Epi4Dogs

Greetings and welcome, Meredith. Thunder is a beauty -- and as others have said, EPI is actually very manageable, and once it's under control, Thunder will almost certainly act, feel, and develop as normal as can be.

I'm also new to EPI and bless this forum for many reasons.

I got my Trixie as a rescue last November. At the time she came to me, the vet and rescuers knew she had something wrong with her digestion, but had no idea what. Within a month, with the help of my Dear Vet, we figured it out - and literally within days of starting pancreatic enzyme supplements Trixie was putting on weight and her poops had firmed up.

It's pretty amazing that a dog can seem to be (and actually be) dying of starvation, then turn around within a week or two.

Yes, some cases of EPI are more of a struggle to manage. But if Thunder turns out to be one of the difficult ones, you have surely come to the right place to figure out any problems. Don't despair!

Personally, so far, the hardest part for us hasn't been managing Trixie's EPI. As you've discovered, the hard part is getting a vet or vets first to take you seriously, and then to properly treat the condition. You may discover that, over the course of Thunder's life YOU will end up educating your vets, rather than vice versa.

Keep us posted!

well said everyone ... thanks

as previously said "its your dog/cat your money" stand firm

Hello to you and Thunder

Please understand it's ok to be angry, upset etc. I am with you on that especially when it hits a young dog. Fuzzy had just turned 2 when he was diagnosed. He went from a large, very active, muscular "puppy", not even full grown, to a sack of bones and oozing sores in 2 weeks.

My vet, who is very good otherwise, didn't even look at possible EPI. Giardia, severe environmental allergies, maybe something ingested. I had a niggling feeling about EPI and I didn't push at first. In hindsight I realize what was attributed to seasonal/environmental allergies for almost a year was more than likely malnutrition from EPI onset. The sores that sprouted and scabbed over fast with hair loss all over his body.

Fuzzy went from 176lbs to 150 in a couple of weeks. My first post here was "Thank You all for Saving My sanity" and I meant every word. I was depressed and disheartened especially at first when your very thin dog has no energy and doesn't want to eat and all the ups and downs. I've done hide the enzymes in a meatball and that worked until I had a very strong batch. At times I was literally making mush for Fuzzy with enzymes and food that I shoveled down his throat with a large rubber spatula spoon 4 times a day. Some days he still gets sketchy about his food I show him "his spatula" he gives me the stink eye but he'll eat. If he didn't I'd go right back to shoveling. I spent a lot of tears when he wouldn't eat and so I drew the line, food will go in 1 way or another. That took a lot of stress off the situation.

That's what all these wonderful people and advice are here are for. To help you and Thunder along.

You will get through this and you won't have to do it alone. The best advice I ever grasped onto was the "not everything works for each dog"
Below you can see Fuzzy before Christmas 2 very sick a few weeks later and 3 getting better in late March

Thank you for sharing Fuzzy's story... and i LOVE the picture of him.... OMG... his facial expressions are priceless!!! What a sweet dog.
So glad to hear that he is doing so much better now.

And THANK YOU for the absolutely PERFECT advice.... that not everything works for each dog.

Effectively treating EPI is all about treating the WHOLE dog and the trick is finding the right balance of the recommended of EPI protocol that works best for YOUR special and unique EPI dog... as they certainly are not a perfect copies of one another.. they really are unique!

Today i started reading a little bit about TCM: Traditional Chinese Medicine and it was like a light bulb went off.... TCM's approach is to treat the whole body and that each individual is unique.... and i thought WOW.... that is what works for EPI dogs too.. treating the whole body but understanding that each EPI dog is still unique....so we often have to modify the recommended protocol somewhat to meet each dogs unique requirements!

I'm just giving this thread a bump, hoping Meredith will see it and come back to update us about Thunder.

thatnks for bringing this thread back to the forefront.... i hope we hear from her..........with an update on Thunder.

Me, too.

Barb