at wits end on wieght issues - Page 4

Hi Preston, I am in Colorado. Where in the midwest are you? Yes, your porcine extract should work very well, and it is possible it could work better than Prozyme. I believe Prozyme is from a plant extract but again, enzymes of the same protein chains, whether from plant or animal would work the same. I would have to look at the data to see if there was any difference between your proteins in your enzymes and Prozyme. None the less, Prozyme works very well in my personal experience with many, many GSDs with some sort of malabsorption problem. As I said, it is now much cheaper to buy than say even 5 years ago. It is safe to say that probably there is some difference in why dogs have problems with digestion. Parasites are the first thing to look at. Then the food. Some dogs may truly be EPI, others sub-clinical cases, and others who have some sort of problem that technically might be undiagnosable or called something else. When a dog is very thin, parasites have repeatedly been tested for and ruled out, a variety of good foods tried over long periods of time *(too many people switch way too quickly to see results), a next good step is to try a trial of an enzyme replacement/supplement. If improvement is noted, then one need not necessarily have a named diagnosis. However, such a dog should not be bred. I said before that in my experience this is a lot more common than people think. When you have time, please email me and send me the brand name of the replacement you used. I will get some and use it next time I have such a dog here. schwarzenberggsd@earthlink.net

What's all this talk about pumpkin? Can I buy it in a can/jar? My dog has soft stools, in fact, we have a vet appt today for it. He is 5 months old and weighs 65 pounds. I think he looks great - but we'll see. I feed him Wellness - 4 cups per day in 2 servings. We also walk and play for at least 2 hours per day in a fenced area that is many acres of hills and lakes. He also gets a snack of yogurt and goat's milk or cottage cheese every day, I could stop that, actually, but he just loves it. On a more personal note, in case some of your mothers never told you, it's not polite - or funny, to make fun of fat people on a public forum.

Been wondering how that guy was doing. Sometimes dogs get soft stools from too much food. Goat's milk might cause it too. Glad to hear he's doing well for you.

although it sounds like a pancreatic problem, i have had the tests run and they came back negative. the vet told me that the bitch i got from boet der haus has extremely high metabolism. i tried the stuff from the greyhound track. it's called dyne, and goes for 45 a gal. it is a high calorie supplement. she would not eat it, so that was a waste. i did finally find a combo that works, though. she eats pro plan adult beef and rice 1 1/2 cups 2 times a day with a tablespoon of safflower oil on each meal. 1/2 scoop of nupro silver- a dessicated liver supplement with glucosamine and ester-c on each meal, enough water to make a little "gravy" and a half a can of wet dog food. she is gaining weight slowly but surely. she was 49lbs. when i got her from boet der haus on august first. she is now a health 67lbs. she is a small german shepherd to start with. the only other weight she needs to add is muscle.