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Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2019, 20:33
by RichardB
Hi! My name's Sassy, and I'm a 15 month old GSD. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my brother Buddy, my Mommy and Daddy.

Thank You for all the info this site has given my Daddy Richard!!! Not only did we get the confirmation of EPI today, but in anticipation of it we also received our enzymes from Diane!!! He's been feeding me the B12 (WonderLabs Pet Factor) 2 pills emptied on my food twice a day for 2 days now and started the salmon oil this morning to get me about 3 tablespoons per day. Waiting on the Slippery Elm to arrive in maybe a couple more days. He changed my diet today from Kirkland Chicken, Rice and Vegetable to Nature's Domain Salmon and Sweet Potato to go "Grain Free" and lower the fiber from 4.0 to 3.0. He changed me cold turkey, the bum; while my brother gets to wean off on a 50/50 blend!

My numbers as of today were:

TLI = .6
B12 = 257
Folate = 19.3

I weighed 61 lbs on my Daddy's scale about a month ago and 58.3 lbs on it today. Yet on the Vet scale I weighed 55 lbs 10 days ago and 53 lbs yesterday. I hate when scales lie!!! So I'll be going by two different scales for now. It looks like I lost a lot of weight since my hip bones stick out and you can feel my ribs don't have any meat on them. My poop is best described as cow pies that looks more like pure canned pumpkin than anything else. Hope this improves as quickly as possible. I only had one mess in the house in the beginning before I knew I had a problem and none afterward. I still love everybody, even my brother, although he makes it tough sometimes!

I asked my Vet about SID and she said "you mean SIBO" and I said "yes". She said the folate number should come down with the enzymes and by adding weight.

I told her about EPI4DOGS and all the good info we found here, but she downplayed it and referred me to veterinarypartner.com instead. I haven't looked at that site yet, didn't have to, but will when I have time.

I had my first enzyme meal about an hour ago at 4:30 PM and so far no problems; knock on wood or my Daddy's head, same thing.

Thank You again for all you taught my Daddy and I hope to get to know you all better in the future!!!

Yours Truly,
Sassy

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2019, 21:14
by jilbert57
Dear Sassy, what a great story to tell and you should give your Daddy a big lick! You have some great hoomans to be prepared for you to help as quickly as possible. Glad you had your first enzymed meal. You are a good girl to eat all your medicine and food up. Maybe have him keep a diary of food, meds and that way you can see what works to get your poop to a good number on the poop chart. Go ahead and ask questions. Hope to see you in the chunky monkey club.

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 27 Mar 2019, 22:21
by Riley's Mom
Welcome!
Glad you found us. Also glad you are supplementing B12, your numbers are a bit low, that will have you feeling more energy before too long.
Ask questions as you have them !

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 04:29
by Jean
Hello from the UK Sassy and Richard

Sassy, you have a wondefull handle on the English language !

ask your Daddy for some pictures

you are certainly on the homeward stretch, so all you need now, is some good walks, and toys, and a big love

keep a diary Richard on what you do, and what you change, invaluable to the vets, and yes the b12 is very low, but will sort itself out

keep in touch, we love stories

my vet took the oposite stance

he said "i only see Kara for maybe 20 minutes, you have her 24/7, and a group like EPI4DOGS is invaluable for support"

Jean

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 07:46
by Patsy
That’s a brilliant start. I just wondered whether three tablespoon of salmon oil was rather a lot? Perhaps a GSD owner can put me right on that, as my dog was smaller, and couldn’t manage a lot. Obviously the enzymes can digest it, as long as the dose matches it. It’s all trial and error.
Good luck!

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 09:11
by Barb
Welcome Sassy and Richard! You are doing a wonderful job of managing EPI already. Keep up the good work and ask any questions you have. I love your sense of humor.

Barb

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 11:36
by RichardB
Thanks All for your support and guidance. I did start a progress log yesterday with the last stool done before starting the enzyme. I also have notes in my calendar for what I thought were important enough to put there from about the last month. I had to do that after the fact since I didn't know at the time what I was getting into. Sorry about pictures, will need my wife's help in doing that I think.

Good News!!! This morning the Poop changed to a darker color and had a little more consistency to it. That was after 3 feedings. The first 2 feedings were a cup at a time and 2 cups on the last one at 9 last night. Previous stools where canned pure pumpkin in color and consistency, today's was brown!!! Yeah!!!

Takes her all of about 4 minutes to devour her 2 cups of food.

I do put in about a heaping tablespoon of canned pure pumpkin per cup of dog food. I think this is OK, but would like clarification. The reason I'm doing this is because I was doing that before to try to overcome the diarrhea and ..... I do it for both her and her brother so he doesn't feel left out. Like what's she getting? I feed them both at the same time apart from each other, I just give him less as I try to give her at least 150%. I even give him some of the salmon oil. I also have the suggested coconut oil, just haven't used it yet, I plan on alternating eventually.

The Slippery Elm should arrive today and I'll start her on that when it does.

Somewhere I saw where it was recommended to give her about 3 tablespoons of salmon/coconut oil per day, so yesterday I gave her 1 tablespoon per feeding 3 times. I'm probably giving her a little too much B12 right now in the hopes of getting her numbers up. That's not supposed to hurt her either I believe. Will have to double check on the dose for the slippery elm.

That's all for now,
Thanks again for all your help!!!
Richard

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 11:57
by Miss Maddie Moo
Hi Sassy

Glad your Dad us taking care of you, just a couple of things that may help with the extra food i used to give it in 3 three meals we had two dogs then so i would give my 2nd dog his daily allowance spread over three meals as i didn't want him to feel left out.
With the oils be careful we need to keep things simple to start with so if something goes wrong we can identify the cause...for instance Maddie couldn't do Salmon oil but could do coconut if you add to many things its difficult to find the culprit we say make one change at time ....i kept it basic enzymes food b12 then i added oils in once she was stable.
Good luck
Ann

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 21:17
by RichardB
A lot has changed in the past couple days, but it looks like there's some progress. She went from 8:30am to 5:20pm without a bowel movement. Both were brown as opposed to canned pumpkin color, but the last two were a little grainy, if that makes sense? The last two were also smaller than the ones in the recent past which makes me believe her body is absorbing a lot now, because I've already fed her 6 cups plus today!

The Slippery Elm Powder arrived this afternoon and 1/2 tsp was added to the 4:50pm feeding; another half tsp will be added to her last feeding around 9pm; will give it only twice tomorrow in the morning and evening as recommended.

How long should it take for the poops to look like they should? I am taking pics of the poops and even took one of her brothers this evening to remind myself of what they're supposed to look like. Hope I don't run into this with him down the road, but if I do I'll be more prepared.

I had a male GSD I had adopted about 8 years ago who had anal fistulas that was very hard to handle and very expensive. Had him in good shape when he developed paralysis for some unknown reason and I had to put him down. The female I adopted with him lived to 12 and finally succumbed to breast cancer a little over a year ago. So I've been through the mill several times and it's always something different. A new test.

Thanks,
Richard

Re: Sassy says HI and Thank You!!!

Posted: 28 Mar 2019, 21:28
by Riley's Mom
Richard, I'm so sorry to hear about you losses :(
It is never easy.....
I want to reassure you that EPI is totally manageable once you get things balanced. Most EPI dogs do not die from EPI, but rather from other things. I was so worried when my girl was first diagnosed that it would shorten her life, but I have since learned that is not the case. So hang in there and know that you can get this effectively managed!