Questions for those who have pups with food intolerances / allergies

[Cynthia Shoe]

Hi Everyone,

I posted a few months ago about Lambeau's GI issues. We thought we had a bit of a breakthrough, with a possible beef allergy/intolerance. We removed it from his diet the past few months, with 1 issue in October that we are unsure of the trigger, but that is right when we were taking him off beef, one at Christmas, when I gave him a bully stick (with my fingers crossed he would be ok and needed him to be entertained) and this past week, when he got a piece of pepperoni. After the mystery incident in October and the Christmas bully stick, I kept him off food for 12 hours, gave him famotidine and feed him a bland diet for a few days and all was well. But with this pepperoni theory, we are on day 4 of vomiting and my heart is breaking. He had the pepperoni late Wed. night (around 10 pm). He threw up a pile of undigested kibble about 7:30 am. We kept him off food that day, gave him famotidine, and tried giving him some plain chicken. He threw that up immediately. We gave it a few more hour and tried tiny pieces of plain chicken and he threw that up. The next day, we went to the vet, since he was unable to keep anything down. They did the Cerenia shot and a shot of famotidine  and told us to feed him in an hour. We tried a little I/d and he threw that up immediately. We tried again awhile later, and he continued to vomit. We called the vet and they brought us back for x-rays and bloodwork, and everything was normal. They gave us a shot of Metoclopromide and some pills of Sucralfate, which they have us dissolve and shoot in his mouth with a syringe to coat his stomach an hour before eating. He is keeping water down, but is off an on with the food. Yesterday, he did ok with the medicine and little amounts of food, until later in the evening about 10pm he threw up his famotidine and probiotic. This morning, he threw up the tablespoon of food we gave him again. He did manage to keep down a little food so far today, but that is what leads me to my question - for those of you with pets that have a food allergy/intolerance - does this long recovery and continued GI upset seem normal? How long does it usually take? Is there anything you recommend to help him now, or in the future if he happens to get beef, to promote recovery?

There is also the possibility that it is not the beef - and yhey also sent out a resting cortisol sample to test for Addison's. While not the full test, they said it would be a good indicator. We are also looking at the TAMU panel and the ultrasound and the specialist.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Cynthia, I would strongly urge you to go with the options in your last sentence: the GI panel at TAMU, the ultrasound, and the specialist. I went thru all this a few years ago and my deepest regret is that I didn;t do those things sooner, rather than wasting time and money with the standard GP vet blood tests, Xrays, sucralfate (which actually made him sicker), etc. while JD was slowly starving to death. 

None of this sounds anything like a food allergy; it sounds like a serious GI disease. With any type of allergy, food or any other type, the primary symptom is intense itching. 

Question: do you mean actual pepperoni, like humans eat on pizza, or do you mean Pupperoni dog treats? Neither one is mainly beef, but neither one should be given to any dog, even a healthy one.  The former contains all kinds of spices that can be toxic to dogs, and the second one contains horrible ingredients.

PLEASE, call a specialist tomorrow and make an appointment. 

[Cynthia Shoe]

It was a piece of pepperoni that fell off my husband's pizza and he grabbed it before we knew what happened. After he got sick the next day, I looked at the pepperoni ingredients and saw beef listed, which is why I thought it could be connected.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'd be willing to bet some serious $ that it has nothing at all to do with beef. Pepperoni contains garlic, which is toxic to dogs, as well as some really nasty artificial preservatives and chemicals. But those wouldn;t cause him to be unable to hold down any food for days. 

Lambeau's had GI problems for many months, and I really think he needs to see a specialist at this point. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I urge you to take him to a specialist.  I think you need to find out what is really bothering him.  Be sure to take the results of the tests he has had with you.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I agree with Karen and Nancy.  I have a dog with IBD which was diagnosed through the GI panel, an ultrasound and then an endoscopy.  What you describe does sound like a serious GI issue and the only real way to know is through the testing.  I will tell you that my Murphy's IBD is now managed through several meds and food, but we have to be incredibly careful to prevent him from ingesting anything other than his "approved" food and treats which cause serious flares.

[Cynthia Shoe]

Thanks everyone for your advice. We just got the resting cortisol test back and they have a strong suspicion he might have Atypical Addisons. We will be doing the ACTH Stimulant test soon. I had made an internal medicine appointment as well, but may postpone that since the vet has a direction she is working on. Is there an Addison's group on DK?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would still see the internist; specialists are experts at treating Addison's, too. Personally, I would be surprised if he has Addison's disease, especially given his history and symptoms. Nothing you've posted is compatible with Addison's disease, and it is relatively rare in such a young male dog. But the specialist would certainly be just as capable of diagnosing that as a GP vet, and probably better at treating it. I really think you would be better off letting a specialist look at the whole picture.
There are a few people here whose dogs have Addison's, but there is not a group. 

[Cynthia Shoe]

Hi Karen, We got the final results from the GI Panel and Lambeau has elevated folate. The vet is recommending a prescription diet for prebiotics, specifically related to fructooligosaccharides. The two prescription diets are Purina E/N and Royal Canin H/E. I hate moving him to those brands. Anything you know of on the food list or supplements that include fructooligosaccharides? Should I post in the Food Group instead? We have our appointment with the Internal Med Specialist on March 6th.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Elevated folate indicates a condition called "SIBO", which stands for small intestine bacterial overgrowth. Many dogs with inflammatory bowel disease have this. It's treated with strong probiotics (not prebiotics) like VSL#3, and tylan. I would not switch to either of those Rx foods your vet recommended, I'd wait to see the IMS in March. 

You can buy supplements that contain fructooligosaccharides if that's what's needed, rather than switch him to a garbage food. 

[Cynthia Shoe]

She also mentioned probiotics and tylan along with the fructooligosaccharides (FOS). I did find two supplements with FOS in it last night, so I will likely grab one of those for now.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I still really feel that you should wait to see the specialist before making any treatment decisions. The fact that he has SIBO doesn't mean he doesn't also have IBD; in fact, it makes that more likely. The specialist visit is less than 2 weeks away, and he/she may want to run more tests and/or may have different product recommendations. 

[Cynthia Shoe]

We are still working to get Lambeau a diagnosis. His resting cortisol came back below a 1 which is a strong indicator of Addison's. We did the ACTH Stim test, and he responded, so the vet was confused because of his low cortisol. We did an ultrasound, where everything looked normal, and the TAMU panel where 3 out of 4 tests have come back as normal and we are waiting on the 4th. It sounds like a biopsy might be the next step or a trial of Prednisone, since he does have such a low resting cortisol...