Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Epi4Dogs Foundation Inc.’s mission is the advancement of science and education relating to EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency), yielding useful insights and positive outcomes in better managing EPI in dogs and cats. Our goals are to support and/or collaborate with veterinary EPI research and researchers, and to promote EPI awareness by educating the general public, pet owners, pet organizations, rescue and shelter organizations, veterinary schools and veterinarians.
User avatar
Madelon
Staff
Posts: 1317
Location: Nashville, TN
Country: United States
State: Tennessee
Pet name: Doc

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Madelon » 10 May 2019, 23:29

GREAT UPDATE!!! Love reading these success stories. Keep up the good work.
Madelon, owned by DOC. DOC dx EPI 5/2015 = TLI < .4, B12 406; Folate >24. DOC taught me so much and together we battled and overcame EPI, food sensitivies, environmental allergies but we lost the cancer battle. DOC was dx with hemangiosarcoma 5/2022 and crossed the rainbow bridge July 24, 2022. He is and always will be the love of my life, my soulmate, my heart dog.

User avatar
Riley's Mom
Staff
Posts: 203
Country: United States
State: Virginia

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Riley's Mom » 11 May 2019, 08:18

Whoop Whoop! Glad things are going so well.
It's hard to get a dog that isn't food driven to eat sometimes. My EPI girl is not food driven at all....so frustrating. If nothing else is wrong with your boy, maybe he just doesn't need as much food. My Riley does not eat breakfast. Won't touch it anymore.
Elisabeth

Riley is a 10 year old Labradoodle. She was diagnosed with EPI in 2014.
She currently eats Taste of the Wild, I cup in the morning, 2 cups in the evening, each meal with 1 Wonderlabs B12 sprinkled over her dinner. Enzymes are EnzymeDiane, 1 tsp per cup of food, mixed in home made bone broth. No other supplements or meds at this time.
Riley currently weighs about 44 pounds, which is pretty heavy for her.

RichardB
Member
Posts: 55
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Country: United States
State: California
Pet name: Sassy
My name: Richard

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by RichardB » 11 May 2019, 11:52

Madam President!!! If it wasn't for you and all the others on this site I'd hate to guess where we'd be right now. You all are life savers in my book!!! Thank YOU!!!

User avatar
Kodis Mom
Staff
Posts: 62
Location: Custer, WA.
Country: United States
State: Washington

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Kodis Mom » 11 May 2019, 14:57

Great news !!! I feel the same way about this site. It wasn't around for my first EPI girl, and I have learned so much more
Kodi
B. 8/19/2010 Diagnosed at 11 months.
Kodi is now on Natures Logic turkey and/or pork kibble, 2 cups with 2 teaspoons of enzymes, 1/8 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1/16 teaspoon of cinnamon and ground fennel seed (for tummy upsets) twice a day, plus one one B12 capsule from Wonderlabs. She has been very stable and on occasion needs a dose ofTylan.
She is our second GSD with EPI. It was not so scary this time ! And thank goodness for epi4dogs.com ! 💝 Kodi passed on August 25, 2023 just after her 13th birthday.💝 Forever grateful to Olesia and epi4dogs. She live a long and adventurous life with EPI.

Barb
Staff
Posts: 918
Country: United States
State: New Jersey

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Barb » 14 May 2019, 17:16

Wonderful update! Glad things are going well. Keep up the good work.

Barb

User avatar
Olesia711
Founder & Research Director
Posts: 3858
Location: North Carolina
Country: United States
State: North Carolina
Pet name: Izzy
My name: olesia

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Olesia711 » 15 May 2019, 17:07

Hi Richard.... #2 on the poop chart is the best possible poo..... a #2 to #3 is good, IMHO, good enough... BUT.... if you want to try for all the time #2..... in my experience when the poos lean towards #3.... it usually means that although tolerable, the current diet is not optimal for this particular dog. Also.....when poos are a little larger in volume then what you think they should be... it often is that the fiber or carb content is a touch too much in this specific brand of food.... or there is an ingredient or too much of a certain ingredient in this particular diet/brand of food.

I used to constantly switch around my EPi dog's food (i personally believe in variety) and whenever i happened upon a food that was too much in fiber content, i found that switching to another food with even just 0.5% less fiber content helped. (FYI fiber content comes from the not only the recognizable fiber ingredients in the food but also from the carb ingredients in the food) .
At other times, i found it was certain ingredients or too much of certain ingredients in a particular brand of food that triggered #3 or larger volume food..... in our case (and in many EPI dog's cases) too many pea ingredients will cause this...........

