EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

I am very active in the Bulldog Rescue here in Florida. Bella is some  what of a celebrity with them because of her EPI story. Today we had a huge fundraising event, Bullympics. Because of the Fl heat, they had a vet on site for emergencies. While during one of the competitons, Bella was entered in on the "petite for the age" event. She is very tiny for an English Bulldog. Well there was a French bulldog there extremely tiny and very thin. When the vet heard about Bella's condition, she mentioned "that is the next blood test I am going to do on Tiny Tim" She explained to me that she thinks the Frenchie may have EPI. Of course at that point I mentioned a "huge support group online: epi4dogs.com" She quickly interupted me and said "I am a vet, I will be their support system" I couldn't believe it. I was so disappointed that a vet would want her patients to have ALL the information and ALL the support and help they need.

On the way home I decided to contact the rescue and see if they know the parents of Tiny Tim, if so I am going to have them give these parents this web-site. URGGGGGGHHHHH she made me so mad.

Good for you...I hope the rescue does know who the parents of Tiny Tim are and can share that information.  Shame on that vet...this is a good learning example for veterinarians all over.  That's sort of like playing God isn't it?  Nobody can possibly know everything...not even the best doctor in the world.  As I said...shame on her. 

Sometimes egos get involved in things and it does not help the issue at hand - people close off to the idea of anything new out of fear.   If more people could put their egos aside, this world would be a better place!!!!    Perfect move - I hope they are willing to share the name of the parents and you can share any and all info with them.   The parents have the right to know this info is out there and have the option of reading it if they so chose.    I really hope you are able to touch base with them...

PS...keep up the great work with the rescue group!!!!  

Linda at February 20, 2011 at 1:00 AM

Good for you...I hope the rescue does know who the parents of Tiny Tim are and can share that information.  Shame on that vet...this is a good learning example for veterinarians all over.  That's sort of like playing God isn't it?  Nobody can possibly know everything...not even the best doctor in the world.  As I said...shame on her. 

michele, this was just sooo much the case with my boo.... for 6 long weeks, i took her down to that vet  clinic here telling him over and over till i was blue in the face that it clearly didn't matter how much boo ate, or even "what", that none of it was staying in her..... i am going thru a rough patch with her again now after her having 3 truly amazing days.... ounces on this girl are absolutely critical.... when she was at 2.3 lbs. all he could suggest doing was a 3-8 week food trial... it truly offended him that i dare to look at the internet and in the end, i was the one that figured out what the heck was going on with her, not HIM!!!!!!!  she would have long been gone by now had i listened to him instead of my heart.....her new vet suggested that we go ahead and treat her for sibo but for now, so as not to overload her little system, he wants to wait up on the metagenics b12 vitamins... (we need to fix one thing at a time, as he put it)....after 3 amazing days in a row, today, she is again having tummy grumbles and spasms, but i know to wait these out.... you truly cannot get even the tiniest bit of pepcid or zantac into her as the second it goes down, the next second, she has upchucked it... it is during these times that i see her as a mini caiman!!!!!! i know that as soon as the belly relaxes, she will come to me telling me she is ready to eat and does.....i just have to wait it out!!!! boo's new vet is very open to internet searches and was very impressed with this site.... i made sure he understood what a wonderful, truly caring group it is... he said in his practice, he may see 5 epi cases a year....it truly saddens me that so many of these cases nearly have to be going undiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed as the ususal thinking even in the majority of vets is that this is a big dog disease..... epi truly knows no boundaries and in the end scheme of things, am sure at some point, it will be diagnosed in the majority of all breeds of dogs, both big and small...i won't tell you that it is easy trying to work with a little dog that for the most part now is staying at 3 lbs. and under as clearly, we are talking ounces that mater, not pounds..these off times, as will surely be the case with little bronson after his case of "Munchies" is pretty much to be expected but in most cases, we learn thru trial and error that we can get these precious babies to rebound.....am sure boo is hoping and praying mom will forget and leave something ....am sure all of our babies would love to go on a binge at an all you can eat buffet!!!!!!!!(that is what makes them so huhm, right???)....anyway, yes, that vet and her being the "support group" is all wrong.... just as it takes a village to raise a child, so it goes for our precious dogs and cats..my motto for boo will always be that she may have epi, but it DOES NOT have her...... lynda

boo'smom at February 20, 2011 at 11:15 AM

Linda at February 20, 2011 at 1:00 AM

Good for you...I hope the rescue does know who the parents of Tiny Tim are and can share that information.  Shame on that vet...this is a good learning example for veterinarians all over.  That's sort of like playing God isn't it?  Nobody can possibly know everything...not even the best doctor in the world.  As I said...shame on her. 

