August 2016

The combination of Cisapride, Miralax and low residue food seemed to be doing the trick. After Lyla had her last surgical enema in June, she no longer had the liquid stool leaking from her rectum. She more than likely had a large buildup of hard stool that the liquid was leaking around. Lyla went exactly a month with having normal bowel movements without assistance. At a month of watching her like a hawk every time she went to the bathroom, she started going less and less. I gave her a home enema with large results. After so, he belly felt normal and decompressed. I did not feel anything hard like I had in the past. She had normal bowel movements for another week until things slowed down again. I gave her another enema. Again I got good results. This pattern again repeated and I have her another enema for a third straight week. After this enema, I started massaging her belly to assist her with bowel movements during the day. This seems to have made a big difference. She is able to have normal sized bowel movements at least once a day with my help. She was able to go 2 1/2 weeks between enemas this time. That is a big improvement. I am also happy to report that over that last month, Lyla has finally returned to her old self in wanting to play with her toys, running around the yard and wanting to cuddle. I know she is feeling better. If weekly or bi-weekly enemas are what I have to do to keep her healthy and out of the vets office, then it's what I will do. Currently it is working.

I also did some more research on dog food. The I/D that she is currently on doesn't seem to be causing any problems, but I want to see if there is something better for her. I found that Nature's Valley Instinct Ultimate Protein kibble for small breeds has only 2% fiber and after calling the company, I found that it is 80% digestible, which seems like it would be a good option. The ingredients sound superior as well. Problem is that they only sell this food in 4 pound bags. I decided to go with the same food in a larger bag, but not for 'small breeds'. The difference is that this exact formula has 3% fiber. Not sure why it has an extra percent of fiber, but it does. I'm going to see if this is going to make a difference or not. I have not started feeding it to Lyla yet, but will post when I have our verdict. I may have to suck it up and purchase several of the smaller bags... we'll see...