# Dog with IBD and bloated stomach



## lisajh29 (Feb 5, 2011)

HI, I have just joined the forums. Im called Lisa and I have a gorgeous Golden Retriever called Meg who is now nearly 12.

A couple of years ago, she became very depressed and lethargic, off her food and very bloated. After Xrays and numerous tests all cam back inconclusive, the vet said she has IBD (they originally thought it could be intestinal cancer). She was put on prednisolone and has been on it ever since though we have tried to manager to keep her on the lowest dose possible (was 1 a day at a point). She also is fed Royal Canin gastro intestinal low fat dry food (as she is overweight and we have been battling in vain to get her weight down).
The last couple of weeks she has taken a turn for the worse. She is in pain, stomach bloated, very lethargic, panting lots, drinking lots, restless and groaning very loudly when trying to lie down. He breathing has also sounded strange, very shallow and raspy. After a wasted trip to the vets on Tuesday (new vet, no idea of her history) she though she might have a bit of a chest infection and prescribed antibiotics and decongestants which did no good whatsoever (£130 down the drain!!!). She was getting worse so we saw our usual vet this morning who is at a bit of a loss, especially as we don't want her going through any more Xrays, endoscopy etc. She has athritis and was in a lot of pain after it before. He has prescribed antepsin and zantac and is hoping this will calm down her stomach and said it could be a thickeneing of the stomach due to long term steroid use. She is still eating and is still doing the toilet which is a good sign. But we are soaking her dried food now and she is getting 3 small meals of this per day as we are too scared to give her anything else. Basically we are giving it one week before we see the vet again. I am praying that we are going to see an improvement in the next couple of days, toherwise we have been told there is not much else that can be done for her.

I was posting this in the hope there is anyone else who has gone through this could offer any advice.

Thanks


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## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Oh poor girl. 

I don't have any experience of IBD, so can offer no advice i'm afraid. I don't feed dry either I feed raw, so again no help. As I have a dislike of most commercial food I wonder if dry is a bit harsh on her stomch, perhaps more difficult to digest then wet. Just a thought and wonder if a wet food may be a little easier on her stomach now - or even a home cooked diet.

Hope she responds to the zantac and is feeling better soon.


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2011)

Our Chesapeake nearly died of this when he was about 2 years old. He was also on Pred for a while but it didn't seem to help his condition and bought up so many other problems, like hair loss and his pads started to fall off 
He still gets the odd bout but we are onto it immediately and he rarely gets beyond the point of just an uncomfortable tum for a few days.
What works for him is, Sulfasalazine tablets, Metronidazole and Pro Kolin paste.
For the last couple of years the Sulfasalazine and paste have been enough 
He is fed exclusively on Chappie original tinned food, but I wouldn't for one minute suggest you changed food unless it was life or death 

I really hope you can get some help from my post, I know how helpless you can feel trying to cope with this condition


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## lisajh29 (Feb 5, 2011)

oh, thank you for your support. The food she gets is because she was getting a bloated tummy with all different foods and also because she needed to loase weight. This food was recommended by the vet as the gentlest on her system and easy for her to digest. That said, we have taken to saoking it and its frightening how much it swells!! So now at least we are doing it before it goes into her system. She went for a short walk this evening which is an encouraging sign. If we see improvement we are going to give her some tuna or plain chicken. I wanted to give her that tomorrow but we are too scared to make any changes to her diet yet.


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2011)

On my limited knowledge of this condition, I have found this article the most informative

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in Dogs


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## lisajh29 (Feb 5, 2011)

reading that link confuses me even more as she doesn't have most of those symptoms. She rarely gets diaorrhea, no mucus and no vomiting. I am getting slightly frustrated with the vets as they did full tests and Xrays a couple of years ago, and as they couldnt see a tumour anywhere, everything came back as inconclusive - so they are pretty much working on educated guess work. That said, they did say they could take her and take several biopsies but we made the decision not to. She was 10 years old and just the day of Xrays etc really took it out of her (she has athritis and couldn't move for a couple of days following the Xrays). She is also very skittish and timid and the vet said she was really stressed. This time we have also refused for her have to have more Xrays etc so we are very much working on this as being palliative care. That said, my parents just visited and said they noticed an big improvement in her so fingers crossed!!!


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2011)

Not all dogs will have all of those symptoms, it does depend on the extent and part of the bowel which is affected.
You say that yours doesn't have Diarrhea, so what are the symptoms? 
Is it just this swollen stomach?


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## paddyjulie (May 9, 2009)

hi ..can't really advise but.. not sure if you know that ROyal canin do a wet LF gastro intestinal food...this was very good for mavis when she had problems last year


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## lisajh29 (Feb 5, 2011)

hi, yes its predominantly the bloating. Her stomach at night goes crazy, loads of gurgling promptly followed by lots of parping!!! She suffer constipation now and again too but hardly ever diaorrhea. Fro her scans, its her intestines (stomach looked okay), the intestines were very thick in places and she had a couple of hairpin bends which the vet said were very extreme (and in fact asked if she could use these in her lectures). He scans showed she had a lot of gas and faeces in her system.


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## lisajh29 (Feb 5, 2011)

paddyjulie said:


> hi ..can't really advise but.. not sure if you know that ROyal canin do a wet LF gastro intestinal food...this was very good for mavis when she had problems last year


hi, yes we have had that too but her stomach is so sensitive at the moment, at least in the first couple of days of medication we don't want to change her food just yet - but we have ordered in some of the wet stuff.

