My daughter G R (18 months old) has had a blood test done at the vets and results are through. The vet says that he has a small intestine problem. He can't say if its a b12 bacterial infection,folate defficiancy or inflamitory bowel disorder. He has given us two options. The first to put him on an exclusion diet (Hills z/d) or steroid treatment. The only other option is an exploritory operation and biopsy. He favours the steroid route but we are very reluctant. His only symptoms are a ravenous appetite and grey motions and weight loss. His motions are not loose. He is very hyperactive and appears to be very lively. From my investigations on the web it seems that dogs have loose bowels with bacterial infections and inflamitory bowel disorder so as a layman I would go with the folate defficiancy. Any opinions out there?

Hi Gaby
Poor boy :(

I'd definitely get a second opinion as your vet says himself he is not sure!  Your vet can refer you if you ask!

Just a thought, but the ravenous appetite, weight loss and hyperactivity could point to an over active thyroid!

I'd still go for the second opinion though.

Maria 

Has your vet tested him for EPI (pancreatic insufficiency)?  That can cause those sort of symptoms too.  There's a blood test they can do for it called the TLI test. Maybe have a search about it on the net, I'd post some links only I've lost my bit of paper where I wrote down how to! :D HTH.

He has had a blood test for EPI that was negative. My daughter has decided to go down the change of diet regime. The vet has put him on Hills d/d and has to go back in a fortnight for weighing. I did a search on this web site and someone was saying that they had good results with changing to BARF for irritable bowel disease. A month back I made him some satin balls and my daughter gave him these and chicken wings and he did put on 2 kilo's. After this my daughter went back to her normal feeding and he lost the weight again. I reminded the vet of this and his reply was that the dog would only have put on fat, not proper growth. Vets just don't like BARF and are not interested in any health benefits to dowith this regime. 

Hi Gaby,

were it my dog I'd rather have a definite diagnosis of the problem than simply treat symptoms - some of which can be the same in a multitude of disorders that really require distinctly differing approaches and treatments. 

You mention "irritable bowel disease" and also "inflamitory bowel disorder" - these are two very different problems with one being considerably more serious (and, if mis-diagnosed, potentially life threatening) than the other. 

To clarify, IBS, ie Irritable Bowel Syndrome, can quite easily be rectified by monitoring of diet - similar in method to humans suffering the pain, bloatedness, discomfort etc of IBS.  IBD, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, is a *significantly* more serious condition and IMO requires ongoing veterinary supervision as it is both a serious and incurable - although manageable - disease.  Factual diagnosis of IBD necessitates biopsy, either by endoscopy or open surgery depending on the size of the dog.

In any event, in both of these instances, providing a high fat diet could prove detrimental and to that end I'd want to know exactly which - if either - of these complaints was being treated.

While many of us balk at the thought of using steroids, it is worth noting that some dogs gain a whole new quality of life by their usage and while this will hopefully not be the case (through need) for your daughter's dog, the use of them should not be written off lightly.

FWIW, personally I feed a primarily raw diet and agree that for my dogs it has been a fabulous switch and has helped me put a significant covering on a dog that was much too thin and reedy yet impossible to body-up on any commercial foods.  That said, as with any diet, not all dogs will necessarily be the better for it.  As this dog is apparently suffering from a GI condition or one which affects the GI tract and/or ogans, then messing around with a complex new feeding regime may be ill advised until the dog's medical condition has been established and symptoms stabilised.

As has been suggested previously, a second opinion or at the least further testing to rule out major problems and establish the accurate reasons for this dog's ill health, would IMO be the first port of call here.

best wishes, Teri

Sorry Terry it is IBD not IBS.

I know that if it was my dog and the change of diet route didn't work, I would want biopsies doing before starting on steroids, to be sure that they were the right thing to give him. I might also want to try more than one change of diet - in case he was sensitive to something in even the low allergen food.  Good luck and hope all works out well for him. :)

If SIBO is involved then a biopsy will confirm this.

Have a look at these sites for info

http://www.dogaware.com/specific.html#ibd
http://b-naturals.com/Jul2002.php

Vet is reluctant to do biopsy as only a young dog with plenty of energy. I would prefer this option to get a proper diagnosis before messing with diets and steroids. Thanks Tohme for the web sites, one of the cases mentions frequent bowel movements and straining with no result in a dog with colitis, I have seen Buddy doing this in the park but did not realise that this could be relevant. Will mention this on our next visit. 

my Leo has got a Vit B12 defiencey. it was diagnosed 3 months ago.

He had the same symptoms as you described and was tested for everything and B12 came up.

He has been on 4ml weekly jabs of B12 and has gained weight and all the other symptoms have gone.

He has just gone on to fortnightly jabs and so far so good.

I changed his diet to raw which he loves.

The biopsey will only be an option to me or my vet IF the jabs fail.

ask for another test!

Hi again gaby,

>Vet is reluctant to do biopsy as only a young dog with plenty of energy

A very peculiar view IME as the younger and more energetic the dog is at the time of surgery the better - putting things off until such times as possibly a significant deterioration in his general health (further weight loss, less energy, loss of coat condition, discomfort when defecating, nausea before or after feeding etc etc etc) is evident is not in the animal's best interests.  However the vet concerned may well have a stronger inclination towards a different illness that would not be picked up by biopsy and the vet of course has the test results, personal examinations and observations (not forgetting clinical training) to make an informed judgement.

That said, were it my dog I'd be pressing to going straight to biopsy while the animal is in a less high risk situation than if a serious ailment is gone unchecked even for a few weeks.  Additionally a second opinion - particularly a referral to a specialist in the field - would figure highly in my expectations from the GP vet.

I hope your daughter achieves a speedy diagnosis and promising prognosis for this dog.

best wishes, Teri