Long story short.... if you want, start keeping records of ALL the ingredients (and where on the list they fall/prevalence) and when you change foods... note the difference or ingredients and record the poo differences... and this is what will help you decide what foods/ingredients really agrees and what doesn't with Sassy.
Olesia, was owned by Izzy, a 35lb Spanish Water Dog (SWD), Diagnosed at 1.5 years old - TLI results 1.. Izzy passed away on February 13, 2020 at 15 years old. She lived with EPI for 13+1/2 years. It was because of Izzy that Epi4Dogs was started... she was the inspiration. May her legacy of helping others with EPI continue for as long as needed.........

RichardB
Member
Posts: 55
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Country: United States
State: California
Pet name: Sassy
My name: Richard

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by RichardB » 16 May 2019, 01:41

Thank You Olesia,
I'm trying to not change things, including food too much. I did over the past 3 days add a duck jerky treat after meals while she has the enzymes fresh in her. So far so good, nothing has changed so far. I'm also dealing with her brother too! He's the finicky eater, so what I give to her better be close to what I give to him or he doesn't want it. So trying to find a dog food that's good for both of them was my goal. They both were raised on Taste of the Wild puppy until recently. The price kept going up and now they reduced the size by 2 pounds but not the price. From past experience I know the better dog food produces smaller more healthy poops. About 40 years ago I switched from Purina to Science Diet and it was a big difference. He ate less and pooped less and smaller.
I still tend to see a difference in my two dogs poop, hers has a tendency to be larger and more than his. Is this a problem? Maybe not. She appears to be very healthy now. I'll take her in for blood work again at about the 3 month point to see how that looks. In the mean time it feels good to be able to give her a treat again, but I'll watch for any changes. Up until she got sick we had a sit, down, stay routine we did everyday for that treat. I'm sure she missed that more than anything else.

Thanks again for all of your inputs,
Richard and Sassy

User avatar
Riley's Mom
Staff
Posts: 203
Country: United States
State: Virginia

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Riley's Mom » 17 May 2019, 08:00

Richard,
When you go back for bloodwork, what are you having tested? B12 is a good one to repeat, but don't pay for another TLI. There isn't a reason to repeat that unless the numbers were borderline at first testing and you are tracking to see if the trend is going down. Once confirmed EPI, no reason to retest TLI.
Elisabeth

Riley is a 10 year old Labradoodle. She was diagnosed with EPI in 2014.
She currently eats Taste of the Wild, I cup in the morning, 2 cups in the evening, each meal with 1 Wonderlabs B12 sprinkled over her dinner. Enzymes are EnzymeDiane, 1 tsp per cup of food, mixed in home made bone broth. No other supplements or meds at this time.
Riley currently weighs about 44 pounds, which is pretty heavy for her.

RichardB
Member
Posts: 55
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Country: United States
State: California
Pet name: Sassy
My name: Richard

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by RichardB » 17 May 2019, 22:59

Good Point Elisabeth,
I don't know. Just thought I needed to get her tested again. B12 would be a good excuse I guess.
Was so proud of my fur-babies this morning!!! Let them out and they started barking at something. We have a family of possums that made their home on my patio cover in the small space where it goes under my rain gutters. They've caught a baby one about 3 times in the past couple weeks, about the size of a hamster. Each time I was able to stop them before they hurt it. Each time the little sucker played dead but miraculously came back to life after a few minutes and waddled away. Well this morning they found Momma with 3 babies, that hamster size riding her back, and had her cornered. I'm so proud that they didn't hurt her and mostly because they left her alone when I called them off. Hope she moves them somewhere else soon. I really don't want resident possums in my back yard and the dogs don't like them either.

All in a days work!!!

User avatar
Riley's Mom
Staff
Posts: 203
Country: United States
State: Virginia

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Post by Riley's Mom » 18 May 2019, 17:25

Yes, some have B12 retested to see if what they are using to supplement is working. I looked back to see Sassy's TLI result, and she is definitely EPI, so don't re do the TLI test. Too expensive and unnecessary, once confirmed it won't change.
Elisabeth

Riley is a 10 year old Labradoodle. She was diagnosed with EPI in 2014.
She currently eats Taste of the Wild, I cup in the morning, 2 cups in the evening, each meal with 1 Wonderlabs B12 sprinkled over her dinner. Enzymes are EnzymeDiane, 1 tsp per cup of food, mixed in home made bone broth. No other supplements or meds at this time.
Riley currently weighs about 44 pounds, which is pretty heavy for her.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 238 guests