Welcome Jackie with Willow
Posted: 24 May 2022, 23:07
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DAE avatarjagurwin
Member
Re: New EPI Diagnosis - Feeling Overwhelmed...
Post Tue May 24, 2022 8:00 pm
Hi Everyone,
I am so lost and overwhelmed and not sure what to do about my poor pup.
I have an 8 year old Portuguese Water Dog, Willow, who has always had what we considered to be a sensitive stomach but any issues cleared up within a couple of days.
In February, we boarded our dog while on vacation and she came home with vomiting and diarrhea. I gave her a few days to recover and when she didn't I took her to the vet and was given antibiotics (metronidazole) and told it was just a bug from the kennel. We were still battling diarrhea 2 weeks later so I took her back in and they gave her some diagel and put her on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food. About a week later we had a couple of days of solid poop and thought we were in the clear.
Unfortunately, we had to board her again and when we picked her up a week later she was a mess. She had lost a ton of weight (10 lbs on her 40 lb frame), her eyes were swollen and infected and she wouldn't eat or drink. I took her to the vet the next day and they were horrified. They put her on an IV, gave her metro again, an antiparasitic med, nausea meds, more diagel. She was so dehydrated her eyelids had rolled in and scratched up her eyes. A week later she was a bit better but still having liquid poop. Back to the vet for more tests and it was determined she had pancreatitis. They gave strict instructions on food (absolutely no table food, only the prescription Kibble and rice/turkey) and added Tylan powder. I asked them if more tests needed to be run and they said no, pancreatitis explained it all.
It's been 3 months now and she still has diarrhea. I am trying to get into the see a internal specialist vet in the area but the soonest we can get in is July 5th. I'm not sure she'll still be around then. She's wasting away. I took her to another vet for a second option and asked about EPI. She said it sounded likely (no tests run) and told me to order the Pancreplus to see if it helped. She also said to try a hydrolyzed protein kibble because she seems to have allergies so we are slowly transitioning to that.
Willow's been on the enzymes for just about a week and I was super excited the first day when she had a solid yet soft poop! Yay! Sign of relief.... until the next day when it went back to "Pudding" and now it's progressed back to water. I added the Tylan powder back in about 2 days ago but I feel like it made it worse. I don't know what else to do. My original vet is great but won't do much more, the 2nd vet just told me to tell her what I want to try and she'll order it. I think I'll call and ask for the TLI test to confirm EPI.
In the meantime, would upping the amount of enzyme I am giving her help? I am currently doing 1 tsp Pancreplus/cup of food and she eats 1/2 a cup about 6 times a day right now. The vet had mentioned smaller more frequent meals were better for pancreatitis. I am adding Tylan powder (1/8 tsp twice a day) and have Fortiflora at home but not sure if I should add that too. She doesn't drink a lot during the day but she does drink a lot when she does drink mostly at bedtime.
I feel like I'm trying to figure this out on my own. My husband thinks we are trying too many things and maybe he's right. He wants to just go back to the brand of food that she ate before we went on our February trip but from what the vet said, that's going to be too much fat. I'm not sure how long to keep going when something doesn't seem to be working so maybe I am changing it up too fast. Any advice???
DAE avatarjagurwin
Member
Re: New EPI Diagnosis - Feeling Overwhelmed...
Post Tue May 24, 2022 8:00 pm
Hi Everyone,
I am so lost and overwhelmed and not sure what to do about my poor pup.
I have an 8 year old Portuguese Water Dog, Willow, who has always had what we considered to be a sensitive stomach but any issues cleared up within a couple of days.
In February, we boarded our dog while on vacation and she came home with vomiting and diarrhea. I gave her a few days to recover and when she didn't I took her to the vet and was given antibiotics (metronidazole) and told it was just a bug from the kennel. We were still battling diarrhea 2 weeks later so I took her back in and they gave her some diagel and put her on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food. About a week later we had a couple of days of solid poop and thought we were in the clear.
Unfortunately, we had to board her again and when we picked her up a week later she was a mess. She had lost a ton of weight (10 lbs on her 40 lb frame), her eyes were swollen and infected and she wouldn't eat or drink. I took her to the vet the next day and they were horrified. They put her on an IV, gave her metro again, an antiparasitic med, nausea meds, more diagel. She was so dehydrated her eyelids had rolled in and scratched up her eyes. A week later she was a bit better but still having liquid poop. Back to the vet for more tests and it was determined she had pancreatitis. They gave strict instructions on food (absolutely no table food, only the prescription Kibble and rice/turkey) and added Tylan powder. I asked them if more tests needed to be run and they said no, pancreatitis explained it all.
It's been 3 months now and she still has diarrhea. I am trying to get into the see a internal specialist vet in the area but the soonest we can get in is July 5th. I'm not sure she'll still be around then. She's wasting away. I took her to another vet for a second option and asked about EPI. She said it sounded likely (no tests run) and told me to order the Pancreplus to see if it helped. She also said to try a hydrolyzed protein kibble because she seems to have allergies so we are slowly transitioning to that.
Willow's been on the enzymes for just about a week and I was super excited the first day when she had a solid yet soft poop! Yay! Sign of relief.... until the next day when it went back to "Pudding" and now it's progressed back to water. I added the Tylan powder back in about 2 days ago but I feel like it made it worse. I don't know what else to do. My original vet is great but won't do much more, the 2nd vet just told me to tell her what I want to try and she'll order it. I think I'll call and ask for the TLI test to confirm EPI.
In the meantime, would upping the amount of enzyme I am giving her help? I am currently doing 1 tsp Pancreplus/cup of food and she eats 1/2 a cup about 6 times a day right now. The vet had mentioned smaller more frequent meals were better for pancreatitis. I am adding Tylan powder (1/8 tsp twice a day) and have Fortiflora at home but not sure if I should add that too. She doesn't drink a lot during the day but she does drink a lot when she does drink mostly at bedtime.
I feel like I'm trying to figure this out on my own. My husband thinks we are trying too many things and maybe he's right. He wants to just go back to the brand of food that she ate before we went on our February trip but from what the vet said, that's going to be too much fat. I'm not sure how long to keep going when something doesn't seem to be working so maybe I am changing it up too fast. Any advice???