normal weight gain

[Ljsander]

Gus seems to be doing well and I just started him on the Pet Factors vitamin b 5 days ago. He's gained about 1.5 pounds in the last five weeks, guess I'm expecting it to come back quicker:) He's on Pancreved enzymes, one tsp every meal which is currently 3 times a day. The vet said he had to stay on rx food and he's currently getting 1 cup of Royal Canin Gastro low fat but I've been adding about 1/4 cup of Purina Pro-plan Focus for sensitive stomach which is salmon and rice but it's giving him some "good fats". The last couple of days I've noticed a bit of mucus at the end of his morning poo, anything I should be concerned about?

[Olesia711]

Gus is a cutie!

Regarding weight gain.... it varies from one dog to the next. Some start gaining back weight in a few weeks... others takes months and some have even waited a year/+..... so just FYI.... Gus is doing well in the weight gaining dept

Regarding the food.... if your vet has Gus on "Royal Canin Gastro low fat" for another health reason, then you need to stick with it. HOWEVER, it might be worth calling the vet and asking him specifically "why" he has Gus on this food... if the vet says it is because of EPI (and EPI only) then this is not required. Years ago they used to think that EPI dogs did better on low fat food... however since then (more and better research) they have discovered that a diet with normal amounts of fat actually is better for an EPI dog. Mst of us use over the counter dog food-v-but we are careful to look for food with no grain and or very little fiber content... cause fiber (too much) can interfere eith the enzyme activity from anywhere between 0 to 50% .. and we just don't know which dog will be affected by how much so we tell folks to try to start with food that does not have any grain in it. Then over time, once the dog is stable... (or if it can't get stable) then you can try adding some grain to see how well the dog does.
The fact that you added Purina Pro-Plan Focus which has rice in it, i am guessing is starting to cause SID to start becoming a problem.... i personally would not give Purina Pro-Plan to an EPI dog (at the onset) because of it's grain ingredients.

If you want to add nutrition... best thing is to add real food- -try one thing at a time... like wholesome protein like (chicken, beef, pork, sardines, mackeral, cottage cheese, raw egg, etc,... .

If you want to add quality fats...........add fish oil (EFAs) and or add coconut oil. Actually with EPI dogs, they really NEED extra vitamins, especially EFAs.... so you should always include a qualit"y vitamin along with an EFA (like fish oil) with these dogs.
With dogs the dosing suggestion for fish oil is: "(Essential Fatty Acids) suggested at 180mg per 10lbs per day, or on alternate days give ½ to 1 teaspoon of cold pressed (virgin) coconut oil."
Check out Dr. Barko's recent EPI dog vitamin research https://epi4dogs.com/epi-research/
Just talk to your vet first though before dispensing any individual pill sources of Vitamin A & E as these are fat soluble and you want to make sure you do not give too much.

If you want to add fiber, the best way is to add the right kind of fiber for an EPI dog and the right amount.... is to add your own....we suggest adding baked, skinned, mashed sweet potato or a tsp of canned pumpkin, etc.....

On the flip side... the beginning sign that you are seeing of SID getting out of control could be the prescrip low fat food... but if i was a betting person... my first thought would be the ProPlan.

[jilbert57]

Glad you are seeing weight gain.

In addition to what Olesia said about ProPlan, I just wanted to add the 1st ingredient in the RC low fat gastro kibble is brewers rice, which might be adding to the SID also. Keep up the good work!

[Madelon]

Hi and welcome to our family!! What a cutie you have. Olesia covered most things, however, I noticed you are using 1tsp enzymes per meal - the correct dosage is 1tsp per cup of kibble, mix in luke warm water then mix with kibble and incubate for 20 minutes before serving. Please know that you can get enzymes for far less from EnzymeDiane - most of us use her enzymes - shipped directly to your house. I recommend using the 6x as it's just like the rx enzymes from the vet.

Keep a detailed journal of everything you give and everything that comes out so you know what's working and what's not. Oh and are you supplementing B12? B12 is critical to managing EPI.