Inflammatory Bowel Disease requires careful diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. But it may be difficult at first for owners to recognize the symptoms. That’s where we come in. The diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the type, and making sure the other organs are working normally, is one of the areas of expertise of our Internal Medicine department.
Dogs and cats vomit once in a while, and it’s no big deal. But when it starts to happen routinely, it could indicate a more serious underlying disease. Vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and sporadic decreased appetite for more than 3 weeks may be due to an severe chronic condition. Dogs and cats can have these gastrointestinal symptoms from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (stomach, intestines, colon), or can have gastrointestinal symptoms from diseases of other organs, like the pancreas, liver, or kidneys, affecting the gastrointestinal tract.
A dog or cat with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms should have blood work performed to make sure these other organs are working normally. Then further treatment or further tests may be indicated, to look for underlying gastrointestinal diseases like Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease is sometimes caused by an allergic-type of reaction to a food, called Food Sensitivity. Often the first step of treatment is to try a medical, hypoallergenic diet. This dietary change is sometimes enough to relieve symptoms. But if food alone does not treat the symptoms, pets may need long-term medication to treat this condition. Usually Inflammatory Bowel Disease is treatable with some combination of food and medications. However, some types of Inflammatory Bowel Disease are very severe, and can be difficult or impossible to treat.
Our Internal Medicine Specialists here at RegionalVet are skilled at the diagnosis and treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Couple that expertise with our 24/7 availability and you can feel confident your pet is in the right hands when you come into our Speciality and Emergency Center.