Inflammatory bowel disease is the gut lining being attacked by the dog’s own immune system, and the trouble it causes goes beyond the obvious. That lining is what absorbs everything he eats, so a Bulldog with IBD can be eating well and still losing condition. Two things make this page different from most on this site. It is diagnosed largely by ruling other things out, which is slower and less satisfying than owners expect, and the treatment that controls it carries real costs of its own over the long run. Both are worth understanding before you start.
What you see What causes it Diagnosis Prevention Treatment Tips and warnings
IBD or inflammatory bowel disease, in bulldogs and French bulldogs, can affect both the upper and lower gastrointestinal tracts.
Bulldogs gastrointestinal tract is critical for their survival, its lining oversees transporting and absorption of vital nutrients.
IBD Inflammatory Bowel in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs PRESENTATION:
The most common manifestations of IBD in bulldogs are:
- Diarrhea
- Weight loss
- Vomiting
- Bloody stool
- Straining to defecate
- Fluctuant
- Abdominal pain
IBD can cause a range of clinical signs from mild to critical, from intermittent to constant, and from nonprogressive to progressive.
IBD Inflammatory Bowel in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs CAUSE:
Bulldog IBD is due to an abnormal immune response that leads to an exaggerated inflammatory reaction that specifically targets your bulldog’s intestinal tract cellular lining.
Inflammatory bowel disease in bulldogs is a group of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders.
The severe inflammation that infiltrates the gut cell lining impairs both the absorption and the delivery of critical nutrients. Consequently, your bulldog or French bulldog could suffer from a wide range of symptoms, many of which will likely impact his or her life expectancy and quality of life.
The cause might vary but can include underlying conditions such as:
- PARASITES:
- FOOD ALLERGY: food allergy
- BACTERIA & MICROORGANISMS
- VIRAL
An immune response that ensues is manifested as severe inflammation of your bulldog’s intestinal tract.
Ruled in by ruling out
The first thing to prepare yourself for is that IBD is mostly diagnosed by elimination. Your dog will have tests that come back normal, and it is very natural to feel that money has been wasted on each one. It has not. A normal result is how the diagnosis gets built, and the conditions being excluded along the way are precisely the ones you would not want missed: an obstruction, pancreatic disease, chronic liver disease, and intestinal cancer, which can look almost identical from the outside. The owners who stop halfway through this process are the ones who find out the hard way.
The second thing is the trade-off in the treatment, and I want to be straight about it because it is easy to drift into. The medicines that control IBD work by damping down the immune system, and they do work. Used over years they also carry a bill: effects on the liver, a push toward diabetes, more urinary infections, and ulceration in the gut itself. None of that is a reason to refuse treatment for a dog who needs it. It is a reason to aim for the lowest dose that holds the condition, to have the plan reviewed properly rather than repeated on autopilot, and to ask what the monitoring looks like.
Which brings me to the one place a supplement has a genuine and specific job in this condition. Long courses of antibiotics and immune suppressants damage the useful bacteria living in the gut, and a dog on IBD treatment is often on both for a long time. Supporting that population is not treating the IBD, and I would not want it sold to you as if it were. It is dealing with a predictable side effect of the treatment, which is a smaller claim and a true one.
IBD Inflammatory Bowel in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs DIAGNOSIS:
Diagnosis is often made by exclusion of all the other common gastrointestinal bulldog diseases and can be helped by various tests such as
- BLOOD TESTS: tests that check for markers consistent with bulldog IBD, B12 deficiency, folate abnormalities, protein levels, and pancreatic enzymes
- FECAL TESTS: including a fecal extended PCR fecal test for a parasite like Giardia
- IMAGING: radiographs, ultrasound, and endoscopy
- BIOPSIES: sample of the GI tract taken for histopathology
- FOOD TRIAL: testing for food sensitivities and food allergies
Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD PREVENTION
CRYOBANKING & BULLDOG STEM CELL THERAPY
Stem cells can be collected during routine procedures like spay & neuter and administered in-house or cryo stored for future needs
DR. KRAEMER’S V4B BULLDOG THERAPEUTIC SUPPLEMENTS
- IMMUNE SUPPORT: V4B Bully Immune Support Plus Formula
- PRE/PROBIOTICS & DIGESTIVE EZ: V4B Bully Pre & Prebiotics Advanced Formula.
- NATURAL FIBER: V4B Bully Gentle Move
We offer low cost V4B Bully Customized Therapeutic Bundles
IBD Inflammatory Bowel in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs THERAPY:
FOOD RESPONSIVE: hypoallergenic Rx diets, hydrolyzed or novel protein therapeutic diets.
