What food helps my senior Yorkie's constant diarrhea and IBS?

I'm sorry to hear of your concerns with Snowball. Inflammatory bowel disease can be a frustrating problem to deal with. The only way to definitively diagnose it is via intestinal biopsies. Food trials with hypoallergenic diets can be helpful in cases of inflammatory bowel disease, but do not always solve the overall problem. Sometimes a course of steroids, supplementation a certain vitamins and even antibiotics are needed to get things back on track. Given that it sounds like Snowball has a sensitive stomach, I would not recommend feeding lettuce as it is difficult to digest. Oftentimes feeding a low-fat, easily digested diet can be helpful. If the diarrhea continues I would recommend having Snowball seen by your veterinarian. There are certain blood tests that can be beneficial to determine if any additional vitamins are needed and they can help you to develop a plan for further diagnostics or management of symptoms in a long term.

Poor Dylan! If he has a sensitive stomach and gets diarrhea easily, he may benefit from a prescription GI diet that is bland and easy to digest, or a hypoallergenic limited ingredient diet such as Hills z/d or Purina HA - I would suggest talking to your vet about these options to see if he/she feels that they might be helpful. It's also possible that Dylan has some other underlying medical issue causing the recurring diarrhea, such as intestinal parasites, inflammatory bowel disease, Addison's disease, etc. I would recommend having a full check-up done by your vet if this hasn't been done in the past - he/she can do blood work or other testing if needed to check for these problems and get him started on appropriate treatment if needed.

If it is persisting you may need an ultra to measure and look at the intestines or. A biopsy for a diagnoses. persistent diarrhea can be a sign of cancer or inflammatory bowel or a food allergy You can feed boiled chicken and rice or continue with the I/D, I know it is expensive but it does help. You can also try a hypoallergenic diet such as royal canine rabbit and potato. The goal of a hypoallergenic diet is a single protein and single carb to not make their GI track work as hard and decrease allergies You should also add a probiotic to the diet as this will help return normal bacteria population to the gut Sometimes a low dose of cortisone can help get rid of inflammation to help also

Most cases of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require hypoallergenic diets composed of hydrolyzed proteins (proteins broken down to the point where they will not stimulate the immune system). These diets are prescription based and include Royal Canin Ultimano, Royal Canin HP, Science Diet Z/D and Purina HA. In some cases of IBD, a dog can tolerate a novel protein diet (one protein source and one carbohydrate source) after a period of time on a hypoallergenic diet. Some novel protein diets are prescription based (such as Science Diet D/D), but others are available over the counter (such as Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet). Most cases of IBD also require some form of corticosteroids for management in addition to the diet change. Before making any changes in Peaches' diet, be sure to consult her vet to make sure this is appropriate for her case. I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear about Tyson. The two main rule outs we would have in his case would be inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cancer of the intestinal tract (such as GI lymphoma). Unfortunately it is impossible to tell which of these is present without additional testing. The next step would be an ultrasound of the abdomen. It is possible they may find changes supportive of one disease or the other, but it is also possible the changes might not differentiate the two and a biopsy may be needed. The question you need to ask yourself is if your dog did have cancer, would you pursue aggressive treatment (i.e. surgery and chemotherapy). If the answer is no, then it might be worth trying to treat him as if he has IBD to see if there is any improvement. This treatment usually involves a diet change and putting the dog on a steroid such as prednisone. Often dogs with cancer will temporarily improve on prednisone as well. Here is an article with a little info on this: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598 .

If you have not done a good trial already, I would recommend a diet such as Royal Canin Ultamino and feed this for at least 4 weeks and see if this makes a differencr. If after the diet trial there is no difference, I would recommend adding in a probiotic such as Purina fortiflora which can be found online or at your local pet store. If the diarrhea is still there, I would recommend an abdominal ultrasound. If this is inflammatory bowel disease, Bonnie may need to be on drugs such as Budesonide and Azathioprine. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Inflammatory bowel disease is not common in a puppy but it could be dietary intolerance from something in the diet. Other potential causes include Giardia, bacterial overgrowth, or pancreatic insufficiency. Your veterinarian likely has a ‘next step’ already planned. I recommend to discuss Mable!s diarrhea with your veterinarian. They may want to try an antibiotic and a probiotic along with a bland diet to see if that resolves the diarrhea. They may also recommend protozoa testing, a fecal culture and/or pancreatic enzyme testing. A diet trial with a hydrolyzed protein is another potential option. Since there are many causes of diarrhea, each one needs to be worked through. I hope this helps and best of luck.