Gunther

Question
My 11.5 year old neutered Rottie was recently diagnosed through endoscopy with irritable bowel disease.  I have him on D/D prescription diet.  He also is on flagyl,metodpramide and large doses of prednisone.  He is having all the nasty side effects of the prednisone.  When I try to wean him off some of these meds the vomiting reoccurs.  His bowels are stable.  Any thoughts?

Answer
You may want to consider one of the hydrolyzed diets such as Z/D or Royal Canin HP and see if that food would agree with him better.  When weaning off the prednisone, it must be done VERY slowly and you should not attempt to stop the other medications when doing so.  Some dogs with IBD need to be placed on stronger immunosuppressives similar to chemotherapy, which do not have the side effects like the prednisone but have other risks.

You could try putting him on Transfer Factor to see if that would help balance his immune system.  It doesn't have any side effects and can be given with any medication.  The TF Canine Complete is a powder that is especially formulated for dogs that you can mix in their food.  Or you could give him the human capsules.   www.transferfactor.com   www.4tf-pets.com/testimonials.htm

Good luck,
Dr. Fry
www.my4life.com/dfry