IBD? Old dog

Hello vets/ vet techs. What tests do you guys usually run to see if a dog has IBD? Isn’t it common in older dogs? My old guy, Baxter, is going on 11 years. I will start by saying I will go to the ends of the earth for my dogs and I will never turn down a necessary test due to funds- but all three of my dogs, two young, have been experiencing ongoing health issues. They have managed in the past month alone to somehow blow through the emergency funds. It is beyond a shock, as the 2 are only 2 years of age and 1 year. Point is, I will always find a way to provide, but every time I go to the vet I feel I drop a thousand or half a thousand on tests that all come back fine, and those are just the “ precautionary “ tests, not even the reason my dogs went there. At this point they keep re running the same tests as a “ precaution “, as if just to run them. My male My female Husky just had a risky spay done after a year of ongoing health issues, I am hoping it is the end of her issues and that they were hormone related. My male Husky is going in tomorrow for yet another stool sample culture, and possible X-rays to rule out an obstruction. My male small guy has been sick for a few years. He is the one in question on this post. Point is- while I know the vets love my dogs as their own, the past dozen tests I have let them run at their own wishes came back all clear. So I am asking, besides the general basic tests, what is THE usual end all be all test for IBD? He had a urinalysis done a few months back when he was super sick again amongst others stuff. All was good, he had protein in his urine but the vet said that doesn’t indicate an issue? A few years back he had runny diarrhea for a few nights straight, to the point I would be bathing him nightly and he would start bleeding in the bath ( trying to go ), as he ended up just passing pure blood. He was in severe pain that night he passed the puddle of pure blood and cries constantly so at around 3 AM I rushed him to the nearest emergency vet. Loads of tests later, nothing wrong- I was given multiple syringe medications, multiple pills forms, that I gave to him daily for 2 weeks. They put a pouch under his skin to hydrate him. He was fine after the meds. Fast forward- he started bleeding again a few months back, it was random one night, no new treats or crumbs. That is when I took him in because for a few nights in a row he seemed in pain/ cried and would continuously pee on my floor every night. Besides the protein, they said nothing was wrong. Gave him nausea meds and that was the end of that. They said since he has cataracts maybe to leave a nightlight on for him as it is possible it was in their assumption an anxiety thing with the dark. He had a dental cleaning a month ago right after those tests. No extractions to my surprise. Before the cleaning he had beyond rancid breath, I felt lightheaded if I smelt it from ten feet away it was that bad. His breath was fine for about a week post dental, teeth are spotless. However it hit again like a truck, his breath is still just as nauseating. Now it has to be some underlying cause. The photos below, were taken a few weeks ago. I didn’t take him in that time as again they were going to run the same tests and say he is fine. It was SO much blood, pictures don’t do it justice. He had no prior diarrhea which was odd, nothing new. Out of the blue yet again. He has been drinking loads for months, I put two and two together and started thinking, what about diabetes? Doesn’t that make breath smell? However he had just had that urinalysis. Which leads me to now. A few days ago- since my male Husky is super sick, I had my Husky on a bland diet, beef and rice. My old guy, Baxter, does fine on beef. I gave all my dogs a little of my male Husky’s bland diet, as a little food additive treat. That night my old man Bax started it all over again, the constant crying in pain- I knew it was coming. For 2 nights he had diarrhea and cried a lot. I 100% know this is caused by the rice. Which made me think. I work with canines and remember hearing ( we care for a few old dogs at my facility ) that old dogs with IBD often have flare ups with grain and can’t have grain. Which is what leads me to the question of hey- could this in the end all lead to IBD? I looked up a veterinary article- although I hate the internet for questions lol- and they say IBD can cause horrid breath. So I am going to talk to our vet about this, I just wish to know what test will give me the answers I am looking for because they always want to “ do bloodwork, check urine, and get a fecal sample as a precaution “ so in the end every vet visit I take the dogs to ends in $600 worth of “ precautionary “ tests that are deemed unnecessary.

