EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

hi everyone........i'm new to all of this and i'm just looking for info.

Hello Rose and Nacho. Welcome to the forum. Glad you have joined us...there are a great group of very knowledgeable people here.  Sadly I'm not one of them as I've a 'newbie' as well and my pup turns out to not have EPI.  But I can at least welcome you warmly and let you know that very soon folks will pop in with just the right questions and just the right answers.  You are in good hands.  It's very hard when a pup is not well.  Hope you can get Nacho on track again soon.

Maggie-lee 

Hello

You are in the right place.  There are lots of great people on this list from all over the world all joined by this disease.  In the beginning it can be frustrating but you have all of us to lean on.

There is lots of information on the site that will help to get Nacho on the road to feeling better and gaining weight.  The best advise I can give is to keep it simple at first and keep a log.  Starting with alow fat low fier diet, adding enzymes, treating SIBO and b12 levels if they are low should start to get Nacho back on track and the stools looking good (the tell tale sign that what we are doing for them is working)

Feel free to post exactly what you are feeding, how and what enzymes and how much you are using.  How often you feed and how much at each feeding as well as how the food is prepared and what the poops look like and others will chime in to help out to.

Hello Rose,

Welcome to the Forum, but sorry you have a pup that may have health problems prompting your need to be here.  If you can provide a little information on what problems Nacho has been having...has he been losing weight, not wanting to eat or hungry all the time, does he have gas or tummy gurgling, has he had diarrhea or cowpies, if any of these... for how long, what tests have the vet run, etc.?  Many times we just "know" something is not quite right with our pups and just need a little help with what direction to turn to get them back on the road to good health and everyone here is great with offering that assistance.

Hello and welcome Rose,         VEry well put Becky.     Please Rose, give us some of the information about your Nacho and we will do all we can to advise you.   There are many here who have experience and can be of help to you. 

Has Nacho been tested?   If so, what tests have been ran, and what were the results?

Look forward to helping you as best we can,

Welcome Rose.  Just noticed that you are new here.   As the others have said, we need some info about your Nacho so as we can begin to help you & share our experiences. 

This is a great place to be & I'm pleased you have found us.  Again welcome to you & Nacho

Lynn & girls.

Hello Rose.  Read all the above tabs for info on EPI, see if the signs fit, and have some tests run, sooner rather than later, if it all fits.  The sooner it is treated, it seems the easier they are to stabilize.  EPI can hit at any age.  It helps to have a vet that will be proactive in getting a dx and for the treatment.  Print out what you think will help and show  your vet.  There is a lot of knowledge here on this disease and the secondary ones.  No 2 dogs are the same and treatment can vary between every one.  There is no one size fits all, but there are simiilarities between all of them.  If you think the signs fit, have your vet run the cTLI as well as the cobalamin and folate and keep a copy for your records.  Good luck and ask anything you want, someone is usually around to answer.

Hi Rose and welcome!  If you're looking for information, you've come to the right place! There is lots of information here!  If you do decide to have Nacho tested and he does have EPI there are lots of us here to help you out!!! 

My Tara was down to under 49 pounds of bones, but today, she's 85 pounds and on a diet!  EPI can be tricky, but manageable.

Hi Rose...I see you made it here!   I am so happy because I just know everyone here has info for you.  Right now I won't add more than the e-mail I sent you but please do keep us informed on your dear Nacho.   I hope it is ok that I am saying this, but Nacho is named after Rose's 18 yr old son that she lost last year to diabetes - I can't even imagine.    Just so you know you are going to see a lot of info and don't let your head spin - just call me if you have any questions or even want to cry or vent.  FYI you will see the terms cobalamin and B12 - just know it is one in the same - (B12).   Lots of love coming your way lady...

Welcome Rose and Nacho,

I won't add to your overload right now  - just will tell you the info on here is a great place to start in helping Nacho get healthy.

