Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Dogs - Healing Naturally

Why you should never treat irritable bowel syndrome in dogs or inflammatory bowel disease with prednisone. It’s not a cure for dog digestive problems, canine diarrhea, stomach or intestinal ailments. Guess what is?

Irritable bowel syndrome in dogs, irritable bowel disease and inflammatory bowel disease are so closely related, they are treated the same holistically.

Understanding where it begins and what aggravates it helps to understand why curing these dog health problems in a more natural way is imperative. Otherwise we just make our dogs sicker in the long run.

So let’s start at the beginning; with the cause of irritable bowel syndrome in dogs and the other closely related ailments.

Causes of IBD and IBS

Cheap Dog Food and Over-vaccinating are part of the cause and I will explain why.

Now by cheap dog food, I don’t just mean inexpensive. Commercial dog foods tend to be substandard, have inexpensive ingredients followed by over processing, overcooking and then stored for lengthy periods of time before eaten.

It’s the canine version of a chemical laden hot dog and cotton candy at a carnival. How would you feel if you ate crap every day?

Well meaning owners allow their veterinarians to vaccinate for too many diseases and too often. The vaccines are worse than the darn diseases.

Vaccines, especially combos are detrimental to dog health. You can read more about vaccines at Dog Vaccinations.

Not only do they compromise the immune system, many are grown in a base of beef protein. This creates an allergy to beef which is then magnified by commercial dog food ingredients.

The intestines try to get rid of the toxins through inflammation and diarrhea. Without a diet change it worsens as with every additional vaccination. Next comes bloody diarrhea and our dog’s gut is so raw they are ripe for infection.

Now our poor baby is really in a pickle. Traditional vets prescribe corticosteroids like prednisone to reduce the swelling of canine inflammatory bowel disease. And let’s not forget the antibiotics to cure or prevent infection.

The side effects of antibiotics and prednisone make our dogs even worse off, further affecting digestion, the immune system and organs such as the liver and kidneys.

As soon as he or she is taken off these dog meds, the problem comes right back. Why? Because the underlying reason has not been addressed!

Maybe it’s time to cut the crap - I know it's a bad attempt at humor but it's true, plus it’s my website. It's time to HEAL our dogs.

Important note: If your dog is on Prednisone do NOT quit cold turkey. This drug MUST be tapered off slowly or it can kill your dog. There are herbal anti inflammatories which work quite well, without the side effects. (This is one of those things that you would have to contact me about.)

Step One – Fasting for Health

Simply put, whether it’s irritable bowel syndrome in dogs or IBD, the body needs a break! After all, if you scratched an itch until it was raw, would you cure it by continuing to scratch it? Heck no, you would leave it alone while applying something to soothe it so it will heal itself!

The digestive system has what is called a gastrocolic reflex. This empties the colon each time the stomach fills.

Okay, you wonder how long to fast your food loving fur baby? Wondering how you can continue to look into those big brown eyes at dinnertime and just say no? The minimum is 24 hours. Two to three days is better, but even I haven’t been able to do that yet.

It goes without saying that plenty of fresh clean water is a must during the fast. And for heaven sakes, NO chlorinated water! See Water for Dogs if you need ideas for filtering etc.

You may also make homemade broth (see Fasting for Health) for the fasting period but absolutely no solid food.

Step Two – The Potato Diet for canine diarrhea

After the fast, this recipe is to stop the diarrhea. Works for humans too.

Boil together 50% white potato; 50% sweet potato (not yams); a slice of turnip and a slice of leek till soft. Mix with boiled chicken for flavor.

Step Three - Change to a Raw Dog Diet or…

Raw meat is much easier on a dog’s digestive system and more nutritious to boot. If feeding raw makes you really uncomfortable or you just can’t do it for some reason, get a super high quality dog food.

Dry dog food is hard on the system so if you go this route soak it in water before serving.

Step Four - Healing

Now that we have removed the irritants, it's time to heal naturally and without side effects.

First we choose a natural antibiotic; add enzymes to help the body break down the food; probiotics to reseed the intestinal tract with helpful bacteria and repair damaged intestinal lining. Doesn't this make more sense?

It won't happen overnight but it WILL happen. Now here are the best choices for healing:

• Liquid Silver Shield # 4274-1 ( natural antibiotic )
• Proactazyme Plus # 1525-0 ( broad spectrum enzymes for food breakdown )
• Probiotic Eleven # 1510-1 ( on an empty stomach after stool has stopped being runny )
• Intestinal Soothe and Build # 1106-2 - ( soothing repair for intestinal mucosa )

These are all Natures Sunshine Products. Please read Why NSP so you understand why I recommend this stuff.

If you are serious about curing your canine, please contact me. I can explain dosages, help you along the path, and support you through the process of irritable bowel syndrome in dogs.

Oh, and here's a picture of Olive. I love this dog. It doesn't matter that I didn't meet her in person. I heard so much about her through her owner I felt I knew her. (Plus I feel special to be sent the pictures on this page.)

Her brave owner contacted me and Sandra King of Dog Nutrition Naturally. (Here's what Sandra thinks of Natural Dog Health). The funny part is, Sandra and I both use Nature's Sunshine products!

Together, we went through the process. Violet was a rescue from a puppy mill and now she is doing great! Talk about happy endings!

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