Dietary Concern: Dog with recurring Bowels issue - Page 2

My dog has SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) and IBD (irritable bowel disease, not to be confused with IBS). He has had issues since he was about 18 months old. We were constantly doing trips to the e-vat as well as his regular vet due to this chronic diarrhea. The blowouts always seemed to be during after hours too.
So, my boy kept getting a diagnosis of pancreatitis and would be put on antibiotics. While on the meds, things helped. As soon as he got off the 7-10 day courses, he would start all over again.
I went hopping from vet to vet trying to find out what was wrong with my dog until I came across a vet who was previously at Texas A&M. He immediately sent out bloodwork to test for EPI, SIBO and B12. EPI was negative, thank goodness, B12 was normal, but he had a low folate which confirmed the diagnosis of the SIBO. We had to do a complete diet change. I ended up doing Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison for a while as well as a daily regiment of Tylan (antibiotic for SIBO. Must be used for a minimum of 30 days to 6 weeks to be effective).
He is now fed a total raw diet I order from The Honest Kitchen, as well as several suppliments. He is taking Springtime Inc. Longevity, DOGzymes (probiotic and digestive enzymes mix), and a combo fish oil/vit e/vit c suppliment I get from my vet. He has not had a blowout or even a slightly loose stool in almost 6 months now. He is also completely off of the Tylan after around 5 months of daily use.
What tests has your vet done? I would recommend doing the cTLI (for EPI) and the cobalamine/folate (for B12 and folate levels). The EPI, SIBO, and B12 deficiency are unfortunately well known in the breed. Make sure the vet does these tests all at the same time or you will pay twice as much to do them seperately and have him overnight them to Texas A&M. Also, your dog has to fast for 12 hours prior to the test or he can end up with false negatives.
Good luck. If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me.

Also, many GSD's with digestive issues do way better on a grain free, low fat, low fiber diet.

Forget the diagnosis by fecal floats. Get someone to do an antigen test.  It took me two years to figure it out.  I heard a lot about irritable bower syndrome and all the other catchalls.  Blah, blah, blah ad nauseum.

I gave my dog Panacur C doasge according to package, for five days. and repeated in 1 week.

Since there were secondary infections from chronic diarrhea she needed something to kill them off.  Golden Seal powder worked well two times a day 2-3 capsules each time.  Also, I gave her a probiotic - Acidophilus Pearls.

Change vets.  Talk to people who work in large shelters.  I did and that is how I found out about the antigen test and Panacur.  The other things I knew from frequenting health food stores.

This is what I did, and I am not a vet or any kind of health professional.

Good luck, do a little google search.

Michele

The more antibiotics you pour into the dogs body the more problems you hand your pooch...follow the  probiotic for sure...and ditch the milk products..use the probiotics..they are every where....health food stores, and order on line...

Panacur is my best friend...I have cured so many problems of people diahrea and Sitasmom was one of them...She emailed me when her problem started and wouldnt stop and Panacur did the job.

I would start there especailly since the vets gave you nothing else to be urgent upon a big problem....

'No chlorine in water. and do it all slowly  no change immediate....change anything you do in small incruements.

YR

My boy has had the same issues as you describe since he was a baby.  I finally broke down and had the TLI series run and learned that his folate was low and he was finally diagnosed with: Severe proximal (before ileum) small intestinal disease. 

Table 2. Interpretation of B12-Folate Results
B12                         Folate Interpretation
Increased             Increased                Vitamin supplementation
Decreased            Increased               SIBO with or without distal small intestine disease or EPI
Normal                   Increased               Proximal (before-ileum) SIBO or folate supplementation
Decreased            Normal                    Distal (ileum) disease with or without SIBO
Normal                   Decreased             Severe proximal (before ileum) small intestinal disease
Decreased            Decreased              Generalized small intestinal disease with or without SIBO

I am confused why you vet called this SIBO because the chart above says it is a different condition.
This is not to be confused with SIBO, it is a different condition.  Basically it is a grain/gluten intolerance.  I switched him over to Natural Balance grain free food and have been playing with three different proteins to see which one he does better on (Duck, Venison and Chicken).  He seems to do the best on the Chicken.  I have read that dogs that have food intolerances like this do better on the more normal proteins and that I should stay away from ones like Venison, Buffalo, etc as they have a harder time with that.  I have found this to be true.   While he is not 100% better yet, he has improved considerably.  It is still a work in process.  I am working on switching him over to Merrick brand grain free food and he seems to be doing much better.  Next stop will be raw if this does not work.  A lot of dogs that have this issue do best on a raw diet or so it seems.

Oops, LOL. No, my boy had a high folate, not a low. He was positive for SIBO. lol. He also had a lipase level of 1726 which is extremely high. The lipase is also found in the proximal small intestine to aid in digestion. It assisted in the diagnosis of EPI. He is on grain free also.

Has the OP been back on here? Can you give us an idea of what tests were done.

bump

It keeps going back to the food,  food,  food,  the shit they are giving us in their dog foods.  I am so tired of it;  it is down right scarey the problems our dogs are having for commercial diets;  I still feel probiotics are the key, and yes in some commercial diets they list probiotics they have included but once you heat the food their benefits are gone.

Its the grains, the processing, lack of proper fresh vitamine/minerals, blah blah blah...  All of the above.  These germans need good nourishment for the job(s) they perform for us, I believe more so than other breeds.  Their nutritional requirements are great.  It starts to tear the dog down if they do not get what they need.

I feed raw and I also give him ShowStopper, Ester C, Acidophilus Pearls by Enzymatic Therapy, and in the past I have given Salmon Oil.

I order excalibur from greentripe.com. Its a complete food and their web site is informative.  It gets delivered to my front door frozent hard as a rock.  They deliver by UPS and FedEx.

Good Luck
Michele