I am very sorry for the loss of your son. I do understand and know the pain - I lost my son also. What a lovely tribute to your son by choosing his name for another family member.

thanks everyone for responding and welcoming us. just a quick update....since nacho has been 8 weeks old he has some form of diarrhea . it went away for awhile. nacho began eating his stool and the diarrhea came back.... he has gotten a little thinner which prompted us to take him to the vet. he was tested for parasites and worms. both tests came back negitive. nacho is on antibiotics (amoxicillin 500 mg  2x daily and metronidazole 500 mg 3x daily (5 day supply on  both). the vet did talk to us about epi but feels nacho has a bacterial infection and decided to treat him with this first. it wasn't until i met michele that same day which opened my eyes to epi (THANKS SO MUCH MICHELE). i am just afraid to wait for treatment as i read up on epi and i do not want nacho to get any sicker. today i purchased taste of the wild food for nacho but i have no enzymes as of yet. i figured the grain free food wouldn't hurt. nacho seems to like it. so i guess its a waiting game for us at this point unless anyone has any other suggestions.......thanks everyone  for the support

Rose - I have some extra enzymes if you would like to meet and take some I would be willing to give it to you.  It will not hurt him even if it isn't EPI - just let me know and keep us posted on his status...

Hello Rose.....oh, the waiting game is so hard.  I was there not too long ago. As it goes my boy Pete wound up not having EPI....but a nasty bacterial infection.  It was treated with antibiotics and cleared up fairly quickly.  Hopefully this will also be the case for Nacho.  But those days of waiting and not knowing were quite difficult.  I was not a happy girl.   I hope you find answers soon and can get your pup feeling strong again quickly.

Maggie-Lee

Hi Rose and a very warm welcome to you and Nacho.

I feel so bad for you as I can hear the frustration and nervousness in your post of wanting to help Nacho but yet not sure what is going on.

If it would not put a financial strain on you, you might want to think about calling your vet next week and just tell  him/her that although Nacho's situation may be bacterial, you would feel much more comfortable and at ease if they would just schedule Nacho for a cTLI blood test (they run about $100) and while they are at it, to please draw enough blood to run a Cobalamin (B12) & Folate test. Tell the vet that you will fast Nacho the necessary 12 hours, you want the test done first thing in he morning and then just ask him what day would be best..... this Tuesday or this Wednesday! 

The instructions for these two tests are midway down the page on the following two pages.... please just print and take to your vet...

http://www.epi4dogs.com/tli.htm

http://www.epi4dogs.com/b12.htm

The nice thing about actually doing the test (if you ccan right now) is that at least this way you know within a week whether you are or are not dealing with EPI, low B12 levels and SIBO (bacterial infection) and you can treat Nacho properly sooner rather than later.

If you can't do this... just let us know, the people are fantastic here  and we will all chime in and help you step by step on how to try to figure this out... but you will have to be diligent about doing only one thing / change at a time.... wait 3-5 days for a reaction/results... mark everything in an EPI LOG (great suggestion someone made to you)  and then move on to the next change.  If you do everything at once... you will have n idea what is going on and /or how to fix it if Nacho has a "set-back"...

Looking forward to hearing back from you and Nacho... and a HUGE thank you to lovely Michele for telling you about this website and FORUM!!!!

thanks izzy for the info and thats exactly what i wanted to do but unfortunately my vet  is on vacation this week so i have to wait a week.  nacho seems to be doing a little better since he is on the antibiotics and i changed his food to taste of the wild. i am doing what everyone suggested and keeping a log till i figure this out. his stool is  darker and little more formed but still not normal. vet said  it could take awhile to see a change . its only been 2 days on the new food and 3 on the meds. i will definitly print out the instructions for those 2 tests and hand it to my vet as soon as he gets back.  i'm gonna be his worse nightmare lol..........thanks everyone

oops just realized izzy was your dog.....lol.......thanks olesia

Hi Rose and Nacho and Welcome!

The log can be helpful....also taking photos of poop (I kid you not)....and feel free to post photos of the poop.  Everyone here is good about looking at those photos and helping to figure things out.  The waiting is hard...and we all rejoice with each step forward.

How old is Nacho?  He is quite the handsome boy!

Hi Rose - just checking in on you.  Glad to hear that the food is somewhat helping.   "worse nightmare"...love it...that is what you have to do for your boy!!!   Hang in there and keep us updated...

hi terry....hi michele .........nacho is 9 months old.  i'm getting frustrated lol . this morning his poop looked somewhat normal and this afternoon its  loose again but it has lost the yellowish color and is more brownish. i did nothing different today. hes on the same food and meds and did not injest anything other  than his food today..........grrrrrrrr this is very frustrating

terry the dog in your pic is absolutely gorgeous