Dog Stomach Ache

Question
Hi there, I have Bichon Shih-Tsu, 9 lbs, 4 years old.  He suffers from stomache aches, about 3 a month.  Usually occurs in mid morning and will last until very late afternoon, about 8ish hours.  He follows me everywhere, can not lie down and get comfortable, scratches to be up on my lap all the time.  I can hear is stomach gurgling and it feels tight, but does not appear to be larger.  Sometimes a pain comes and he will run quickly to some spot and then settle.  I have been changing foods (as per his vet) for years, nothing seems to trigger this, it just happens out of the blue.  Once you feel like you should rush him into the vet, he settles out and then feels fine, just like it never happened.  I try walking him, and he will just sit, or walk low, as the vet said to get him moving around.  We give him Pepsid and baby gravol, as per vet.  It still seems no matter what is done, it needs to run a 8 hour time frame.  Is there something more serious that I should be thinking about, other than his diet or allergies to his food or whatever.  Please advise.  

Answer
I would recommend an all-natural diet that is free of corn, dyes, preservatives and by-products.  My one cat has inflammatory bowel disease and I feed Prairie by Nature's Variety and that does seem to help him  www.naturesvariety.com    Other brands that are natural or wholistic are Innova, Flint River Ranch, Verus, Eagle Pack, Evolve...

Feeding three small meals a day would be best and adding digestive enzymes to his diet on a daily basis is what I would recommend.  Dancing Paws makes an excellent product called Shake'N'Zyme  www.dancingpaws.com

If you haven't had any blood work checked, I would recommend that...CBC, Chem with electrolytes (rule out Addisons), Thyroid Level, TLI (for pancreas), B12 & Folate (to check for maldigestion and bacterial overgrowth).

And if he has IBD (would need to be diagnosed by a intestinal biopsy) then it may be inevitable that he has flare-ups and bouts of stomach upset now and again.