EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

Hi... if you are giving her 3 PancreaPlus tablets:

Lipase 9,000 USP units

Protease 57,000 USP units

Amylase 64,000 USP units

and if the above are the USPs that are listed on the packaging.... i would increase her PancreasPlus pills to 4 per meal ... BUT... crush two pills and tap the crushed pills with a dab of peanut butter and roll the peanut butter around so she wan't see/taste/smell the crushed pills.... and then do the same with two more pills & peanut butter (for the same meal).... this will increase her Lipase intake to 36,000 USP units.... if you see ANY improvement.... then this might be the problem... you are not giving enough enzymes.... and this amount of lipase is the minimum for only 1 cup of food!  Just a thought.......

Pleaes keep us posted ..... so many times, the B12 helps the inappetence... hope that is what works for you too!

joenik at June 20, 2012 at 3:44 PM

Well, I will challenge you on that title! Kain is the current picky eater champ! I unfortunately must hand feed him now both meals everyday.  This does go in spirts though, as sometimes he will eat about a cup on his own, but I have always had to use enticers to get him even a little interested.  There are of course foods that are on the do not feed list for all dogs because of them being poisonous, you can go to ASPCA's website and check out the list of foods there.  Everyone uses different toppers, Kain gets bored with them and then I need to move on to another one.  I usually will warm any topper for a few seconds just to let tthe smell come out.  Be careful when introducing toppers or enticers though, do one every few days and just a small amount to make sure that there are no sensitivities with the tummy.  Keep an eye on those poops!  Here are some that are Kain's favorites:  hot dogs, ham, turkey, parm cheese. We have also tried tripe, tuna, tuna juice, raw ground beef and wet dog food.  Kain did not show that much of an interest in them.  He as well as Angel, my female , without EPI, both love tgheir dairy, and they are ok with small amounts, Kain is actually much better than Angel, where when she has too much dairy, she will get a soft poop.  kain likes a little Redi-Whip ontop of his food or tiny drops of vanilla yogurt or frozen yogurt.  Just make a note of what you give them.  One last option is eggs, it is a great protein source, but, will have been from a grain fed chicken, this is ok for Kain and he does fine on small amounts of it.

Pretty pup, she is very similar to my boy.

I have NO DOUBT Ebi would win that contest.  The last seveal days we are lucky to get  a cup of food down her.  I understand the hand feeding and everthing.

maddie ann at July 2, 2012 at 5:04 AM

Good i am glad  you are following the B12 protcol ..

So are you rotating the toppers .

The other thing is that it is the amount of fiber that is in the food so that means that there may be other options avaible to you rather than just the GF foods ( keep the fiber below 4 % maddie works better on 3 % and below)

Now i assume you are giving her 2 cups of food when she eats ???

What are her poops like .............i note you give the enzymes after the meal were as i would have thought that they should be given before hand the other option to check out for this is creon.

We do really need to get her to eat more um have y0u tried lots of smaller meals spaced over the day.

i note she was on metro is she still taking this which leads to another problem this should be taken spaced 12 hrs apart with food.

Ann

 

Ann,

Her poops yesterday were water.  Today they are much better.

We would gladly feed her more often if she would only do it.  When she does eat we are LUCKY to get 1.5 cups down her.  So far today she has refused to eat anything!  We have tried several times......:/

As far as the enzymes go idealy we would give them to her before her meals but since we NEVER know if she is going to eat or not we don't want to give her enzymes on an empty tummy.  We have tried many times to ad them into her food but she REFUSES to eat then.  

She is still on the metro for the rest of this week.  I spoke with the vet yesterday and if she is not better at the end of the course we are going to change her over to Tylin.  

Thanks again for your input. 

Molly

Hi Molly.....when my gal Izzy was first diagnosed......my vet started her on the powdered enzymes and Metronidazole.... and i did not see any improvement... the vet got concerned and even started calling me at home during the evenings asking "anything yet?" One day just before two weeks of this, he took Izzy off Metronidazole and put her on Tylan.... the very next day  the poo was perfectly formed... it was pretty wild....

Please continue with the B12 shots... and are you able to crush the pills before putting them in peanut butter... once scenario might be that she doesn't want to eat because of possible SIBO (that the the Metro might not be touching) and she might have on going SIBO because it doesn't sound like she is getting enough enzymes (dose-wise) and many of these dogs do not show any improvement on pills.... but i understand your quandry since she won't eat with powdered enzymes... your next step might need to be the creon-route..... I am so sorry you are having such a hard time getting EPI on the right path for her with this....

Hopefully it is the nasty old sibo that is causing this but until you get the enzyme dosage right you will be chasing your tail in respect of this.

One thing i would suggest that it sounds like EBI was up tp 64 ilbs and is now down in weight it could be that she is like maddie in that i constanly maintain her B12 with daily tablets i use the ones from wonderlab if you look on the b12 tab they are listed there and they are extremely cheap.( even when imported to the UK )

You also mention allergies one of the ways to see if this is the case is by trying the Hills Z/D  the dog cant recognise the protein or the carb source.

The other thing can be inflammtion has your vet mentioned this to you .

How old is ebi now i see she was dx at 8 months .

Ann.