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Colitis

Karlin said:
You would worm once to clear the system -- then at most around four times a year on something like Drontal; I wouldn't worm more frequently (and indeed I worm a lot less frequently than that but that's my own preference). Sometimes a vet will have you worm twice, a short time apart, to clear out anything stubborn and serious, but this should be done only under vet's advice.
Worms can cause all these problems.

karlin--what are the reasons for trying to avoid worming too often? Is it because it's a pesticide and exposes them to a neurotoxin? I've always wondered why all the other vets i saw when zack had stubborn persistent GI symptoms didn't consider deworming him. I imagine it might be for the same reason you avoid doing it very often. My vet tried it without a positive stool culture. She gave it a trial because nothing else had worked, even in the absence of positive stool culture.
 
BarbMazz said:
...He wants Bentley to eat an ID only diet for one month.. no treats, and nothing else besides the ID. He feels if he has no problems in that one month time the troubles are most probably due to diet related issues.
...If Bentley has another episode while on the diet, he will then proceed to other testing; xray, ultrasound, fecal culture, etc. to try to pinpoint what is going on.....
The vet also put him on a week's course of Flagyl. He'll be calling me in one month's time to see how Bentley is doing. Of course, if he has an episode before then I will contact the vet right away.

Zack was put on ID diet too during the ordeal. I was kind of leery of it just because it had a bunch of ingredients, including corn which is a common allergen. I thought it was strange that they would put that stuff in it, but i'm sure they know what they're doing.

Your vet sounds reasonable and taking a conservative sensible approach.

The first two vets i went to each said that having tried diet and Flagyl, and in the second vet's case, sulfasalazine, first alone and then in combination with Flagyl, they were unable to do anything more for Zack without more invasive assessment procedures. The first vet said the only thing left for her to try was either endoscopy or exploratory surgery where she would "cut open his stomach and intestines", (her words).
:yikes
hearing her say that really bothered me. Plus i had no insurance then.
And the second vet said she was "stumped" and that the next thing to do was barium studies, which would involve taking views of his abdomin for 6 hours while i guess he would be suspended in space, i'm not sure if he would've had to be anaesthetized for that, she said they would be looking for blockages. That vet put him on the Tylan, and said if that didn't help, then she didn't know what else to do besides barium studies, that would be the next thing, $600.
that was the point things were at when i went to yet another new vet, and she was the one who said she wanted me to give him the Dontral Plus for worms, she said "I would hate to miss that diagnosis."
For Zack, Flagyl worked very quickly the first time, and he was asymptomatic for several days after he finished taking it for 7 days. Then he had a vaccination and had a "normal" (they said) reaction to that (sore and lethargic for a day), and then the diarrhea returned. so then he had Flagyl again, and it worked again, but the diarrhea came back while he was still on it, after stopping for a few days. then they gave him Flagyl again, and on the last day of the prescription, for the first time he started vomiting and that continued for a very long week until the deworming. During that week, he had the sulfasalazine, and then more Flagyl too, with no benefit.

i sure hope these conservative measures fix Bentley--i think that in most cases these things do work. In fact, i believe that if i hadn't had Zack's vaccination until a month or more after the diarrhea stopped, he may not have been overrun by worms or whatever it was. The vaccination wiped out his immune system and it wasn't a good time for that to happen to him. He had just come to his new home, he was adapting to new things, it was stressful for the little guy, as it would be for anyone.

Fingers crossed for Bentley!
 
Yes, any news?

My three have been on the same Lamb and Rice biscuits for months, and I just add the tuna or mince and carrots to add a different flavouring - touch wood (or Woody) everyone is okay now.... Busta was a bit ill a few months ago but the vet reckons he had a bug... we did try different flavours every so often but they prefer the lamb and rice (James Wellbeloved).
 
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