EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

Hello all! I'm new to this website and I have found so much helpful information.

My poor baby suffers from bacterial skin infections all of the time, and he has become resistant to majority of antibiotics. Our vet has had us try a new topical treatment with mixing 1/10th bleach with water and putting it on his skin after a bath for 10 days. This worked the 1st time, but now his skin has flared up with infection and its just not working. Unless I want to pay upwards of $200 each time to do a skin scraping to see what antibiotics need to be use, I don't know what else to do. I wanted to see if anyone else has or is experiencing any issues like that with their baby.

Thank you for any help! - Abbie -

I have a dog who has skin problems too.  Are you seeing hot spots?  Bumpy pustule things?

My dog sometimes gets pustules along her back and becomes very itchy.  The vet used to put her on oral antibiotics, but lately I've been managing it using a medicated shampoo for the most part.  I'm also very careful to keep her on flea control, and she eats a grain-free diet, since bacterial skin infections can pop up secondary to skin irritation caused by allergies or other things.

Hey everyone, thank you for the quick responses!

So I went digging last night and found his paperwork which included his medical history and all of his blood work when he was dx'd with EPI. TLI = 1.2, B12 = 253, Folate = 12. It looks like they also treated him for bacterial skin infections as well (which was not told to us when we adopted him, even though that doesn't change anything, would've been nice to know). While he was being fostered he received Convenia injection, and was Rx Simplicef for skin infections. They also gave him Hydroxyzine for his allergies. Currently he takes a 5mg Prednisone/day to manage his allergies. He has what looks like black heads on his underbelly which we have been using a medicated shampoo with benzoy peroxide to help clear that up. I gave him another bath last night and gently exfoliated the area and it looked so much better! So I will continue to do that 2 times a week until it becomes more manageable then go to once a week. He gets the puss filled bumps on his sides, top of his head, under his neck, and majority are on his belly. I did find a note on his medical history that says, "Patient has mild generalized staph, primarily ventral neck but notable in random areas.." I'm going to call my vet with this information I've found, but I also gave them copies of this when we 1st brought him in, and see if she has any other suggestions. It looks like his puss bumps are starting to dry out, but are leaving black spots in their place. We have found new smaller ones popping up also, so it is not going away.

-Abbie & Duff-

Ahhh Abbie...... sounds very uncomfortable..... my non-EPI dog gets itchies, but mild, not like what you are describing... so my "fixes" probably won't really help (bathing with apple cider,  for itchie feet i have dipped paws in epsom salt & warm water mixture, rubbing vitamin e oil on the sores,giving stinging nettles herb ).... BUT what you are describing sounds like none of these are potent enough to tackle the problem.... i too, when reading your post thought of Michele's Jackie and the MRSS infection..... i'll write her a private email and ask her to pop on this thread when she has time.... maybe she can offer some ideas...... Pleae let us know what your vet says!

Hello- I have just looked on your profile page and you infer on there that he may have not been treated for B12……..when Maddie was DX with low b12 I did some reading apart from on this site and I remember reading on a human page that skin conditions ie Candida can be more prevalent with low b12 now I am not saying that this is the root of all your problems but I just wondered whether you have followed any b12 protocol and wether this may help.

Ann

Hi Ann, to be hoest until last night I didn't know what his B12 levels were. We were actually planning on taking him this weekend to do a full round of blood work, thyroid tests, and B12 tests. Thank goodness I found this paper work because come to find out he has had all blood work except Thyroid. We are still taking him in this weekend to test the Thryoid and I would like to retest the B12 so we can get him started on some injections. I didn't realize his B12 was too low for an EPI dog, may explain how he just wants to sleep all the time, and here I thought he just loved to cuddle!! I will keep everyone posted on our results. We are starting him on a round of antiobiotics tonight, Clavamox, the bleaching option just wasn't working, and he hated the spray bottle he thought he was getting in trouble. Just can't do that to my little man anymore!

Yes .b12 can be resposible for lethargy...after your blood test get a B12 jab rather than wait for the results.............also what food do you feed ??

Ann

Welcome to the forum.  Your poor little guy - that must be awful for him (and you!)  We've had a couple little skin things to deal with over the years, but nothing like what you're describing.  So all I can offer is my best wishes that you get it figured out.  Good that you're going to address the B12...it's important for all, not just EPI dogs.  I just found out when I went to a neurologist with my father that low B12 in people can cause neuropathy (nerve damage in the extremities, resulting in numbness, etc).  The things you learn by accident!

Welcome Abbie and Duff , Your pup sounds miserable!!! Thank you for your persistence hope you find a solution soon !!!

He is currently on Natural Balance - Grain Free Sweet Potato & Chicken. His foster mom was feeding him Natural Balance - Grain Free, not sure which flavor so we just stuck with that. We found that our other child (lab mix) loves the grain free diet as well, so 2 birds with 1 stone! I have been thinking about switching to a different grain free just to maybe rule out the possiblity of a food allergy with him. Can't figure out what to switch to though.

I just want to thank everyone for the support. As much as this little guy has had to deal with for his skin, he is actually a care free dog. I think his skin infections bother me just looking at it more than it does him. Nothing bothers my little trooper, he is constantly happy and loves being around people and loves playing with his older brother. I actually think he has made himself the pack leader out of them two!

Hi Abbie - I am so sorry to hear you are going through this.   I can totally relate.   Jackie has battled skin infections on and off for over a year and without going into a lot of detail - she was finally cultured and it came up as MRSS (methicillin resistant staph schleiferi) and we did 18 pills a day of chloramphenicol for about a month - the rash finally went away.   BUT...now it is 2 months after the treatment and she has an infection again - we are using Vetericyn VF (spray) and Mupirocin ointment - I don't want to have to culture again and do the anti's and if this can control it - for us this is what we need to do because of other conditions Jackie has (I have gotten great results with this treatment).    Have you ever had your pup cultured?   My vet feels Jackie may have an allergy to "something" - thus, the reoccuring infections - but we haven't gone into any allergy testing.   I see your pup is being treated for allergies - this may be kicking it off also.     I wish I had a magic wand for you - but if I did I would be using it here also.   

My best to you and Duff - he looks like a character - very very cute!     I will be watcing your thread as I may learn something myself.   If you have any questions, ask away.

Since your pup is already on hydroxyzine, you might want to talk to the vet to see if it is time to try a more proactive approach to managing the allergies.  Hydroxyzine is a band-aid, but sometimes band-aids aren't good enough.  They can do spot testing on a dog to check for specific allergens and then formulate allergy injections for you to give at home.  The initial cost of allergy testing is high, but in the long run it can end up costing less than recurring infections-- and so many skin infections come up secondary to allergies.  Is Duff part Frenchie?  They are kind of notorious for allergies-- I've even known some Frenchies who have had to go on really strong, potentially nasty drugs like Atopica to control them.  

We have done a skin scraping one time on him to figure out which antibitoics would work. His body was growing resistant to antibiotics so the vet needed to see exactly what she was dealing with. After $200 for the scraping and $150 for his RX which was Tetracycline and Clavamox he was all better...until his infection came back. He was on Hydroxyzine when he was being fostered our vet switched him over to once a day Prednisone, she said the same thing, Hydroxyzine is too weak for his allgeries. Since they don't carry Tetracycline any more we started him on a round of Clavamox last night, keep your fingers crossed this works. Yes he is part Frenchie / part Boston and we know that does effect his allergies also. Our vet has told us this year has been horrible on all of her patients with allergies, she also reccomended that it might be time to go visit a dermotologist.

Keeping paws and fingers crossed!