Epi4Dogs

jilbert57 wrote: ↑07 Jul 2022, 11:34 Thanks now I see them. Can you see undigested food in there anywhere?
When was the last time your pup had routine blood work? Can you post results?
Thanks

Olesia711 wrote: ↑07 Jul 2022, 11:38 Hi Paul and thanks for telling us about your situation.

This may or may not be EPI, but the fact that so far anti-diarrhea meds have done nothing IMHO warrants running the cTLI test....
May i ask why is he having a colonoscopy ? Or did you mean an endoscopic surgery to determine if this is possible IBD?

Endoscopic surgery is the only way to accurately determine IBD (as far as i know) but it is invasive... as it is a surgery. BUt it is a harsh way to determine if the dog has EPI.... whereas the gold-standard to test for EPI is a simple blood test. WHen in doubt of what might be going on, what we typically recommend is doing the least non-invasive procedure first, which would be the cTLI blood test, and if not EPI.... THEN either do the hydrolyzed foods trials to see if that rectifies the situation and if so, that "usually" indicates that some sort of food sensitivity is going on and possibly IBD... but if you need actual confirmation that this might be IBD, then the only way to confirm as stated above is with an endoscopic surgery.

Just wanted to give you a little background of how this is typically approached.

Also.... if you want to try something....to see if this "might" be EPI.... is to give you dogs some actual pancreatic enzymes...ASAP (before the surgery next week!!!) and if the poos start to firm up..... i would consider running the simple cTLI blood test FIRST before doing an invasive endoscopy. Trying actual enzymes first and if they work is not 100% guarantee that this is EPI.... but it is an indication that your dog should be tested for it............

I couldn't see the attachments..... can you please email them to me at : [email protected] and i can then post them for you here.

Olesia711 wrote: ↑07 Jul 2022, 13:16 ahh... so it is an endoscopy. In that case, although you may end up doing an endoscopy after this... definitely get the cTLI blood test done first to positively confirm or rule out EPI..... then you can or won't have to proceed with the endoscopy.

SO.... if i understand this correctly.. the hydrolyzed food is not working either? Hmmmmmmm..... how many brands of hydroyzed food has your vet had you try.... sometimes you have to keep trying different brands until one works. We favor Royal Canin "Ultamino" hydrolyzed food... although there are no guarantees that this will work for your dog, it is jsut that it seems to have a better batting avg than the other hydrolzyed foods.

SOOOOOo.... since you are having the blood drawn for a TLI.... be sure to fast your dog (no food) for 12 hours prior to the blood test being done.... AND... if you can afford it, ask your vet to also draw blood for a Cobalamin (B12) blood test... cause if this is EPI.. then you will have to have the B12 tested too and better to have it all done at once.... besides, even if not EPI and is IBD, you will still want to know about the B12 levels. ANY condition that interferes with digestion / nutrient absorption can mess up the B12 levels and then no matter how properly you treat things, nothing will ever get fully better unless the B12 is optimal too.

Of course this may be simple colitis which requires an antibiotic. after they draw the blood for the TLI.... ask the vet if they think this is a possibility and would they/should they offer an antibiotic, and if not... ask why not

Regarding the doggie enzymes.... if your pharmacist doesn't have 4x porcine pancreatin.... then go to any pet store and ask for digestive enzymes, take a picture of the products and ingredients and text me (919-302-9892) and i will check it out and tell you which one to get. The good thing about giving enzymes is that if this is EPI, it will not interfere with the TLI blood test.... but then again,.. you really can't feed your dog any food (water is okay) anyway for 12 hours prior to the blood being drawn...... so i guess you don't have to worry about giving enzymes before the test which isn't a worry anyway.

Hope this helps. and plz forgive any of my typos.........

jilbert57 wrote: ↑07 Jul 2022, 15:06 So March of 2021 the Tli was 5 which is in the tweener area and by now could be lower. Also the B12 was 333 and we recommend to keep it above 600. Extra B12 will be excreted in the urine so when you get the Wonderlabs please start them. Thanks for posting.

Jill