Hello!  There were two major questions here. How to diagnose IBD?   Ideally, by doing a full - thickness gut biopsy and examining the intestinal layers under a microscope. And by excluding other forms of disease that could potentially cause the clinical signs - cancer included.  IBD is not an easy disease to diagnose. Could he just have diabetes? - diabetes wouldn't explain the blood.  However, it is easily ruled out on a urine or  blood sample.  Blood has to be tested relatively soon after the blood is taken.  The smell associated with diabetes is a chemical one, like pear-drops - ketones.  Drinking a lot of water, weeing a lot, eating like a horse and losing weight are typical signs. However, I like it that you are trying to think along the rights lines in terms of how to diagnose a problem. For me the questions that you should ask your vet are: 1) what could the cause of these signs still be?  Perhaps they can list the possibilities.   2) what are the differences between these conditions, or what tests are needed to rule them in or out?   3) Assuming that you have diagnostic test X done, what difference will it make to the patient?  What can the vets do differently for knowing the answer? I wonder if an endoscope guided biopsy might help? (however I wouldn't expect this to be inexpensive). Other good questions include:. What happens if we don't make a diagnosis?  Is there a way to treat the symptoms?  What are the limitations of this? What will happen if we do nothing? When funds are limited (and this is normal), compromises have to be made.  Sometimes, deciding on a budget and saying 'What do you think the best use of this money would be?' is another way to look at the problem. A good vet will help you to do the best for their patient given the money available.                  

Hello!  There were two major questions here. How to diagnose IBD? Ideally, by doing a full - thickness gut biopsy and examining the intestinal layers under a microscope. And / or by excluding other forms of disease that could potentially cause the clinical signs - cancer included.  IBD is not an easy disease to diagnose. Your vet will give you the best information about this. Could he just have diabetes?  If sufficient blood / urine tests have been done to rule this out, then it seems unlikely.  Diabetes wouldn't explain the blood.  The smell associated with diabetes is a chemical one, like pear-drops - ketones.  Drinking a lot of water, weeing a lot, eating like a horse and losing weight are typical signs. However, I like it that you are trying to think along the rights lines in terms of how to diagnose a problem. For me the questions that you should ask your vet are: 1) what could the cause of these signs still be?  Perhaps they can list the possibilities.   2) what are the differences between these conditions, or what tests are needed to rule them in or out?   3) Assuming that you have diagnostic test X done, what difference will it make to the patient?  What can the vets do differently for knowing the answer? I wonder if an endoscope guided biopsy might help? (however I wouldn't expect this to be inexpensive). Other good questions include:. What happens if we don't make a diagnosis?  Is there a way to treat the symptoms?  What are the limitations of this? What will happen if we do nothing? When funds are limited (and this is normal), compromises have to be made.  Sometimes, deciding on a budget and saying 'What do you think the best use of this money would be?' is another way to look at the problem. A good vet will help you to do the best for their patient given the money available.                  

My apologies if the formatting makes this comment difficult to follow: your questions were supposed to be headings but unfortunately that got lost. In short, urine and blood tests are usually enough to rule out diabetes, depending on what perimeters were tested (check with your vet). Any further questions, just ask!  

Thanks Liz!! I decided against further testing. Unfortunately after an incident the other night I started adding up his symptoms ( positive actually lol, he has always been dog reactive but tolerates his housemates. The other day he randomly pounced playfully on one and started licking his ear. He does not tolerate other dogs near him. ) Symptoms have been going on roughly a year and I always assumed they were due to his cataracts developing. Things like standing/ staring in the yard, anxiety attacks randomly at night, random reactivity, random bursts of anger/ happiness, his recall going from 100% solid to a zero, not listening to his name called, etc. For instance two nights ago ( after started anxiety meds ) he got super sick throughout the night. I put puppy pads down. I don’t use them or like puppy pads but unfortunately he was trained on them as a pup so within the last year when sick he will use them. Instead of going on his puppy pad like normal when sick, he randomly crawled clear under my bed and went, then went and laid on the puppy pad and stared at the wall. This happened twice. I brought up the question of dementia to my vet. Or cognitive dysfunction if that is the proper term. They highly agree but unfortunately there is no test to run. She is going to wait until he comes in for his next physical to discuss what he has been experiencing and go from there on whether or not she want’s to make that diagnosis. We are guessing the bloody stool was from a bad stress colitis phase. He has had bloody stool for years now ( before the possible dementia. ) But it make’s sense so we will go from here. :)