I posted here earlier this year when I was diagnosed with IBS and then everyone realized (Docs and me) that I've had it as far back as my teen years when I was told I had a spastic colon and put on a diet with a lot of restrictions. Its still touch and go on a week to week basis but I feel a 100% better and seem to have things under control most of the time. Stress of our business is a big complication factor and now its re-learning to cope with that not to upset my IBS as the diet part is doing good.
Both my daugthers are in their 20's have suffered the IBS symptoms with their periods for years.. I've turned them onto the teas and they both say its a great help at that time. Also when their lives are a large stress mode as well and it irritates their bowels. Thanks for the products which are NOT drugs - I'm not a big believer in medicating everything that ails one if not necessary.
My oldest daugther is in the Vet Field as a degreed/licensed Veterniary Technican.. needless to say her own home looks like the animal rescue center with dogs, cats and ferrets she's taken as abandoned rescues and made part of her family. Her husband's favorite is a female boxer they took custody of about a year ago when her owner could not take her to his new home/job. She's always been a picky eater being spoiled rotten by her first owner and not liking the strict diet routine my daugther institutes for the animal's longevity and health.
The female is very highly strung and upsets easily which like us as people can often have a direct effect on her digestive system and bowels.
My daugther advised about a month ago that Nia was very ill and they could not figure out why.. she had her to work off and on all week running every test imaginable and everything was coming up negative. She had NO appetitie and had to be force fed, even turned her nose up at her favorites... she has a continual gassy distended stomach and diarrhea no matter what she was given to eat. Then she started to exhibit vomiting and started to loss weight so quickly within a few weeks she looked emaciated and abused although she was getting top notch vet care 24 hours a day between home and going to work with her owner. They kept switching her to the "allergy foods and diets" thinking it was an extreme case of food allergy. Daughter said the oddest thing was she reacted violently to the most non allergic foods used (lamb, rice, venison) and was only tolerating in very small amounts ground beef, beef is one of the most allergic proteins for dogs, we've been down that road with a few of ours over the years as well.
My daugther feared she had a intestional tumor that is very consistent with the boxer breed due to genetic problems over the years from inbreeding by the breeders and was quite upset thinking the only solution was to have her put down at such an early age. She finally consulted with the owner of the practice who agreed it sounded like the tumor situation but had an idea (one which I posed to her also) and scheduled her dog for both film and ultrasound tests by the specialitist that comes to their practice once a week. They showed no distinct tumor or mass and none of the tumor blood tests came back positive either. After a long consult with her boss, and 2 other specialists reviewing all the tests and results over the past 3- 4 weeks the internist concluded it was a rare instance of CANINE IBD - dog irritable bowel disorder !
My daugther's reaction was MY MOM HAS IBS is it the same thing ? Basically yes was the reply to her - we will try to control it with diet and a mild steroid to calm her intestinal tract at this point which is so irritated it will not take much to set her back into the course of what she's been through these past weeks. That was a week ago...
I talked with my daugther last night and asked how Nia was doing... FINE , GREAT was her reply... within hours of her first dose of the medicine she was begging at her dish, the first time in over a month... she would eat ravenously whatever I was giving her which is a specialty food in small does every couple of hours. In less than a week she's started to put weight back on and her coat looks more normal and not like I"m abusing my dog. She devours everything in sight and I had to chase her out of the cat's food and the ferret food which she would have turned her nose up at otherwise. The vets at work are doing a write
on Nia since she is one of the few dogs they've seen and treated for IBD over the years. WE're hoping the steroid is only an interim need and I will start to wean her slowly off it by decreasing the dose weekly until she's off of it in 3 weeks. Then the test .. if she can eat successfully on this new diet with no problems we should be OK, but if she has immediate flare ups and severe then she will have to go back onto the steroids with the food for an unnamed amount of time and we will have to take it month by month, but she is back to her playful self and eating and that is the biggest concern right now.
For the record, I get yelled at by my daugther often for giving our dogs "treats" as in people food, hers get their prescription DRY food and water and that's it - their occassional treat they love are baby carrots and a specialized dog treat or chew bone once a day if they want it. The cat and ferrets are on dry food as well so they have little to no interaction with what we eat as humans which is usually the biggest offender in their diets for both digestive problems as well as weight related problems.
I knew dogs and cats got diabetes like humans but never realized they could suffer IBS symptons as badly as we do also.
--------------------
*There are 2 theories toward victory if arguing with women. Neither one works*
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
IBS and Dogs as well as people
