Goldendoodle with IBD

[M Blair]

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

[M Blair]

I did not know this about the sacrificial protein or the slow food transition.  Grrr!

And my vets never mentioned it, either.  More Grrr.

Thanks for letting me know!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a thought. Since Coco seems to be okay with turkey, maybe you could cook some lean ground turkey and add a little to her meals; that might entice her to eat. You could cook it ahead and freeze small portions in ziploc bags. 

I just hate to see you switch foods just to get her to eat, if the Embark works for her. It's just so hard to find foods that do work for them when you really do have to switch. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Here's the summary of Murphy's case prior to being managed.  It is from one of the links Karen shared, and it talks about our Honest Kitchen experience.  I had forgotten that when we moved to the Royal Canin HP diet he did not get better.  It wasn't until we had him all the meds mentioned here that he went into remission and moved to maintenance medications.

"Murphy's problems started with the typical "runny stools".  We started our endless attempts to find a food that his GI system could handle.  I moved him to home cooking which worked for several months, and then the runny stools returned.  We tried Honest Kitchen with added protein and that worked well for awhile...and then it all started again.  With each "episode" he seemed to have more symptoms.  He started vomiting bile, especially in the morning.  Then he seemed to show signs of nausea which progressively got worse to the point where he was lethargic most of the time.  At this point my Vet convinced me that we needed to put him on Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Soy.  I had resisted this for months because the ingredients are horrible, but at this point I was desperate and I agreed to try it.  It helped the diarrhea immediately but over time the nausea came back and he refused to eat it.  After skipping several meals and vomiting, he was hospitalized.  He was treated with metronidazole and anti-nausea meds but the only way they could get him to eat was for me to cook chicken and rice and bring it to the hospital.   He was able to keep that down, so they released him on the meds and the plan was to do more testing and to continue with the chicken and rice just so that he would eat.  At that point we did the GI panel, which is different that the full blood panel that vets usually do and we also did the ACTH Stim test to check for atypical addisons.  The ACTH stim result was normal.  The GI panel checked his pancreatic function and also his Folate and Cobalamin (B12) levels.  The Folate/Cobalamin results were both borderline....inside the normal range but barely.  The next step in the diagnostic protocol was to do an ultrasound of the GI track.  These results raised more questions than answers.   There were no masses or obvious thickening but his lymph nodes were enlarged.  The next step was to see an Internal Medicine Specialist for a consultation and endoscopy/biopsy.  Because of the concern with the lymph nodes we also needed to have another specialist to aspirate and biopsy the nodes.  They were looking for either GI cancer or IBD at this point.  As it turned out the nodes were back to normal size the day of the procedure which made the aspiration unnecessary.

The endoscopy was done on Monday, although it seems like a lifetime ago.  Murph does not have cancer with is such a huge relief.  He does have IBD along with a helicobacter infection and because of some of the damage already done, he has a nutrition absorption concern.   This poor guy must have been feeling horrible for a very long time based on the con

dition of his GI track.  He's on lots of meds at this point:  Tylan, Prednisone, Metronidazole, Amoxicillin, Mirtazapine (appetite stimulant so he'll eat the Royal Canin HP food), Prilosec, and Cerenia (as needed for nausea).  He's also having weekly B12 shots."

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/our-long-road-to-an-ibd-di...

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am sorry to hear about Coco but glad you are getting lots of expert advice here.

[M Blair]

Thank you.  Yes, everyone is being extremely helpful!

[Dean Myerow]

My 12 year old Goldendoodle, Otis is now back on Atopica since he has had long term bouts with Sebaceous Adenitis, a disease that affects his hair follicles. Basically, he loses his hair and we need to use Atopica to suppress his immune system. This immune suppression treatment makes him vulnerable to other secondary complications from bacteria and fungal infections. I feel your pain on having to give a dog these meds. Hang in there. I may come back to post if I find that Atopica has any coupons or discounts.If anyone else has a dog with Sebaceous Adenitis let me know what you are doing for treatment. Dean Myerow, Fort Laduerdale

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The generic version of Atopica, cyclosporine, is less expensive and also available through pharmacies, so you can do price comparison. 

[Dean Myerow]

Great advice. Thanks so very much. Dean Myerow Fort Laduerdale

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I see you found another discussion here about S.A. There's some good info there.

I would urge you to find a veterinary dermatologist to help you with a treatment plan.

Be sure to notify your breeder about this, as S.A. is entirely genetic, and runs in Standard Poodle lines.

[M Blair]

Hello again everyone,

I just wanted to give an update about Coco.

We had started Azathioprine last Monday, and I did know that it could cause pancreatitis.  I took Coco back to the vet yesterday and more blood work was done.  I'm still waiting on some of the results, but initial blood work did show abnormalities due to Azathioprine, so that medicine was stopped.

The current plan is to try Prednisone again, only we are starting with a lower initial dose.  Hopefully, Coco can tolerate this.  Her appetite is still not great.  Coco is getting an appetite stimulant as well as Zantac, Cerenia, Carafate, and Zofran (if needed).  I have also started giving her the probiotic that a couple of you suggested.

Thanks to everyone for sharing knowledge, suggestions, stories, etc.!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Please keep us posted on how she does. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I so hope this new plan works!