Royal Canin Rx food?

[Rebecca, Kandy & Murphy]

Murphy, our adult full-size labradoodle, has been tentatively diagnosed with IBD or similar GI issue.  Vet is recommending switching to Royal Canin low-fat Rx diet and adding a probiotic as well, as a first step to seeing if this can be treated with diet alone and before doing more invasive testing.  I know this brand isn't on the recommended food list, but wondering if it is an OK option for something special, or is it like Science Diet which vets recommend but isn't a great choice.  Is there a better option for a low-fat but complete food?  It is likely that our other healthy doodle will be eating the same food since they, um, "share".

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In cases of serious digestive disease (and Inflammatory Bowel Disease is an extremely serious, incurable disease), you feed what you have to feed, even though it might not be the best quality food. Royal Canin Rx food is better quality than Hill's or Purina. 

However, you want Royal Canin HP (stands for hydrolyzed protein). Trust me on that. GP vets usually cannot diagnose or treat IBD, and are not UTD on the latest treatments and products. The hydrolyzed protein diets are what the internal medicine specialists recommend for dogs with IBD. 

I would absolutely not allow my healthy dog to eat the Rx food, no matter what you have to do to prevent it. It is not nutritionally adequate for a healthy dog. 

Also, the best probiotic on the market for IBD is a human probiotic called VSL#3, which is sold at human pharmacies and must be kept refrigerated. It's very price-y. Chances are that your GP vet isn't familiar with it, but the clinical studies are extensive and easily found if he/she wants to look it up. What you do not want is Purina's Fortiflora or Iams Prostora. Next best probiotic after VSL#3 would be either Proviable or iFlora. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It would also be worth your while (and money) to have your vet run a GI blood panel. This is also something with which he/she may not be familiar. It's a blood test that only measures cobalamin, folate, and a TLi ratio. It must be sent out to Texas A & M and takes 5-7 days to get results. It costs about $200 for the one test, but it can be very helpful in diagnosing IBD. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My Murphy has IBD diagnosed via Endoscopy and Biopsy and I feed him the Royal Canin HP (hydrolyzed protein).  It is actually the only food that he doesn't react to. I absolutely hated moving him to an RX food, but everything I tried including what I thought were novel proteins and home cooking still caused reactions.  I also have him on the VSL 3 as a probiotic, which I really think helps him as well.  Murph is on lots of other meds because his case can't be managed with diet alone, but certainly some IBD dogs do okay once diet is controlled.  I agree with Karen's advice on the GI blood panel.  Many of these IBD dogs are not able to absorb B12 and it needs to be supplemented.  The GI panel will tell that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was hoping you would also mention that your healthy dog doesn't eat the Rx food, Jane. LOL

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

He eats home cooked chicken with Honest Kitchen (he has IBS) and all of the Royal Canin kibble he can steal from his brother's bowl....he thinks it must be a "treat" because it's crunchy.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The grass is always greener....:)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Rebecca, hopefully your vet also mentioned that Murphy will not be able to have any type of treats or chews that contain any kind of animal protein. Many IBD dogs can tolerate vegetarian treats such as apples, carrots or dehydrated sweet potatoes, (some can't) but you will be wasting your time and money if you give him anything that contains any type of animal protein while he is on the hydrolyzed food. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

There are hydrolyzed treats that both of my dogs love....I get them at the Vet. 

[Rebecca, Kandy & Murphy]

Thank you for the advice.  I believe the vet did say something about hydrolized protein, so I may have gotten things mixed up.  It was just a conversation on the phone and it was hard to track through the dog chorus in the background.  I will look for the probiotic you recommend.  As I mentioned, this is sort of the "holding pattern" diagnosis and recommendation while she sends out blood for testing by a specialist (guessing that might be what you mentioned) and wait to see if his electrolytes and protein levels come back into the "normal" range with a different diet and time before we go any further forward.  Oddly enough, we went through years of something similar with my son, with a final diagnosis of fructose mal-absorbtion, so this isn't altogether foreign territory.  For people anyway, IBS is sort of the "well, we can't find any other cause for your symptoms" diagnosis so I assumed it was the same for dogs.  At any rate, the tests we've already done have ruled out Addison's disease and Diabetes Insipidus.  I have a suspicion this may be the first step down a long road. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

IBS and IBD are two very different things. IBS is Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it's basically a nervous stomach. There are no diagnostic tests for it and it's controlled by diet. It's not a serious illness.

IBD is Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and it's an incurable, immune-mediated disease similar to Crohn's Disease in humans. It has a 20% fatality rate. Treatment is for life and usually includes some form of immunosuppressant drug, at least until you get it into remission. After that, 60% of dogs affected must be on some form of meds for life, while the other 20% can be managed with diet and supplements alone. It can only be definitively diagnosed by endoscopy or surgery, but some tests can point you in that direction. Ultrasounds and the GI panel in particular. The GI panel wouldn't be sent to a specialist, it's always sent to TAMU. And it doesn't show protein, electrolytes, or anything other than what I mentioned. So your vet may have run a different test.

There are also other digestive malabsorption diseases seen in dogs, like PLE (protein losing enteropathy) and lymphangiectasia (leaky gut) that can have similar symptoms, but different testing and treatments options. 

[Kris and Sawyer]

True. I'm a human with IBD, I have Crohn's disease and have had it for 26 years. I'm not a dog, but I can assure you in humans, no diet change under the sun fixes IBD. :-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It rarely does in dogs, either.