Cushing and IBD

[Sandyhud]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum:)
I have an 11 year old Parson Terrier "Jacky" who was diagnosed with cushing's a year ago. Her cushing's is under control but she has bad IBD. She started with stomach issues approximately a year before her cushing's diagnosis and a few weeks ago she got so bad we almost made the decision to euthanize her. The vet has her on Atopica for the IBD and it worked at first, her stools were normal and she put weight back on, but now she is having bad diarrhea again. Anyone else have a dog with IBD?
Do cushing's disease and intestinal issues go together? Just to be clear her IBD is not from the medicine, she is on Vetoryl 10mg. She had IBD issues before she started the medicine. And we have tryed every diet possible and every medicine possible. I will not put her through any surgeries for any IBD or cancer testing, like biopsies of the intestines.
I'm asking if anyone else has been through this and what their experiences are/were.

[addy]

Hi and Welcome,

I am sorry to hear of Jacky's health issues. My Zoe had Cushings, was treated with Vetoryl for almost 3 years and had inflammatory Bowel disease diagnosed through endoscopy with biopses. Hers was responsive to antibiotics so she took various doses of metronidazole to control the IBD. She also had to have a strict diet with no changes to it.

When was the last time an ACTH test was done? Do you know what the results were? Was any blood work done recently? Could you post any abnormal results? Was Jacky having an IBD flare when he was tested and diagnosed with Cushings? How was he diagnosed? Are Cushings symptoms now controlled? What symptoms did he have?

I am so sorry have to ask so many questions but it helps us all give more meaningful feedback.

Budesonide is a newer IBD drug we had thought of trying on Zoe.


I am glad you found us.

[Trish]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Poor Jacky sounds like she is going through a rough spot.

I ended up on the forum with my dog Flynn, he ended up having an adrenal tumour that we removed. It was not one that gave him cushings but he did have a few symptoms and this forum was a wealth of knowledge in helping me sort things out. So while I am not much help with the cushings side of things, he also had IBD diagnosed on biopsy during another surgery to remove a liver mass.

I have his under control for the time being *paws crossed!* and Addy was so helpful sharing all the knowledge she gained treating Zoe.

Happy to share what I found helped with my dog. He did not lose a ton of weight but had a lot of soft mucous covered stool. He was also sick when he has a flare, go off his food and even vomit on occasion and just was off. His appeared to be related to diet so we did a lot of fiddling about trying to find something that suited him. Chicken was probably the worst for Flynn, we tried GI prescription diets and even the hydrolysed food called anallergenic by Royal Canin. It worked, settled down his bowel but unfortunately he is a dog that does not like just kibble so he plain stopped eating it. So now I keep him on a novel protein, currently he is on Ziwipeak Venison, I give him a mixture of the canned and dehydrated. They also have snacks and chew things, like antlers or hoofs that I get him for his teeth.

Supplements: I also use a probiotic specifically for IBD. It is a human one that my vet said was good to use by Ethical Nutrients, it is called IBS support and he has one capsule a day which he takes well in a small piece of his meat. I also give him 1/4 tsp of Metamucil, I dissolve it in about 50ml of water and pour it over his dinner. IMS recommended that just for a wee bit of extra fibre. He is also on fish oil. I am in New Zealand so some of these products may not be familiar to you?

We have not used the antibiotics, we never found any bacteria in his bowel on testing. Our IMS was recommending a drug called salazopyrin if we had further trouble. He is not good on prednisone, they did wicked things to his liver levels at even very low dose so they are out. Obviously steroids would not be good for a cush pup anyway.

I really think the biggest help for him was dietary, we have had to learn the hard way to be very strict about not giving him table scraps or any non venison treats. Even now that he is really good with the IBD the thought comes in to give him a bit of variety.... but noooooo I have to push that thought away.

Another good tip I got from Addy, was if you change things up just do it one at a time so you can pinpoint what is either helping or making things worse.

There are loads of novel proteins out there, what is she eating now? Addy asked about the latest cush tests that will be helpful to know as well.

:)

[Sandyhud]

Thanks for your responses. I don't have the test results but will pick up copies from my vet. Her last cushing's test was a few months ago when she started drinking a lot again and urinating all over. However her test was good so the vet says he believed the increased drinking was from her diarrhea and being dehydrated. He was correct she varies with her water consumption based on her episodes of severe diarrhea. At least she keeps herself hydrated:) Right now she is eating Canidae only because she had done well on it in the past. I have literally tried almost all types of food and protein sources over the past year, and nothing makes a difference. Even tried the vet EN formula from purina. We've tried raw, rabbit, beef and I've cooked for her and dehydrated foods, etc. I've never imagined it could ever be hard to stop a dog from having diarrhea. I do have her on a natural probiotic and she is on Tylan from the vet 1/8 of a tsp twice a day with food. At one time her blood work showed an issue with her liver, low protein? The vet said it was because of her diarrhea she wasn't digesting her food well and the protein passed right through. Her liver was enlarged and in fact that is one of the reasons I originally brought her into the vet when we first diagnosed her with cushings.

[Trish]

Hi - well it is such a tricky thing. What is the diarrhea like, watery, blood, mucous??

I looked at your food and was going to suggest grain free, but see she is already on that. Maybe try the anallergenic.

Hmmm, has she had a faecal specimen to check for bugs?? The drug Addy used Metronidazole has helped quite a few dogs, maybe worth asking your vet about that?

There is quite an active IBD group for dogs on facebook if you are a member you can check there for ideas too https://www.facebook.com/groups/11164787803/

Renal tests OK, maybe you can check when you pick up the results.

[molly muffin]

Checking in to see how Jacky is doing?
Has the IBD episodes gotten any better?

Sharlene and molly muffin