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Dealing with a dog suffering from colitis can be a worrisome and challenging experience for pet parents.
Colitis, characterized by inflammation in the intestinal tract, can cause discomfort, frequent bowel movements, and bloody stools in dogs.
Colitis isn’t a specific diagnosis, but rather a description of the signs that are being seen and how a disease is manifesting.
It could be that this colitis is literally what we would think of as a tummy upset. Something’s been eaten which has disagreed with an individual intestinal tract resulting in bloody or mucusey stool.
But we can get other types of diseases that cause this, everything from parasites, certain infections like salmonella or campylobacter, through to inflammatory bowel disease and even tumors.
Janiene, a concerned pet parent, reached out for advice concerning her eight-year-old, thirty-five pound male dog diagnosed with colitis. Despite feeding him a chicken and rice diet for a few months, his symptoms persisted.
Janiene was curious if replacing white rice with brown rice would be a safe way to increase his fiber intake. Additionally, she expressed a desire to find a more nutritionally complete food alternative.
Unfortunately, her attempts to switch to Royal Canning Gastro Support Dog Food and sensitive stomach kibble resulted in blood in his stools. Worried about her dog's well-being, Janiene sought information on how to best help him, considering that chicken and rice alone might not provide adequate nutrition.
Understanding Colitis and Its Causes:
Before diving into the specifics of the diet, let's take a moment to understand the causes and underlying factors contributing to colitis in dogs.
Colitis can stem from various triggers, including gastrointestinal infections, inflammatory bowel disease, tummy upsets, or even tumors.
It is essential to consult with a veterinarian to identify the root cause and explore suitable treatment options for any long-standing case of colitis, or when a dog is also unwell in themselves..
Colitis Diet Options
Commercial Diets for Colitis
Many commercial diets are specially formulated to address digestive issues, including colitis, in dogs. These diets are designed to be gentle, easy to digest, and may contain prebiotics and probiotics to restore and balance the gut flora.
Most importantly, they provide the necessary nutrients for overall health while being gentle on the sensitive digestive system.
Home Cooking for Dogs with Colitis
In some cases, dogs may not respond well to commercial colitis diets, or an owner would rather prepare something for them at home. This is where home cooking can be an alternative solution, but it should be approached with caution and guidance from a veterinary nutritionist.
Dietary sensitivity is one of the common causes of colitis, and finding a properly balanced homemade diet can be challenging. A veterinary nutritionist can help formulate recipes that meet your dog's nutritional needs while addressing their digestive issues.
Key Components of a Colitis Diet
When creating a diet for a dog with colitis, there are several key components to consider:
1. Easily Digestible Proteins:
Opt for lean protein sources like chicken, turkey, or fish. These proteins are easier for dogs to digest and less likely to irritate the inflamed intestines.
2. Complex Carbohydrates:
Include carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or brown rice in the diet. These can provide energy while being gentle on the digestive system.
3. Fiber and Probiotics:
Dogs with colitis can benefit from increased fiber intake to promote colon health. Fiber sources like cooked vegetables or small amounts of canned pumpkin can be beneficial. Additionally, incorporating probiotics or prebiotics into the diet can help restore and maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria.
The White Rice vs. Brown Rice Debate
One common question that arises is whether to switch from white rice to brown rice to increase fiber intake. While brown rice will provide more fiber, it should be noted that the overall diet balance is more crucial for dogs with colitis. Especially long-term colitis.
If the problem is ongoing, simply swapping one type of rice for another is unlikely to be all that is needed.
Additional Tips and Considerations
1. Commercial colitis diets and homemade options are not interchangeable. It is vital to seek professional guidance when opting for a homemade diet.
2. Monitor your dog's response to any dietary changes. If symptoms persist or worsen, consult your veterinarian for further evaluation.
3. Supplements like probiotics, prebiotics, and fiber supplements can be added to promote gut health, but consult your vet for the appropriate dosage.
