[CanadaMoose]

Hello,
I’ve previously posted on the forum about my 5 year old boxer’s stomach issues that seem to come and go. After 3 “flare ups” in about 6 months, I was able to get him in to see an internal specialist.
After an ultrasound, endoscopy and biopsies, he was diagnosed with Eosinophilic IBD.
The recommendation from the specialist was to start him on prednisone for 3-4 months to get rid of his inflammation, along with a hypoallergenic or hydrolyzed diet.
Does anyone with an IBD dog have any tips or advice on managing the disease or what food/ diet has worked for your pup? I hear his type of IBD is one of the more difficult types to manage, so would appreciate any advice!

 

[[email protected]]

This is a very hard one to deal with, I’m sorry you guys have to go thru this. The only bout I had to deal with was when my female had bloody diahrea for 3 months but it was due to an overgrowth of bacteria and Baytril was the answer for her it took several courses to get it cleared but it worked. i hope you guys can get thru this keep us informed what happens as it may help someone else.

 

[Lindar51]

My cairn terrier has IBD or so we are treating for. Years ago she had flare ups, would go off her food for days at a time, vomite bile on and off and occasionally had strange stool. Kinda gassy longer stool. He did test and ultrasound. It only showed part of her intestine to be thickening. He said they would have to do more testing to be sure that it wasn't cancer and it was IBD. I opted to treat for IBD and she was put on canned science diet digestive care, I later added the dry formulas too. She has done quite well on it and only occasionally goes off her food. Usually she had treats or got into another dogs food. Last year I did the old dog BW workup on her and her liver enzymes were thru the roof. Again the vet wanted to do additional testing to see why but I opted out she is 10 y ears old. I gave her SamE. I've since run out but she still acts fine and that high enzyme count didn't seem to affect her at all. That was a year ago and she is still going strong. But every dog is different and I know my dog pretty well. If she still were to have issues or new ones I'd probably go back and do more.

 

[owlsnest]

Hello,
I’ve previously posted on the forum about my 5 year old boxer’s stomach issues that seem to come and go. After 3 “flare ups” in about 6 months, I was able to get him in to see an internal specialist.
After an ultrasound, endoscopy and biopsies, he was diagnosed with Eosinophilic IBD.
The recommendation from the specialist was to start him on prednisone for 3-4 months to get rid of his inflammation, along with a hypoallergenic or hydrolyzed diet.
Does anyone with an IBD dog have any tips or advice on managing the disease or what food/ diet has worked for your pup? I hear his type of IBD is one of the more difficult types to manage, so would appreciate any advice!

I went through this with one of my Boxers years ago. The IM specialist I finally found worked closely with the GI Lab at Texas A&M Vet School. We did the endoscopies a couple times. There was also eosinophilic enteritis that inflamed the stomach along with two types of IBD. It set off pancreatitis because of the closeness of the intestine to the pancreas. The IM worked with a board-certified vet nutritionist. Any type of manufactured dog food, hypoallergenic or not, set him off eventually. The formulated a diet using Vegan Balance It, and a novel protein. They also started dosing prednisone with the new diet. Budesonide hadn't worked. Finally he recovered. He was weaned off the prednisone. You can PM me if you want.

 

[Zena and Zeus]

Hi everyone ! I am in the same boat. I have two boxers. zena who is 2 and her half brother Zeus who is 3. They where having issues last year since October of air gulping, drolling, swallowing hard, licking everything, and throwing up stomach acid in the morning right before they eat. We have changed their food to Hills ID low fat. They are Pepcid and omeprazole. They do not get table food, they do not get anything. We have countless vet visit and er visits because we didn’t know what it is. I strongly believe it is acid reflux and their food. Since February their symptoms have worse , they have thrown up stomach acid 8 times in a 2 week span. I have had GI bloodwork done/ultrasounds and everything looks great. I do not want to do the endoscopy yet because they are still healthy and eating. Also, is the endoscopy really going to give me answers or just theories. I want to change their food, can someone please help!! I’m up for anything with my poor babies!

 

[Zena and Zeus]

I went through this with one of my Boxers years ago. The IM specialist I finally found worked closely with the GI Lab at Texas A&M Vet School. We did the endoscopies a couple times. There was also eosinophilic enteritis that inflamed the stomach along with two types of IBD. It set off pancreatitis because of the closeness of the intestine to the pancreas. The IM worked with a board-certified vet nutritionist. Any type of manufactured dog food, hypoallergenic or not, set him off eventually. The formulated a diet using Vegan Balance It, and a novel protein. They also started dosing prednisone with the new diet. Budesonide hadn't worked. Finally he recovered. He was weaned off the prednisone. You can PM me if you want.

