colitis HELP!

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I could really use some suggestions as to how to deal with idiopathic

colitis. I'm not asking for myself but for my little 9 lb. min pin. I

adopted this poor girl 2 years ago, at the age of 10. and she was such a

wreck at the time with 2 tumors, vaginal bleeding, gunky ears, cloudy eyes,

atrophied muscles, nervous air nipping, excessive leg licking, greasy coat,

damaged lungs, osteomalacia, and excessive fear of being approached too

quickly. she still flinches, squeezes her eyes tight, and cries out if

anyone accidentally swings a hand anywhere near her face. she was clearly

abused in one her former homes (she's had 4). anyway, when i adopted her, i

immediately put her on a raw home prepared diet and gave her various

supplements to address some of her issues. she's come a very long way since

then - has been active, bright eyed, muscular, playful, nice coat, less

fearful, less leg licking (the fur has grown back on the areas of her leg

that were bare from her licking), and seems to have a much increased sense

of well being.

however, all is not perfect. this past winter she had an acute attack of

what the emergency vet *thought* was hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. she was

spurting blood from her mouth and anus. i was so scared and thought i was

going to lose her. she spent 3 days at the hospital, then continued her

recovery at home. the vets theorized that she had an allergic reaction to

venison, which i had just started feeding her the week she had the HGE

attack. but no one knows for certain what caused her attack.

since then, her stools have been intermittenlty good and bad. in the past

few months they've become increasingly wet and mucousy. we couldn't find any

parasites or bacteria from stool samples, but doesn't necessarily mean she

doesn't have them. they just don't always show up when tested. last summer

she had whipworms so i'm now treating her for whipworms with flagyl and

treating her for possible bacterial infections with metranidazole

(antibiotic). i HATE using antibiotics, but i panicked and made a quick

decision to go ahead with it.

so now, i'm trying to figure out how to treat her colitis. i've given her

mostly bone broth and mushed potato this week (as recommended by a canine

nutritionist friend who's got a lot of experience working with colitis). i

also gave her a little lamb, and culturelle - which is lactobacillus GG. but

her stool is still very mucousy. today, i decided to remove the potato, and

try just feeding two basic foods that *should* digest in the small

intestine - pastured egg yolk and summer squash.

I'm really concerned about how to proceed as she's 12 years old now, and is

slim - not a lot of reserves. i'm hoping someone here has some knowledge of

treating colitis, in humans or animals, doesn't matter - i'm just looking

for avenues to investigate. i'm wondering if i should be giving her kefir

whey? or some other 'natural' probiotics, as opposed to just culturelle? i

also don't know if i should be giving her soluble fiber, or wait until the

mucous clears up a little first? i know this group has knowledge of an

approach to nutriton and health that i may not find in mainstream

literature, which is why i'm posting my questions here.

can anyone help with suggestions?

*any* help is GREATLY APPRECIATED. my mission is to provide mokie with as

many happy, *healthy* years as is humanly possible. she deserves it.

Suze Fisher

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