Once again, our beloved Sadie has found a way to get us to make her special food. Specifically, she now gets rice, pasta, hard-boiled eggs, and cottage cheese. I kid you not, a couple of times this past week she has eaten better than us.
It all started with her having diarrhea. Nothing she couldn’t control; we didn’t have any accidents in the house or anything – but we sure did leave some unsightly messes on the neighbor’s lawns during our walks. So we contacted our vet, told him what was going on, and the new diet was prescribed. The goal, we learned, was to alter the flora in Sadie’s gastro-intestinal tract.
We did this for almost a week with success, and were then told to slowly blend in her regular food. Even with the most minor amounts, we went right back to the original problem. So we went back to just the rice, pasta, hard-boiled eggs and cottage cheese, but this time were instructed to add a small amount of fiber ( about a quarter-teaspoon of unflavored Metamucil) to her meals. This sounds completely contradictory to our goal, but we’ve been doing it. The results are mixed. Other than her poo turning bright yellow (to be expected, we’ve learned), it’s still not quite as solid as we’d hope. It’s better, just not exactly ‘normal’.
At this time we’re again consulting her veterinarian for next steps. We’d really like to get her back on normal food before we leave her with Dana’s folks during our upcoming vacation. Of course, her ‘grandma’ just might like cooking for Sadie… ïŠ
Update soon..
So another week has passed and Sadie’s progress is questionable. The vet has conceded it’s time for a stool sample. The trick is it must be no more than 8 hours from the time it’s collected to dropping it off for the vet to examine. Once again, we become aware of how good we have it with Sadie as she takes care of herself and utilizes the back yard whenever necessary. Now we have to lock her in and chase her around. Yesterday was a bust and we didn’t get anything until the evening. This morning we had some success so now I have the pleasure of driving around with a bag of crap in my truck. I’ll drop it off during the lunch hour and hope we get a positive result. I guess we’re torn. We’d like to learn something which can be addressed and fixed, but we certainly don’t want to hear it’s something major.
Results will be shared as soon as available…
So we got the results back, and it was determined she had a low percentage of the good bacteria, and a higher than desired percentage of the bad bacteria. A basic antibiotic called Metronidazole was prescribed to lower the bad bacteria. She got a 500 mg pill twice a day for 5 days, and the early results were positive. We were seeing more-normal stool samples and started blending back in her normal food. Assuming all was well and on the right track, we stopped paying close attention after the first few days. A couple of days after the antibiotic regiment was over we were back where we started with diarrhea and such again.
Unfortunately, this coincided with her regular Veterinarian going on vacation, so one of his colleagues at the office was consulted and he prescribed a secondary round of another antibiotic. This time it was Tylan Powder Capsules. 1 pill, twice a day, for 14 days. I looked it up online, and it is used to treat inflammation in the large colon, also referred to as Colitis. (I looked up Colitis and found the available information on the internet to be quite accurate when describing her symptoms, etc.) When it was prescribed, the vet told us he expected to see immediate positive results in the first 72 hours. If not, bringing her in for a look would be advised.
Once again, we saw early results and were confident all was well. So we dropped Sadie off at Dana’s parent’s house, with her regular food and new pills, and took off for a week in Mexico. Upon returning, Dana’s mom told us Sadie’s diet was good most of the week, and only the last day or two did she seem a bit lethargic. So we brought her home and again resumed monitoring her diet input, and output, so to speak.
Wouldn’t you know it, once we got her home she basically stopped eating and was again sharing loose stool samples. A couple more email exchanges with her vet and we were up bright and early on a Saturday morning to bring her to the office. This time a fresh sample was extracted from Sadie (don’t ask me how as I chose to not know as well) and again all that could be determined is her bad bacteria count is a bit high and her good bacteria (probiotic) was low.
So now we have a new plan. We’re again going with the bland diet, but this time it’s with actual dog food. Best part is we were able to score free samples from the vet’s office. The food is made by Purina and is called EN Gastroenteric. We have both the canned and dry formulas. To this we’re adding a probiotic powder called FortiFlora to her food once a day. We’re starting with only the canned food for the first two days, and will then add in the dry. After two weeks with the new food only, we’ll again blend back in her regular food, all the while using the powder for a full 30 days. Our fingers are crossed this is the trick.
The saga continues….
Sadie typically only eats a cup of food in the morning and a second cup in the evening. We use a bit of wet food to sneak in her regular doses of thyroid medicine (Soloxine) and her PPA (don’t ask me to spell that one out here).
With her new bland food, we were instructed to give her a whole can in the morning, and a second can in the evening. This is a LOT of food for Sadie. The first day went great. After not eating at all for a day on Friday, she quickly gulped the first can and loved the FortiFlora powder. We even got the second can down that evening. Sunday morning was another story. She wouldn’t even touch the food other than licking off the powder. This continued all day Sunday, with no luck in the evening, and again on Monday morning. Not knowing which was worse, either her eating the new dry food already or not eating at all, we opted to give her some of the dry and she did eat it. We sent a note to her vet and he agreed this would be for the best.
