My 10 year old staffy has had colitis for about a year now, which I had managed to get under control by changing his diet to naturediet lite.  Unfortunately he has a really bad habit of constantly licking his feet to excess, one of which recently became infected.  The infection was treated with Ceporex for two weeks, which I noticed did make his poo slightly softer.  He took his last tablet last friday, but yesterday his colitis had flared up again for the first time since switching to naturdiet.

Has anyone else experienced problems when giving their dog with colitis antibiotis?

The vet has advised me to give him some kabiotic tablets which he gave me a while ago, however I an reluctant to keep throwing pills at him if there is something more natural that will help.

Thanks

Julie

Omega 3s can help with intestinal inflammation so if he is not already on Fish Body Oil I would put him on that circa 1000mg per day, get one with high EPA and DHA levels, Healthspan are good plus give 200 - 400 iu of natural Vitamin E per day.

The amino acid L-glutamine helps to heal the gut walls and you may have success with adding a multis strain digestive enzyme to help break down the food  and probiotics to populate the gut with essential bacteria.

Slippery Elm (Tree Bark Powder) can also soothe an inflamed gut.

All these things are available from a good health shop.  TBP from Dorwest Herbs.

HTH

antibiotics can cause colitis as they remove the good bacteria as well as the bad, I would try giving a probiotic as well. Hope he's better soon. :)

Yes anything like antibiotics or a foreign substance getting into their system will set a bout of colitis off. As people have suggested some live yoghurt will help stabilise it again and I am sure things will settle down ! Min my oldie has had colitis for about four years now and has episodes but always settles down a day or two afterwards.

Lucy
xx

Thanks everyone for all your speedy replies.  I have a packet of Naturediets Naturezyme, which they sent me as a tester a while ago. I have been reluctant to add anything else to his diet, as he has been doing so well on Naturediet lite for the last few months I didn't want to cause a flare up by messing with it.  I think now may be a good time to try - has anyone tried this, or would you say yoghurt is just as good?  Also does anyone know if naturezyme is any good for boosting the immune system?  We nearly lost him last year when he had to have his spleen removed.  Luckily after a night on the floor with him, I decided it was more than just a tummy upset and turned up at the vets as soon as they opened without an appointment.  The vet diagnosed the problem straight away and they performed emergency surgery on him the next day.

Lucy - what do you feed your dog on, and what do you do about treats?  When I had tests done, they showed up undigested fats in his stools, so the vet recommended a lower fat diet.  The only treats I can find are Wafcols chicken & herb delights, which contain only 3% oil.  He loves them, but they are only sold at a couple of stores in my area, so it would be good to find something else as a backup just in case I can't get them.

Julie