Kenzie update

[Riley's Mom]

I think Jean steered you away from Chicken because many EPI dogs don't do well with chicken. But some do just fine and if you have so many things she does not tolerate, chicken might be a good protein source for you to try.

[Floramac]

I am waiting to hear from the vet if salmon is ok. I have searched loads of the foods suggested. Eden semi moist duck and tripe sounds very good But is tripe a no no 're her allergy to beef? Her poo is not improving, in fact 4 yesterday, 2 very sloppy, I am getting really frustrated at nog being able to help her!

[Madelon]

Hi there. How were the poops on the 50/50 mix? If she was doing good with 50/50 mix can you stay on that? I believe the reason Jean said to stay away from chicken is because typically EPI dogs don't seem to tolerate chicken very well, however, there are many that do and you don't know until you try. If you try the hydrolyzed prescription food there are only a few that are truly hydrolyzed and Royal Canin Ultamino is the one that seems to work best with EPI dogs. If you decide the home cook route, we have information on that on our diet page. I hope you find something that works. I will say my boy has A LOT of food sensitivities and it was VERY DIFFICULT for me to find one that he could tolerate - I was about to give up and decided to try Sport Dog Food Elite Herding - it has catfish (low down on the list only 8% i believe) and he is allergic to white fish BUT he is able to tolerate it and has been doing great on it. I hope you find something soon.

[Floramac]

It seems nothing is helping at the moment. We did go back to 50/50 but her poo was still bad. We have now tried the salmon (the allergy company finally spoke with the vets and said they don't test for salmon as it's not a common dog food!). So far her poo is getting worse. I actually believe something else is going on here. She has always been a hungry dog but now she acts hungry all the time! I suppose as she is losing a lot of food undigested she must feel empty. I am booking her in with the vets and hope they can find something going on. I am at a loss?

[jilbert57]

Remind me, has she been tested recently for giardia and the likes?

[Floramac]

She has not been tested and don't believe ever has, unless it is part of the standard blood tests?

[jilbert57]

Usually with my dogs labs I take a urine sample and a poop sample in so they can check for parasites in the poop. Urine is more kidney function, crystals present, etc.

[Olesia711]

If your dog is fine with pork.... i'd give it... but if you are dealing with IBD in addition to EPI..... sometimes the better option is to talk to your vet about trying hydrolyzed foods. WIth our EPI dogs, althou not with every single EPI+ IBD dog.... it does appear that the majority of these dogs dealing with dual conditions do better on Royal Canine "Ultamino" hydrolyzed foods.... this food is the highest reduced food out of all the hydrolyzed on the market.

Regarding chicken.... the only reason why it was suggested to stay away s because over the years chicken is in everything and for the dogs that start developing intolerances.... chicken just seems to be the biggest offender.

Regarding the current food 50% protein and 50% veg....and the poo blow out.......veg is carb/fiber and many of our dogs cannot handle much of this... that is why so many of our dogs (but not all)O do better on low (even lower than 4%) fiber content commercial foods.
I see a HUGE difference personally when i feed my EPI gal 3.5% fiber content (veg, etc) vs. 4% fiber content. And if a food has too many carbs, this too will trigger too big and too many poos........ so........ what you can try is add more real protein to the food and see if that alters the poo for the better.... or not.....