New member: Daisy's story
Posted: 25 Dec 2019, 12:25
Hello everyone ... I could not figure out how to post in the new members section so I am starting here.
Maybe someone can help me figure this out and I can transfer my post to the correct category.
I hope this long post will not put everyone off. When I get to writing i do get carried away and it has been hard to find anyone who understand what this has been like. So even if none of you actually read this, it feels good to have a place to talk about it.
I have had my Daisy since she was 5 weeks old. She chose me.
She is a cattle dog/Australian shepherd mix and is now just over 6 1/2 years old. We are quite literally joined at the hip.
Daisy at a naturally svelte 6 months old.
Since the above 6 year old photo, Daisy put on a few pounds and was a little chubby at 43 lbs when in August of this year (2019) she started "slimming down." I have been feeding her raw organic grass fed & finished beef and organic chicken for years mixed with kibble. Over time I have gone from Taste of the Wild to Orijen and then I had recently switched her to Carna4 kibble on the advice of an herbalist who runs a superior natural pet supply store. This was mixed with the same raw organic meats. so at first I assumed the kibble switch might have made the difference in her weight.
I was wrong.
A month went by and it was clear she was still losing weight. Her stools were too soft and yellowish, occasionally a bit runny. I was getting worried.
September was time for her 3 year rabies (the only vaccine I get as we live rural and there are a lot of wild critters she goes after every so often). So I made an appointment with the most popular local (and pricey) holistic vet (whom I will never use again) for her 'cleaner' shot but more so to discuss her weight loss. She was now down to 32 lbs. He said we should test her for giardia and proceeded to giver her the rabies shot. In retrospect, he had no business doing this until we knew whether she was sick or not.
And I should have taken responsibility and told him to wait but I was probably so relieved that he was not worried I went along.
Wishful projection on my part.
Turns out the vaccination probably did her no real harm in relation to her condition but still, he was out of line not to be more cautious. He told me her weight loss was good, that she looked great - as if being slender was all that mattered.
In retrospect, I think he was just being lazy and there is no place for that in health care for humans or animals.
I also suspect he was a bit lax as he knows I am low income, not a good prospect for ongoing "casual" veterinary attentions.
I did get the giardia/parasite test done and when we found she did not have giardia he said I should pick up some [expensive] Chinese herbs to stabilize her. He did not consider other possibilities or suggest any more tests unless I wanted to get a $450 test to see if she had an allergy to chicken. Other than that, he told me to switch her meat to turkey. So I did switch and gave her the herbs and she continued to lose weight. She was now down to 29.3 lbs.
By now I was feeding her 7 times a day with no weight gain at all. She was always hungry. Her stools were very soft and yellow, occasionally a whitish or dark gray puddle. All the research I did indicated possible liver issues or cancer but the list of other symptoms did not fit.
I was at a loss what to do when the herbalist who owns the pet supply store suggested I add a sprouted product by Carna4 called Flora4 to her food and contact a mobile holistic vet whom she praised and mentioned she was also very reasonably priced.
Even so I was very concerned about the cost but I knew I needed to find the right person to help my baby girl. Turned out this vet was amazing. She came over and took her time talking with me, she gave me some dietary advice, did acupuncture and suggested I get her tested for possible liver issues and to consider Xrays or an ultrasound to detect blockage.
She said to start with a blood panel and a bile acid test.
She also told me to discontinue the herbs I got from the other vet as they had way too many ingredients .. "over load" were her words.
She approved of the Carna4 brand kibble(which she also uses for her pets) and the Flora4 but suggested I switch to their fish recipe as it was easier to digest and also suggested Icelandic Kelp once a day and weekly acupuncture treatments.
She does not want me pay her, says she has plenty of patients with enough money so she can give a little to those will less.
Seems there really are angels.
So I went to another vet set up to draw blood for the tests which cost me $380 all together (I also had them retest for parasites just in case we'd hit a dormant period previously) and these showed absolutely nothing except moderately raised liver enzymes.
Kala (our angel) gave me a Chinese herbal mix 'Liver Happy" she happened to have at home.
Meanwhile I continued to research Daisy's symptoms and began seeing info about EPI and this time the symptoms fit exactly. When I found the EPI4dogs website I was so relieved to find something that addressed this so well I was now convinced she would be diagnosed with EPI. Kala agreed we needed to get this test. Being a mobile vet, she is not set up to do this so I contacted another another vet and brought Daisy in.
I prepared a detailed description of Daisy's recent history and included copies of the tests and emailed them to this new vet (highly recommend by my neighbors with 3 huskies ) before the visit. She read this, examined Daisy and said yes, we should test her for EPI. It took a week for the results ... Daisy's number was at 1.0.
This doctor had me buy PancreaPlus which was $59 for 4 ounces. Using a teaspoon 6-7 times a day I ran through this very fast.
So I ordered Pan-tenex - twice as much product for the same price - my order arrived 3 days ago. She had no enzymes for 3 days and I was worried until realized she's gone without these for 4 months. Oh how we worry about our babies!
This has some superb reviews and I like how this is not all powdery/dusty, is more like tiny granules and is easy to measure.
I am hoping to meet others here who are experienced in using Pan-tenex. I do have some questions.
So, after 3 weeks of pancreatic enzyme therapy Daisy is not quite so hungry and we have gone down from 7 to 4-5 meals a day.
She is of course still very thin but I think her spine does not feel or look so pronounced as it did.
I have yet to weigh her but i think she has put on a few ounces.
Anyhow, this is our story so far and I am feeling hopeful.
Thank you if you took the time to read this and I am most interested to read more of your stories and to hear from any of you.
I appreciate this site and hope to learn a lot from you all. And maybe someday I can be helpful to someone else.
