Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

The Irony Of It All


My3B's

Recommended Posts

My3B's Rookie

We adopted Baxter 2 years ago. He was a rescue from a shelter and he was approx 1 years old. He is a border collie mix. When we adopted him he was pretty underwieght but being a stray we just figured he was malnourished. Well he had 4 - 5 stankin' puddles of poop per day. You just can't scoop puddles !! At first we thought it was just nerves.....new home....etc but after a few weeks and no improvement I decided to try a different food. Another 6 weeks with no improvement.......and did I mention the gas :o:o

So now I look for a high quality, mimimal ingredient food.......read expensive......and we try that. Another couple months go by still no improvement. So now I am researching foods. I found a really informative site called "the dog food project" which takes you through how exactly to read dog food labels. It was an eye opening experience and I would recommend it to any dog owner who wants to ensure they are feeding a quality food. But in my research I also discover the raw prey model diet. Out of sheer desperation I decide to give it a try. within 2 weeks he was much better and within 1 month completely normal. We put the other dog on the diet too and have never looked back. Me and my best friend who is a vet tech were joking about me ending up with the "celiac" dog. I had a vague idea of what it was......a sensitivity to grains was what I thought.

So fast forward 2 years and here we are, myself and 2 of my kids being tested for celiac disease and contemplating a gluten free diet...........well at least Baxter fits right in....

The irony of it all!!!!


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



rinne Apprentice

Sounds like he was paving the way for you. :)

Doctor J, a vet, has lots to say about wheat and dog food, I think all dogs may be Celiacs.

Here is a link for you: Open Original Shared Link

We have a border collie cross, they are such great dogs!

DingoGirl Enthusiast

Hi 3B, and welcome!

Well, dogs/cats/ animals (and humans) were never designed to live on grain exclusively or predominately, and (cheap) grain is the main ingredient in mainstream diets for animals in this country. :( My late dog had seven years of diarrhea until she went on a gluten-free diet.....it cleared up within two weeks and she lived two years beyond that, after cancer and chemotherapy 10 years prior. I scooped mostly liquid poop piles for years from my poor girl. :(

Anyhow, check out this veterinarian's site - he is a HUGE proponent of a grain-free (mostly) diet for our pets - the site is undergoing maintenance but still has lots of stuff to read:

Open Original Shared Link

I'm so glad your dogs are feeling better!

:)

DingoGirl Enthusiast

Hi Rinne! Looks like we posted the same thing at the same time! :)

Adelle Enthusiast

Both of our dogs and both of our cats can't do gluten. In fact, One dog can't have any grains, the other can't have grains, pork, or beef!! LOL! Ninja is our allergy boy! When we adopted him he was almost BALD and had all kinds of D (they were feeding him 4 cups/day of Science diet and he weighed under 40 lbs!). But now he's all kinds of beautiful! We feed raw now because it's just easier than finding food they can both eat!! Animal allergies are more common than we think!

Janessa Rookie

My cat was having lots of problems when I first got him and finally figured out wheat was making him sick about 2 years before I figured out I couldn't have gluten. Now we have all our cats on a grain free diet and everybody is doing great

  • 4 months later...
Angels~Exist Newbie

Wow! I guess that's the result of having gluten in absolutely everything! Humans AND animals get over exposed! :( Glad you and your pets are getting better!!


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



EJR Rookie
We adopted Baxter 2 years ago. He was a rescue from a shelter and he was approx 1 years old. He is a border collie mix. When we adopted him he was pretty underwieght but being a stray we just figured he was malnourished. Well he had 4 - 5 stankin' puddles of poop per day. You just can't scoop puddles !! At first we thought it was just nerves.....new home....etc but after a few weeks and no improvement I decided to try a different food. Another 6 weeks with no improvement.......and did I mention the gas :o:o

So now I look for a high quality, mimimal ingredient food.......read expensive......and we try that. Another couple months go by still no improvement. So now I am researching foods. I found a really informative site called "the dog food project" which takes you through how exactly to read dog food labels. It was an eye opening experience and I would recommend it to any dog owner who wants to ensure they are feeding a quality food. But in my research I also discover the raw prey model diet. Out of sheer desperation I decide to give it a try. within 2 weeks he was much better and within 1 month completely normal. We put the other dog on the diet too and have never looked back. Me and my best friend who is a vet tech were joking about me ending up with the "celiac" dog. I had a vague idea of what it was......a sensitivity to grains was what I thought.

