Epi4Dogs

Hi, I’m brand new. My 7 Ye old was just diagnosed with EPI. He has been on enzymes for about 10 days now. Sometimes his poop is pretty normal, and other times, it’s cowpies. Is this normal at first? I take him out to potty on a leash to make sure he hadn’t eating anything else , and he doesn’t get anything ( treats) ever now .... Is it normal to have inconsistent poop at first ???? Thank you.

Hang in there. It is a challenge to get that poo to stay normal. It does take time and then you may have a set back if they get something that upsets them, but you just stay with it. You will get great advise on this forum. Thank goodness for epi4dogs....I don't know what I would do without it!

Welcome to the forum. The recommended dose of powdered porcine enzymes, 6x strength, is 1 level teaspoon per 1 cup of dry kibble. Are you incubating the food? What kibble are you feeding? It is recommended a grain free kibble with 3.5% fiber or under. Do you know if the B12 was tested when the Tli was tested? There are a number of things that have to come together before the poop is consistently good. Those things are correct enzymes, diet, antibiotic(metronidazole or tylan) is SID is present in the gut and supplemental B12. Sorry for all the questions but if you provide a little more information we can better help you.

Hi There Landonmom,

What you are describing is most likely SID. Effectively managing EPI is all about finding the right balance of the 4 parts to EPI:
1. Giving the right enzymes prepared properly with the right amount for your pup.
2. treating, if needed, to get under better control, SID, (small intestinal dysbioisis)a secondary condition that all EPI dogs have.
3. treating, if needed, B12, if B12 levels are not upper mid-range. Over 80% of all EPI dogs need B12 supplementation.
4.finding the right diet that best agrees with your pup's special EPI digestive system & gut flora.

From what you are describing..... you are most likely dealing with SID. If your vet has not yet started your pup on it, and since it has been 10 days since treatment... my first recommendation is to ask your vet to prescribe Tylan antibiotic powder (read the SID section... start here: https://epi4dogs.com/sidsibo-in-brief/ and please share with your vet) ... or..... if you are willing, even thou it has been 10 days already.... what you might want to try first is a prebiotic ... or a prebiotic with a probiotic. Many of us try Slippery ELm powder https://epi4dogs.com/slippery-elm/ before we jump to an antibiotic... often times it works so that we don't have to use an antibiotic- -but if it doesn't that jsut means you have to whip out the big guns and use Tylan antibiotic twice a day (important!!!) for 45 days (very important... as 10 to 14 days will not address SID.

You have been given great advice so far, so I just wanted to welcome you to Epi4Dogs!
The only thing I will add is to keep a log or journal so you can track what is happening. It's easier to pinpoint what is working and what needs to be changed when you can look back and see what each day was like.
Keep us updated!

Hello and welcome! Yes, we have all been where you are.....at the beginning, which is the most difficult stage. It is normal to see poops that are not consistently great at first. Once you start treating for SID and supplementing the B12 if you haven't already, you will start to see improvement. It takes some time to get everything in balance, but you will get there.

I heartily support the use of a log/journal to record everything you give your pup and the resulting poos. This will help you to see what is happening on a daily basis and to decide what is working and what needs to be tweaked.

As someone else mentioned, let us know the B12 levels if you have them.

Glad you found us. Ask any questions you have.

Barb

Thank you everyone !
I have been keeping a detailed journal of his food, meds, poops, the number of times he blinks ... Ok, not that, but, a detailed journal. The enzymes he is on has Cobalamine in it. We are rechecking his B-12 levels next week to see if they are going up on what is in the enzymes ( 500ug) . The enzymes are Panzquin. I had him tested for allergies years ago , and he did test positive for pork , but now my vet says protocol says the blood allergy tests are inaccurate... so, maybe he isn’t allergic to pork? He also is getting Proviable Forte probiotics, and we just started him back on Flagyl. There was a reason the vet didn’t want to put him on antibiotics, but, I can’t remember what is was ( head spinning from the entire conversation...) He is on a commercial dry food, his healthy weight is about 97 lbs. He tested allergic to everything, including potatoes, sweet potato, pea, barley, .. you know, all the stuff that grain free food has in it. Of course now, I’m not sure if he IS allergic to all those things if the test is inaccurate. He is on a limited ingredient diet of fish and rice. I know the fiber content is a bit high for EPI ( 5%), but there are virtually no diets out there he can have that I can afford. I just can’t afford $80 for a 3/4 day Supply ... Anyway, there is some more info for you..... go!! And, THANK YOU ALL !!!

It can take time, and lots of trial and error, so hang in there. This site is awesome and everyone here is so helpful. I was so glad to find it and I hope you are, too!

Welcome to the EPI family. We have all been where you are. The beginning can be so scary and confusing. Definitely sounds like there's SID going on there. You've gotten excellent advice up above so I'm just popping in to say Hi and welcome

Welcome to the club! I'm relatively new here myself and my head was spinning trying to gather as much information as I could to figure out how (or if) I would be able to give Ace the care he needed to live a healthy and happy life. No two cases are the same and what works best for your fur baby is what works best for you. It's just a bit of trial and error getting to that point. And once you get to that point, be prepared for something else to change along the way......And that's ok too!