Treatment plan check, not quite EPI

[jilbert57]

It might be that the old stuff had some undigested food in it. Or some dogs just like to eat poop!

Jill

[Olesia711]

well,,,, like Jill alluded to... that old poo probably still has some undigested particle in it, so it might still be a feast to him... but the new poo... the enzymes are now doing their thing so no more undigested particles in the new stuff. WAHOO!!!!

SOunds like things are going in the right direction!

Okay... regarding the inconsistent poo... give it about 5 days ... for everything to settle... if still getting that intermeittent soft serve that means something needs to be adjusted... if this becomes the case, the very first "one-thing-at-a-time" that i would try is increasing the enzymes ... so add another tablet (crushed) to the meals....... and start taking poo pics... to see if there is ANY improvement at all.

Keep us psoted!

[ACDLouMa]

Early this past week we have received all of the suggested medicines and supplements. His daily regiment is:
1/4 tsp Tylan 2x
1tsp PancrePlus powder 3x
Wonder Labs B-12 1x
1/4 tsp slippery elm 2x
Movoflex 1x

His diet is Natural Balance LID grain-free Salmon and Sweet Potato, 1.5C 3x a day. (once he gets back to normal weight he will scale back to 3C/day)

Louie had the last tweak in medicine and supplements and has been on the same regiment since Wednesday evening.

Since Friday night his poops have all been like what is pictured, and about 3 times a day unless he eats them while we are at work, but he seems less interested in that recently.

Screen Shot 2021-05-02 at 5.19.58 PM.png (458.67 KiB) Viewed 1758 times

Louie has also been more energetic and playful than we have seen in months, and what we were thinking a while ago was old age (he's 10) was likely nutritional deficit.

Now that we seem to have consistency, how long should he be on slippery elm? Is that a lifetime supplement or should he be able to be weened off of it?
In the process of trying to determine what was causing his digestive upset in the past 2 months, we took Louie off of Deremax (he had CCL reconstruction in May 2020) and CBD to help with arthritis and inflammation. At what point should we reach a comfort level to return him to taking those treatments?

Thank you!

[Tuckaboo Pam]

That's some good lookin' poop! As for the slippery elm, I think Tucker will probably take it as long as I can keep buying it. It's so good for him. ---Pam

[Olesia711]

With regards to the SLippery Elm..... some folks use it just to temporarily.... to help things get back on track...... while others use a small amount forever because when they try to take the dog off of it,,, the stools get sloppy again.

SO..... you have to try and figure out if Louie needs a daily maintenance dose .... or.... if this was just enough to help him help his gut get back on track.

My suggestion would be to continue as is for a few more days, and then reduce the SLippery Elm dose in half for another week... watch the poo quality.... and if okay... reduce that amount again by half.... and see if all continues to remain well. If yes.... then i would stop the slippery elm....... if the stools so south again, then that means something (most likely his diet) is not optimally agreeing with him and you can jus keep him on a maintenance amount of Slippery Elm... or you can start trying other foods to see if you can find one that optimally agrees with him... This is sometimes easier said then done.......................

Regarding the other medications...... once you figure out where you are with the slippery elm.... THEN i would talk to your vet about starting up or not starting up the other medications.

[ACDLouMa]

Sounds like a good plan, than you so much!

So thankful that everyone here has helped us get to this point so fast and that he's responding so quickly!

Truly lifesaving.