ABSOLUTELY stay on the FULL dose of Tylan for as long as you can.
Did you show the vet the recommendations by Dr. Joerg Steiner to treat SID with Tylan for 45 days????????????
NAVC – How I Treat Small Intestinal Dysbiosis
World Small Animal Veterinary Association World Congress Proceedings, 2014
Jörg M. Steiner, DrMedVet, PhD, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA, AGAF
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
http://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defa ... &pid=12886
Specifically: "Antibiotics
Oxytetracycline used to be the therapy of choice for small intestinal dysbiosis, but oxytetracycline for oral use has become largely unavailable. Tylosin (25 mg/kg q12h for 6 weeks) is the new antibiotic agent of choice. Tylosin is extremely safe and is not used in humans for the most part – thus, creating resistant bacterial strains is not a big concern. In one study, a group of dogs was treated with 400 mg/kg daily for a period of 2 years and none of them developed any side-effects. The superb efficacy of tylosin has been well-demonstrated in studies from Finland. Some of those newer studies would suggest that smaller dosages may also be beneficial, but these findings will need to be verified. Some patients respond to therapy rapidly and do not have a recurrence. However, other patients do not respond to antibiotic therapy alone. If there is no marked improvement after 2 weeks of appropriate antibiotic therapy, further work-up is necessary. Some patients may respond to therapy with a complete resolution of clinical signs but may have a recurrence of clinical signs as soon as antibiotic therapy is discontinued. These patients require further diagnostic work-up. In some of these patients, a specific underlying cause of the dysbiosis can be identified and treated accordingly. However, in some patients no specific cause can be identified; and prolonged, maybe even life-long, antimicrobial therapy is required."
We only reduce the dose IF when you take the dog off of Tylan and the loose stools reappear.... then you start the Tylan course all over again, but instead of stopping completely you with draw.....slowly at the 45th day mark.
If the loose stools come back yet again.... this is when we know that the dog is a lifer... SOOOOOOO... this is when you start again full dose, for a short while, then reduce by 1/8ths to see what the lowest dose of Tylan is needed for life to maintain the dog's SID.
HOWEVER..... all this being said, what we REALLY hope for is to avoid Tylan forever and instead.... while giving Tylan... about halfway introduce good pre+probiotic... and "hopefully" this will also help improve the gut flora to where you won't have to keep doing Tylan...............
The CURRENT PROTOCOL IS:
1. give prebiotics to see if that works, if not
2. give a combo of per+probiotics (you are doing this now i think)
3. if none of the above works.... THEN do Tylan
I hope this helps a little.
Olesia, was owned by Izzy, a 35lb Spanish Water Dog (SWD), Diagnosed at 1.5 years old - TLI results 1.. Izzy passed away on February 13, 2020 at 15 years old. She lived with EPI for 13+1/2 years. It was because of Izzy that Epi4Dogs was started... she was the inspiration. May her legacy of helping others with EPI continue for as long as needed.........
We can't buy any antibiotics over the counter. (Up to a year ago, we could go to a fish or bird store and grab something. But those days are over).