EPI - Page 2

My female was diagnosed at about 12 months of age. I told the breeder and I was told NOT IN MY LINES!! This breeder is STILL BREEDING today.

The Pancreas powder from the Vet can be VERY EXPENSIVE!! You do not need a prescription . THANK GOD for the Yahoo EPI GROUPS that are out there!

I order from American Laboratories.Pancreatin 6x USP Powder It is 2.2 pounds of powder and it lasts a while.  You use a teaspoon of it per meal. I feed 2x a day.  You MUST NOT use hot water or it will not work, It destroys it.  The food  is soaked for 30 to 35 minutes to break it down. DO NOT  refrigerate or freeze this powder. Moisture will destroy the powder.

www.americanlaboratories.com

I hope this helps you!

Best wishes!
Dawn Bonome

 

Aqua,
With a 6.25 you still have hope. I had a dog that I rescued earlier this year. He tested at about 6.25 also. He was on digestive enzymes for about 3 months and is off them completely now for about three months. He has been gaining weight and has normal poop.
I have also heard from others that they have had similar situations where the dog's pancreas kicks in to gear and starts functioning normally again.

If you are going to feed kibble I would strongly suggest that you look at Wellness Core Reduced Fat
It is a well made grain-free kibble that is higher in protein and very low fat (9%). Just what the doctor ordered for an EPI dog.
I hope this helps and good luck!
--Steve

6.25?? You're great. I would not call that EPI. Gracie is at 2.8 and we still have not needed to transition to enzymes. There are dogs who have cTLI of 0.1 or I even know of a dog that came in with a total 0.0 -- they were some sick dogs. I suggest joining the EPI yahoo group as given in the post above from RoZoAn. Those folks will also tell you you're in good shape right now. Has your dog had significant weight loss? Terrible smelling and very loose stools consistently? Stomach noises and vomiting between meals? I feed Natural Balance Duck and Potato and give 100 mg doxycyline every other day.Dawn, to piggy back on your comment, sometimes the EPI doesn't show up until 2 and then the sire or dam has already been mated, possibly numerous times so it will continue to spread. Sometimes it doesn't show up for several generations. I found a common link in my dog's pedigree back 3-4 generations. It's such a terrible disease.

Hi Steve,

As I mentioned earlier in the thread our dog is subclinical EPI. Not a full blown case but deficient enough to need some help. This is why we're geting along on the Prozyme rather than the Viokase or Pancrezyme.

Funny you should mentione Wellness Core. We had been feeding that after testing out numerous other kibble products, all of them grain free, and he was doing great. Firmer stools, gaining weight. Then, with this last bag, he exploded into diarrhea which went away when we fed him home-cooked and came back when we went back to the WC. I just now got back from the post office where I sent a sample of the food to Wellness. They've been VERY decent about this whole interlude, great people to deal with.

JenM66, I never did call it EPI. I said subclinical in my earlier post. And if you read back in the thread I described his stools. Yes, soft. Yes, grey. Yes, malodorous. I really hate to repeat myself for people who type before they read.

I know we're in good shape and we're counting our blessings. Heavens knows this dog has plenty of problems, bad hips, dental malocclusion, surgeries required for both. We do not need for him to have EPI on top of everything else. So far, once we started him on the Prozyme, he's doing good. His stools are well formed and of good color and he's gained weight appropriate to his age. His energy level is great.

Since the Wellness issue we're now in the process of switching him to another kibble s-l-o-w-l-y - we've opted for Innova Adult for now until we can find a source for Acana. Our home-cooked consists of boiled dark turkey meat, sweet potatoes, rice, spinach, pumpkin, hamburger and we add coconut oil and salmon oil. He far prefers home cooked to kibble. Who wouldn't?

My GSD was diagnosed at 15 mos with EPI. She is on a raw diet of primarily ground chicken and bone with green tripe added on a regular basis. She gets 2 tsps of pancrezyme mixed on her food. I also have used prozyme (palnt based) in conjunction with the animal based enzymes to help her gain wieght. It worked like a charm. Her TLI was .2. She is supplemented with 1 tsp of Canine Complete (wholistic pet) Her stools are firm and brown in color. I originally feed her raw pancrease which initially worked well but gave her very smelly frequent burps and alot of gas, So now I use the powdered enzymes they don't give her smelly burps. The EPI yahoo groups was great to learn from. And Enzyme diane is the best price for enzymes. Lyn

Aqua - my comments were not directed toward you - they were directed toward the original posters comments. I'm sorry I got your 6.5 confused with the original posters statement. Thanks for flying off the handle at someone who is trying to help. Now I remember why I shouldn't bother posting here.

Thanks for the explanation, Jen.

Please keep posting here. Miscommunications and misunderstandings happen. I apologize for sounding terse and will go seat myself firmly on the handle again  :)