EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

Hi all,

It's been awhile since we have posted. To recap, Xena was diagnosed last July with EPI and was at 58lbs. We started her on enzymes and treated her for SIBO with Tylan last October. Since then things have been great. Great poops and she weighed in at 77/78 lbs. Our vet said she may need to join the Chunky Monkey Club as she couldn't feel her ribs! 

We achieved this weight by feeding her 4 times a day, 1 cup of each time. Then went to 3 times a day, and in Feb 2012 we went to feed her twice a day, 2 cups each time. We have had no problems with her EPI and she had been going great. Last Friday that changed.

On Friday, 5/18/12 she started vomiting a few times in the afternoon. We thought she ate some grass and it upset her stomach. She ate dinner and then seemed fine.

Saturday morning she was vomiting at 4am. It was yellow bile, like from an empty stomach. At 7am right before breakfast, she vomitted again, this time is was white and froothy.  We fed her an early dinner, and gave her a late night snack at 10pm.

Sunday morning she was vomiting at 3am and then again at 4:45am. It was the white froothy substance again. She was ok for most the day. At 6pm, right before dinner she was vomiting again. She also has had some soft poops too.

Monday we decided to try the 3 meals again. So we fed her 1 1/2 cups at 6:30am, 1 1/2 cups at 5pm and then1 cup at midnight. No vomitting.

This morning at 6am she was vomiting white froothy substance again and has very loose stool.  

We are taking her to the vet this afternoon, but  wanted to ask the experts here for any advice. It was only with the help of this website that we were able to get her stable. Any suggestions?

Could be SIBO. Wallace vomits like this when SIBO is in play or when he's not stable. If it's not SIBO maybe you need an enzyme tweak.

I'll let the experts chime in but if you still have some Tylan I'd start that.

Gillian x

Low B12 as  well as that and Sibo go hand in hand.

Ann

SIBO is my vote. Something like "unconsolidated bile" is the term my vet used. A quick course of antis should fix her up. I'm with Ann, too. Check her B12, since SIBO and low B12 go hand-in-hand.

Oh, and congratulations on reaching Chunky Monkey status! Good job!

How have her poops looked - they are usually a good indicator of SIBO also...

I agree with SIBO and B12.  Kolby starts to have dry heaves in the morning if SIBO is brewing or his B12 gets low.    I would start her on anti's.   Just when you think everything is fine.......

Good Luck.  Let us know how she is.

Barb

How did your vet visit go?  And how is Xena today?

Just one other thought....was Xena's food on the recall list?

Yep... my thought too, SIBO and check the B12 ... and Kathy said what i was going to say.... check the food...might be one of the Gaston SC Diamond factory tainted foods........................

SO............of course i am late with this... how did it go at the vets?

And.... please email me (olesia.kennedy@gmail.com) pictures and a blurb (if you want/when you have time) cause if your vet even says Xena may need to join the Chunky Monkey Club.... then we just have to enroll her 

Thanks everyone for your comments. I give some details below. As for the food, yes we are feeding TOTW, but we have another non EPI dog eating the same food with no problems. So I'm not sure it could be the food.

UPDATE: We took Xena to the vet, who had us give her Pepsid twice a day for the vomiting.  We gave her Pepsid Tuesday night, Wed morning and night, and today morning and night. She continues to vomit in the morning before eating breakfast. This happened both Wed morning and today. She also vomited again around 4pm today. It's still the white froothy stuff. Her poops however had been great, up to this evening. This evening she had a loose poop. It's was like the same substance she has been vomiting, was in her poop. 

Question...do i just start treating her for SIBO, or should we do blood test first?

If it is SIBO then i would start the protcol Tylan and B12........because unless your vet has a lab on site you will have to wait for resuts and it could get worse.

Ann

My thought is to start the Tylan now.....if you don't known what the B12 is... run the B12 test first, then before getting the results, but after the blood draw, ask the vet to go ahead and give the B12 injection........... DO check the bag of the TOTW..... the reason why i am saying this is because between my mom and myself... we have 4 dogs here.... and they were ALL on the same TOTW.  My 3 dogs were fine.... my mom's dog.... was puking off and on, ate, didn't want to eat, and was very quiet..... Once we found out about the recall.... (and yes, my bag WAS one of the "contaminated" ones)....we stopped feeding it to any of the dogs..... My mom's dog got better.......... so not sure if it was the food or not... but i now have my suspicions......

Thanks. We did start the tylan this morning. Interesting story with the one dog affected. The bag of TOTW is not listed as one of the recalls.

Is there are problem with giving heartworm medicine or advantix when on tylan?

We gave her a B-12 shot on monday.  

We have not had any adverse reaction to either of these....and Kolby is pretty sensitive. 

Pixie is on a small dose of tylan daily now, and she got her heartworm meds without a problem -  no noticeable change in anything.  She got the heartworm with breakfast and she gets the tylan with dinner (no reason, it just happened that way).  I don't use advantix, so I can't comment on that.