Remember, dietary adjustments should be made under the guidance of a veterinary professional following accurate diagnosis, as each dog's condition is unique. By following the advice discussed and monitoring your dog's response, you can help them find relief from colitis and improve their overall well-being.
Next steps:
You’re feeding your dog with diarrhea wrong
Full Transcript →
The following is an AI generated transcription: Dr. Alex:
Hello, Kia Orla. Welcome back to another episode of the Call The Vet Show. I'm delighted to be joining you again. And this week, we're bringing you another listener question. So Janine has got concerns about her dog. She's got an upset tummy. He gets blood in his stools, She's tried lots of different diets for him, but it keeps coming back. So what can she do? What's the best diet? We'll get into that in just a little minute.
But before we do, make sure you hit that subscribe button if you're not subscribed already. If you're a new listener, then welcome along. This is the podcast that gives you the information that you need to help your pet live the long, happy, and comfortable life that you want for them. So hopefully that's something that you're interested in and I welcome you sticking around for this episode. and many more to come. You can dive back into the back catalog. This is episode number a 147, I believe. So there's been quite a few, but also you can get your question answered by simply heading over to our pets health dot com slash question. recording your question, and I'll do my very best to answer it on an upcoming episode. So make sure you head over to our pets health dot com slash question and submit your question. But for now, here's Janine.
Janiene:
Hi. My name is Janine. I'm calling about my thirty five pound male eight year old dog who has been diagnosed with colitis. I've been feeding him chicken and rice for the past few months. he still is having symptoms. I'm wondering, if it would be safe for me to change from white rice to brown rice to increase a little bit of his fiber intake. and, also If there is some other food that I could be feeding him, that might be a little more nutritionally complete. He hasn't done well. when I've tried to switch him over to, Royal Canning, Gastro support dog food and also some kibble type dog food that's made for dogs with sensitive stomachs. he's reverted to having blood in his stools when when I've done that. So, I would appreciate any information that you could give me of how I could help him. I'm just concerned that a steady diet of chicken and rice alone is just not nutritionally complete. So and thank you so much for having this podcast.
Dr. Alex:
Janine, thank you so much for sending this question through. I can really sense your frustration, with what you're saying, and I can completely understand that. This is a a reasonably common problem or certainly dealing with with dogs and cats with upset stomachs with some degree or other is a really common problem. Clearly, dogs will be dogs and they'll often have a a bit of a sniff around and a lick of something that really disagrees with them, and we're left with, an acute, a sudden, but short lived upset tummy. That's one thing, but it it's a completely different thing when we're dealing with a long term situation.
So the first thing to say is colitis is and inflammation lower down in a dog's intestinal tract. So here, we typically get, we get the blood in the stools, which is what you're seeing. We get a very mucasy jelly like substance around the stools. we get straining in dogs, so they'll often feel like they need to go to the toilets even when not very much is produced, and as a result of that, we'll also get lots of stalls being passed, lots of small amounts of stalls being passed. So it seems like a dog always needs to go to the toilet. So it's not much fun for for them. but it can also be pretty frustrating and pretty challenging for for you as the pet parent to deal with
The important thing to start off by saying is to say that colitis in and of itself isn't a specific diagnosis. So colitis is more of a a description of the signs that are being seen and how a disease is manifesting. It could be that this colitis is literally what we would think of as a tummy upset. So some things being eaten that disagreed with an individual intestinal tract and we get this bloody or mucus y stool. So that's one thing, but we can get other types of diseases that cause this. So that ranges everything from parasites, certain infections, salmonella's, campylobacter's kind of thing, through to inflammatory bowel disease and even tumors. So there's a a really significant range of different conditions. And this is important to to think about because for any dog that has got a recurrent problem where we're not seeming to be able to manage it with maybe a simple diet change and some additional supportive measures.
We do need to be thinking that maybe there is something else going on, and, albeit these things aren't particularly common, it may trigger further investigations to be carried out. And these can include anything from stool samples being sent to the laboratory through to ultrasound and even exploratory surgery in some instances. And so with that in mind, let's think about, what we can feed a dog with colitis in general terms. So there are a number of commercial diets and Jenny, you mentioned that you've tried some of these, but without much success.
