Molly's Story!!

[Molly's Mom]

Hi Everyone,
My 4 year old Cavalier was just diagnosed yesterday. In November she was 15 lbs and she has gone down to 9 lbs. Really happy I found this site. Molly has been having issues since April, mainly bloody diarrhea. Every time this happened our vet would prescribe antibiotics and she would be fine. Last Sunday night I woke up to her barking because she had vomited in her kennel. This was followed by needing to go outside every 30 minutes. Monday I went to the vet for her antibiotics, thinking that would be the easy solution. I got home and put them in cheese and she turned her nose up at it. She has NEVER turned down cheese. She would walk over to her water bowl and just look at it, wouldn't drink at all. She was extremely lethargic and was just not herself. So I took her in, they said she had hypothermia, her temperature was 97.6 and her blood sugar was 12. They immediately started her on an IV and fluids. They then referred me to an emergency vet to keep her overnight. Tuesday morning I picked her up and then took her back to her regular vet for an Ultrasound and tests. Tuesday night back to the emergency vet. Wednesday back to the regular vet to be monitored. She got to come home Wednesday night and did well. Then yesterday they got the results of her GI panel back and confirmed it was EPI. Started her on her enzymes yesterday and she has now had 3 big solid poos!! Yay!! Hoping she will put some of her weight back on. The vet told me I saved her life and she was probably hours away from dying as she went into septic shock. So grateful we have a diagnosis! (After $4500 in vet bills)

[Bpcooper14]

Wow! Welcome to the club. I just joined with Ace the beginning of June. You will have a phenomenal set of resources here with experienced folks that have dealt with this much much longer than I have. You will hear a lot of information and advice and it can be overwhelming but right now not knowing what you don't know is probably the worst part (it was for me).
A log for daily everything helps to track improvements, issues, questions so that over time when things happen, you have a way to look at trends, changes, or just things you forgot over time.
I'll let the greater pro's hop on and welcome you and then give you a dissertation on what to look out for, suggestions on what changes may help, other issues that may arise due to the EPI, etc.

[Olesia711]

Hi Everyone,
My 4 year old Cavalier was just diagnosed yesterday. In November she was 15 lbs and she has gone down to 9 lbs. Really happy I found this site. Molly has been having issues since April, mainly bloody diarrhea. Every time this happened our vet would prescribe antibiotics and she would be fine. Last Sunday night I woke up to her barking because she had vomited in her kennel. This was followed by needing to go outside every 30 minutes. Monday I went to the vet for her antibiotics, thinking that would be the easy solution. I got home and put them in cheese and she turned her nose up at it. She has NEVER turned down cheese. She would walk over to her water bowl and just look at it, wouldn't drink at all. She was extremely lethargic and was just not herself. So I took her in, they said she had hypothermia, her temperature was 97.6 and her blood sugar was 12. They immediately started her on an IV and fluids. They then referred me to an emergency vet to keep her overnight. Tuesday morning I picked her up and then took her back to her regular vet for an Ultrasound and tests. Tuesday night back to the emergency vet. Wednesday back to the regular vet to be monitored. She got to come home Wednesday night and did well. Then yesterday they got the results of her GI panel back and confirmed it was EPI. Started her on her enzymes yesterday and she has now had 3 big solid poos!! Yay!! Hoping she will put some of her weight back on. The vet told me I saved her life and she was probably hours away from dying as she went into septic shock. So grateful we have a diagnosis! (After $4500 in vet bills)

My goodness.... YIKES!!! This is the closest to death we have ever heard of so far....hours away. Thank goodness you took her in and she was properly diagnosed! So glad to hear that since being placed on enzymes, she has delivered good poos .. Good work and many, many Kudos to you!!!!

When you have time, can you let us know if the vet also ran a cobalamin blood test when they did the TLI blood test... reason why i am asking is because over 80% of all EPI dogs need B12 supplementation, even if their B12 level is mid normal, for an EPi dog that is not good enough, and many of our EPI pups do not continue to do well unless their B12 is at an upper mid range or even higher. Considering Molly went thru so much.... it might be a good proactive move to talk to your vet about her B12.... you can do either the shots ... or in many cases, a high dose of oral B12 (1000mcg) also works... but for Molly's weight, she would only need approx 400ug daily if using the oral..so to translate.... if you decide to give her the high dose Methycobalamin B12 pills with 1000mcg B12, 800mcg Folate & 40 mg Porcine Intrinsic Factor... all you have to do is open the capsule and sprinkle half in her food daily . Please share this with your vet. The pills, if you decide to go this route are from Wonderlabs: https://www.wonderlabs.com/itemleft.php?itemnum=K9688