ANTIBIOTIC RESPONSIVE: such as enrofloxacin and tylosin
STEROID RESPONSIVE: such as pred
OTHER IMMUNE SUPPRESSANTS RESPONSIVE: like budesonide
VITAMINS: B12 injections
STEM CELL THERAPY: In the past decade I have been advocating a new state-of-the-art therapy called Stem Cell Therapy.
Dr. Kraemer has his own in-house patented stem cell lab that allows us to harvest, process, and treat our patients onsite shortly after extraction. To enhance their potency they are mixed with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and then light-activated.
In addition, we cryobank your bulldog’s stem cells for additional treatments
To find more about regenerative medicine and its therapeutic potential as applied to inflammatory bowel disease click “Piper, the miracle of Stem Cell Therapy”
Let me set the expectation properly. Inflammatory bowel disease is managed with a prescription diet and prescription medicine, decided and monitored by your veterinarian. Nothing on our shelves treats it, and I would be suspicious of anyone telling you otherwise about a condition this serious. If your dog is losing weight or passing blood, that is an appointment rather than an order.
What these are for is the ground around the treatment. Long courses of antibiotics and steroids knock back the useful bacteria in the gut, so pre and probiotic support may help maintain that population through a treatment that is working against it. Added fiber may help the stool itself hold together while the diet is being adjusted. These are supplements rather than medicine, they work over a good few weeks rather than days, and because your dog is on prescription treatment they should be reviewed with your veterinarian first so they fit the plan rather than complicate it. The KEEP-UP chews are the simplest ongoing option and the Ultimate bundle is the fuller routine for a dog in long term management.
See the gastrointestinal range
To be clear: supplements or topicals are not substitutes for prescribed treatment. If your dog is unwell, is being treated for a condition, or is already on medication, review any supplement or topical with your veterinarian so it fits the plan you are already following. This page is educational and is not a diagnosis or a treatment plan for your own dog.
IBD in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs TIPS & WARNINGS
DR. KRAEMER’S BULLDOG IBD TIPS
Tip #1 Bulldog IBD / IMMUNE MEDIATED
In some cases of IBD, the cause may be obvious however, the majority of cases of inflammatory bowel disease remain unknown (idiopathic) and are considered “immune-mediated”.
Tip #2 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / BIOPSY:
Histopathology is accepted as a gold standard for diagnosing IBD, however, histopathology is not without limitations. There is a large degree of variability in the number of inflammatory cells seen in biopsy specimens of normal dogs, and objective criteria for a diagnosis of IBD have not been agreed upon.
Tip #3 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / FOOD TRIALS:
Several trials with hypoallergenic diets and/or antibiotics may be needed before improvement is shown.
DR. KRAEMER’S BULLDOG IBD WARNINGS:
Warning #1 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / PROTEIN LOSS (PLE):
Severe forms of bulldog IBD may cause persistent vomiting, protein-losing enteropathy (PLE), marked weight loss, and chronic diarrhea.
Warning #2 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / RULE OUT:
Other gastrointestinal diseases in bulldogs and other pets can be clinically similar to IBD.
- GI foreign body/obstruction
- Intestinal cancer
- Pancreatic disease (chronic pancreatitis, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency)
- Chronic liver disease
- Bulldog intestinal lymphoma
Warning#3 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / BIOPSY:
There is a wide variation in the histopathology and cellular pathology interpretation of intestinal biopsies, thus, diagnosis is ultimately based on the integration of clinical and histopathologic findings, the exclusion of other causes for observed clinical signs, and the response to therapy.
Warning #4 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / STEROIDS WARNING:
Any bulldog or pet receiving long-term immunosuppressant drugs like pred should be aware of the potentially harmful long-term adverse effects.
Among the common health risks related to many autoimmune suppressant drugs are:
- GI ulceration
- GI perforation
- Liver damage (steroid hepatopathy)
- Diabetes
- Urinary tract infection (cystitis)
Warning # 5 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / PRE & PROBIOTICS
long-term use of immunosuppressant drugs like pred and antibiotics for bulldog IBD can damage, and kill the good bacteria in your bulldog’s bowels, and bring on bulldog dysbiosis.
I recommend that you add probiotics like Dr. Kraemer’s V4B Pre & Probiotics Advanced Formula with live bacteria for all IBD pets on long-term drug treatments.
Warning #6 Bulldog & French Bulldog IBD / LIVER
Long-term use of immunosuppressant drugs like pred for IBD can damage your French bulldog’s liver (steroid hepatopathy). I recommend you supplement with a liver detoxifier like Dr. Kraemer’s V4B Bully Liver Cleanser to minimize the steroid damage to your bulldog’s liver.
Why so many tests, and why do they keep coming back normal?
Does he really need a biopsy?
How long before a food trial tells us anything?
Could I try a raw or grain free diet instead?
Will he be on steroids for the rest of his life?
Will a probiotic treat the IBD?
He eats everything put in front of him and is still losing weight.
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