Bulldog with Chronic diarrhea

by A.J.
(MN)

I have a 1 year old English Bulldog that has had chronic diarrhea her entire life. I adopted her from a family when she was 5 months old that could no longer afford her medical expenses. She was the runt of the litter of course; I'm guessing that is due to her diarrhea.

Since I work in a Veterinary clinic, I felt that I would be able to handle the task of making this little girl better. I think I was wrong?

I have done fecal tests, fecal cultures, small & large intestinal biopsies (came back with nothing), bile acids test (normal), cobalmin test (normal), blood tests (always has weird values), urine tests (normal), giardia test (negative), liver tests (all normal), and xrays that have showed nothing. She always has clostridial overgrowth on her fecal tests.

I've tried probiotics, prebiotics, every antibiotic under the sun, prednisone (made it worse), dewormers, acupuncture, and strict diets that consisted of rice and cottage cheese, eventually switching to a low residue food that seemed to be working well.

She has also been on hypoallergenic diets, intestinal diets, and other bland diets. Just when I think she is starting to get better... everything falls down and we have to start all over again.

On top of the chronic diarrhea, she also has...of course since she is a bulldog, skin allergies (takes benadryl), and occasional vomiting spells (famotadine used when that occurs).

She is very special to me and I am determined to make her better. I have run into a brick wall, she has seen 3 different doctors at the practice I work at, and they have spoken to specialists about her problems, and they all don't seem to know an answer as to why this is happening to her and only prescribe more medications. Please does anyone have any advice???

Thank you!