[Blinkee23]

My vet diagnosed my 2 year old with colitis today.. she has been having soft/liquidy poops on and off since last Tuesday.. Yesterday she was fine and her poop was normal.. today, it was loose again.. He said specifically she had Low Fiber Colitis.. and said it would help if we added fiber to her diet.. He suggested adding either unprocessed bran (if i could find it) to her meals or bran wafers.. But I have read on here that a lot of people add canned pumpkin?? If so, how much??

The other thing he suggested was feeding Hill's W/D.. She is eating Nutro Senstive Stomach right now... I know Nutro isn't the best food.. but she has had no problems with it (until now). Everytime we try to change her food, she throws up.. And we only add 1/4 cup of the new food to the Nutro when we have tried to switch.

Anyone have any experience with Colitis??? I don't wanna add too much fiber bc I read that can lead to gas and bloat.. and bloat terrifies me.. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Its soo frustrating to look at her and not know what I can do to help her =(

 

[Shane23]

When I used canned pumpkin I only used 2 tablespoons.

 

[BigBrownDog]

Did the vet check for parasites/giardia?

Isn't colitis a chronic condition? I think it is in people. Have you tried switching her over to a bland chicken and rice diet for a few days to see if that calms her down?

 

[millstonekennel]

Psyllium Hulls are good for adding fiber.
http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/products/catalog/product/default.aspx?stocknum=1375

Did they give her meds or just called it colits?

 

[justine]

Hmm. No experience with it, but I understand how horrible loose stools are... Abbey had a nasty bout of them that lasted for a few weeks. Not fun to clean out of carpets!!

I found this site and it seems very helpful. http://dogtime.com/colitis-in-dogs-vin.html

Does Blinkee get bouts of loose stools on and off a lot or has this just recently started??

 

[Shelbz]

Shelby had colitis few months back...she has a very sensitive tummy and i had trouble finding a food that agreed with her... vet also suggested increasing fiber but also recommened Hills w/d which of course need to purchase at vet office. Instead i gave her brown rice, boiled chicken and cooked pinto beans, within a few days her poop was normal i then tried Nutro for sensitive stomach gradually mixed in with rice/chicken/beans then after about 2 weeks totally on dry food only, she has not had a problem since.
pumpkin,oatmeal or even Metamucil/Benefiber etc will work too. Be sure she drinks plenty of water....

 

[Blinkee23]

Psyllium Hulls are good for adding fiber.
http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/products/catalog/product/default.aspx?stocknum=1375

Did they give her meds or just called it colits?

no meds.. just said to add fiber and that usually helps most dogs.

 

[Blinkee23]

Did the vet check for parasites/giardia?

Isn't colitis a chronic condition? I think it is in people. Have you tried switching her over to a bland chicken and rice diet for a few days to see if that calms her down?

We tried the bland chicken and rice diet last week.. we thought it helped, until today when the loose stools came back.. But my vet said that won't help colitis bc there is no fiber unless u use brown rice (instead of the white).

 

[Blinkee23]

Thanks for the website Justine.. Great info there!!

Blinkee always has very normal firm stool (unless we try to switch her food).. the last time something like this happened was January of last year.. she had loose stool on and off for a few days, and it turned out she had a partial obsturction in her intestine.. Luckily, she was able to pass whatever it was on her own.. so no surgery.. But thats why I was nervous when this all started.. bc I have that in the back of my mind!!

She does have a VERY sensitive stomach though.. She gets NO table food.. just her Nutro SS and 2 different types of treats.. so I can relate to the problems u spoke of Shelbz.. She can't tolerate most foods.

The update for now is that I gave her a smaller portion of her food and added a tablespoon of pumpkin.. She wasn't crazy about it, but she ate it (she IS a lab lol).. She seems a bit better since then, and hasn't had a loose stool (or any stool) in almost 12 hours.. I will continue to add the pumpkin and hope that that works!! She is drinking a lot of water at least, so I don't have to worry about that for now!!


Thanks for all the suggestions.. I will let u know how tomorrow goes!!

 

[Snowflake]

I don't know exactly what colitis is. Is it anything like Intestinal Bowel Disorder (IBD)? Spud has that. He also was on Nutro. When he was diagnosed with IBD, the vet put him on Science Diet ID (I think that's what it was...the one for intestinal problems.)

He was on that for months. Then we slowly....very, very slowly switched him over to Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato. He needs a single protein, single carbohydrate food. It took a good month for us to switch him over, little by little. But he's done just great. Never had a single flare-up...well, except for the one time he ate poop at daycare!

As far as adding fiber, once when we were at an event, Sally came down with some horrible diarrhea...even a little blood in it. We were 500 miles from home, staying in a hotel so no way to cook chicken/rice. So I called my vet and asked him what to do.

He said to go get some Metamucil and sprinkle about a tablespoon on her food each morning. He said they keep some of that at their clinic because when they board dogs, sometimes they get upset and get runny poops, and that fiber helps.

So, that's something you might want to try. The canned pumpkin is good also.

Good luck. If colitis is anything like IBD, it can be very frustrating trying to treat it and work out a good balance for your dog.

 

[Blinkee23]

Thanks Snowflake.. I heard about Metamucil too.. I'm sticking with the pumpkin for now.. She has been good so far today!!!