Has anyone used slippery elm bark for dog with colitis?

[nicky2512]

My wee schnauzer (13 months)has had terrible trouble since about 5/ 6 months old. Intestines swollen and inflamed with most food. Insides gurgle terribly and he vomits. He is wheat intolerant also. Have tried so many foods and for a while now all he has tolerated is chicken and rice and a bit of scrambled egg. Obviously not ideal. Recently had some hills a/d to try and gain weight and reacted very badly to it - severe diarrhoea so likely pancreatitis too. Have read about slippery elm bark and how it is supposed to ease inflammation in intestines. Vet not sure about it so I wondered if anyone else has tried it - I would hate to try something and upset him more. Any other suggestions welcome too. Thank you.

[HoneyDragon]

One of my dogs suffered terribly. She had a dollop of live yoghurt daily as a pro biotic and it pretty much nailed it.

[nicky2512]

Wow - that would be safer to try on him than some herb thing that we don't really know much about. Thanks. Will get some tomorrow and try. Was she able to eat normal dog food or was she on a special diet? He swells up terribly and is in such pain with anything different we give him.

[HoneyDragon]

The one that had it badly was on Skinners, can't remember which one, but like Chappie is recommended for tricky tummies.

You can also get a probiotic oil from pet shops which is good. Just live yoghurt is cheaper if it works

[nicky2512]

Thank you. Chappie came back up every time! Boiled chicken and rice or egg is all that stays down (and sometimes even that doesn't) but will give the yoghurt a try.

[HoneyDragon]

My current lab can't keep Chappie down when she's got a bad tummy from eating out of hedgerows she has to have plain pasta and chicken.

[ceres]

We used slippery elm to manage our staffie's colitis. Works brilliantly and totally safe for humans and canines. Only advice is that it can affect absorption of meds so to give meds an hour before slippery elm. Not relevant to us as colitis completely managed via diet, alternative was long term steroids which we wanted to avoid.

Slippery elm has been well researched - I certainly wouldn't describe it as a herb we don't really know much about!

Good luck - it's horrible when they are ill.

[nicky2512]

O thank you ceres that's great. I had never heard of it before and I suppose I really just wanted someone else to say it was ok before I tried it. Will order some. He is off steroids at the minute but probably will end up back on if I don't do something as he really is quite unwell at minute no matter what I feed him. Has to be worth a try.
I tried some live yoghurt earlier too. Don't know if it will help but he def enjoyed it!

[MinisWin]

Our terrier is also like this, he ends up with bouts of bloody mucousy diarrhoea if he eats anything out with his very narrow repertoire! He generally tolerates Burns Sensitive Pork & Potato (and not the duck flavour) - have tried him on lots of others including Hills sensitive without good results. Not sure what the wheat content of this is like though?

[nicky2512]

Thank you MinisWin, its just going to be trial and error to get something that agrees with him. He reacted very badly to the Hills a/d. Will have a look at Burns.

[Shriek]

Dogs guts not designed to process cereals. Definitly not when already upset digestion so plain boiled rice producesa slime that coats the intestine and boiled chcikenstock and chicken is a tried and tested settler easily absorbed (but now some dogs cant even tolerate that).
Slippery elm has been used years and years hsitorically to soothe guts certainly not a strange or new thing. Hope doggie well soon so sad all these digestive difficulties

[nicky2512]

Thanks Shriek. He has improved a good bit the last few days but still haven't tried feeding him anything different. He enjoyed his yoghurt! Slippery elm is ordered and should be here tomorrow so fingers crossed. He really needs to be eating some sort of dog food as well I think as he is quite underweight. He's never going to gain weight on just chicken and rice but I hate the thoughts of giving him something else and starting it all up again. Going to have to try though.

[tompuss]

This is probably completely off piste but I could have written your post 6 months ago. Have you had his faeces tested ? You probably have but I just thought to ask.
After months and months of the symptoms that you describe, our bitch had her faeces tested and it came back positive for Campylobacter. The vet was unsure whether it was the colitis that allowed the Campylobacter to flourish or whether it was that bacteria that was causing it.

Anyway, two weeks of Erythromycin and, voila, miraculous! I feel so bad that it took so long to establish the cause but honestly she is like a different dog. We gradually re introduced 'normal' food but I am now fairly confident that she is completely cured.

I do hope that things work out for you.

[fuxxake]

Vet here. I'd advise if he's settled on chicken and rice then keep it at that for at least a few weeks/months before changing. He will gain weight no problem on it. Agreed it may not be completely balanced but is more than adequate in the medium term at least. The main obstacle to weight gain has prob been difficulty absorbing with all the inflammation and upset rather than diet content. If his guts have been as bad as you say then they can take quite a long time to settle back down. They are likely to be hypersensitive to the least little thing now and will trigger another reaction easily so keep him on chick/rice and allow them to heal properly and "forget" about reacting to other foods. Also he's very young still and his guts may mature further and grow out of this severity of sensitivity. Good plan to use probiotic for a bit and no harm in slippery elm but would suggest if you've just started yoghurt then wait a week or so before the elm in case there'a another reaction you'll want to know which caused it.
When you do decide to try a new diet try something he's unlikely to have encountered and reacted to previously; unusual protein/carb sources eg fish, potato, corn those kind of flavours.
I'm not usually one to bang on about raw food diets I'm very much on the fence about them but I have known some dogs with severe intolerances do very well on these diets. It's not for everyone. And stick to low fat foods to minimise chance of pancreatitis adding to the mix. Hills a/d should be a definite no.
Sorry such a long post -got carried away

[nicky2512]

tompuss Thank you - yes he has been checked but i'm glad things have worked out for you. Its just like a child being ill!!

fuxxate Thank you, that was very helpful. Agree i'm probably in too much of a hurry to try to get him eating more. Will def leave him on his chicken and rice for a good while until I am sure he has settled. He is the happiest at the minute that he has been for a long time. He is even back to playing a bit! The a/d was before we knew he had pancreatitis too - definitely never again as reaction was horrendous.
Its also good to know it is something that might improve as he gets older.

Thanks again. I am so pleased with the help I have got on here - it has been a hard time with him and it really means a lot.