Hi everyone ! I am in the same boat. I have two boxers. zena who is 2 and her half brother Zeus who is 3. They where having issues last year since October of air gulping, drolling, swallowing hard, licking everything, and throwing up stomach acid in the morning right before they eat. We have changed their food to Hills ID low fat. They are Pepcid and omeprazole. They do not get table food, they do not get anything. We have countless vet visit and er visits because we didn’t know what it is. I strongly believe it is acid reflux and their food. Since February their symptoms have worse , they have thrown up stomach acid 8 times in a 2 week span. I have had GI bloodwork done/ultrasounds and everything looks great. I do not want to do the endoscopy yet because they are still healthy and eating. Also, is the endoscopy really going to give me answers or just theories. I want to change their food, can someone please help!! I’m up for anything with my poor babies!

 

[bk0909]

Hello,
I’ve previously posted on the forum about my 5 year old boxer’s stomach issues that seem to come and go. After 3 “flare ups” in about 6 months, I was able to get him in to see an internal specialist.
After an ultrasound, endoscopy and biopsies, he was diagnosed with Eosinophilic IBD.
The recommendation from the specialist was to start him on prednisone for 3-4 months to get rid of his inflammation, along with a hypoallergenic or hydrolyzed diet.
Does anyone with an IBD dog have any tips or advice on managing the disease or what food/ diet has worked for your pup? I hear his type of IBD is one of the more difficult types to manage, so would appreciate any advice!

I was in a similar situation as you were. my boxer had diarrhea, some vomiting and lose of weight for almost a year. about 6 months into it he finally saw internal doctor. the Internal Doctor did a colonoscopy procedure and off the back the vet saw umbilicated lymphoid follicles, purple nodules arranged in a linear fashion with one larger purple mass like lesion. Got most of the test results back, and it wasn't cancer, he had severe form of inflammation and all the other test pointed out that he has boxer colitis, and was on antibiotics. He was put on antibiotics and steroids and prescription food he did will for about 2 months and he relapse and got worse. I ended up getting a second opinion, and he ended up on raw diet (BARF) and his been on it ever snice (3 months not). It was night and day once i switch him off kibble completely. No more diarrhea, vomiting etc. Raw diet is expensive but at least i know what's going in it.

 

[owlsnest]

Hello,
I’ve previously posted on the forum about my 5 year old boxer’s stomach issues that seem to come and go. After 3 “flare ups” in about 6 months, I was able to get him in to see an internal specialist.
After an ultrasound, endoscopy and biopsies, he was diagnosed with Eosinophilic IBD.
The recommendation from the specialist was to start him on prednisone for 3-4 months to get rid of his inflammation, along with a hypoallergenic or hydrolyzed diet.
Does anyone with an IBD dog have any tips or advice on managing the disease or what food/ diet has worked for your pup? I hear his type of IBD is one of the more difficult types to manage, so would appreciate any advice!

I had a Boxer with eosinophilic IBD/enteritis. The IM Specialist always copied Dr. Steiner at TAMU, and got recommendations about treatment. The hypoallergenic diets didn't work very long. With the Hill's z/d he did great, but his body finally recognized the hydrolized chicken for what it really was. It was decided he was reacting to preservatives, or other things in commercial, or veterinary manufactured food. A vet nutritionist worked with the specialist to formulate a home-cooked diet. The Balance It supplement is vegan, and hypoallergenic. He started prednisone with the new diet, but was able to discontinue it when the new diet finally stopped the IBD flares.

 

[Zena and Zeus]

They are on z/d hills right now and only have been for 3 weeks. They are still vomiting stomach acid in the morning. That is the only time they vomit. My boy boxer has moments where he eats super great and then others he doesn’t want to eat in the morning. I really think it is the food they are eating that is causing this. The vet wants to see how they do at 6-8 weeks on the food. My boxers are not losing weight or anything. They throw up stomach acid in the morning after they wake up. It’s getting to a point where it is too frequent.

 

[[email protected]]

May I ask how often you are feeding them? I have a male that has had similar problems with the vomiting in the morning and being off his food. I switched foods on him and when he gets off his food I give him one pepto Bismal the non chewable kind every 8 hrs till he is eating well again sometimes it’s just gas issue sometimes it’s more than that but I have managed to get out ahead of his problem now. If he wakes up a lot at night not resting easy I know he is having another bout of whatever this is. I feed my dogs 2 times a day evenly spaced. he doesn’t live on pepto I only use it for flare ups

 

[Zena and Zeus]

I feed them 3 times a day. I give them pepto every 12 hours right now. They are also on Pepcid and omeprazole. We just switched their food to ZD hills. The plan it ween them off the meds, but the vets don’t want to do that right now because they have been icky with tummy issues for a little bit. I did ultrasounds and they found nothing, if this continues they want to switch the foods again and do an endoscopy.