Best wishes to all you lovely people and pooches.
sincerely ... faye grimm
Maybe someone can help me figure this out and I can transfer my post to the correct category.
I hope this long post will not put everyone off. When I get to writing i do get carried away and it has been hard to find anyone who understand what this has been like. So even if none of you actually read this, it feels good to have a place to talk about it.
I have had my Daisy since she was 5 weeks old. She chose me.
She is a cattle dog/Australian shepherd mix and is now just over 6 1/2 years old. We are quite literally joined at the hip.
Daisy at a naturally svelte 6 months old.
Since the above 6 year old photo, Daisy put on a few pounds and was a little chubby at 43 lbs when in August of this year (2019) she started "slimming down." I have been feeding her raw organic grass fed & finished beef and organic chicken for years mixed with kibble. Over time I have gone from Taste of the Wild to Orijen and then I had recently switched her to Carna4 kibble on the advice of an herbalist who runs a superior natural pet supply store. This was mixed with the same raw organic meats. so at first I assumed the kibble switch might have made the difference in her weight.
I was wrong.
A month went by and it was clear she was still losing weight. Her stools were too soft and yellowish, occasionally a bit runny. I was getting worried.
September was time for her 3 year rabies (the only vaccine I get as we live rural and there are a lot of wild critters she goes after every so often). So I made an appointment with the most popular local (and pricey) holistic vet (whom I will never use again) for her 'cleaner' shot but more so to discuss her weight loss. She was now down to 32 lbs. He said we should test her for giardia and proceeded to giver her the rabies shot. In retrospect, he had no business doing this until we knew whether she was sick or not.
And I should have taken responsibility and told him to wait but I was probably so relieved that he was not worried I went along.
Wishful projection on my part.
Turns out the vaccination probably did her no real harm in relation to her condition but still, he was out of line not to be more cautious. He told me her weight loss was good, that she looked great - as if being slender was all that mattered.
In retrospect, I think he was just being lazy and there is no place for that in health care for humans or animals.
I also suspect he was a bit lax as he knows I am low income, not a good prospect for ongoing "casual" veterinary attentions.
I did get the giardia/parasite test done and when we found she did not have giardia he said I should pick up some [expensive] Chinese herbs to stabilize her. He did not consider other possibilities or suggest any more tests unless I wanted to get a $450 test to see if she had an allergy to chicken. Other than that, he told me to switch her meat to turkey. So I did switch and gave her the herbs and she continued to lose weight. She was now down to 29.3 lbs.
By now I was feeding her 7 times a day with no weight gain at all. She was always hungry. Her stools were very soft and yellow, occasionally a whitish or dark gray puddle. All the research I did indicated possible liver issues or cancer but the list of other symptoms did not fit.
I was at a loss what to do when the herbalist who owns the pet supply store suggested I add a sprouted product by Carna4 called Flora4 to her food and contact a mobile holistic vet whom she praised and mentioned she was also very reasonably priced.
Even so I was very concerned about the cost but I knew I needed to find the right person to help my baby girl. Turned out this vet was amazing. She came over and took her time talking with me, she gave me some dietary advice, did acupuncture and suggested I get her tested for possible liver issues and to consider Xrays or an ultrasound to detect blockage.
She said to start with a blood panel and a bile acid test.
She also told me to discontinue the herbs I got from the other vet as they had way too many ingredients .. "over load" were her words.
She approved of the Carna4 brand kibble(which she also uses for her pets) and the Flora4 but suggested I switch to their fish recipe as it was easier to digest and also suggested Icelandic Kelp once a day and weekly acupuncture treatments.
She does not want me pay her, says she has plenty of patients with enough money so she can give a little to those will less.
Seems there really are angels.
So I went to another vet set up to draw blood for the tests which cost me $380 all together (I also had them retest for parasites just in case we'd hit a dormant period previously) and these showed absolutely nothing except moderately raised liver enzymes.
Kala (our angel) gave me a Chinese herbal mix 'Liver Happy" she happened to have at home.
Meanwhile I continued to research Daisy's symptoms and began seeing info about EPI and this time the symptoms fit exactly. When I found the EPI4dogs website I was so relieved to find something that addressed this so well I was now convinced she would be diagnosed with EPI. Kala agreed we needed to get this test. Being a mobile vet, she is not set up to do this so I contacted another another vet and brought Daisy in.
I prepared a detailed description of Daisy's recent history and included copies of the tests and emailed them to this new vet (highly recommend by my neighbors with 3 huskies ) before the visit. She read this, examined Daisy and said yes, we should test her for EPI. It took a week for the results ... Daisy's number was at 1.0.
This doctor had me buy PancreaPlus which was $59 for 4 ounces. Using a teaspoon 6-7 times a day I ran through this very fast.
So I ordered Pan-tenex - twice as much product for the same price - my order arrived 3 days ago. She had no enzymes for 3 days and I was worried until realized she's gone without these for 4 months. Oh how we worry about our babies!
This has some superb reviews and I like how this is not all powdery/dusty, is more like tiny granules and is easy to measure.
I am hoping to meet others here who are experienced in using Pan-tenex. I do have some questions.
So, after 3 weeks of pancreatic enzyme therapy Daisy is not quite so hungry and we have gone down from 7 to 4-5 meals a day.
She is of course still very thin but I think her spine does not feel or look so pronounced as it did.
I have yet to weigh her but i think she has put on a few ounces.
Anyhow, this is our story so far and I am feeling hopeful.
Thank you if you took the time to read this and I am most interested to read more of your stories and to hear from any of you.
I appreciate this site and hope to learn a lot from you all. And maybe someday I can be helpful to someone else.
Best wishes to all you lovely people and pooches.
sincerely ... faye grimm