michele, this was just sooo much the case with my boo.... for 6 long weeks, i took her down to that vet  clinic here telling him over and over till i was blue in the face that it clearly didn't matter how much boo ate, or even "what", that none of it was staying in her..... i am going thru a rough patch with her again now after her having 3 truly amazing days.... ounces on this girl are absolutely critical.... when she was at 2.3 lbs. all he could suggest doing was a 3-8 week food trial... it truly offended him that i dare to look at the internet and in the end, i was the one that figured out what the heck was going on with her, not HIM!!!!!!!  she would have long been gone by now had i listened to him instead of my heart.....her new vet suggested that we go ahead and treat her for sibo but for now, so as not to overload her little system, he wants to wait up on the metagenics b12 vitamins... (we need to fix one thing at a time, as he put it)....after 3 amazing days in a row, today, she is again having tummy grumbles and spasms, but i know to wait these out.... you truly cannot get even the tiniest bit of pepcid or zantac into her as the second it goes down, the next second, she has upchucked it... it is during these times that i see her as a mini caiman!!!!!! i know that as soon as the belly relaxes, she will come to me telling me she is ready to eat and does.....i just have to wait it out!!!! boo's new vet is very open to internet searches and was very impressed with this site.... i made sure he understood what a wonderful, truly caring group it is... he said in his practice, he may see 5 epi cases a year....it truly saddens me that so many of these cases nearly have to be going undiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed as the ususal thinking even in the majority of vets is that this is a big dog disease..... epi truly knows no boundaries and in the end scheme of things, am sure at some point, it will be diagnosed in the majority of all breeds of dogs, both big and small...i won't tell you that it is easy trying to work with a little dog that for the most part now is staying at 3 lbs. and under as clearly, we are talking ounces that mater, not pounds..these off times, as will surely be the case with little bronson after his case of "Munchies" is pretty much to be expected but in most cases, we learn thru trial and error that we can get these precious babies to rebound.....am sure boo is hoping and praying mom will forget and leave something ....am sure all of our babies would love to go on a binge at an all you can eat buffet!!!!!!!!(that is what makes them so huhm, right???)....anyway, yes, that vet and her being the "support group" is all wrong.... just as it takes a village to raise a child, so it goes for our precious dogs and cats..my motto for boo will always be that she may have epi, but it DOES NOT have her...... lynda

sorry, that was little bonbon, not bronson with the munchies.....fish and chips are sounding pretty good though.... would have to drive 40 miles to get them, though...b.t.w.....how is bronson doing??? he is just the cutest little thing.... one of the pretties little cavaliers i have ever seen, but bonbon is also a little beauty....

This is such a shame

My vet simply said "This is were the internet comes into its own sharing experiences with like minded people" when I told him about our forum the vet who diagnosed her spent time on the website and was impressed as he said its not like they see one every day in some cases never thankfully

When we went to the vets to weigh her one of the younger vets was asking questions about Kara as she is concerned about one of her clients and is going to read up on EPI as she said the only time she had seen poo like she is seeing now was when she first saw Kara last year sadly she has now been round the whole practice but thats the way it goes I think she is quite a celebrity now

Jxx

Good for you!! My vet was uninterested when I told him of the group an expresse concern I was gettin bad info or we didn't know what we were taking about..but when I told him I was looking at Tamu he changed his attitude a little..but I know without this site I would not still have my Nadya..

Panda's regular vet recommended this forum, which I already knew about, but it was good to hear it from her.  I find that I am actually relieved when I hear a doctor say he or she doesn't know something, although I don't hear it often.  I think it means they're prepared to listen and will go look things up themselves.  Yesterday one of the reasons we were there so long is that the relief vet had time to go do some research on our behalf and was willing to do it.

Bella's Mom, good for you.

Laurie

You can trip over all the vets I've left in my wake.......but the 2 I've got now: WOW!  Really awesome guys and very down to earth....

I, too, had one vet who was so self-involved it about made me sick.  Said his mentor was one of the leaders in research at TAMU......yet despite Buddy Lee testing positive for EPI, also said he should be getting all the B12 he needed from his diet!  What?!  Kicked him (and his high dollar facility) to the curb.

I too have fired a few of those vets...When egos get in the way, good things don't happen... I too would rather have a stumped vet than one (can you say previous vet) who insists that he knows what's going on, but is only getting me to  help pay for some very expensive diagnostic equipment and always comes out with no answers...

I printed the before and after pictures of dogs from the site, took them to my vet and said, "The people on the forum are people who have stabilised this condition, they now have happy dogs. They are people who have researched and taken time to understand the condition and some of their dogs have lived with EPI for years."

