# Need Help For Dog With IBD



## kanderson510 (Nov 16, 2010)

I have a 10 1/2 year old Siberian Husky who has Cushing's Disease for 4 years. She's also recently been diagnosed with IBD, it's suspected the Lysodren she takes for the Cushing's could be a partial culprit. For a while the symptoms would appear for a few days, then disappear for a while but recently the situation has become "more active" so to say. Currently she's on Nutro Small Bites (she prefers a smaller kibble) and she's typically a picky eater. Anyone have any suggestions of what to feed her that may help her belly and bowels? I know boiled chicken/beef and rice is one option or a raw diet may be another, but feeding her "people food" just isn't in the budget. I have another dog who's allergic to grains and potatoes and recently switched him to California Natural Grain Free in the Chicken variety which my Husky does like. Should I try my Husky on this to see if it helps her belly? She also has terrible gas which makes for a very "smelly" situation. =) Any help/food suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

I don't know much about giving advice for the 2 diseases your dog has, but it does seem like she's not digesting nutro well. I would definitely try the grainfree california natural, since you already have it for your other dog. Just do a slow transition from nutro to cn. I would start 25% cn and 75% nutro for about 4 days and see how it goes. If everything is ok, than move onto 50/50 for 4 days. Than to 75/25 for 4 days. Also make sure your not overfeeding. The chart on the bag is always overkill.


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

kanderson510 said:


> I know boiled chicken/beef and rice is one option or a raw diet may be another, but feeding her "people food" just isn't in the budget.


When I was feeding kibble, I, too, though it was too expensive. Then I met Rachel (Rannmiller), and she taught me just how wrong I was. Now I spend half as much to a quarter as much feeding my dogs raw as I did with feeding them a good quality kibble. It's all about knowing where to go and what to buy. Perhaps you should look into this again? Everyone in the raw section will be more than happy to help you out with getting started on a low budget plan to feed your dog.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

you may want to read this:
DogAware.com Health: Digestive Disorders in Dogs


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

I agree that a raw diet would be your best option. According to that article from dogaware, you have to stay away from grains, potatoes, and carbs. If you can find a cheap way to feed raw that would be best. Otherwise try the california natural grain free. At the bottom of that article, they list supplements to take. It reccomends extra virgin coconut oil. I am a big fan of nutiva extra virging coconut oil. Coconut Oil Organic Ext Virgin by Nutiva - YR-1009 - at The Vitamin Shoppe The article reccomends "a Dosage of 1 teaspoon per 10 lbs of body weight daily, but start with less and build up." I currently give my 85 lb. dog 1 tabelspoon and I take 3 tablespoons a day. I know 3 tablespoons a day is the max for humans. It's about 9 teaspoons. We take it because of the many health benefits from it. One benefit is, it is an anti fungus and anti parasite agent:biggrin: I would definitely give it a shot, as well as change her diet. I hope your dog gets better:wink:


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## stajbs (Jun 5, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your little girl. Hope you have a lot more good time with her!! We had a six year old boy who had IBD years ago. Things improved immensely when we got him off of grains/carbs. Then we also started cooking for him, and things got a bit better then too. Kept the grain free kibble and just lightly cooked meat to add to the grain free kibble. If you can I would definitely switch the kibble. 

We had a 14 year old girl with Cushings also. It is so tough, we went the more holistic route and she did well for many years on grain free and cooked and grain free kibble. She drank like a fish though and required proin during her last two years. Her Cushings was pituitary in nature and at about 14.5 seizures started. That was when I discovered I do not do well with dogs who have seizures. It was very difficult to deal with. As the seizures intensified we were forced to make the ultimate difficult decision.

I would definitely go grain free/eliminate carbs, and there is much validity to raw feeding if you can do it and perhaps your dog may take to it. Sibes are very picky eaters and can be tyranical but when they have variety it happily boggles their minds and they eat well. At least ours have. lol

Keep us posted.


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## jjcj (Nov 26, 2010)

I just started raw and I can tell you that my dog food bill is cut in half from the kibble bill.
I feed them around 1 lb food a day just slightly less for Mandy and it cost me less then $1 / lb for most things Today got soup chicken $.69/lb turkey necks .79/lb if i buy from our butcher his dog food which is ground chicken and bone it is $7/5lbs bag beef without bone is $4.50/ 5lb bag so really it is much cheaper then kibble.
I started out with ground chicken bone mix , ground bone mix and some beef Today is first time with hole chickens i think i will stick with the cut up ones next time was a pain to cut but then i didn`th ahve the right scissors probably
Mandy wasnt a fan at first but if i fed it to her partially frozen she loved it now she eats it any way given frozen defrosted or somewhere in middle she don`t care just get it down quick lol


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## kanderson510 (Nov 16, 2010)

Thank you to you all. You've helped a lot. I can't stand it when the light in my girl's eyes isn't so bright when her belly hurts. She's had a hard road, 3 surgeries...2 to remove cancerous skin tumors and one to remove a non cancerous skin tumor in the past 3 years. I just want her to be comfortable and happy. I'm going to currently switch her to the CN since I already have it in the house, per cast71's advice on the switch while I look into possibly going raw or maybe mixing raw into her diet. 

@stajbs - Nakita is also on Proin. =) So I know how you feel. It's not too bad, just gotta keep track of her meds and keep her blood tested to be sure we're keeping her levels regulated. It gets rough sometimes and definitely expensive, especially with the cost of the Lysodren, but she's worth it and I don't mind. 

Again, thank you to you all so much. This has been a great help. I'm so glad I found this forum...it also helped w/my Bully breed who's allergic to rice, potato's and most other grains to find him a food that's not prescription and more reasonable in cost.


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## stajbs (Jun 5, 2010)

Kanderson please keep me posted on Nikita and how she does. I suspect we are facing another situation with some malabsorption problem again with another senior sibe and I am thinking of going back to fully cooking for our dogs. I had done that in the past when the two senior girls had health issues and for me it was a "labor of love". We're off to the vet this week with our boy, we'll see what results we get and then make decisions from there. I have a hang up about raw(I know stupid) but cooking for them full time vs. just the part time we do now, and offering a varied balanced diet is tons better than kibble if you have the time. Just something to consider for Nikita if kibble change does not quite cut it.


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## flippedstars (May 22, 2010)

Our puppy had colitis the first 2 months we had him, no kibble worked for him, but The Honest Kitchen Embark worked wonders for him from the very first meal...it's less processed and much easier for them to digest. I suggest adding in other meats or protein sources as well.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

I don't want to give advice on the disease; but when Khan had just come home, we went thru a terrible time with the kibble. We tried different brands, blends, etc. The vet was leaning toward a diagnosis of colitis, since all the testing and retesting for parasites, worms, etc. were coming up negative. I refused to believe that a puppy would have this diagnosis. It was after about 3 months of this I found malabsorption syndrome. One of the "cures" is feeding a raw diet. Or at the very least figuring out what ingredient(s) is causing the problem and eliminating the items. I chose to try raw. Within a few weeks all the problems he had were gone, or all but gone. poo was normal, ears were clearing up, and he was gaining weight! 
Take a look at all the ingredients in the kibble and treats and see if you can find a common denominator. Don't look at just the obvious things, proteins, grains, carbs, etc. drill down and check them them all.
Khan has issues with Flax/Flaxseed & Salmon Oil. Not the norm, but once eliminated from his diet his health went thru the roof!


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