arasara
Well-known member
Kosmo had his annual vet appt on February 19th of this year and everything was perfect for him - there were no concerns. On February 23rd, we had a basement leak and unfortunately it was a lot of sewer water (there was human feces, toilet paper and stagnant water from the washer in the basement.) Unfortunately, I did not realize what it was down there until it was already too late and the dogs had run through it. On February 28th, Kosmo started showing mucous in his stools. On March 2nd, he went to the vet and was diagnosed with colitis (he started showing blood afterwards, too). He first went through 7 days of metronidazole (flagyl), and then his symptoms came back and he was put on another 7 (I think? but 1/2 of one in the morning and 1/2 of one at night) and then another 14. He had his last pill yesterday morning and started to crash again this morning. Three times now, it's happened where he finishes his flagyl and then gets sick again... What happens is this:
Pills are done *like yesterday morning*, yesterday night I hear a little bit of a louder tummy but nothing too bad.. this morning I wake up and his tummy is growling and gurgling like crazy. I let him outside and he's interested in only eating grass and refuses his morning kibble. His tummy settles down after a while, but he still doesn't feel good. He then has a bowel movement which is extremely loose and has a lot of mucous in it *yesterdays when he was still on the pills was completely formed although a tinge soft, it was good*. Today's had blood tinged mucous and smelled AWFUL. He's now back on the flagyl for 10 more days and my vet and I are at a total loss.
His fecals have all come back negative. His CBC came back with elevated eosinophils but that was in early March. He's on Orijen dog food (6 fish) and has done great with that. I believe he's allergic to grain and he's VERY picky so I have to be careful with what I feed him, but I've read that dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (which I'm concerned about) may do better on low protein foods - anybody heard that before?
The next step for us right now looks like a bacterial culture (I'm not sure what that entails or how it's obtained?) and a Gastro specialist for an endoscopy. The vet says the problem seems to originate in his stomach since his stomach makes a TON of noise before his stools get loose. He was on reglan pills orally for a week and also had to spend a day at the doggy hospital and get an injection because his tummy got so upset. The vet also told me that this is a very a-typical case as most cases of colitis do not react like his.
I am concerned he has IBS from this. To me, it seems like the flagyl is helping only while he's on it, but as soon as he's off it comes back. I'm convinced it's because it has anti-inflammatory properties and as soon as the anti-inflammatory agents are gone, the inflammation returns. My vet thinks it's a combination of that and the kibble being too dense for him (although while he's on the flagyl his stool does return to close to normal....)
The only other thing I can think of is the possibility that he coincidentally developed a food allergy to the 6fish at the same time of the basement ordeal. This would corroborate with the elevated eosinophils and makes sense to me that as soon as he's off the pills the inflammation comes back as flagyl apparently has an immunosuppressant property to it as well. I tried putting him on RAW but he doesn't eat it. I have read before that something like that happens you should try a protein source that a dog hasn't been on before.. Does this make sense?
Thank you for any and all help and or advice you can give me. As this is a holiday weekend, I am glad my vet gave me the script of flagyl to get through the weekend and then we'll make a new action plan next week, but she mentioned making plans to meet with a specialist next week. I am just trying to be proactive, prepare myself explore all options and make myself a question list before that appointment. :thnku:
PS.. Thank goodness I kept my insurance! :yikes
Pills are done *like yesterday morning*, yesterday night I hear a little bit of a louder tummy but nothing too bad.. this morning I wake up and his tummy is growling and gurgling like crazy. I let him outside and he's interested in only eating grass and refuses his morning kibble. His tummy settles down after a while, but he still doesn't feel good. He then has a bowel movement which is extremely loose and has a lot of mucous in it *yesterdays when he was still on the pills was completely formed although a tinge soft, it was good*. Today's had blood tinged mucous and smelled AWFUL. He's now back on the flagyl for 10 more days and my vet and I are at a total loss.
His fecals have all come back negative. His CBC came back with elevated eosinophils but that was in early March. He's on Orijen dog food (6 fish) and has done great with that. I believe he's allergic to grain and he's VERY picky so I have to be careful with what I feed him, but I've read that dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (which I'm concerned about) may do better on low protein foods - anybody heard that before?
The next step for us right now looks like a bacterial culture (I'm not sure what that entails or how it's obtained?) and a Gastro specialist for an endoscopy. The vet says the problem seems to originate in his stomach since his stomach makes a TON of noise before his stools get loose. He was on reglan pills orally for a week and also had to spend a day at the doggy hospital and get an injection because his tummy got so upset. The vet also told me that this is a very a-typical case as most cases of colitis do not react like his.
I am concerned he has IBS from this. To me, it seems like the flagyl is helping only while he's on it, but as soon as he's off it comes back. I'm convinced it's because it has anti-inflammatory properties and as soon as the anti-inflammatory agents are gone, the inflammation returns. My vet thinks it's a combination of that and the kibble being too dense for him (although while he's on the flagyl his stool does return to close to normal....)
The only other thing I can think of is the possibility that he coincidentally developed a food allergy to the 6fish at the same time of the basement ordeal. This would corroborate with the elevated eosinophils and makes sense to me that as soon as he's off the pills the inflammation comes back as flagyl apparently has an immunosuppressant property to it as well. I tried putting him on RAW but he doesn't eat it. I have read before that something like that happens you should try a protein source that a dog hasn't been on before.. Does this make sense?
Thank you for any and all help and or advice you can give me. As this is a holiday weekend, I am glad my vet gave me the script of flagyl to get through the weekend and then we'll make a new action plan next week, but she mentioned making plans to meet with a specialist next week. I am just trying to be proactive, prepare myself explore all options and make myself a question list before that appointment. :thnku:
PS.. Thank goodness I kept my insurance! :yikes