Maggie Mae, our seven year old Bearded Collie, resides with us, Janet, Charles and Mac (12 yr old Beardie boy) in Winter Park, FL. She had occasional vomiting which we contributed to normal viruses and grass eating sometimes. Then in March of 2001 she had a minor eye injury which required dilation and treatment with antibiotics and atropine ointments in the eye. She started vomiting bile after about two days, but continued eating. Two days later I gave her each ointment in the eye and she began salivating tremendously. Shortly after the salivation she had severe vomiting with blood in it. We took her to the Veterinary ER due to the constant vomiting and retching. She couldn't stop. She was given a shot of Reglan for nausea and we were told to withhold food, only give small amounts of water and see our vet.

At 6 am she started having very bloody diarrhea on the floor. She couldn't hold it. We took her to our vet as soon as he opened. He gave her IV fluids under the skin and did a complete blood panel work up. Everything came up
normal, except for a bacterial overgrowth in the intestines and she was treated with a shot of Reglan and Cortisone, Sulfasalazine tablets, and Metronidozole (Flagyl) tablets. She got better then worse. We were going to spay her and decided to have the exploratory biopsy done at the same time. Our vet told us it was the best test to definitely confirm the diagnosis. When the biopsy results came back the good news was no cancer and no major scarring to the intestines, but the bad news was a confirmed diagnosis of plasmacytic, lymphocytic colitis enteritis (IBD). This disease involved the entire GI tract.

The symptoms continued, usually in cycles of 2 days of no eating and very bloody diarrhea followed by a slow return to eating and no blood in the stool, but a pudding like consistency which would last a week - then a repeat of the same. When she would start eating again, she was given EN Prescription canned food as suggested by the vet. Maggie Mae had eaten Nutro Lite Lamb and Rice all her adult life and didn't seem to have a problem with it until the IBD flare up. Then we tried Nutro Chicken and Rice with no luck. We knew she was intolerant of wheat flour and finally deduced rice was the next intolerant food, along with the lamb protein. Even the EN Prescription food which was very bland contained rice - which she vomited in whole grains. Poor Maggie Mae was losing weight. Her coat was so dull and skin so flaky. She stayed in a listless and lethargic mood during this time (about 4 months) eating on and off and our hearts were breaking trying to find something that would give her relief. Her stools turned from liquid with blood to a pudding consistency with the foulest smell you can imagine. She had a lot of gas and her stomach was constantly gurgling when she would have a flare up. 

The vet prescribed a powder antibiotic called Tylan (1/4 tsp. twice a day added to her food). It worked for 10 days then another attack. Then we had to give her Prednisone for a week due to the diarrhea and vomiting of blood with no appetite. Our vet suggested treating her with Pepto Bismol and 150 mg of Tagamet twice a day along with the Tylan powder. We also started feeding her plain chicken I prepared in the pan with Pam and a little water. To the chicken I added Glory canned sweet potatoes in light syrup and Healthy Choice chicken broth (30% less sodium). She really liked it and stayed on this mixture a week before I gradually added the Neura Wellness Fish and Sweet Potatoes, by Old Mother Hubbard. I kept sweet potatoes in the kibble for another week before I stopped giving it to her and substituted the canned Wellness Fish and Sweet Potatoes to the kibble. She started with 1/4 c. kibble along with several chunks of sweet potatoes. Now she is on ½ cup kibble with a heaping tbs. of canned food 4 times a day. Frequent feedings seem to help her stay stable and kept the acid reflux under control. She was on this food for 3 weeks without a problem.

A couple of weeks later her gums started turning bright red and her breath was foul. She stopped eating the canned food, so I only used kibble and was worried she would stop eating the kibble so I took her to a Holistic Vet who practices Traditional Chinese Medicine including acupuncture and chiropractic. The Holistic Vet asked to see Maggie Mae's entire veterinary records. After one look she saw how many times Maggie Mae had been treated through the years with antibiotics and cortisone shots for itchy skin. She believed it could have upset the immune system by using too many antibiotics and not replacing them with probiotics (good bacteria) for her system along with the cortisone shots. Maggie Mae began acupuncture treatments in June along with different Chinese herbs, a probiotic (Thorne's Sporogenes) and a digestive enzyme (Thorne's Biogest). She also had one chiropractic adjustment on the second visit.  It took from June until December each month for acupuncture and different types of herbs.  We believe the Tagamet was causing the gum inflammation and foul breath. She has gained back all the weight she lost, plus some with padding on her ribs and her coat looks great - shiny with no flakes in her skin, thanks to the Omega 3 oils in her food.  She is now  on Gui Pi Wan (Chinese Tea Pills), slippery elm mixture and Biogest digestive enzyme  in her 2/3 cup Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato kibble twice a day with 1/3 cup dry kibble at bedtime (no canned food). In between meals, we give her Wellbars (fish & sweet potato made by Wellness) and Once Upon a Dog Quinoa Biscuits.

We are so happy to have our bouncing little Beardie girl back again. I would recommend going to a Holistic Vet if you can find a qualified one in your area. Our Holistic Vet treated Maggie Mae's system as a whole including liver, kidneys, blood flow, GI tract, nervousness, etc. Instead of treating the IBD symptoms and masking them with medicine, she gave treatment for the whole body. I think that's what made the difference.

As of January 2002, Maggie Mae has stopped the acupuncture treatments now and will go back periodically for check ups. We are really thankful to this group and others who have supported us and told us their remedies on IBD - without them the frustration just takes over. I believe the more information you can acquire the better able you are to fight this disease. Thanks to everyone!