When Toby was nine months his stomach would gurgle very loud at night, he would wake us in discomfort but the vets kept saying that it was nothing to worry and to switch him from puppy food to adult food for easier digestion. We did this, yet the horrible noises continued and he started having diarrhea periodically. He was treated by several vets many times thinking it was a virus, colitis etc., although his tests revealed nothing other than blood in his stool. In April of 1999, (14 months) Toby became very sick suddenly, with vomiting and severe bloody diarrhea. We rushed him to the Emergency, which is also a well known referral center of specialists. The next day, we had him in to see the GI specialist at the same referral center.  Endoscopy, Proctoscopy and biopsies were performed and diagnosed to have Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD - Lymphocytic-plasmacytic and Eosinophilic) through out his digestive system. Sulfasalazine was given for 10 days along with Tylan powder on a bland diet of rice and cottage cheese. After three days, Hills d/d lamb and rice (wet food) was introduced while continuing Tylan powder as maintenance. Toby did fine and was in remission from April 1999 until September 30, 2001.

September 30, 2001, is a nightmare that we have all not awakened from. It came out of nowhere, with no warning and it was vomiting and diarrhea with severe hemoregic diarrhea. The regular vet did not believe this was IBD since Toby had not had an episode for almost 2.5 years and treated for a virus but administered Azulfidine intravenously upon our insistence. We almost lost Toby.  He was in intensive care for three days. He lost 15 pounds and the horrible monster IBD was back, full blown.  Each and every test was repeated again with the specialist and found that he now has Acid Reflux and Gastritis as well in addition to IBD. Sulfasalazine was administered for 10 days, along with Flagyl, Reglan, and Prilosec given as daily maintenance. Prednisone was recommended, yet, we tried our best to avoid it by manipulating Toby’s diet and tried Acupuncture as well with no luck.  

Hills Ultra z/d did not work. Rice and Cottage did not work after four months. Vegetables did not work, especially Broccoli.  He would have severe flare ups and we had to start the treatment plan all over again. This was over a period of almost five months when we decided that we had no choice but to give Prednisone as our chance to help Toby, since everything else had failed.

On February 22, 2002, 30mg of Prednisone was administered, while just having started a home cooked diet of Venison and Potato. The dosage of Prednisone has now been reduced to (April 2002) 15mg every other day and will be reduced further to 10mg every other day for the next three months prior to being completely taken off, which will be on July 15, 2002, if all goes well.  Toby has not had a flare up since Prednisone was started, however, we will know the actual results only after July 15, 2002. We hope and pray this horrifying disease of IBD will go into remission in July and not come back for a very long time.

Update: Since July 30, 2002 Toby  has been on 5mg of Prednisone every other day and seems to be doing well. We look forward to being able to taking him off Prednisone completely sometime in the future.

Angie & Toby