So tonight will be her second full serving of the dry food. We’re told she should have 3-4 cups per day but are still not convinced. We’ll give it to her, but it’s not likely she’ll consume that much.
Alright, here we are after 2 weeks. The dry food is no longer a favorite and she’s barely eating any of it at all. We can only assume since anything/everything is making her sick, she associates that with the particular food and simply doesn’t like it.
So… we again emailed her vet, gave her the update (the diarrhea also continues, along with frequent puking), and he’s not decided to try a ‘non-grain’ diet as well as a new protein source. The result is the Blue Wilderness grain free salmon formula. As he has shared, no grains = good for the GI tract (bit of a surprise since we were previously pushing rice on her), and the salmon is a different protein source. (Chicken and lamb were the staples up to this point.) We’re also going to chase down another stool sample to bring in for testing. Following that, and no progress, we’ll go with a blood test to check for inflammatory bowel disease. <
No surprise, but the new food is an immediate hit. The poor thing is likely quite hungry and this food is not yet known, by her, to make her sick. We’ll see how the weekend goes.
But wait, there’s more…
So we have an update after another visit to the vet today. But as I review this, I thought it might be useful for a brief (if possible), recap…
It all started a little over 6 weeks ago when during a walk we noticed Sadie has some fairly severe diarrhea. We contacted her vet, and this is how it started:
Step 1: Switch to a bland diet of rice, pasta, cottage cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Saw early progress and then we were back to where we started.
Step 2: Add in an antibiotic for 5 days. Still stuck with the bland diet, but tossed in some fiber (metamucil and then bran cereal). Again saw early results, stopped paying attention for a few days, but then realized we were still having the same issues.
Step 3: Still with the bland diet, but tried second anti-biotic. This one was mostly for inflammation of the large intestine (colitis). No noticeable change.
Step 4: Switch the people-food bland diet for a dog-food prescription bland diet. She loved it for about a day or two, but then basically refused to eat it anymore. No change.
Step 5: Since she wasn’t eating the food, we got her another ‘specialty food’. No prescription and you can grab it at a pet store like Petsmart, but again she only liked it for about a day and a half.
Step 6: This is where we’re at now..
So after her basically not eating the better part of this week, (She will eat the wet food, and exhibits an appetite, but won’t touch any of the 3 or 4 dry foods we now have in possession for her) we again visited the vet for a check-up. Good news, and quite surprisingly, she really hasn’t lost much weight. She’s down to 42.8 lbs. 45 is about where we’d like her, and that’s still fit and trim.
So today we again shared a stool sample, got some blood taken, and even did an ultrasound on her small intestine. Now, Sadie’s vet is Dr. Herman at the Belcaro Animal Hospital in Denver. He is simply one of the greatest vets we’ve ever taken her to. The nicest thing is he doesn’t immediately whip out his prescription pad and make you buy a bunch of drugs, do a bunch of tests, and spend a ton of money. He starts simple and slow to eliminate all the options and possibilities. You can see this in the process documented above. Sadie, in her diva-like ways, of course, demands all the attention she can get. Simple and slow, unfortunately, is just not her style. So check out today’s list of charges:
1. Total Health Plus. $109. This is basically just the time to bring her in and have her looked at.
2. Canine GI Panel. $182. This was for her ultrasound and blood tests.
3. Doxycycline, 100 mg. $15.20. This is her newest antibiotic in an attempt to remove the extra build up of bad bacteria in the lower intestine and allow the good bacteria to grow.
4. Free Nail Trim. (While they have her back there for the blood draw and ultrasound, I asked if he’d trim her nails since they are much more aggressive than I am and do a much better job. They are awesome about this.)
So for $306.20 I am out the door today and we await the results of the blood test. Oh yeah, and she also got a shot of vitamin B in an effort to spark her appetite and improve her mood. (BTW, if your dog gets a vitamin B shot, don’t freak out if later that day you notice her urine is pink/red. This is just the vitamin B and perfectly normal. It’s NOT blood.)
On Thursday we hope to see if her B count was down (I understand this may indicate it’s a bacteria issue.) We’ll also know if they is maybe an issue with her thyroid. She does take medication for hypo-thyroid and has for years. It may be related to her need for an adjustment in dosage. Other than that, we’re looking at and considering possible issues with the lower intestine (inflammatory bowel disease, I believe), and maybe a pancreatic issue.
Fingers crossed for good, or at least ‘simple’ news….
Well… crap. It’s not good. I’m starting a new post as this has taken a bad turn for all of us.
