IBS in basenji

[erica ruth]

Can anyone help please. I have 9 years old boy , Freddie who has IBS. The vet gave this diagnosis few weeks ago after tests. Blood, poop, ultra sound scan. Nothing found, no infection. But his poo is so up n down. 4 days or so firmish, then back to cow pat! He's not having anything to eat other than chappie as he won't eat the royal canin. No treats at all, not even his teeth cleaner as it's liver flavour. But now she's not mean on chappie, he was eating it if I made a soup out of it. But he's lost more weight. He's 8.5 today..has been 8.8 kg for few weeks but although he's eating he's not gaining weight. It's such a worry. The vet see him every 3 or4 weeks to check him over . He goes again Tuesday..but 8.5 is very low, he's always been a good size 10 kg.
Could stress have caused the IBS ? I'm going to ask vet Tuesday. Looking back on last years season dates. He suffered really badly. Wolf howling even when we were in with him and on walks it was nose down, licking and sniffing every blade of grass...

Does anyone have any idea as I'm at a loss. He's happy most of the time and plays, his tail is down quite a lot tho so ... excuse the gabbling but I don't know what to do next
Erica

[eeeefarm]

I'm not familiar with Chappie as I don't live in the U.K., but are you feeding canned or dry? When he started having problems had there been any significant change in food or in your household? What was he eating prior to the onset of his problem? Stress can definitely cause digestive upset, but it is usually temporary and goes away when the stressful situation ends.

I have no use for Royal Canin and don't blame him for rejecting it. IMO, canned food is better than dry, and fresh food is best. Dehydrated or frozen can be a good choice. You might want to try an alternative to what you are currently feeding.

[Branch]

Hello, I have had similar problems with my boy, now 13 years old. But, i finally resolved them...maybe you can too.
I changed his dry food to "Lamb" which I choose "Open Farm" because it is a very "clean" food, it is a dry kibble. Then I purchase "bone broth" not chicken or beef, just plain bone broth, no other ingredients in it, so look carefully. I warm a little of that and pour over his dry kibble. I also found a lamb food made by Whole PAWS, grain free no corn, soy or wheat, it is not in a can, but small 3,5oz containers that have a peel back lid. He loves this food and I mix all of them together.
Another thought, has his teeth been checked? My guy ( and they can't tell us) had a broken tooth that needed to be removed, what a difference it made!
One more thing, sometimes they need the 10 mg of over the counter Famotidine , it is an acid reducer. I give it to him in the morning.
Hope this will be helpful...

[JENGOSMonkey]

@erica-ruth Sounds so much like Jengo at a few different times. I'll echo what @Branch has said... don't discount teeth. Jengo's appetite changed several times. Two of those times it turned out to be a tiny sliver of a back molar that had rotted. Once the vet extracted them his appetite returned pretty quickly. My vet said she almost missed it the first time, but knew exactly what to look for the second. Also, I used the bone broth idea. Worked pretty well too. I also alternated between cooked ground beef and chopped up chicken breasts. He seemed to respond to those pretty well.

[EllenW]

It was hard to find anything Cinny liked to eat for over a year. Finally I found a refrigerated food at Petco, called Vital. She eats it twice a day now and has never walked away from it. If it's available where you live, you might want to try it. I hope it works for your little one.

[Branch]

To my knowledge Basenji’s are allergic to chicken?

[Zande]

Chappie is a good universal food which many dogs will tolerate when they don't eat much else. But talk to your vet and ask him to consider prescribing Budesonide. It is a steroid, yes, but one which 'targets' the right areas. It does NOT lead to weight gain.

I had a dog with no symptoms for 5 years, then the kibble we always fed was discontinued and so we looked for something as close as possible to the same composition to mix with Pedigree Chum, veggies and self imposed diets of paper tissues. Within a couple of months, she showed all the symptoms of IBS, including eating huge quantities of grass to throw up. In other words, there was an 'itch' in her tummy she was trying to get rid of.

Tests revealed that the whole of her stomach lining was raw and red.

We put her on to grain-free at the vet's suggestion and he started her on a course of budesonide. One pill a day. She very obviously benefited and the dose was reduced to every other day. I kept her on 3 pills a week, except if I saw ANY signs recurring, in which case I put her back on daily medication for a couple of weeks. The vets know me and entrusted me with a supply of the steroid.

It was easier to put the entire pack on grain free kibble - it got too difficult to feed one dog apart from the rest of the pack (of 8).

The wee girl lived another 7 years on the Budesonide ! And the rest of the pack came to no harm on grain free kibble.

Its worth a try, so talk to your vet.

[rlkosek]

Are you sure it's IBS? I'm wondering if what's ailing Freddie might be EPI?

https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2018/08/05/exocrine-pancreatic-insufficiency-in-dogs.aspx

There are (at least) a couple of EPI support groups on Facebook who could guide you to proper testing/diagnosis. And there are a few basenjis in the group: EPI - Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency in Dogs (Original). Another group is: EPI - K9EPIGlobal.

Best wishes to you and Freddie in getting this resolved.

Roberta

[tanza]

@branch - Many dogs have chicken allergies, not limited or that normal for Basenjis.

[bernadette]

@branch I know of a lot of Basenjis that eat chicken.
Including Miss Bliss. However, as with humans, allergies are individual.Bliss loves raw chicken legs, that are no problem, but, cooked chicken gives her the runs.
Hope this helps.

[elbrant]

I'm a big fan of Pure Pumpkin (not pie mix). It's inexpensive. A (generic brand) can in the US can be found for less than $1USD and there is a lot of pumpkin in it! I generally freeze small spoonfuls (~1 tablespoon or less) on a cookie sheet, then put them into a zippered freezer bag for storage. Give your dog one daily. Dogs love the flavor, it's good for them nutritionally, and somehow it seems to settle an upset GI tract.

This doesn't replace proper Vet care, but... it's should help with your dog's digestion issues.

[JENGOSMonkey]

@erica-ruth I forgot to ad... Freddie is good looking Basenji. I think you're doing the right thing... sorting this out with your vet. Seems to me you're on top of it. Also, while I had similar issues with my older dog, I never got an IBS diagnosis, so anything I add to this discussion is suspect. I'd not heard of Budesonide before this thread. Definitely going to archive that tidbit. Thanks for that @Zande. I wish you and Freddie the best.

[Zande]

@jengosmonkey It is not called Budesonide everywhere and it almost certainly has a different name away from the UK.

It has a generic name which escapes me at the moment. I think it is mostly prescribed for humans and certainly I never managed to find it on line at all, let alone without a vet's prescription. It wasn't cheap, about $1.50 a day from the VET, but it was well worth it for the seven carefree years we had with that girl as a member of the pack.

[JENGOSMonkey]

@zande said in IBS in basenji:

It is not called Budesonide everywhere and it almost certainly has a different name away from the UK.

Here's a link to a fairly good description that includes other names...

[Zande]

@jengosmonkey That is a very interesting link. My girl suffered none of the possible side effects. No lethargy, listlessness, weight gain and her shape remained immaculate till the day she died. But she no longer suffered from IBS.