Vet update

Yesterday was a crazy day. Tuesday night into Wednesday, Zoey was out every 20-40 mins. ALL NIGHT LONG. Well...we slept from about 3:30 till 6:30 so she had that 3 hr break. At 6:30 she started again with the every 20-30 mins. Sometimes less. By that point, she has having blood mixed in. So, at 8am I called the vet. They filled her meds and told me to come down whenever. Not to worry about the blood because it was just because of her straining and the force and frequency that she was going. So anyway, I get her meds, she had an accident on the floor while I was gone. Luckily, the kids were in good moods so I was able to clean up after zoey, take her on the porch and clean her up and trim her hair...Shampoo the carpet good, clean the cleaner and get pills shoved down her throat.
The vet called and we had a long chat about things. Since all her tests have determined there is nothing wrong, our diagnosis is basically doggy IBS. The only way to determine that 100% would be to put her through exploratory surgery, which is going to costs thousands of dollars, and who knows how she would do with a surgery at this point. The outcome will still lead to the fact that she would need on the steroids. So, our treatment is, for me to always have her antibiotics on hand. When she has a flare up, I can use them right away. I'm also going to start putting 1tbsp of plain yogurt into her food once per day. Good bacteria and all that happy stuff....AND, she will now be on a very low dose of the steroids. 10mgs once per day, every other day.
I had talked about quality of life and all that dramatic sad stuff. I said I was concerned because this is happening about every month now, and for 2 weeks of that month she is sick or strongly medicated on the antibiotics. I'm also worried about her becoming immune to those and then we're screwed on what to use when she really truly needs it. Because of how often it happens, her skin is a total mess. She's very flakey and itchy. I'm assuming it's because she doesn't get the nutrients she needs when this hits. She is on California Naturals dog food now, which is suppose to be the best for dogs with allergies and digestive issues and she no longer gets any form of treats. My other option if this continues to happen will be to go as far as making her food. I hope to avoid that though because I can see that being a bigger pain in the butt than all this other stuff.....
So, she is on her steroids now, and still getting the prebiotic stuff added, and on an expensive special food....Something has to work to keep her healthy and with us for a few more years!
And in the middle of all of this poop drama, she was pretty happy. She was rolling around on her back across the livingroom floor, sneezing and doing her doggy smiles, being hyper and begging for food. And first thing in the morning she was chasing birds when she would go out. So she is acting like she's still full of life. It's just weird.