Huc

[CMelMiller]

We picked up a stray 3 year old female boxer two weeks ago. After three vet visits we are convinced she has:

Histiocytic ulcerative colitis (HUC), also called boxer colitis, is an inflammatory bowel disease that occurs predominantly in Boxers.

Colitis causes inflammation and sores, called ulcers, in the lining of the large intestine. The inflammation makes the colon empty frequently, causing diarrhea. Ulcers form in places where the inflammation has killed the cells lining the colon; the ulcers bleed and produce pus.

Symptoms can range from the occasional tummy upset to constant bloody diarrhea (what our poor girl has) and vomiting. Also, a Boxer with colitis usually is a picky eater, and his back is frequently hunched up like a horseshoe.

Our poor girl has the worst odor.

Seems like the only cure is a six to eight week regimen enrofloxacin, which sells for about the same price per ounce as gold.

Anyone else have experience with this?

[gmacleod]

Originally Posted by CMelMiller

Seems like the only cure is a six to eight week regimen enrofloxacin...

Not the only cure... an alternative (which seems to work in the majority of cases) is to switch the dog to a natural diet. That is, raw natural food rather than kibble. One might say remove the cause to cure the disease, rather than treat the symptoms And actually, that is the case in a great many (most) instances of boxer ulcerative colitis, so is what I'd be trying first in your position. Fall back on the drugs only if the natural approach doesn't work. IMO removing the cause of a problem is always a better alternative than treating the symptoms (even if the symptoms can be effectively controlled).

There are many many threads on these forums about colitis. Many of the most recent ones recommend drug treatments, as finally this seems to have some effect. Older ones are all about diet and removal of cause, however So certainly worth your while doing a search of this forum if you want to read others' experiences, and DO read from a range of dates if you want to get a reasonably full picture of the various approaches to this problem.

[SherylM]

My rescue boxer Lucy had HUC. This is a shortened version of what happened with her. When we got her she had kennel cough, giardia and worms, for which she was successfully treated. She was fed kibble when she was taken in by the shelter from the puppy mill. We let her stay on kibble for a couple of months. She was on Natural Balance Fish and Potato, as well as Tast of the Wild fish to start. Her stools were always mushy. They never improved. She went from going 3-4 times per day to going 7-10 times per day. Then she started having blood in her stools. We switched her to a raw diet prey model, her stools turned to complete bloody water, sometimes up to 15 times per day. She was becoming very depressed and lethargic. Finally my vet started her on baytril and metronyzadol. Within 3 days she was having solid stools. Within two weeks her whole demeanor had changed. She was bouncing around, happy and being a crazy boxer like she should have been. The whole time she was on Geneflora (probiotics) She had to stay on the medicine combo for 8 weeks. As a result of her system being so damaged by the colitis she has a very sensitive tummy. We tried to keep her on prey model raw diet and she could not tolerate anything other than chicken, turkey, no other protein or organ meat. So we tried to switch her back to kibble and within three weeks she was going 8-10 times per day again. A quick round of metronyzadol and a switch to SoJo's Complete dehydrated raw did the trick. She has been successfully eating this diet for several months with no relapse.

Originally I tried to treat Lucy with coloidal silver and other home remedies but she was far too sick to take the time to wait for these to kick in. I wasn't fond of the idea of having her on antibiotics for such a long period of time (or at all) but it was her only option. Thankfully she is alive and well because of it.

[SherylM]

I should also add that though Baytril was very, very expensive, it was worth it. Also I have since found out about a human form of this antibiotic called ciproflaxin that is just as effective. In fact I think someone on this forum posted about it.

[Mama's Boys]

Definitely search the forums. I've seen a lot of posts about boxer colitis. In particular, I remember the post from EAO76 a few months ago about one of her foster dogs.

Hope things get under control soon!

[CMelMiller]

OK folks, what we are dealing with here is something very serious. It is E. coli! Don't try to treat this with some natural food or fiber or anything else. A good Vet and a prescription are important.

The dog we found was already very bad when we started her on enrofioxacin. It is too soon to know if she is too far gone to bounce back. She has to be fed with a syringe because she has stopped eating. The good news is she is still drinking.

