take a while but we are here for you

RIP Little Owen

[OwenandDaisy]

Originally Posted by Proud Mommy

I wish you would re post this in the "In Memory of " thread so other YT members could start to help you heal it will take a while but we are here for you

RIP Little Owen

We will somehow heal from this. Seeing the suffering of a dog with kidney failure makes it easy to give him peace. Dealing with losing a 5 year old dog that you perhaps expected to be part of your life for 12-15 years is the part that is difficult to deal with.

We have never cried so much and have never been so close to going out in the garage for the night with the car running - but all grief eventually changes into something more bearable and we will make it.

Owen was a gentle and fun character who was full of life, loved food and could jump a mile in the air. He took good care of his sister and our home and was loved by neighbours and friends in our community. It will break local children's hearts to learn that he is gone, because he always ran up to them to say hello and make them friends. Our family members who came to think of our dogs as our kids are also filled with grief.

We will find a way to let the love he gave us guide us through this most terrible and unpredictable time. Your good wishes are appreciated and we thank everyone for their kindness in this impossible situation.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by OwenandDaisy

...The five year old is a male who has been stricken with IBD for about a year. Right now he is in the midst of a really bad episode....Food allergies are the most common cause.

Treatment: We have discovered a vegetarian diet that we will try when Owen starts eating again. Right now he is not eating and is on his second day of steroid therapy.

We believe we have discovered that he has an allergy to chicken, plus perhaps several other foods. Our hope is that keeping him away from chicken and feeding him this vegetarian diet in conjunction with the Zantac will lead to improvement.

In one past episode, he responded well to an antibiotic with a single steroid injection. I have seen some people here talk about reactions to steroids. In our case, the Prednisone actually caused instant and marked improvement in his deportment - taking him from depressed back toward normal behaviours.

I SO hope you come back to YT - I've been waiting to respond to your post, bc I needed to wait until I had a bit of time. I have a lot of experience w/ ibd/colitis/ibs/stool issues. My very first question would be: did your dog have giardia or any intestinal-related infection as a puppy? That would be key to know (as that can uncover the original cause of the "umbrella" diagnosis that is now "ibd" - which perhaps may not be "ibd" at all - but just an injured, unhealed, irritated, allergy-ridden intestine/system).

I did research till I was almost ill myself - so I know the anguish for you AND your fur baby. I was lucky enough to come across a holistic animal nutritionist - and was desperate enough to give it a try (telephone consultation). Well, after 4 months of mucousy/runny/bloody/mushy poos - she had Marcel's poos firm after 1.5 DAYS. And he was on NO medications whatsoever. I had tears in my eyes, I could not believe it. And, this was after hundreds and hundreds and hundreds at the vets.

She prescribed 2 holistic supplements, a homecooked diet (NOT vegetarian - it is white-fish based), and basically 1 follow-up phone appt. - or more appt. if I felt I needed/wanted them. The fish based diet is considered the most hypoallergenic diet you can give - it gives the system a chance to rest; it gives you a chance to give the resting system supplementation to HEAL the underlying issues that are causing the symptoms in the first place.

I cannot recommend Susan highly enough - this is her website: www.askariel.com; and this is the area of her website that talks about ibd: http://www.askariel.com/pages.asp?pi..._dogs_and_cats. You will not regret getting in touch with her, she is amazing. Tell her Marcel says a "firm" hi!

Good luck with everything, Ann