 

[owlsnest]

We had endoscopies done on a couple Boxers. They saw helicobacter in the stomach, and there were lesions in the esophagus, and stomach. The biopsies showed lymphocytic eosinophilic enteritis. They treated the helicobacter with medication. This was painful, and the inflammation in the intestines also inflamed the pancreas. We feed twice a day, but were told to give the dog a handful of food right before bedtime so his stomach wasn't empty for too long a time. We also would add Sucralfate if the dog was on an antibiotic like Doxycycline, or meds that were hard on the stomach. The diet was home-made, single carb and protein using Pollack. It was cheaper then feeding the vet diet, and I could freeze the ingredients so I just had to throw them together with the supplement for the day. It was great, after six years of GI issues.

 

[Zena and Zeus]

We had endoscopies done on a couple Boxers. They saw helicobacter in the stomach, and there were lesions in the esophagus, and stomach. The biopsies showed lymphocytic eosinophilic enteritis. They treated the helicobacter with medication. This was painful, and the inflammation in the intestines also inflamed the pancreas. We feed twice a day, but were told to give the dog a handful of food right before bedtime so his stomach wasn't empty for too long a time. We also would add Sucralfate if the dog was on an antibiotic like Doxycycline, or meds that were hard on the stomach. The diet was home-made, single carb and protein using Pollack. It was cheaper then feeding the vet diet, and I could freeze the ingredients so I just had to throw them together with the supplement for the day. It was great, after six years of GI issues.

We had endoscopies done on a couple Boxers. They saw helicobacter in the stomach, and there were lesions in the esophagus, and stomach. The biopsies showed lymphocytic eosinophilic enteritis. They treated the helicobacter with medication. This was painful, and the inflammation in the intestines also inflamed the pancreas. We feed twice a day, but were told to give the dog a handful of food right before bedtime so his stomach wasn't empty for too long a time. We also would add Sucralfate if the dog was on an antibiotic like Doxycycline, or meds that were hard on the stomach. The diet was home-made, single carb and protein using Pollack. It was cheaper then feeding the vet diet, and I could freeze the ingredients so I just had to throw them together with the supplement for the day. It was great, after six years of GI issues.

They are on Sucralfate 2x a day right now to see if that helps with the vomiting in the morning. I have not tried the food before bed, I will try that tonight and see if that works. How much food do you give them before bed? Also, they are Pepcid and omeprazole. It seems to have helped. Do you think the endoscopy is necessary or can diet change help and fix this?

 

[[email protected]]

I have tried the om and Pepaid but they have never helped my dog. I would try the bit of food before bedtime like was suggested along with the other stuff you are doing. Sometimes you just need to play around with things until you find the right combo

 

[Zena and Zeus]

I have tried the om and Pepaid but they have never helped my dog. I would try the bit of food before bedtime like was suggested along with the other stuff you are doing. Sometimes you just need to play around with things until you find the right combo

I gave them a quarter cup of wet food before bed, my boy Zeus threw up in the morning. Zena did not. We are 5 days into the month and Zeus has thrown up twice already just in the morning and stomach acid, Zena has thrown up 3 times in the morning and only stomach acid. April 11th marks 4 weeks with them being on their new food. Iam going to wait the 6-8 weeks and see if they get any better. If not, I will talk to the vet about making their food.

 

[bk0909]

I gave them a quarter cup of wet food before bed, my boy Zeus threw up in the morning. Zena did not. We are 5 days into the month and Zeus has thrown up twice already just in the morning and stomach acid, Zena has thrown up 3 times in the morning and only stomach acid. April 11th marks 4 weeks with them being on their new food. Iam going to wait the 6-8 weeks and see if they get any better. If not, I will talk to the vet about making their food.

Have you thought about raw (BARF diet), what your going through is what I went through but both throwing up and diarrhea. I had to stop with perception food and regular food cause it wasn't doing anything but making it worse on my kings stomach.

 

[owlsnest]

They are on Sucralfate 2x a day right now to see if that helps with the vomiting in the morning. I have not tried the food before bed, I will try that tonight and see if that works. How much food do you give them before bed? Also, they are Pepcid and omeprazole. It seems to have helped. Do you think the endoscopy is necessary or can diet change help and fix this?

