EPI - Page 1

HI can anyone tell me how to help control epi in a dog and any other info on it.
 many thanks

Have you seen a vet?? Do a google search on EPI.. I'm sure you will find some groups out there devoted to that condition and they would be most helpful

Hi
we were advised to feed raw tripe as unwashed  as you can get. the enzymes in the tripe will help dog digest the food and keep some weight on. Anything is worth a try as the results of this condition are terrible.
A dog we brought several years had EPI he dropped from 38 kilo's down to 22 kilo's, for us sadly this information came to late.
good luck
Doug

What does EPI stand for?  I googled it but there so many things with this abreviation

EPI stands for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. The dog doesn't produce enough digestive enzymes to fully utilize food. As a result stools are soft and the dog loses weight or doesn't gain weight (malabsorption). There's a relatively simple blood test to check for pancreatic enzymes.

Treatment is via the addition of enzyme products which can get very expensive depending on the product used. Some dogs have subclinical EPI, meaning they're just on the borderline of 'normal function'. Those dogs can get by with less expensive enzyme preparations, those which are derived from bacterial metabolic byproducts.

The link above refers to a general article at Wikipedia. This link is specific for EPI dogs and contains some great information.

Thank you so much Aqua I really apreciate Your answer.

You're welcome. There are many things I wish I didn't know about and EPI is one of them. One of our dogs is borderline. We're able to use a product called Prozyme and noticed a very rapid improvement. His poop got more solid and less frequent, he stopped eating it, he began to gain weight and had more energy, his coat softened and was less harsh and brittle. We do watch what we feed him. Wheras the other dogs get occasional left-overs this one gets strictly grain free kibble because we need to control his intake of fats and fibre, but we've got the hang of it now and he's doing very well.

One good thing about the Prozyme (plant based, that is, bacterial enzymes) is that it doesn't start its digestive action in the dog's mouth. Mouth sores can be a side effect of having to add enzyme products because the enzymes start to work as soon as they're exposed to liquid, i.e., saliva. This is why some enzyme products are added to the food and left to sit for 30 minutes so they can pre-digest the food, not the dog's mouth or stomach.

Other things I wish I never had to learn about are DM, bloat, hip surgery options, dental issues, torn ACLs, pannus, tapeworm . . . but when you live with dogs long enough you certainly can't avoid getting an education.

Aqua,
At what age did EPI show up in your dog?

He was six months old when we had him tested. Up to then his stools had been the typical cow plops, yellowish grey and very stinky. We had checked for parasites, coccidia, giardia, all negative. He wasn't gaining weight, was really way too thin for a six months old puppy, ate everything in site. We had tried a couple different foods as well as home cooking without any noticeable success. Hence, the EPI blood test.

His TLI value was 6.25 with a reference range of 5 - 25. A low serum concentration of trypsinogen is indicative of EPI.

http://epi4dogs.com/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/k9-EPIGLOBAL/