No vet could argue with the before and after pictures! I don't think my vet had even seen an EPI dog looking anything other than skinny.

Gillian xox

Update. I actually found the dog's parents via Facebook friends of the rescue. I sent them a message. I have yet to hear, but hope to soon. I directed them directly here. My roomate saw the photos of the dog and she was sick to her stomach. All she could do is cry out "that vet is killing him, get them the information NOW"  He is a 2 year old French bulldog that is just over 2 lbs! His bones just poke out. So sad.

Thank goodness you found them and I hope they not only join soon but either have a long talk with their vet, or find a new one.  He's so tiny...oh poor baby!  If you personally hear more, please keep us posted.  As I said earlier...shame on that vet!

boo'smom at February 20, 2011 at 1:02 PM

boo'smom at February 20, 2011 at 11:15 AM

Linda at February 20, 2011 at 1:00 AM

Good for you...I hope the rescue does know who the parents of Tiny Tim are and can share that information.  Shame on that vet...this is a good learning example for veterinarians all over.  That's sort of like playing God isn't it?  Nobody can possibly know everything...not even the best doctor in the world.  As I said...shame on her. 

michele, this was just sooo much the case with my boo.... for 6 long weeks, i took her down to that vet  clinic here telling him over and over till i was blue in the face that it clearly didn't matter how much boo ate, or even "what", that none of it was staying in her..... i am going thru a rough patch with her again now after her having 3 truly amazing days.... ounces on this girl are absolutely critical.... when she was at 2.3 lbs. all he could suggest doing was a 3-8 week food trial... it truly offended him that i dare to look at the internet and in the end, i was the one that figured out what the heck was going on with her, not HIM!!!!!!!  she would have long been gone by now had i listened to him instead of my heart.....her new vet suggested that we go ahead and treat her for sibo but for now, so as not to overload her little system, he wants to wait up on the metagenics b12 vitamins... (we need to fix one thing at a time, as he put it)....after 3 amazing days in a row, today, she is again having tummy grumbles and spasms, but i know to wait these out.... you truly cannot get even the tiniest bit of pepcid or zantac into her as the second it goes down, the next second, she has upchucked it... it is during these times that i see her as a mini caiman!!!!!! i know that as soon as the belly relaxes, she will come to me telling me she is ready to eat and does.....i just have to wait it out!!!! boo's new vet is very open to internet searches and was very impressed with this site.... i made sure he understood what a wonderful, truly caring group it is... he said in his practice, he may see 5 epi cases a year....it truly saddens me that so many of these cases nearly have to be going undiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed as the ususal thinking even in the majority of vets is that this is a big dog disease..... epi truly knows no boundaries and in the end scheme of things, am sure at some point, it will be diagnosed in the majority of all breeds of dogs, both big and small...i won't tell you that it is easy trying to work with a little dog that for the most part now is staying at 3 lbs. and under as clearly, we are talking ounces that mater, not pounds..these off times, as will surely be the case with little bronson after his case of "Munchies" is pretty much to be expected but in most cases, we learn thru trial and error that we can get these precious babies to rebound.....am sure boo is hoping and praying mom will forget and leave something ....am sure all of our babies would love to go on a binge at an all you can eat buffet!!!!!!!!(that is what makes them so huhm, right???)....anyway, yes, that vet and her being the "support group" is all wrong.... just as it takes a village to raise a child, so it goes for our precious dogs and cats..my motto for boo will always be that she may have epi, but it DOES NOT have her...... lynda

sorry, that was little bonbon, not bronson with the munchies.....fish and chips are sounding pretty good though.... would have to drive 40 miles to get them, though...b.t.w.....how is bronson doing??? he is just the cutest little thing.... one of the pretties little cavaliers i have ever seen, but bonbon is also a little beauty....

Thanks, Bronson's nature is exactly as he looks.

He has recovered from his 'take away' meal and even gained 1/2kg this week.

Loved your comment: ..am sure all of our babies would love to go on a binge at an all you can eat buffet!!!!!!!! Bronson would definately sign up for that menu.... LOL especially if chips were available.

Janet

Oh Lord - I am glad you found the parents and I really really hope they reach out for the sake of that tiny bull dog.

thank goodness... keep us posted please!!!!

Update #2, Tiny Tim's mom read the site and cried. She says that everything fits except for his poo is normal. She actually was taking him to the vet next week for tests, but went this morning. So his blood is on the way to be tested. They are soooo very happy I contacted them. I will keep you updated as I know information.

Great work!

Thanks for the update...I'm so glad to hear that he's being tested.

Great news! Good for you!