Thanks


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2011)

lisajh29 said:


> hi, yes its predominantly the bloating. Her stomach at night goes crazy, loads of gurgling promptly followed by lots of parping!!! She suffer constipation now and again too but hardly ever diaorrhea. Fro her scans, its her intestines (stomach looked okay), the intestines were very thick in places and she had a couple of hairpin bends which the vet said were very extreme (and in fact asked if she could use these in her lectures). He scans showed she had a lot of gas and faeces in her system.


Then I'm very sorry but I don't think I am going to be much help.
Do have a word with your vet about the Sulfasalazine tablets.
I hope that someone else sees this thread and can be of more help to you


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2011)

Antepsin and zantac work in different ways!
One lines the stomach (antepsin)
The other works on reflux (zantac)

What are you feeding?


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2011)

DoubleTrouble said:


> Antepsin and zantac work in different ways!
> One lines the stomach (antepsin)
> The other works on reflux (zantac)
> 
> What are you feeding?


Oh DT 

Royal Canin gastro intestinal low fat dry food


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## OllieBob (Nov 28, 2010)

One of the things I have done in the past for a similar problem was to use digestive enzymes from Holland & Barrett along with extra fibre, this helped a lot. Pickle my present oldie can get a bit bunged up with a gurgly gut but she gets just the extra fibre (teaspoon of psyllium husk powder per day in her food)
If I forget to add the fibre she pants and gurgles all night. :lol: She also eats less due to extra bulk so it helps to keep her weight under control. If you do try fibre then start with a small amount and gradually build up, for a goldie probably a tablespoon would be the final amount needed. May be worth talking to your vet about. 
By the way high fibre is recommended for humans with IBS too.


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## GSDMommy (Jun 17, 2011)

How is your dog doing? I noticed this post because of our similar experience. Our vet is currently treating our 2 year old male GSD for IBD. I am wondering if your dog is drinking too much water. Ours was drinking too much water because of the steroid and it was making him vomit some still. I would love to hear about how you and your dog are doing. We have also been told that it could be intestinal cancer instead of IBD, just as you have. I hope that all is well.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

lisajh29 said:


> HI, I have just joined the forums. Im called Lisa and I have a gorgeous Golden Retriever called Meg who is now nearly 12.
> 
> A couple of years ago, she became very depressed and lethargic, off her food and very bloated. After Xrays and numerous tests all cam back inconclusive, the vet said she has IBD (they originally thought it could be intestinal cancer). She was put on prednisolone and has been on it ever since though we have tried to manager to keep her on the lowest dose possible (was 1 a day at a point). She also is fed Royal Canin gastro intestinal low fat dry food (as she is overweight and we have been battling in vain to get her weight down).
> The last couple of weeks she has taken a turn for the worse. She is in pain, stomach bloated, very lethargic, panting lots, drinking lots, restless and groaning very loudly when trying to lie down. He breathing has also sounded strange, very shallow and raspy. After a wasted trip to the vets on Tuesday (new vet, no idea of her history) she though she might have a bit of a chest infection and prescribed antibiotics and decongestants which did no good whatsoever (£130 down the drain!!!). She was getting worse so we saw our usual vet this morning who is at a bit of a loss, especially as we don't want her going through any more Xrays, endoscopy etc. She has athritis and was in a lot of pain after it before. He has prescribed antepsin and zantac and is hoping this will calm down her stomach and said it could be a thickeneing of the stomach due to long term steroid use. She is still eating and is still doing the toilet which is a good sign. But we are soaking her dried food now and she is getting 3 small meals of this per day as we are too scared to give her anything else. Basically we are giving it one week before we see the vet again. I am praying that we are going to see an improvement in the next couple of days, toherwise we have been told there is not much else that can be done for her.
> ...


From what you have said of her original condition, weight gain ongoing battle to get it off whatever you did/do, Depressed, lethargic, poor appetite. By the fact he though IBD I take it she had bouts of abnormal motions too? personally I think it sounds like it could be Hypo thyroid, A normal Blood test wouldnt show it up, it needs a specifiv thyroid panel sent to the Lab Minimum Total T4 Free T4
TSH and TGAA Thyroglobulin Auto Anti Bodies.

From the Symptoms you describe now, Still weight gain, Stomach Bloated (Would you describe her as pot bellied?) Lethargic,Panting, Drinking lots, restless,Groaning, Breathing shallow raspy. It sounds like it could be Hyperadrenocortism also known as Cushings. Cushings has 3 forms, Pituatory dependent, Adrenal dependent and interestingly enough Latrogenic (Veterinary Induced) by giving too much/flooding the dog with too much Glucocorticoid ie
Prednisolone steroid anti inflammatorys. Hypo thyroid and Cushings can also go hand in hand sometimes too. Should it be found she did have pituatory dependent or adrenal dependant, then that is a natural occuring condition as such. if its Latrogenic ie induced by the Preds then that should be able to be reversed by stopping them.

If she was mine, I would be asking for a full Thyroid panel Blood test.
Urinalysis Inc specific gravity urine test.
Routine Biochemistry - If Alkaline Phosphotase, ALT,Cholesterol, Glocose is increased and there is decreased Urea Thats suspect for cushings.
Routine Haemotology - If There is increased Neutrophils and Occasionally RBC Count, Decreased Eosinophils and Lymphocyte Counts, thats suspect for cushings.

If they above comes up with the results ive mentioned then she would likely need an ACTH Stimulation test, Maybe a Low dexamethosone test, and even possibiy a High dose dexamethasone test too. Although she may not have to have them all, it depends on how conclusive they are as theygo through the tests.

With her current symptoms though and two years on preds, it could be the induced cushings and maybe she has even had Hypo thyroid all along.


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