BACKGROUND: Historically, histiocytic ulcerative (HUC) (or granulomatous) colitis of Boxer dogs was considered an idiopathic immune-mediated disease with a poor prognosis.

Recent reports of dramatic responses to enrofloxacin (AKA Baytril) and the discovery of invasive Escherichia coli within the colonic mucosa of affected Boxer dogs support an infectious etiology.

HYPOTHESIS: Invasive E. coli is associated with colonic inflammation in Boxer dogs with HUC, and eradication of intramucosal E. coli correlates with clinical and histologic remission.

ANIMALS: Seven Boxer dogs with HUC.

METHODS: Prospective case series. Colonic biopsies were obtained at initial evaluation in 7 dogs, and in 5 dogs after treatment with enrofloxacin. Biopsies were evaluated by standardized histopathology, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with probes to eubacteria and E. coli.

RESULTS: Intramucosal E. coli was present in colonic biopsies of 7/7 Boxers with HUC. Clinical response was noted in all dogs within 2 weeks of enrofloxacin (7 + or - 3.06 mg/kg q24 h, for 9.5 + or - 3.98 weeks) and was sustained in 6 dogs (median disease-free interval to date of 47 months, range 17-62). FISH was negative for E. coli in 4/5 dogs after enrofloxacin. E. coli resistant to enrofloxacin were present in the FISH-positive dog that relapsed.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The correlation between clinical remission and the eradication of mucosally invasive E. coli during treatment with enrofloxacin supports the causal involvement of E. coli in the development of HUC in susceptible Boxer dogs. A poor response to enrofloxacin treatment might be due to colonization with enrofloxacin-resistant E. coli.

[SherylM]

It is my understanding that we all have a small amount of e-coli, even dogs. Dogs with compromised immune systems are unable to fight normal amounts of e-coli and thus HUC developes. This is how my vet explained it to me.

I sure hope your dog isn't too far gone to bounce back. I know with Lucy it was only a couple of days of medication before we saw an improvement in her.

[EAO76]

You are absolutely correct. While some forms of colitis can be resolved by diet TRUE HUC requires long term, proper meds. As you wrote this is serious stuff & is related to Ecoli. As I have become more & more involved with rescue I have seen dogs that were in serious danger of dying from this condition. Below is a post about how we resolved one dogs HUC (this dog had suffered for a long time & other treatments were tired 1st). Its nice to see that you found a vet that knows about HUC & boxers. Many vets don't know how to treat this condition. Both the type of antibiotics (you CAN use the generic/ human version of baytril to save some $$) as well as the length of time used is very important. More info in the link... Chronic bloody diarrhea / Colitis

[BXR RYD]

My boxer boy got sick all of the sudden, diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, drinking a ton of water, peeing every 10 min, grazing like a cow and eating food was not an option so we went to the vet, they did xrays, blood work and an ultrasound that yielded nothing so we had to go under the knife for exploratory surgery where biopsies were taken of everything....results came back positive for Inflammatory Bowel Disease with severe bacteria in the stomach. He lost 40 pounds and he was on deaths door very quick so I did not have many options at all, it was straight to the pred, Amoxi, FortiFlora and Azathioprine and within hours of the first doses he was eating me out of house and home (still is) and he is back on track for a good recovery at this time.
From my understanding this is a very confusing disease to vets as symptoms can be varied (or the same) from disease to disease that include the GI tract, it could be a small or large intestine issue, upper or lower etc... and without a biopsy that tells them what they are dealing with treatment is trial and error and since it is a life threatening disease time is of the essence.
I was also advised that he does have the beginning stage of Intestinal lymphoma which MAY be the cause of the sudden onset of the inflammatory bowel disease but one can not be sure or does not know. Our next concern is that although he appears to be on the road to recovery and eating great he is not putting any weight back on. So it has been very frustrating and costly to say the least but worth every penny. So I guess I am just saying to make sure you are treating the actual cause and not just the symptoms by really finding out what is going on and it appears that only a biopsy can tell us this info, do not wait though.
One thing I am also using is eNZYmes Pro Professional Series by Great life to help try and prevent future flare ups.