EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

We took Barney to the vets tonight for his B12 injection and while there she asked us about how much water he was drinking. Barney is now drinking up to 2.5 litres per day. She said she wanted to do a blood test straight away to see if he had diabetes. Blood test was 4.3 - no diabetes.:wink: sigh....relief...

She agreed with us that we should change his food. As I said before the excessive drinking only started when we started giving him Hills. I suppose we will find out when we start introducing new food tomorrow.

When Barney was weighed he has lost 0.6kg this week. Over the last few weeks Barney would only want to play for a little while and then curl up and sleep. (obviously he wasn't feeling well ) but this week he has been more active therefore the vet has suggested giving him an extra 100g of food per day. Hopefully this will do the trick and next week he will have gained weight !!!!!

Re the fresh pancreas -  We have found a source for fresh porcine pancreas and my husband John went to get it today. We got it from an abbattoir in a little village near York  about 50 minutes away from where we live. The butcher said the pig was slaughtered  yesterday therefore it was really fresh. Yuk was my initial reaction.  He said that if we ring up and tell when we need some more he will make sure he has more fresh for us.

I was ready with the peg but there was no smell....Yeah...     Fun and games though I couldn't bring myself to cut it up so my son said he would, I weighed and bagged it for the freezer and John just disappeared.

We are going to start Barney on the fresh pancreas tomorrow so I will let you know how we get on.

Hi Eileen,

I'm not sure that simply cutting up the pancreas would be enough and I think it's suppose to go through a blender or food processor...At least that's what I was told when I tried it years ago.... That is where the stench comes in...   Someone correct me if I'm wrong, because it has been awhile and my memory is gone, but after I liquified it, I froze it in ice cube trays and I think it can be kept frozen for a minimum of a year???

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Thank-goodness he isn't diabetic.  Hopefully a new food and the pancreas will get him feeling better.  The weight loss is hard to take, we work so hard to see them gain and then the big sigh....................when they lose even a little.  Maybe the new food will be just what he needs.

I heard that too, just like Donna said, it must go to the blender, and if you put into the freezer you don't ever use the microwave you'll have to wait  to defrost naturally.

For meal 100g/20kg each 12hr and you can mixed up dry or wet food.

Great point Melissa!  The microwave will destroy the enzymes...That's why I froze smallish portions in ice cube trays.