Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Other Gastrointestinal Issues
The basic recommendations for treating gastrointestinal problems with symptoms such as chronic loose stools, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation or poor appetite are as follows:
Diet
Diet is the first thing to address in treating any gastrointestinal problem. Minimally; a very high quality canned food with no fillers or artificial preservatives. If you feed some kibble try a hypo-allergenic one. Better yet would be the addition of raw or home prepared foods. Please see this article on our site: What You Need to Know About Your Pet's Food
Dogs and cats with gastrointestinal difficulties often respond VERY well to a raw food diet and once transitioned need no other supplements to stay healthy and symptom free. Here is a link to Dr. Siegler’s article about feeding Raw Food: All About Raw Food
Websites with recipes for home-prepared diets
Make any diet changes very slowly – gradually increasing the ratio of new food to old food over the course of 10 – 15 days.
Digestive Enzymes
In addition to raw food or a very high quality canned food, a good digestive enzyme and probiotic supplement is important to aid digestion.
To read the full article about IBD and Gastrointestinal Issues
click here.