So fast forward 2 years and here we are, myself and 2 of my kids being tested for celiac disease and contemplating a gluten free diet...........well at least Baxter fits right in....

The irony of it all!!!!

We had a cat that developed severe diabetes. His blood sugar readings were skyhigh. We decided to try removing all grains/carbs from his diet after giving it is some thought. Obviously cats don't eat grains in their natural state. And voila within a week or so his blood sugar levels went back to normal. No more insulin shot and pokes in the ear to read his blood sugars. The diabetes never returned. Apparently cats have very little insulin in their system as carbs and grains are not a part of their natural diet.

Joyce

tiredofbeingsickandtired Apprentice

both of my dogs are on a wheat and corn free diet and they do fabulously! I was using California Natural (love this brand) but $ has been a factor so I went to Natural Way (Lassie) food, still wheat and corn free and the dogs still do great. It was amazing when I made the change from wheat and corn, my big dog lost 15 pounds and his skin/digestive issues cleared up so fast.

PattyBoots Apprentice

I have a soon-to-be 10-year-old diabetic wiener dog who takes 7 units(!!!!) of Vetsulin twice a day. We feed him a small amount of regular dog food with home cooked brown rice, boiled chicken, cottage cheese, and a little bit of fiber. He was getting too skinny without the dog food because I was afraid to feed him too much rice and chicken and I'm just SCARED of Science Diet and the whole "prescription food" thing. I see that the grocery that I frequent keeps the Lassie food and I believe I will try him on it. I can't bear to lose him; he was my dad's dog and Dad died in 2005 and then he was my mom's dog and she died in 2007, so he's really (people call me goofy but they can go to hell) my only remaining family!

psawyer Proficient

PattyBoots,

The key thing to consider in what you are feeding to a diabetic dog (or cat) is the amount of carbohydrates. Grain free foods are often touted, but many of them are high in carbohydrates--just not from grain. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, green peas and other carb sources are common in grain-free foods. A dry food should be at most 20% carbohydrates.

My personal recommendation to you would be to go to a pet specialty retailer and buy a low-carbohydrate grain-free food. Taste of the Wild is grain-free (and thus gluten-free) and has a carb content less than 20%. It will cost more than the stuff you can get at a grocery store, but if you want the best for your dog, it will be worth it.

In any case, go easy on the rice. It has a high glycemic index value, meaning that it is absorbed into the blood as sugar quickly. Are you monitoring his blood glucose levels?

We have a 13-year-old diabetic cat, and I am myself a type 1 diabetic, so this is stuff I live every day. Oliver weighs 22 pounds, and is currently on 5 units a day of Lantus, evenly divided between morning and evening injections. Lantus works well with cats, but not with dogs, by the way. Some cats go into complete remission after treatment with Lantus--we're not there yet, and may never be.

I am in the pet food business. I own a pet specialty retail store in Toronto, and if you walked into my store, I would make the same recommendations.

G-freegal12 Contributor

I now feel much better knowing dogs may even have this...LOL :lol:

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - knitty kitty replied to Hmart's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      13

      Is this celiac?

    2. - Trish G replied to Trish G's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      10

      Fiber Supplement

    3. - trents replied to Hmart's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      13

      Is this celiac?

