EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

HI all,

Since you guys know the most about poop of anyone I know, I need to pose a question about Maya (non-EPI house-destroying collie).

I am trying to rule out a food allergy as a cause of her ongoing skin issues and occasional itching. She was on cephlexin for 10 days to clear the skin, and during that time I also put her on a limited ingredient kibble. I noticed while on the new food (Instinct turkey and potato dry kibble), she was beginning to poop less and in smaller amounts. Towards the end of the anti's, she developed green diarrhea (and during that time also ate my wood molding, so wasn't sure if the cause was anti, new food, or wood). She is off the anti's now for about 5 days and poop is again changing, so I believe that was the cause of the diarrhea.

Here is the new dillema, one that I know is the opposite of what EPI'er experience....but for those of you that have non-epi dogs as well, thought maybe you'd have some suggestions.

Maya's poo is now a good color, but it is no longer 'logs'. It is small peices, about the size of tootsie rolls and rather on the dry side. As of now, I don't believe she is constipated or having issues from eating the wood. Don't know if this is ok consistency to have though. Don't know if she is processing this food more efficiently, therefore smaller poo? Star eats Natural Balance fish and sweet potato limited ingredient, which Maya has had too, and never had small poos on...there is more potato in the Natural Balance though. I think that the fish could be an allergen, that is why I am trying this other food.

My question is : Is there something I can add (supplement, more turkey, more potato) to this current food to keep with the limited ingredient diet that will bulk up the poo to make it more normal looking? Should I discontinue use of this food and try something else? Is this even something I should be concerned about?

Lisa

***CORRECTION*****

The food is Instinct LID turkey

Does not contain potato, it contains tapioca and peas

Lisa

Lisa

When i tried my non epi dog on grain free i got more volume and softer poops the reason i suspect is that  the fibre content was hgher than he was used to his previous food altough rice based was less fibre.

I suspect the LID is probably more digestible hence the small poops have a look at the poop chart you should be on 1-2 i get 2 most of the time from non-epi .

I saw this on somebodye elses thread and have pasted it over

http://www.foothillpethospital.com/fecalscoring.html

Ann

You know with raw feeding the poo decreases by amazing amounts, and it's hard and small a bit like you are describing. It sounds like there is just less waste with this new food.

I am trialing Cal and Roxy on raw, they love it and we get a lot less poo. We get about a 1/4 of what we used to get, so I mean a lot less.

If Maya is happy, pooing regularly, and not constipated I wouldn't worry for now.

Gillian x

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... i am chuckling here ...."non-EPI house-destroying collie"

Okay.... regarding the smaller pellet poo... if still well formed, and good color, i would just make sure she has plenty of water and not worry about it....Also...if the new food doesn't have potato in it....and is a limited ingredient.... this is really jumping out at me that might mean that Maya has some food sensitivities... the limited might really be helping her ..... some dogs actually have issues with potatoes...and/or fish oil.

My Lulu (also non-EPI dog and paw chewer) does better when i give her tapioca based food... she too has tinier turds .but i do still rotate my grain free food with all kinds of brands... so sometimes she gets it sometimes she doesn't.... BUT she also chews her paws.... in our case, i swear her allergies are mostly from environmental causes... cause when she goes outside on "wet" grass.... she chews the paws more ... if the grass is dry, she doesn't chew as excessively....

But i have  done a couple of things ... anyway....i have been giving her "Stinging Nettles" to help with the "allergens" (and i swear this has helped) and i also stopped giving Lulu fish oil.... and i swear the chewing has subsided even more....except when the grass is wet.... then the chewing still happens........

.. not sure if this helps or not and sorry for being long-winded... but it just sounded rather familiar.........

ANother take on this is whenever i feed Izzy (EPI dog) raw meat.... she delivers tiny tootsie roll size poos good color and still formed.... i have also interpreted this as her absorbing more of the nutrients and less waste.... so maybe THIS is what is going on with Maya now too?????

Thanks for the replies. Olesia, interesting about fish oil and potatoes being a problem for some dogs. I went back and looked at all the foods Maya has been on (we rotate grain free foods as well), and the common denominator is fish. Even chicken or lamb based diets seem to have fish meal somewhere on the ingredient list. Not sure if fish is a problem for her or not, but had to start somewhere. I am suspecting a food allergy vs environmental at this point, only because the skin issues started when she was so young. The skin issues may not be related to an allergy at all, but I thought it would be helpful to at least be able to start ruling some things out, if nothing else.

Lisa

Hello Lisa - I hope the food change helps her skin issues.  It can be hard to eliminate environmental allergens but you at least have a chance doing battle with food allergies. 

About the allergic reaction this is quite a good article my vet sent me i agree with the salmon oil comment i was giving it to otto and then noticed him eating grass and being sick stopped the oil and he  stopped  being sick.

He now has omega 3 tablets but i might try the flax seed.

http://business44.com/2012/02/allergies-in-dogs-and-cats-simple-solutions-that-work/

Ann

Thanks Ann, for the article. It was quite good. I feel like this is an impossible process, to sort out allergies. I noticed Maya scratching her ears, licking her feet, and rubbing her face, so I am thinking I am on the right track that she is sensitive to SOMETHING....but what it is, that is the question.......

He started young with skin problems  first was a hot spot.

Then scratching etc .

i have had him on pirton ocassionally if  the grass pollen set it off.

But he had a probelm  early winter and i had to use fuciderm on this.

So hence now i am looking for alternatives and have even  washed bedding and towels etc in white wine vinegar rather than washing powder to see if this makes a difference.

That article made sense to me especially as i know a vet nurse who said they seem to be treating alot off allergies these days and it ceratinly seems to be the same in humans .

And altough i havent gone as far as raw feeding i have started him on the pre-pro and omeaga 3.( because raw only works if it is free range /organic ).

i would clarify that Otto deosnt get it all the time but something triggers it .

Ann