Epi4Dogs

I'm just starting on my EPI journey so am reading and taking in all the advice above and elsewhere, but regarding the butt cleaning, you may consider getting a dry shampoo so you can just spot clean in that area without a whole bath.

For the copraphagia the best solution for me is just following my dog around with a plastic bag lol otherwise one of his housemates will follow him around and snack before I can pick them up.

Good luck to you and your pup!

Hello, Tank's Person,
I am so sorry Tank is having difficulties. We all know what that is like. Some dogs are easier than others to respond to treatment. But most of us have experienced setbacks with our dogs when nothing seems to be working. We hope we can help you to find the clues that will lead to Tank's good healt,h.

I highly endorse the log/journal. Others have mentioned this and I agree that keeping a log/journal on a daily basis is really enlightening. Record everything you give Tank each day, the amounts and the resulting poos. There is something about seeing it in writing that you can find clues and patterns that you might not have noticed if you hadn't seen it written down.

We have to figure out whether Tank has a food issue, an enzyme amount issue or allergy, a need for antibiotics, or a B12 lack. It may be a combination of several of these. Can you tell us how much B12 he is getting and in what form? I think you said Wonderlabs......how many pills and how often?

As others have suggested, no one food fits all dogs. We had a really hard time finding the right food for Kolby. But when we finally did, it worked like a charm. This is a slow process, I know, but it is worth it in the end. What food are you feeding Tank now?

Others have asked good questions and given excellent advice. We will look for your answers and help you to sort this out.

We know how hard you are working to help Tank on his path to good health and we know how frustrating it can be. Hang in there.

Barb

Really feeling for you...it can be so disheartening. Please don't give up on Tank. He needs you! Definitely would look at enzymediane's 6x product. It took awhile to get our GSD stable, but EPI IS treatable. You'll get there.

In Aug of this year Our GSD went from 100 to zero in three weeks. Everything seemed fine and then poop started to loosen, accidents started to happen, and finally he could not stand up! Went to very experienced vet who had never seen EPI and diagnosed as per signature line. The vet provided direct link to this site and started him on B12 injections and Metrodiazonole and Fortaflora Probiotic for the SID and suggested Dogzyme Pancreatic Support from Nature Farmacy. He did not help finding the Pancreatic Support as he had no idea where I could get it. I am in Edmonton Canada. In my panic to start I ordered it from amazon and way overpaid with delivery 3 weeks away for the enzymes. That day while out in public met another person whose dog also had EPI?!?! She sold me an unused bag of Enzyme Diane which I started that night. I am forever grateful to her for that support as within 3 days my dog started to recover his energy, his poops started to stabilize and the accidents and poop eating stopped. I cancelled my amazon order and got the money back.

As the 1st and 2nd week ended his slide to 62LBs ended, and he gained 5 lbs. Crazy. I had started the enzymes at 2TSP per cup feeding in a lot of water and after two feedings Mensch started rubbing his muzzle on the ground in distress. I put .3 of a tsp and very small amount of freeze dryed food in 2 cups of water and he gobbled it down which alleviated the problem. I then changed the dose to 1tsp per cup and only in 1/2 cup of water and remained at 20 minute incubation. Mixing well the kibble absorbed the liquid so less was "coating" his gums and all discomfort seemed to disappear. Less enzyme in way less water was the solution it seemed.

I found a Canadian supplier of Dogzymes (in edmonton no less called Copper Hollow) and they had some in stock. Over the last month (Oct) I started the Dogzymes at 1.5tsp per 2 cups of the GO Carnivore and went to feed 3 times per day as he started having the heaves and threw up liquid stomach contents around the 4AM time. I had been feeding 7 AM and 6PM previously and the empty stomach seemed to be the problem. I went to 2 cups per feed with final one at midnight. Heaving Problem went away. Again the information I was reading on this site and the experimentation it made me do helped solve this latest problem.
We have been documenting every day and every variable and that has helped as well. We can track issues and we try hard to minimize the variables. For ex when he started dry heaving I bought Slippery Elm and was going to give him that but reading a couple of other posts it seemed less variation would come from just increasing his feeding schedule. As it worked that is one less thing to consider for now.

In summary please do not give up. So much info on this site and so much success. Mensch is back to 81 LBs and working as SAR K9 with good energy.
Our next effort will be to create some training treats for on going shaping efforts but if that never works then will just work with his toy and his drive to keep our partnership moving forward.
Cheers
david

this is heartwarming I am not at home just now and will get back

can you start your own thread this is such a lovely update and gives encouragement to new people