Texas A&M did some research on the oral B12 (hence where i got the dosing instructions) but they used Cyanocobalamin version of oral B12... and that too works, but we have heard from a handful of folks that it did not work for their particular dog and our observation is that Methycobalamin tends to have a better batting average with our dogs that need B12... and this is why we suggest oral Methycobalamin over oral Cyanocobalamin......but ultimately it is up to you and your vet what to go with

[Molly's Mom]

Yes, my vet did say she will need weekly b12 shot for 6 weeks. If I'm reading it right her cobalamin was less than 150.

[Madelon]

Hi and welcome to our EPI family. Molly is absolutely adorable. She is one lucky pup to have you - so glad you got her to the vet in time.

There are four cornerstones to managing EPI: enzymes (most of us use EnzymeDiane as her enzymes are much less expensive than the rx vet enzymes - www.enzymediane.com - starting dose is 1tsp per cup of kibble, mix with a little luke warm water, then mix with food and incubate 20-30min before serving); B12 (Olesia already explained this); Antibiotics (if dealing with SID we recommend Tylan); and Food (we recommend grain free with 4% fiber or less - no need for rx food unless there is another underlying medical condition).

Keep a detailed log of everything that goes in and everything that comes out so you know what works and what doesn't. Here's a link to our EPI log page where you can download a log to use https://epi4dogs.com/epi-log/

Keep us posted on little Molly.

[Olesia711]

Yes, my vet did say she will need weekly b12 shot for 6 weeks. If I'm reading it right her cobalamin was less than 150.

YIKES!!! that is super low (B12 at 150) thank goodness your vet checked the B12 and he is going with the TAMU protocol. Excellent.... the only thing is with EPI dogs, after you do the recommended initial dose, EPI is a chronic condition, which means that you and your vet will need to determine hoe much B12 Molly will need as B12 maintenance.... you cannot stop the B12 with an EPI dog... but once the B12levels are brought up....typically it is recommended to wait a month after the last dose, re-test the B12 to determine how well Moll held the B12 levels and that will help you and your vet decide if going forward Molly will need B12 shots weekly or biwkly or monthly. This is where many vets will teach the pet owner how to give the shots at home.... or some people just decide to go to the pills at this juncture............

Sounds like your vet and you are doing a great job!!!!!

[Rudysmom]

Welcome! How scary for you! I'm so happy to hear you and your vet have diagnosis and can start up on a treatment plan.
I'm new to the board since July and let me tell you that the people on here have given such great advice and are so supportive. They will be a wonderful resource for you.

I also do B12 injections and we are doing weekly shots for 6 weeks and then we are on a monthly regime for maintenance.

[jilbert57]

Welcome to the forum. Low B12 can cause a host of issues so hopefully with the shots things will clear up.

[Barb]

A warm welcome to you and Molly! Thank heaven she is with you.....your perseverance certainly saved her life. It sounds like everything is turning around now that you have a diagnosis and have begun treatment. I felt so relieved reading your account of everything she (and you) went through. I can only imagine what reliev you are feeling.

As Madelon suggested, keeping a daily log of everything you give Molly, the amounts and the resulting poos will help you to see what works and what needs to be adjusted. Also, I don't know if anyone suggested it yet, but we have a member here who supplies many of us with porcine enzymes at a much more reasonable cost than the commercial brands. You can go to her website, enzymediane.com, for all her information. She publishes her phone number there also, so you can call her and talk to her. She is wonderful to work with and has an excellent product. We have been using her enzymes for 8 years and we have saved so much $$$. Diane began her business when her own dog developed EPI.

Please ask as many questions as you have. We are so glad that Molly is already doing well.

Barb

[Madelon]

Wow that B12 is super low!! As Olesia said, B12 is for life with these pups. One thing you might want to consider after following the protocol is using WonderLabs Pet Factor B12 - they are pills you can order online without rx - very inexpensive and they seem to work with most EPI dogs. I did not do the shots because my vet at the time did not think Doc needed B12 supplementing so I ordered the pills and have just used them for the past 3yrs - my vet now knows better LOL. Anyway, the pills have intrinsic factor which is believed to help in the absorption of B12 and the company happens to be close to me in TN . The website if you want to look at it and talk with your vet is www.wonderlabs.com.