EPI or Poor Keeper? - Page 1

I have a friend who owns a working line female. She is intact, and is currently getting 8 cups of Blue Buffalo large breed adult food a day, mixed half and half with the BB large breed puppy kibble (because it's higher calorie) yet you can count every one of her ribs! She is also not currently being worked, other than some basic obedience. She gets turned out to run in the yard, but that's it. She likes to be outside, and is left out as long as weather allows her to be comfortable.

She gobbles down every crumb of food, and would eat more if it were offered. She's a high energy dog, and spins in her cage when waiting to be let out.

Any change of food causes diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. From what I've seen, her poops are normally rather soft and mushy.

So, all you working line people who have high energy dogs that are hard to keep weight on... do you think this female should be tested for Epi? Or is this just the 'way she is'?

What changes would you recommend to put some weight on her?

8 cups is a lot. I would test for EPI. How old is she?

She's nearly 5 years old. My friend has had her since June. We don't know much of her history, except she did have pups for her previous owner. He obviously didn't do much in the way of training with her.

I would give her a 5 day dose of panacur (l cc/5 lbs);  I would also change her food.  Obviously the food isn't working for her.  And are you sure about the puppy BB being higher in calories;  as puppy food usually needs to be lower calorie??  Just curious;  yep there is something not working as 8 cups is a lot of food and obviously too much for her to take in.  Best of luck  Nan

I would do at least a week of panacur, personally, and follow with STRONG, live probiotics and digestive enzymes. I would also switch to a lower or no-grain food and see if you can feed less and see if she loses or gains weight. That's a ton of food- it would certainly account for soft stools, but an absorptive problem like giardia would also cause her not to gain weight even on this large quantity of food. I have heard of this kind of thing several times with older imports and not one of them has failed to bounce back on this protocol of treating for undiagnosed giardia or other parasitic/protozoan infection. Give that a few weeks and then test for EPI if no improvement. 

Just wanted to clarify that the amount of food she's getting is 8 cups total a day. My post made it sound like she was getting 8 cups of puppy food and 8 cups of regular..but I'm sure you figured out that would be impossible....

What makes me suspicious something is wrong is she looked better during the fall than she does now. And back then, the puppies were still grabbing the odd sip of milk from her.

Also if she is an import, whip is very prevelant in other countries.  So that would be my suspicion, again Panacur for 5 days with or without stool check.  I would just do it.  Then probably repeat treatment in 2-4 weeks.  Good luck  Nan

I owned a working line male with EPI and from my experience with it I would not wait and do more trial and error. EPI is serious and should be treated asap. I would go ahead and have a TLI test done for EPI and rule that out immediately. If it's not EPI then I would try other things. I also had a working line male with similar symptoms to EPI but after  testing for EPI it turned out to be colitis and with treatment for colitis he was fine. I hope everything turns out ok and he gets well soon.

How can I get panacur without an (expensive) trip to the vet?

Safeguard goat wormer...same thing. 19.99 at any tractor supply (or the like) store.

Dosage is same as panacur...i think 1ml per 10lbs for dogs. It is not the dosage for goats....

Their metabolism s are different so is the dose. 

100% same thing/ safe