Anyone have a dog with IBD ?

[Elasticatedwaist]

How was it diagnosed?

its an ongoing nightmare at the moment. Poorly dog and 3 different vets have made 3 different suggestions.
first it was possible stomach ulcers , then it was possible meningitis arteritis (srma) , now after being sent to the specialist and a blood test revealed very low b12, inflammatory bowel disease.
This latest has suggested upping the steroids that the previous vet started and treating with b12 to see if he improves but also said the steroids would mask what was going on if it wasn’t that and we then still needed more tests.

This has been going on too long now and I feel like the vet is expecting me to make decisions on what tests to do or not do when I’m not qualified ! we’re now provisionally booked in tomorrow for ultrasound, a neuro exam and an orthopaedic after I said I was fed up testing pills on him without a proper diagnosis. It’s all ifs , buts and maybes.

poor ddog has had stomach issues , pain and legs that don’t work right. Legs improved a bit after the steroids were started.
Would ibd/ low b12 affect his legs ?
no inflammation has showed on the blood test or examinations.

How old is dog?

As in, could that be causing leg pain?

He’s 8
i just don’t get how bowel disease would cause him to struggle to walk or get up steps really .
dh has spoken with the vet again and it seems that without taking him off the steroids and making him more I’ll , the tests won’t be of use as they will mask things. Maybe better to try upping them and giving the b12 first to see if he gets better after all. So confusing !

I suppose if his stomach is uncomfortable, it may make moving uncomfortable. It's different for us as our stomach is higher of the ground and hasn't got four legs nearby!

Our dog has ulcerative colitis, classed as IBD. He had a rough start in life. Diagnosed after intermittent mucous, bloody, stools, urgency, and discomfort.

His triggers are stress/anxiety, too many treats, chicken, and snaffling human food.

He is a large breed, aged 6yrs.

He is on a single protein (in his case, fish) wet food diet (easier to digest), with Fortiflora Probiotic daily. We also add psyllium husk during a flare up. If he has a bad flare, we have sulfasalazine for him.

Add - he had lethargy and would walk ‘peg legged’ during bouts.

Low B12 has been linked to neuropathy, so could definitely be the cause of weakness/ loss of sensation in his legs.
If his gut is inflamed and unsettled from the IBD he'll probably be struggling further to absorb enough of it so you should hopefully see some improvement after he's been on the B12 for a while🤞

I have a chihuahua with IBD. It took me years of trial and error to find what works for him which is (much like PP) a relatively low-stress lifestyle and a single protein diet of fish - we've landed on Scrumbles because its designed to aid gut health and touch wood we've had no flare ups since the transition almost a year ago now.

Has he been tested for EPI? The poorly tummy and low b12 are both epi issues. It took ages for our last dog to be diagnosed, in the end it was down to my research and asking for the tests. The ibd can be alongside epi.

Not sure @Floramac whats epi?

@Elasticatedwaist Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Its when the pancreas cannot digest food anymore. Used to be mainly in larger dogs, german shepherd's but now more common in all breeds. It involves a specific fasting blood test - (cTLI) which checks the pancreas funtion and testing for b12 and folate levels. I would have hoped one of your 3 vets would have done this or mentioned it?

One of my Yorkies has IBD all her life, she died last year aged 16, unrelated cause.
Took a few years of bloody stools, mucus, diarrhoea, visits to vets with numerous courses of antibiotics that did nothing. Till I saw an old vet who knew straight away, when she was three years old. He put her on a daily dose of Salazopyrin (sulfasalazine) one eighth of a tablet as she was so tiny which took some splitting! Also recommended Chappie, the old tinned variety dirt cheap at the time but dearer now, mixed with a little kibble ( She had Royal Canin Yorkshire which she did well on). She did very well on that regime with just occasional flare ups, mainly if she got stressed, soon sorted within a day with this which I always kept in stock.

https://www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-supplements-cat-supplements-dog-diarrhoea-cat-diarrhoea-c-5145/vetuk-probiotic-kolin-paste-for-cats-and-dogs-p-20356

Yes it was diagnosed with an endoscopic biopsy.

After many episodes where treatment was based on just trying to suppress symptoms I do remember a vet saying he could give steroids or struggle over the weekend without treatment and have an endoscopy with biopsy to see if we could get a definitive diagnosis. We opted for the latter and got a diagnosis based on the results (can't remember the official name but two types of white cells were found invading the gut) and then he was treated with steroids every time it flared up.

Touch wood we have had many years now without any major episodes unless triggered by medication from operations which were short lived.

No , he’s not had a fasting blood test for epi.
Thing is his symptoms weren’t diarrhoea at the start of all this. He started getting up and down in the night, shaking especially after food and farting all the time. Then his energy levels slumped and his legs went strange. Followed by pacing seemingly in pain at times.
nothing makes sense really .

I don’t have a dog OP but I do have IBD and when I’m flaring as your dog is now, my legs are weak and shaky. Not sure if that’s useful information but honestly your description of your poor dog sounds so familiar.

Poor pup. For ours we avoid lamb and chicken (check all treats, they always add chicken). We also add a teaspoon of pure canned pumpkin stirred into his kibble (sensitive salmon diet).

Hope you find something that works soon!💐

My dog did. He had B12 injections for the rest of his life and I used to rotate his protein source regularly. He was diagnosed in 2016 aged 8 and lived until 2022, when he was 13.5.

He was a golden retriever, so 13.5 was a very good age. His body seemed to get used to a type of food which is why I used to rotate his protein source (as per his specialists advice). So he never got a food with trout and pork and venison, it was always a singular protein like turkey, and then a pork one 6-9 months later, and then after 18 months you could circle back to turkey again. But he was always quite well settled stomach wise then and the B12 definitely helped, he just couldn't absorb it from food.