EPI - Page 2

my dog,Gunnar was born 28th March 2000 and was diagnosed with EPI end of 2007/beginning 2008.the reason i suspected he might have EPI was that he was throwing up undigested chicken wings.he seemed to be keeping down the minced meat he got in the mornings and his stools tho.firmish were sandy brown in colour with a fatty sheen to them.his tli on the vets report was borderline,so it was SUSPECTED that he was suffering from EPI.i never did get him to put the weight back on,he wasnt that keen on eating his food with the enzemes added.i had terrible trouble getting him to eat.a year later he was still so thin looking that i took him to a different vet who also diagnosed a heart problem,told me that he was a very sick dog and suggested that he be PTS.on weighing him he only weighed 18.5 kilos,whereas before he weighed approx 35/40k.i did wonder whether he had PANCREATIC CANCER AND NOT EPI.Carole

starrchar thanks for the link will have a read oops got it wrong

I bought a nice (or so I thought) bitch at 8 weeks and she was dx'd at 5 mo. I ended up taking her back to the breeder for a replacement thinking good ol "Murphys law" was at me again, picked a bitch from a different litter, and this bitch had it too. The commonality was the stud dog. He must have been a carrier.

I used to think that EPI was environmental until I acquired these two bitches. But now I think its genetic. Imo I think this is a devastating disease and dogs who throw pups with it, IMO, should not be allowed to continue breeding. When I was done with both puppies I had spent a small fortune and I had nothing for it. I ended up puting the second pup down when I found out that the breeder of who I taken the first one back, resold the dog to an unsuspecting buyer with the paperwork and food I had given her to treat the dog with. I found this out when the new buyer found me (still dont know how that happened). Neither dog developed correctly because they couldnt get the nutrition they needed, It was very sad.

Symptoms of both puppies was: mushy stools laced with blood and any undigested food esp fats of any kind. The stool will look greasy and it has a horrible smell. The appetite was voracious and never quenched. Both looked like they were starving (which really they were) and if I remember right their coats were nasty. These two pups ate anything and everything. Its an expensive disease and one I hope I never have to take on again.

My Maddy's symptoms started at 7 months old. I have heard from many people whoose gsds have it and most are managable but some are very bad. As soon as you have had a dog with it and start paying attention you find alot of it in the gsd breed.

Has anyone had any luck feeding pig pancreas??  Supposedly it is helpful.  Makes sense as EPI is a pancreas defficiency.  Just curious.  Nan

I give porcine (pig pancreas) pancreatin every day to put in the dogs food. Works great. I get mine online at Iherb.com. Its human grade because I started out taking it myself before introducing it to my dogs several years back. Ive heard that they make a pork pharm grade that can be given for EPI. I think they use bovine now? The difference is what I buy has been processed and much less concentrated than what a vet sells.

I know when I was looking for pure pork thyroid I had to go to a Canadian Pharmicutical Co because here in the states it was getting hard to come by (good ol FDA  ) and it may not be any cheaper getting it this way. Even though the thyroid med was cheaper shipping wasnt but I couldnt get it anywhere else so I would have been stuck to pay it.

Well that sounds good, at least there is something.  I was thinking more on the lines of raw feed;  the real thing, I noticed that green tripe.com offers pancreas ready to be shipped anywhere;  that is more what I was referring to for the dogs; not the herb.  But good to know the herb is available and can assist.  Any info on the real thing for dogs??  Nan

I think you misunderstood. The company I buy from is an herb store but the product is actual porcine pancreas. You can buy the same product at a health food store but its cheaper online.

If you wanted to buy the entire pancreas I think it would be quite expensive. To my knowledge only certain parts of the pancreas are used and processed in a way so what you do feed is used by the dogs body. Maybe a butcher could answer that better than me. I dont even know if a butcher would sell that organ.
 

Nans GSD  I used raw pnacrease for my girl for quite some time before switching to powdered enzymes.  I went to a slaughterhouse in Hazelton Pa to get it.  They sold it for $1 a lb, but always gave me extra for the amount I ordered.  I would then grind it and pkg it in 4oz pkgs which is the amount needed for her weight.  Then I would freeze and take out as needed to mix with her food.  It did work to control her EPI, but it was an hassle and it made her burp alot so I had to give her pepcid as well. The smell that cam out of her was awful.  So I gave it up and switched to powder pancreatin.  She has less gas and burps on this.

Lyn