My Treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

After being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in February 2011, the internal specialist vet wanted to put me on some heavy duty doses of prednisone.  Mom freaked out, since she knows what that medication can do.  Mom was also afraid that I would have to be on/off it for the rest of my life...and I was only 1.5 years old when I was diagnosed!  So, mom did her research and took me to a Holistic Vet, highly recommended by Darwin.  Her name is Dr. Donna Kelleher and she is super great!!  She wrote this book, "Last Chance Dog," in which she talks about her start in holistic veterinary medicine.  She has another book coming out this fall.  I can hardly wait!

Dr. Donna did allergy testing on me using Naet technique and found out I was allergic to:

                             1.  chicken

                             2.  beef

                             3.  dairy

                             4.  grains

                             5.  non-essential amino acids

Dr. Donna gave me some Chinese medicine and marshmallow root to take every day.  She also told mom to cook all my meals from scratch, and give me some supplements.  So, for over a month, mom slaved away cooking up a bunch of turkey and a bunch of ground up veggies.  Really.  A lot since I'm an 80 lb dog!  Then she found the Natural Pet Pantry, who would make all my food for her.  She was thrilled.  Then we switched over to Honest Kitchen Embark, which is  dehydrated turkey and veggie yumminess.  This was much easier for when we take the port-a-dog house out into the woods. 

In May 2011, I had my first protein switch since February.  We switched over to Honest Kitchen Zeal, dehydrated fish and veggie yumminess.  That went really well.  My poop didn't change at all.  Not even during our 2 week camping trip to Montana!  So, now that it's almost September, I get to switch proteins again.  Dr. Donna recommended buffalo.  Sounds good to me!!!!  So mom has been mixing in Grandma Lucy's dehydrated Bison.  It is also really good.  The folks at the Natural Pet Pantry were not able to hunt down a buffalo, so I'm now eating G'ma Lucy's Bison and Pepperdogz Raw Buffalo. (a local company).  Yum-mee!  Mom is hoping to keep me on raw.  I might even get to try duck or wabbit next!!!!  Very cool!

The supplements I currently take are:

Quercetin (so I don't get huge welts from skeeter bites)

Great Life Enzyme Pro Plus (to keep my innards healthy)

Coconut Oil (to keep my fur shiny and beautiful)

Ground Raw Nuts  Brazil, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds  (for trace minerals and vitamins)

Chinese medicinal herbs (to cure my IBD)

Marshmallow Root (to keep my tummy happy)

Kale chips and parsley (doggie superfoods)

Ocean Kelp (for my teeth and assorted other stuffs)

This is the healthiest I've been my whole life!! 

I know I sound like an infomercial, but, hey...all this stuff is working wonders....and no heavy duty medications AT ALL!!!!   We can't say enough good things about Dr. Donna.  She has definitely cured me of this IBD thing.

UPDATE as of 9/22/2011 - Remi continues to do very well and has no symptoms of IBD.  He is eating raw foods and only gets the Chinese herbs when he switches proteins.  He is happy, healthy, and FULL of energy!!!

UPDATE as of 2.18.2012 -  It's been a year since Remi was diagnosed with IBD.  He continues to eat raw foods and has not had to have the Chinese herbs or marshmallow root in quite some time.  He has not had an episode of IBD since seeing Dr. Kelleher.  He is so happy, healthy, and full of energy and love.  He is currently eating raw turkey w/bone stew from the Natural Pet Pantry.  He also gets some dehydrated Embark, from Honest kitchen, since it comes in handy when we are hiking or camping.  Once a week he gets a raw turkey neck, raw turkey gizzards, and a raw buffalo bone (which lasts for almost a week) for dental health.

UPDATE as of 7.22.2013 -  Its been almost 2.5 years since Remi was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel disease.  He has not had any flare ups and has not needed medications since before his diagnosis in 2.2011.  He is in perfect health and has great energy and attitude.  He continues to eat raw foods (Darwins), dehydrated (Honest Kitchen & Grandma Lucys), and even some kibble (Pioneer Naturals).  He is doing amazingly well.  His new sister, Nelli, also eats what he is eating, so she is also doing very well.  We are so thankful that this worked for him!!!

The supplements he currently takes are:

Super Quercetin (for my immune system)

Great Life Enzyme Pro Plus (to keep my innards healthy)

Coconut Oil (to keep my fur shiny and beautiful)

Ocean Kelp (for my teeth and assorted other stuffs)

UPDATE as of 7.27.2015 -  Remi continues to do wonderfully with just a few supplements (Quercetin, glucosamine, coconut oil,  Great Life Enzymes Pro Plus) and good, quality food (Natural Pet Pantry, Honest Kitchen ) with rotating proteins and avoiding grains, beef, and chicken. He has not had any gut issues since 2011!!!   No prednisone or any other IBD MEDS.  Last year, he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and takes meds for it, but he is doing well on it.  He is happy and healthy and will be 6 this week.  So glad we visited Dr. Donna years ago!!

UPDATE 3.7.2018 -  Remi is 8.5 and is still doing great!  He is now eating raw (PMR) and we are members of a local raw food coop (WAzzuOR), that allows us to get all sorts of great proteins.  He has been getting golden paste, glucosamine, and mushroom, vitamin E, and we rotate goat milk, kefir, fermented fish stock, bone broth, and Green JuJu.  He gets plenty of bones to chew on which take a while since he's missing a few teeth.  But very we're happy he's not having any GI issues and seems to be in very good health.