Epi4Dogs

Hi everyone, would be grateful for your thoughts.
I have a 9 week old gsd puppy. She has had diarrhea for two weeks now. Stool has no parasites. She is on vets canned food and 7 days of antibiotic stool hardener. Stool became somewhat firm. I started to introduce hard food back into her diet a tablespoon at a time mixed in her canned food. (She gets 6 small meals a day) one day I gave her 3 tablespoons of hard food and the next day she had 5 tablespoons. Now she is back to watery diareaha that shoots right out with gassy sounds. Its always been chocolate in color. She is very happy, lively, energetic, playful and in no way appears to be sick. I'm calling the vet today when they open. Can this be epi when the only thing she has is diareaha?

There are blood test to confirm all this but yes it very well could be EPI or something related to her pancreas. Two weeks is a long time for a growing puppy. Sounds like blood works your next step.

Hi Debbie and welcome to the forum.
The only way to be 100% positive it is EPI is to have your vet run a cTli test. It is a 12 hour fast, water only. If positive you can follow guidelines for EPI.

Keep a check the little guy does not get dehydrated.

Does the diarrhea have undigested pieces of food in it or strictly liquid?

It's just liquid. I called the vet this morning and they have her on the 12 hour fast. I assume when we go in tomorrow morning they will do the test. How long does it usually take for the results?

If they send it to IDEXX seems it was 5-7 days. I am not sure if they send it to TAMU. So it is a 12 hr fast before her appointment. Have you tried a little plain pumpkin?

Ahhhhh... puppy poop *sigh*...............

First IDEXX is just as good as TAMU lab when testing for EPI.... however.... when we test for EPI we "suggest" (since you are already drawing blood / food fast the dog ) might as well save a little bit of money and also run a Cobalamin (B12 ) blood test since4 out of every 5 EPI dogs have low B12 too. ANYWAY.... TAMU is the premier lab for testing B12 (i guess it can be wee bit tricky) although other labs, like IDEXX do test for B12 too, just that TAMU is the best.

Regarding the puppy having EPI, it is possible especially since it is a GSD..... BUT......................... a couple of things i would like to mention.
1. Puppies can and do have loose stools from SOOooooo many things.... that even when EPI is suspected... and even if the TLI test comes back positive... with puppies... if there is a confirmed EPI case with a TLI test ... with puppies they recommend re-testing in a few months to confirm that it is EPI (see the TLI tab and this recommendation from Dr. Williams, the developer of the TLI test)

2. You say the the stools are watery brown..... very often when you see watery stools, it is because of a food sensitivity or food allergy.... not always, but often. So, add this to the fact that your pup is having watery stools when you are feeding it a particular dry food may be the problem and not EPI.

3. BUT, when dealing with a puppy, you ALWAYS have to be cautious that they may have picked up something like Parvo from somewhere/someone/someplace...... so your plan to contact the vet is a must.... Definitely have the vet check your pup over...for other things too.

Hope this helps and please keep us posted. Even if not EPI or not EPI at this time.... you are more than welcome to post here ... we will help you as best we can.

I just wanted to say I'm so sorry. It's hard when you've got a new puppy & it gets sick. I got a parvo pup from the shelter 25 years ago, and he survived for 15 years. I'm sure your vet has ruled that out. Heads up about the test, to me the cost was really high, but I know for some people it's not. I'm saving for it, and in the meantime we are having great results treating for EPI and following the advice of the wonderful people here at EPI4Dogs.---Pam

Sorry I posted that last comment twice---I just remembered, when any of my dogs have had upset stomachs, they have been put on chicken & rice, 3 parts white rice, to 1 part boiled chicken. Can work wonders. ---Pam

Hi and welcome to our family! I know how you feel because 5yrs ago I was in your position. We brought Doc (my hubby's dream dog - solid black GSD) home and he had chronic diarrhea and peed literally every 5 minutes! He was diagnosed with a horrible case of coccidia and a bladder infection - with antibiotics it cleared up - however the diarrhea came back and it was pale, yellow cow pies that smelled of sour milk! He was tested for EPI although I had no idea that's what he was being tested for. He was diagnosed with SID (small intestinal dysbiosis) treated with antibiotics for a month and then continued to grow to a healthy 95lbs at 9mos old. At 11 months old he slowly started to lose weight - at 13mos old he had the same cow pies, eating his poo and throwing up - tested again for EPI and this time it was positive. My point to this story is that it takes time for the pancreas to atrophy so while you might test and it's negative, if the symptoms come back I highly recommend testing again.

can I ask has the puppy been wormed since you got her, or before

one of my Sheps as a pup had the same and it was worms, and was it worms !