Colitis

[PalmettoPaws]

Savannah had to go into the vet on Monday. She had diarrhea for several days then began vomiting and had blood in her stool. She was diagnosed with severe colitis. They gave her sub q fluids, an antibiotic shot, flagyl and probiotic tablets. I was wondering if there is anything I should change about her diet now that she has had this to avoid it happening in the future. I'm not really happy with the food she's on currently anyway. It causes her to have bad gas and her stools have never been that great on it. Is there anything in particular I should consider or not consider because of the colitis? Should I give her probiotics daily? Should I get her on something grain free? I would love to do raw but it's not an option with my current living situation.

Thank in Advance,
Melissa

 

[Bailey08]

Poor baby.

Bailey has IBD and pre made raw was a godsend (better than high quality kibble, home cooked and prey model raw. Unfortunately, of those three, he did worst on the kibble.) After I put him on the pre made raw, I was able to take him off of metronidazole/flagyl -- and it's been almost 2 years now. Watch her treat/extras intake, too -- avoid fatty foods in particular.

Has she had problems previously? Is this ongoing? I would try a grain free (or low grain) limited ingredient food. IMO potato may not be much, if at all better, than rice -- so try to get the highest protein food you can get. I wouldn't use it long term (and I personally would do the raw route first), but there are veterinary foods with hydrolyzed proteins that some people have had success with.

I would add a probiotic and digestive enzyme. I like Berte's Naturals supplements. You can give her human probiotics (Culturelle, Align). Bailey
takes one Permaclear capsule daily for GI support. I'd add fish oils pills, too, if she's not on them already.

If you have a hard time keeping her colitis under control, you could talk to your vet about keeping her on metronidazole. It's not ideal, but B's internal medicine specialist said it would be fine if we had to.

 

[UniquityBelgians]

I had a cat with colitis (he's my mom's cat now). So far he's only been able to eat one type of food without getting colitis. Of course now that my mom has him both indoors and outdoors, he'll catch mice and birds and get bouts of it again. When I had him I fed him prepared raw; I tried a few different kinds but he still had horrible bloody stools. When my mom took him, I told her to try California Natural. He's on their Herring and Sweet Potato (limited ingredient food) and doing just awesome. Of course since P&G bought the food I've had alot of clients recently complain that their dogs went back to having the same food related issues they had on other foods before switching to CN, so I don't know how long it'll last, but they do have some new formulas out (venison & pea, etc).