Diet for dog with IBD

Hi,
My sisters border terrier was diagnosed with irritable bowel disease in august she is currently on hills zd and a high dose of steroids - when the steroids are reduced she has red inflamed ears and she starts stretching alot so we are assuming she is having a reaction to the food.

The vets idea is to change her food to burns venison and rice gradually even though she has had this food before and from my searching on the net i thought IBD dogs couldn't/shouldn't have a protien or carb source that they have had before and that when changing foods with an IBD dog it should just be swapped in one go so that the body doesn't react badly to the new food because of the old food still being present?

So just wondering if anybody else's dog has IBD and asking for food suggestions and any advice with controlling the condition, she has had lamb,chicken,fish and venison before oh and the usual treats like bonios will check with my sister if thats all.

Sorry for long post and thanks for any help.

Hi Melissa It sounds as though the Hills isn't effective doesn't it, it is Chicken based isn't it and dried?.

I understand what you are saying about changing the food all in one go, but of course the reason for changing the food gradually is to give the dogs stomach time to adjust to the new food or it can cause an upset tummy.
You say the vet said change it gradually and that is what I would normally do.

Wafcol Salmon and Potato is good for dogs with tummy problems, it contains very few additives.

Are treats still being given, if they are maybe they are contributing to the problem. I don't think Bonio or any treats full of additives are a good thing to give , Bonio contains:
''Cereals, Various Sugars, Minerals, Oils and Fats, Meat and Animal Derivatives. Contains EC Permitted Antioxidants''..
For treats I would only give something like dried fish (Fish 4dogs makes this) which is just pure fish .

ETA Been thinking about it and if it was my dog I would probably try an elimination diet (feeding a minimum of foods and monitoring the reaction) starting with nothing but white fish (coley can be bought quite cheaply in frozen packs in the supermarket) and cooked rice and because this is not a dried food like the Hills it could be switching in one go as you would for a dog with vomiting and diarrhoea. This would provide a buffer between the Hills and the new food you are going to introduce . After a few days I would gradually add the new food maybe the salmon and potato as that would be similar to the rice and fish and also a new food, or the venison and rice the vet mentioned.
It is a good idea to keep a food diary and enter everything that has been fed and the results. It may take a couple of months to get a true picture .

Melissa maybe something like this food recently mentioned by Borderdawn might be a good choice, it doesn't contain any cereal which is one of the things which often causes a problem ...

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/natur...t-products.php


ETA (not the chicken for obvious reasons but the lamb might be suitable)

James Wellbeloved also do foods without rice. They contain vegetables instead.
I know of people who's dogs have allergies who feed this no problem

Thanks for your replys guys, from what i understand a dog with IBD cannot be given a protein source that they have previously had as the body will be allergic to it already so the fish would be a no go, she has no treats at all and is just fed the dried food very sad little dog she is.

She had allergy tests but no allergys were found and we tried an elimination diet before she had the endoscopy to confirm IBD just in case it was a particular ingredient that was causing the sickness and diarhea but now we know its IBD which is controllable with steroids but not curable.

Its just frustrating as the vets don't seem to have much info on the disease and give steroids as the answer but with the steroids Bindi is very bloated and lethargic and cannot enjoy her usual walks and agility - on american vet sites it states dogs with IBD will need a novel protien and carb source and that even when the right carb and protien are found within a period of time(could be months or years) the dog will react to the new food and another protien and carb source will need to be found!

Have suggested raw feeding to my sister as i think it will be easier then struggling through the mine field of pet food ingredient lists but she is unsure.

Thanks again for the advice my poor sister is overwhelmed with the diagnosis as she knows bindis life expectancy is now reduced and the vets are almost learning as they go.

Sorry to hear about your sister's poor little border suffering like this, and I hate the thought of having to give steroids like that to keep a check on the problem, it doesn't sound right does it. One of my dogs is on steroids, and has been most of his life, but that's due to a severe skin allergy, not his bowels, but even then, I don't like the thought of them being given on such a long term basis, it would be much better to find a solution if you can wouldn't it.

Only a suggestion, but have you investigated all of the Royal Canin foods which can be found on Hyperdrug or Bestpet Pharmacy or suchlike? They do such a huuuge range of disease specific foods, and you just might hit on one which could suit this little fella? I previously had a dog with EPI, which is a serious digestive problem, where they have no enzymes to digest any food, let alone IBS, and I found their Digestive Low Fat and Sensitivity Control foods an absolute Godsend, she could actually tolerate them whereas she couldn't tolerate much at all, not even treats. So it might be worth looking through their foods and see if they do one specifically for IBS perhaps?

You can't even do much of an elimination diet, because you seem to have used up all your protein options. Although I don't feed raw myself, I would suggest you post up another thread in the Raw Feeders section on here, coz you might get some interesting feedback about whether you could switch to raw, they're very informative on here the Barfers? It's gotta be worth a try?

Good luck, must be a nightmare for your sister.

Thanks for that i will pop another post on the barfers bit - she has another dog and a 2 1/2 year old son and is worried about germs etc with raw feeding , i on the other hand give my dog chicken legs and wings once a week and she loves it.
Ive emailed all the major pet foods - royal canin, burns,jwb etc to ask if any of their foods would be suitable hopefully hear back from them soon.

Hi I have recently lost my dog to IBD but that was because his allergies were so severe he couldn't tolerate any medication either and despite the support of a top specialist who treated him we could not save him.
Anyway you are right you must completely change the protein source. I did find dried foods were worse and something like Naturediet was best. They have lots of different ones so you can try various protein sources from there.
If I can be of any help please just let me know we battled for almost 3 years with my lad so I learn't a great deal in that time. It can be contolled once you get the right food and medication and I would highly reccomend telling your sister to get her dog referred to a specialist of internal medicene. Steroids long term are not good, my little lad was allergic to them and caused ulceration that actually ate away part of his tongue, so he couldn't have them anyway.
There are quite a few treatments for it and a specialist will be the best for that.
What tests has the dog had done to diagnose IBD?

Im so sorry you lost your dog sounds like you did everything you could to treat them, it seems this disease is difficult to keep controlled.
Bindi had an endoscopy which showed IBD in her upper and lower intestines - she was in north kent refferals specialist for 3 days having tests there she was put on hills zd and a steroid called predosine?! not sure if thats how its spelt.

Thats the worry we have that the steroid will cause lots of problems long term, we are with a vet whose special interest is internal medicine but he was the one that suggested going back on burns venison even though bindi has had it previously

I will take a look at naturediet now was thinking of raw feeding too?

Thanks so much for your help

The problem with raw feeding an IBD dog is that you cannot really give him a complete balanced diet as there are so many things they won't be able to have.
Nature diet is completely natural but you can find the protein source that suits and stick to that one knowing the diet will be balanced with the right amount of vits and minerals.