But there are some commercial diets that are designed specifically for dogs with a general upset tummy. and also those with colitis specifically so we can think of these diets as being gentle. So they are easy easy to digest. They're palatable because sometimes these dogs aren't feeling all that fantastic. So we need to encourage them to eat. And they can also contain, things like prebiotics and probiotics. So probiotics being the the good bacteria if you like and prebiotic being the food for these bacteria so that we can try and reset, and, kind of rebalance the the flora, the normal population of microbes of bugs that live in the gut. We can reseed that and make it healthy again.
Now our colitis diets Again, as you've suggested, Janine do also often contain high levels of fiber. So fiber is really essential for the health of the colon in particular. so what happens is the fiber, it gets digested within the intestine and those digestion products actually help feed those good bugs and help provide nutrients to the lining cells of the colon. So fiber can be really beneficial. Now clearly, this can cause a bit of a bulkier stool. and that can mean that output is a little bit more, but that in and of itself isn't a problem at all for your dog. Now sometimes this colitis or other diaras as well is caused by a dietary sensitivity. So if we've got a sensitivity to particular types of diet, it can take several changes before we find a diet that works and that suits that individual.
There are lots of different diets out there. Clearly, we've got our kind of standard commercial diets. There are a lot of, could have whole food or low cooked, slow cooked diets that are becoming available on the market. and then there's the the home cooking options as well. The issue with diesel, the potential issue is the same as Janina suggesting here with a diet of chicken and white rice, that that in and of itself is not balanced. And and while that will be fine and sometimes that actually an ideal thing for a dog to be fed for a few days, blending it up can help as well, but that's not providing all of the essential nutrients and vitamins and minerals that a dog needs in the long term.
So if we're dealing with a chronic or longer term situation, we really need to make sure that we're feeding a properly balanced diet. And to do that with with home feeding is actually very challenging. So if you're going down that route, I would encourage you to to consult with a a veterinary nutritionist, someone with the expertise to be able to produce a diet that is truly balanced and won't be detrimental to the health of your dog in the long term.
Now aside from diet, we can also think of a few different supplements that we could be adding to any of these foods. So we've already mentioned probiotics and pre biotics. we can add those as a supplement to a different diet to any diet. and I've spoken about those in the past, and I'll leave links to those in the show notes as well as some suggestions of product options for you should you choose to go down this route. There are also fiber supplements. one that I use, it's something called FIBOR. I especially use that if actually, if we're dealing with anal gland problems because bulking out those stools with fiber can really help prevent them refilling. So it's a really valuable tool.
Their nutrition is just an important tool for a number of different problems that our pets may suffer with. So there are these supplements that we we we can also add to try and get a solution for your dog. from Janine's point of view is switching to brown rice going to help, but it's going to provide more fiber. Any kind of whole grain, has more fiber than a a refined, a more refined and processed product, but it's still not gonna make that bal that diet diet balance. So I would really encourage you to to have a discussion with your vet about the next steps because as I said at the beginning, if we're dealing with a long term situation and diet change doesn't seem to be doing the trick. It may be that we need to investigate the problem a little bit more closely.
Dr. Alex:
So that's it from me for this episode. I hope that helped Jeannine and anyone else who comes across a dog with an upset tummy. It's a very common problem. And knowing a couple of different options means that you may not even need a trip to your vet at all. Clearly, if your dog has got diarrhea, colitis, and is unwell in themselves, then they really do need to go to the vet. But sometimes, a slight diet change the addition of maybe a pre biotic or a probiotic chemical, all the difference in settling down your dog's tummy stopping their diarrhea without needing a trip to the to that as well as links to all of the things I've spoken about in this episode in the show notes at call the vet dot org. And until the next episode, I'm veterinarian, doctor Alex. This is the call the vet show because they're family.
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