Goldendoodle with IBD

Hello everyone,

I am a new member. I have two goldendoodles; Baci who is 10, and Coco who is 9. We've had them since they were puppies.

My post today is concerning Coco who was diagnosed with IBD (Lymphoeosiophilic) in September, 2016, by a specialist. Coco had been showing signs of IBD long ago by going through periods of vomiting blood. Her stools were always fine (except when given some medications). Coco also has environmental allergies.

Her current medications are Adequan (for joints), as she's had 2 TPLO surgeries and Cytopoint shots every 5 weeks for allergies (Apoquel gives her very frequent UTI's). She also gets a B-12 shot every 4 to 6 weeks. I have noticed that when her allergies flare, so does her IBD. They seem to go hand in hand. The seemingly odd thing is that Coco's IBD has flared at this exact same time of year for the past 3 years.

In the past, for Coco's IBD, we tried feeding her a 'hypoallergenic' dog food. She developed horrible diarrhea because her intestines were absorbing too much water, so she's not able to eat the 'split protein' foods. A novel protein for Coco is going to have to be VERY novel as she's had lots of different proteins. I tried Rayne Nutrition Kangaroo and Potato for a food elimination trial, but she could not handle that, either. For medicines, the vet suggested treating her symptomatically with Prednisone. That worked the first 2 times, but when she flared again, Coco started having bloody diarrhea when given Prednisone. I tried Prednisone again some time later, and she did the same thing after the second dose (20 mg). Now she cannot take Prednisone.

Currently, the recommendation is to give her either Azathioprine or Atopica. Since Atopica is very expensive, the vet suggested Azathioprine. I know some of the side effects of these drugs, and I know they aren't good. I started Azathioprine on Monday, and we're already down to an every other day dose. She will have more bloodwork drawn in another week. Coco is also getting Carafate twice a day and Zofran.

Coco does not want to eat. She is hungry, goes to her bowl, then backs away. She hasn't vomited for the past 4 days, which is a plus. Other than not eating, she's acting pretty good, rather frisky.

I'm very worried about, well, everything. I feel helpless. I don't know if I'm doing to right thing. I've tried going to the only 2 holistic vets in my area. One waved a crystal over Coco. That may be fine for some who believe in that, but that's not for me. The other holistic vet talked to me about homeopathy, then charged me $100 for talking to me about it without telling me there'd be a charge just for all the blabbing she did. So now here I am with medicines with scary side effects and a dog who is going through yet another period of not eating.

If anyone can tell me of some other direction to try, their experiences, point me to helpful posts, anything, I'd be grateful.

Sincerely,

Missy

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