The condition often starts with rather mild symptoms, without your dog appearing generally ill. You might then notice changes in their eating habits: increased grass eating, recurring smacking of the lips, or sudden panting that occurs in episodes ("licky fits"). With a hidden food intolerance, many dogs initially show great interest in new food, later become picky, and refuse meals – until you switch their food again, and the pattern starts all over.

Many people initially treat such nonspecific digestive problems like a normal gastrointestinal infection: with a bland diet, gut-building powders or pastes, special food, stomach protection medication (e.g., proton pump inhibitors), repeated courses of antibiotics, and sometimes even cortisone. Often, this only provides short-term relief – after which the symptoms return or even worsen.

In holistic veterinary practices, dogs with recurring digestive problems (irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS) are among the most common cases. Patients are increasingly being presented for whom previous diagnoses and therapies have been ineffective. These dogs then exhibit loss of appetite, nervousness, and irregular bowel movements. Chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is emerging as a possible cause: it is widespread, can trigger many different symptoms, and is often diagnosed late – frequently only after a long process of examinations and treatment attempts.