New to EPI..what to expect with poop quality

[Pfg]

I have a 14 month old GSD who was diagnosed with EPI at 9 month. He is fed RC special protein kibble in morning and night. 2.5 cups per meal treated with 2 teaspoons of Pantenex enzymes, soaked for 45 minutes. His stool in the morning is about 85% of a normal dog and acceptable. His small stools in afternoon and before sleep are very soft and more yellow snd undigested .
My question to all, is whether firmer stools later in the day can be expected some how. He is maintaining his 70 lbs..checked every week.

Thanks

[Montgomery]

Montgomery's second bowel movement is always softer than his first one, but I can't exactly call the little furball normal, either.

[jilbert57]

Hi PFG and welcome to you and Riot. Is the RC food the hydrolyzed? Will you please post what the lab results were for the Tli test and also for the B12?
4 things need to be addressed normally before the pups recover:

Diet- 4% fiber or less and grain free

Enzymes- must be used with all food for life

Antibiotic- almost all animals when diagnosed have SID(Imbalance in the gut which causes tummy rumbles, gas, acid reflux

B12- must be maintained at the high end of the normal chart, 550 or higher. This is attained by oral supplementation or B12 shots.

All these need to be addressed before the poop will normalize and the animal heals.

Jill

[Olesia711]

if you are giving the right enzymes correctly, and if the food you are feeding agrees with your pup and the B12 is being given if needed (everything that Jill mentioned above) .... then at this stage seeing sloppy light colored stools could very well be SID (small intestinal dysbiosis) is getting out of control.

If this is what is going on.... what you will want to try first is to give you dog a pre biotic. We typically recommend starting with SLippery Elm powder
https://epi4dogs.com/slippery-elm/
If you do not see any improvement at all within 3 to 5 days... then it is not going to work ... so next try a Probiotic with prebiotics included. (currently we are suggesting Visbiome or Proviable)
If a probiotic+prebiotic doesn't work, THen talk to your vet about treating with an antibiotic called "Tylan" twice a day/45 days. https://epi4dogs.com/antibiotics/

[Tuckaboo Pam]

As an aside, PFG, welcome! And, have you heard about https://enzymediane.com/ ? Pam & Tucker highly recommend this product, as do many other members.

[Jean]

good morning from the UK

Personally I would try grai free low fibre dog food , my girl never did well on RC too much grain in it

the rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of enzyme to 1 CUP OF KIBBLE SO 2.5 CUPS WOULD BE 2.5 TEASPOONS

If you arent already , then supplement b12

https://www.wonderlabs.com/itemleft.php?itemnum=K9688

https://www.petmd.com/dog/wellness/evr_ ... py_for_epi

[Barb]

Hello, PFG. A warm welcome to you and Riot.

I also noticed that the enzymes you are giving are a bit low for the amount of food. We usually recommend 1 teaspoon per cup, so you would want to use 2.5 teaspoons of enzymes for 2.5 cups of food.

Are you supplementing the B12? You can give injections or get capsules from Wonderlabs with Intrinsic Factor. Most dogs have low B12 when they are diagnosed.

I also recommend keeping a journal/log of everything you give Riot each day, the amounts and the resulting poos. Seeing the information in writing helps you to see what works and what needs to be adjusted. It saved our sanity. Once you get the Food, Enzymes, B12, and antibiotics, as Olesia suggested, in balance the poos will improve.

Let us know how everything is going.

Barb

[Madelon]

Hi and welcome to our EPI family. I won't muddy the waters with more suggestions Please know EPI can be overwhelming and sometimes frustrating in the beginning but we'll be here to help.