Epi4Dogs

I need some guidance!! My boy ruxin was about 90-95lbs in june this year. He was diagnosed in august i believe and was 68lbs. He had gained some weight and was last weighed in about a month ago at 72lbs but has since seemed to be losing weight he gets 2c of fromms in the morning and evening with 2tsp of dianes enzymes each serving as well as 2 capsules of b12 in the evening. I am figuring he needs b12 shots. I will need to take him to the vet of course but honestly they havent been a ton of help thus far. Suggestions please?! Also hes had solid poop consistently.

The b12 capsules im using are the pet factor b-12 caps from wonderlabs

hi Taryn

I have looked at your other posts

I really feel for you, My Kara took a long time to gain weight

so can you give us a day to day run down on what exactly you do, food, enzymes, antibiotics etc


Jeanx

Off the top of my head after reading your post this morning----My Tucker started out at 6o pounds(had been this weight since 6 months old & looked skinny but not emaciated), and really only needed to gain about 7-10 pounds to look and feel good. He also had all the other symptoms, like mustard poo & poo eating, which is what got us on this EPI train. He also eats 2 cups of kibble, twice a day, for maintenance, so I wonder if you need to increase Ruxin's kibble. The administrators know the formula for feeding while skinny, so I'd ask them to reply, but I think I'd start with an extra half cup per meal & move to an extra one cup per meal after a week. You would need to adjust the amount of enzymes to match with the food. Also try adding some yummy things like turkey, etc. I give the wonderpets B12 one at a time, at each meal.

Thanks for the replies guys! I did include what hes eating in my first post. He does not get antibiotics anymore. He is still eating his poop from time to time and the amount were feeding him is actually a half cup more per meal than the suggested amount on the back of his food for his weight but of course that may not mean anything. Has anyone tried upping the amount of b12 and had luck? I think i will at least up his food to half a cup more but wondering if adjusting the b12 would make a difference

Also ruxin is a 2 and a half year old purebred gsd in case the has a roll in anything!

I could be wrong, but I think you are supposed to consider his ideal weight when measuring the kibble. Is that what you are doing? Sorry, it just seems like maybe feeding more than 4 cups daily would be a good idea. Of course Fromm is such a pure product, you may need to feed less than I do. Tucker eats Blue Buffalo.

Taryn, I just noticed you do intend to increase the amount. Hope it helps.

Thank youu!! Im going to give it a go

Hi there. Sorry I'm late in responding. Let's get you back to basics - I've had to do this several times with my boy so don't think you've done anything wrong - it's just that sometimes starting over can help.

Sooo, what exact food are you feeding? It might be that the food does not agree with your pup. Be sure it is grain free with 4% fiber or less. You need to feed 150% of the food for the weight your dog SHOULD be not the weight he currently is. SO, if your pup should be 95lbs and the feeding is 4 cups a day on the bag then you would actually feed 6 cups a day but in 3 meals of 2 cups each until he reaches his ideal weight.

As for the B12 - I don't think it matters but just as a good general practice I would give 1 pill in the morning and 1 pill in the evening.

What do the poops look like? If they are not good and you are seeing signs of SID (small intestinal dysbiosis formerly called SIBO) like cow plops, yellowish color, tummy rumbling, gas, burping, etc. and the food meets our recommendations then you might try adding Slippery Elm Bark Powder - it's a prebiotic mucilage and coats the GI tract. Recent research has shown good results using it instead of antibiotics - here's a link to our website page on it https://epi4dogs.com/slippery-elm/ . If after a few days you do not see any improvement in the poop then I would ask your vet for a prescription for Tylan antibiotic powder - use for 45 days and slowly wean off.

If, however, the food you are currently using does not meet our guidelines then I highly suggest trying a new food. Unfortunately this can be the hardest part of EPI.