    4. - trents replied to kpf's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      15

      ttg iga high (646 mg/dl) other results are normal

    5. - trents replied to Trish G's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      10

      Fiber Supplement


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,347
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Emhope1107
    Newest Member
    Emhope1107
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • knitty kitty
      @Hmart, The reason why your intestinal damage was so severe, yet your tTg IgA was so minimal can be due to cutting back on gluten (and food in general) due to worsening symptoms.  The tTg IgA antibodies are made in the intestines.  While three grams of gluten per day for several weeks are enough to cause gastrointestinal symptoms, ten grams of gluten per day for for several weeks are required to provoke sufficient antibody production so that the antibodies move out of the intestines and into the blood stream where they can be measured in blood tests.  Since you reduced your gluten consumption before testing, the antibody production went down and did not leave the intestines, hence lower than expected tTg IgA.   Still having abdominal pain and other symptoms this far out is indicative of nutritional deficiencies.  With such a severely damaged small intestine, you are not absorbing sufficient nutrients, especially Thiamine Vitamin B 1, so your body us burning stored fat and even breaking down muscle to fuel your body.   Yes, it is a very good idea to supplement with vitamins and minerals during healing.  The eight essential B vitamins are water soluble and easily lost with diarrhea.  The B vitamins all work together interconnectedly, and should be supplemented together.  Taking vitamin supplements provides your body with greater opportunity to absorb them.  Thiamine and the other B vitamins cannot be stored for long, so they must be replenished every day.  Thiamine tends to become depleted first which leads to Gastrointestinal Beriberi, a condition that doctors frequently fail to recognize.  Symptoms of Gastrointestinal Beriberi are abdominal pain and nausea, but neuropathy can also occur, as well as body and joint pain, headaches and more.  Heart rhythm disruptions including tachycardia are classic symptoms of thiamine deficiency.  Heart attack patients are routinely administered thiamine now.   Blood tests for vitamins are notoriously inaccurate.  You can have "normal" blood levels, while tissues and organs are depleted.  Such is the case with Gastrointestinal Beriberi, a thiamine deficiency in the digestive tract.  Eating a diet high in carbohydrates, like rice, starches, and sugar, can further deplete thiamine.  The more carbohydrates one eats, the more thiamine is required per calorie to turn carbs into energy.  Burning stored fats require less thiamine, so in times of thiamine shortage, the body burns fat and muscles instead.  Muscle wasting is a classic symptoms of thiamine deficiency.  A high carbohydrate diet may also promote SIBO and/or Candida infection which can also add to symptoms.  Thiamine is required to keep SIBO and Candida in check.   Thiamine works with Pyridoxine B 6, so if Thiamine is low and can't interact with Pyridoxine, the unused B 6 accumulates and shows up as high.   Look into the Autoimmune Protocol diet.  Dr. Sarah Ballantyne is a Celiac herself.  Her book "The Paleo Approach" has been most helpful to me.  Following the AIP diet made a huge improvement in my symptoms.  Between the AIP diet and correcting nutritional deficiencies, I felt much better after a long struggle with not feeling well.   Do talk to your doctor about Gastrointestinal Beriberi.  Share the article linked below. Thiamine, gastrointestinal beriberi and acetylcholine signaling https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12014454/ Keep us posted on your progress!
    • Trish G
      Thanks, that's a great addition that I hadn't thought of. 
    • trents
      Other diseases, medical conditions, medications and even (for some people) some non-gluten foods can cause villous atrophy. There is also something called refractory celiac disease but it is pretty uncommon.
    • trents
      knitty kitty asks a very relevant question. So many people make the mistake of experimenting with the gluten free diet or even a reduced gluten diet soon before getting formally tested.
    • trents
      Another great fiber option is dried apricots. Four of them give you 3g of fiber and I find they don't produce all the gas that some other high fiber options do. They taste good too. Costco sells a large bag of them that are labeled gluten-free so you don't have to worry about cross contamination issues like you might in bulk grocery settings.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.