Are they eating the Z/D kibble? You gave a little wet food at bedtime, but I'd try a large handful of kibble. That should stay in their stomach longer. I put bed pillows near where my dog slept. He would drape his upper body over the pillow after awhile. I think this helped with any reflux. Just speculation, but it's recommended for people with GERD to sleep with their head elevated. Not medical advice, just something I tried I think may have helped. The Sucralfate took awhile to work, maybe a week. We'd used Pepcid, and later switched to Zanex, but it didn't make much difference until the other changes. During an ultrasound the radiologist had seen changes on the liver that could be coming from malnutrition. He didn't test as having SIBO, and had been fed nutritionally sound dog food all along. Since the types of enteritis found when he had endoscopy biopsies done involved his small intestine too, we figured he was not absorbing what he should be. When we formulated the diet with Balance IT his coat became really softer, and he didn't shed at all. His eyes stopped having any little snotty looking secretions. These weren't an issue, but it was that he was getting enough vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

Our specialist was at a large vet hospital, and they had a board-certified radiologist on staff, a holistic vet, and a board certified nutritionist/critical care vet. They worked together on the diet. It only cost me a minimal amount considering what that charges for board certified vets can be $500.00 or more. It wasn't unusual for our dog to end up in the ER hospital for a couple days four, or five times a year. The cost was easily over $2,500 per hospitalization. Once the diet kicked in, and he responded to the prednisone, he stopped having problems. If you're getting the endoscopies done try to find a board-certified specialist to do it since there is an art to getting the right samples to send to pathology. I don't know who did the endoscopies. I sound like a broken record, sorry.

 

[Zena and Zeus]

Are they eating the Z/D kibble? You gave a little wet food at bedtime, but I'd try a large handful of kibble. That should stay in their stomach longer. I put bed pillows near where my dog slept. He would drape his upper body over the pillow after awhile. I think this helped with any reflux. Just speculation, but it's recommended for people with GERD to sleep with their head elevated. Not medical advice, just something I tried I think may have helped. The Sucralfate took awhile to work, maybe a week. We'd used Pepcid, and later switched to Zanex, but it didn't make much difference until the other changes. During an ultrasound the radiologist had seen changes on the liver that could be coming from malnutrition. He didn't test as having SIBO, and had been fed nutritionally sound dog food all along. Since the types of enteritis found when he had endoscopy biopsies done involved his small intestine too, we figured he was not absorbing what he should be. When we formulated the diet with Balance IT his coat became really softer, and he didn't shed at all. His eyes stopped having any little snotty looking secretions. These weren't an issue, but it was that he was getting enough vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

Our specialist was at a large vet hospital, and they had a board-certified radiologist on staff, a holistic vet, and a board certified nutritionist/critical care vet. They worked together on the diet. It only cost me a minimal amount considering what that charges for board certified vets can be $500.00 or more. It wasn't unusual for our dog to end up in the ER hospital for a couple days four, or five times a year. The cost was easily over $2,500 per hospitalization. Once the diet kicked in, and he responded to the prednisone, he stopped having problems. If you're getting the endoscopies done try to find a board-certified specialist to do it since there is an art to getting the right samples to send to pathology. I don't know who did the endoscopies. I sound like a broken record, sorry.

They are on z/d kibble as well. I will try a hand full of dry kibble tonight instead. They have been on Pepcid, omeprazole, and ondesatrone for 4 weeks now as well. My dogs are only vomiting stomach acid in the morning. I had ultrasounds done and everything looked boring and great they said. I really think it is their diet, but I also think they need prednisone. This will not be subscribed until I do endoscopy.
I go to a huge vet that has all the people listed as well.

 

[Zena and Zeus]

Have you thought about raw (BARF diet), what your going through is what I went through but both throwing up and diarrhea. I had to stop with perception food and regular food cause it wasn't doing anything but making it worse on my kings stomach.

I have not. That is my next plan if this doesn’t work. They don’t have diarrhea. They just vomit stomach acid in the morning, they are fine through out the day. They are not losing weight, they are maintaine weight, they have beautiful coats.

 

[Matt74]

I have not. That is my next plan if this doesn’t work. They don’t have diarrhea. They just vomit stomach acid in the morning, they are fine through out the day. They are not losing weight, they are maintaine weight, they have beautiful coats.

My pup would do that. My vet told me to feed him either a little food or good treats right before bed. Never happened again. Basically said some dogs will do that if their stomach is too empty in the morning. If your dogs have absolutely no other symptoms, it might be something as simple as that.