Ileus & Constipation

Hi, my mini labradoodle is 13 mos. She was spayed at 10 mos and the anesthesia caused ileus. Since then, she has been off the ileus medication but is having great difficulty with constipation. We tried switching her to Hills science ID diet, with no success, and she is now on the royal canin ultamino diet to try and identify if the constipation is caused by a food allergy. Her BMs are typically very hard and in small pebbles, comparable to a rabbit almost. My question is - what can I do to help her with this constipation? I am giving her fiber powder and a probiotic, but cannot give her anything else because of the food trial. I was hoping for advice on what type of dog food would be good for chronic constipation. Thanks a million! Picture of my cutie attached for attention. 

Hello!   This is an interesting question.  When vets address a symptom such as constipation, the first thing we'd like to know is:  what is causing it?  - as usually we treat the cause of a problem; there is no catch-all solution to a symptom such as constipation.   (For example, constipation can occur because a patient has a blockage in the large intestine;  because they are dehydrated;  because there is a diverticulum in the intestine;  because they are lacking muscle or nerve tone to move food along the gut, etc).   I am interested that you stated two causes of the ileus;  first you said that a spey caused it - as though it were fact, and then that tests were underway to see whether it might be caused by a food allergy.   I therefore think that the first step here would be to work with your vets to be as clear as you can be about the cause of the problem.   For me, I have never seen a food allergy cause constipation, for example.

I hear that you feel that you cannot supplement her dietary intake because of the food trial, but if your dog is severely constipated and it is down to the food, then this may prove necessary (it is all very well finding a food that avoids allergy, but if it causes constipation that this is not really useful).  However, it may be nothing to do with the food and other causes may need to be ruled out first.  This is one for your vet, who should be overseeing this case.

Finally, your vet may want to do further tests, in order to try to identify the cause of the new symptom.  Sometimes this is necessary before the correct treatment can be identified.  I hope that something here helps and please let us know how you get on.