The vet did blood work which was all normal, then X-rays. They looked pretty scary. Comparing old to new, you could see a definite change, where there appeared to be a large area near the stomach and lots of unusual pattern in the colon, like gas, but unusual. So he consulted with a radiologist who said it appeared to be just a large stomach full of water or gas and a lot of gas pattern in the colon indicating inflammatory bowel disease, probably.
The vet said we could do a blood test for food allergies as a possible cause, or do an endoscopy under anesthetic to do biopsies of the stomach and upper colon to confirm the inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis. I opted for the former, especially since certain foods, like duck, always made him sick.
Well...the results came back saying he is allergic to all of the following:
- Poultry (all kinds)
- Duck
- Alfalfa
- Soybeans
- Barley
- Peas
Try finding dog food and treats without any of those ingredients. We are in the process of switching him to a new diet, gradually, then will go completely with the new for 30 days and reassess. The little man seems better already and when I give him the old chicken and the new lamb food in the same bowl, usually eats only the lamb. He is figuring this out.
I have to keep dosing him with Pepcid and Benadryl, and he has gotten pretty good at taking them. I "hide" them in a treat, but they're not well hidden, and he still chomps them down.
He is such a loyal little man, and such a great help to me that I have to do what I can for him. I'm buying pretty expensive food, but it's worth it to see him get better. Luckily I recently bought health insurance for him, because I realized what could happen to my finances if he were to get really sick.
Does that face not say it all?
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