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Canine
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome is among
one of the common causes that send owners to their vet. Irritable Bowel Syndrome has for long
been considered a psychosomatic disease that appeals more to the mind rather
than to the body. Symptoms
include such things as gas, bloating and diarrhea. The good thing about
Irritable Bowel Syndrome though is that it does not lead to more aggravated
conditions unlike Irritable Bowel disease or ulcerative colitis. IBS does
not result to changes in bowel tissue nor does it cause inflammation. Irritable bowel syndrome affects the
way that the intestines move food through the body. Symptoms can be triggered
by stress, anxiety, and sometimes certain foods. Thus, it does not require any comprehensive
treatments. In fact, it can be helped with changes in general lifestyle, food
intake and stress reduction.
THE PET HEALTH LIBRARY
Irritable
Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
The signs of inflammation
in the large intestine (also called the colon) are the same regardless
of cause: a gooey, mucous diarrhea, straining to pass stool, cramping,
and sometimes a surprise urgency to “go.” These symptoms can be acute
(as is common with a short term stress like boarding, return from boarding,
or diet change or they can be chronic as with whipworm infection or inflammatory
bowel disease.
Many people get confused between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Inflammatory bowel disease is a physical
disease where the intestinal lining is infiltrated by inflammatory cells.
The delicate intestinal lining becomes thickened and absorption of nutrients
becomes altered. The infiltration can be seen under the microscope and
this is how the diagnosis is confirmed. This has nothing to do with irritable
bowel syndrome.
Irritable bowel syndrome is a psychosomatic disease. This means
that it is the activity of the mind that causes the symptoms. Most people
do not have difficulty imagining having so much anxiety that diarrhea results.
Chronic anxiety can similarly result in chronic diarrhea. This is basically
what irritable bowel syndrome is all about. Intestinal biopsies are normal
because there is nothing directly wrong with the large intestine.
The symptoms of large intestinal diarrhea can have many causes
and IBS is afoot in about 10% to 15% of cases. It is important to rule
out physical causes before blaming psychological reasons but if all tests
are normal and treatment for physical problems is not yielding results,
this is when a biopsy is helpful. Again, a normal intestinal biopsy rules
in IBS. It should be noted that fresh blood in the diarrhea is common with
large intestinal diarrhea other than IBS. If fresh blood is present, this
is a sign that a physical cause is actually present.
Treatment of IBS
The obvious approach is to address the anxiety. The source of emotional
stress may not be obvious but general anti-anxiety medications such as
amitriptyline may be of use, particularly if the anxiety source is not
clear or cannot be removed. It is important to imagine the pet’s world from
his/her own perspective. The pet does not speak English and must infer what
is going on from events he or she witnesses directly. Inconsistent scheduling,
moving, even weather changes can be very confusing for an animal.
Increasing dietary fiber also seems to help with this condition.
Commercial high fiber diets can be purchased from the veterinarian’s
office or you may ask your veterinarian how to add wheat bran or a commercial
fiber supplement to the diet. Fiber appears to normalize the activity
of the large intestinal muscle to help stop spasms. Often this sort
of dietary modification with periodic use of an anti-diarrheal medication,
such as loperamide, during flare-ups controls the condition.
Copyright
2005 - 2007 by the Veterinary Information Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
This work was originally published by Veterinary Information Network,
Inc. (VIN)
and is republished with VIN's permission.
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Irritable
Bowel Syndrome In Dogs
John M Williams
The symptoms of this illness can be many things but usually involves very
runny feces with an almost jelly like texture with possible blood and they
may strain to pass the feces. This is all not ass bad as it seems and in most
cases is nothing to worry about at all.
A common cause is your dog not being able to cope with a new type of food
or diet causing inflammation of the stomach which results in the body trying
to get rid of this offending substance through uncontrollable diarrhea or
the dog making them selves vomiting to rid of the irritation.
The cure for this is to starve your dog for a small amount of time until
enough feces has passed and the dogs system can begin to retrieve the nutrients
once more and then the diet should be started again by slowly introducing
them from bland food to the normal diet again.
Of course there are many other reasons for vomiting and diarrhea and if
you suspect it is more serious than first thought then you should contact
a vet straight away for guidance. But with many vomiting and diarrhea conditions
the dog's body will need to be flushed out through starvation in order to
become normal and well again.
For more information on Dog Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Dog Health take
a look at this Dog Training website.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_M_Williams
John M Williams currently lives in Wrexham(north wales), UK
and I'm is in a team of writers and developers for dog-behavior-training.co.uk
and also have strong connections with quitsmoking-online.com ...
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The above information is simply informational. It's intent is not
to replace the advice of a veterinarian nor to assist you in making a diagnosis
of your pet. Please consult with your own veterinarian for confirmation of
any diagnosis. Your pets life may depend on it.