Colitis

Hi I am hoping you guys could give me some advice. Bailey has colitis (diarrhea, slimey poo, straining to poo when nothings coming out) and we're just about to go pick up her third round of antibiotics in about a month. The last time we were at the vet she suggested that Bailey might have an intolerance to chicken so she told us to cut everything out of her diet except her dog food (royal canin mini adult). This doesn't seem to be working. She has messed herself three times since 3am this morning.

The other problem is that it's hard giving her her tablets twice a day without hiding it in food. She's also supposed to have a sachet of powder in her food once a day but it's almost impossible to get her to eat the food so obviously shes not getting all the benefit from the antibiotics.

I'm worried that her normal food might be to heavy on her tummy at the moment. Is there anything else I can feed her or are we best to just stick with her dog food?

Sorry if this isn't making much sense I just don't know what to do for the best. I want the poor little lamb to feel better asap.

Thanks for any help.

How old is Bailey? Are you in US or UK? How long has she had diarrhea/colitis? What antibiotics has she been treated with? What is the powder? Did anything happen that might have caused the colitis?

The reason I'm asking is that our Geordie had extended problems after taking prescription medications.

I really think it's time the vet took a stool sample from you. Dylan had Campylobacter once and a different type of antibiotics were given to kill off what was in his tummy. The stool sample had to be taken over 3 days. He was also put on Royal Canin Intestinal food which I'd be surprised if your dog didn't like. It's soft so you can hide a pill in a little lump.

Hi, we live in Scotland

The tablets are metronidazol 200mg. She's to get half twice a day. The sachets are called Lacto B. They are a probiotics. She's had colitis on and off for a few months. She only has symptoms every now and then. Today and yesterday have been the worst yet.

I picked up another course of medicine this morning and she has an appointment to see the vet on Wednesday.

That's good she's on probiotics.

You might want to boil some white rice, then boil some beef mince (ground beef) in water. Drain the water and fat from the beef, then mix half white rice and half beef. Make sure the food is at room temperature when you feed it to her. So when you refrigerate it, you'll need to take it out and warm it up a bit for her. This is a good diet for diarrhea and colitis, but of course you'll want to slowly work her back to her regular, balanced food as she improves. I usually feed this when they are sick.

If you take a fresh stool sample to the vet (keep at room temp in a ziploc bag), they can test for various problems and often determine the cause without having to try different medications.

I forgot to mention that after she is eating the beef and rice mixture, and she improves - this is a good time to change her diet if you want to. If the Royal Canin contains chicken or poultry, you might want to switch over to James Well Beloved, which has lamb or fish varieties. You could gradually add a little more kibble to the beef/rice mixture.

Pippin suffered with this and I had to take him off all forms of poultry eg. in his food. I changed him to a lamb amd rice food for 12 months. He is now able to eat dog food with a little poultry in it but never chicken or poultry in any other form.
I know how upsetting it can be when they have this all the time.Pippin had it on and off for a year or so before we got to the bottom of it. I felt like packing my bags and moving into the vets,he lost loads of weight and at four years is still small.
I hope this settles down for you soon.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll pop out and get some mince and rice right now and will order the James Well Beloved online. What a shame she loves chicken aswell lol.