New To EPI-Not quite EPI with my girl
Posted: 03 Feb 2023, 17:47
Hello everyone!
My girl Ella is a 22 months young Blue Heeler w/sassy attitude most of the time! In the beginning of the month of December 2022, we started to notice some changes in her stool which became more in volume and terrible in odor! After almost a week of no improvements we got her stool tested, however, came back negative! We put her on bland chicken and rice diet and her stools improved overnight! So that was exciting! We started to add her kibble slowly but her soft stools returned! We saw the vet and she put her on antibiotics and probiotics for 10 days! Initially we saw a slight improvement but her soft stools returned! We did a full fecal sample testing and that came back positive for clostridium pefringens alpha. The vet suggested prescription diet with higher fiber content which initially helped but her stools became oily! At this point it was week 6 with our struggles and our girl had the following signs and symptoms: weight loss (starting at 26.5 lbs and ending at 20.1 lbs), soft and volumous stools with no odor at all and at some point she tried to eat her feces, extreme hunger!
The vet started to suspect EPI and the tests came back as following (after 13 hours fasting):
cPL result-30-low normal
TLI result-7.2-low normal
B-12 result-233-low
Folate result-10.3-within normal range
The vet was surprised and because her cholesterol levels were a little low she ordered another test for Addison's disease since this one is actually called an imitator condition and will have symptoms of other diseases! The results came back negative! The Addison's was ruled out!
The vet wanted to go ahead with the digestive enzymes supplements and B-12 shots weekly for 6 weeks to see how she responds! Viokase was suggested to us and we started the powder enzymes on 1/25/23 and saw almost instant improvement! The next day she was having normal stools and less in volume as well!
Currently the powder is out of stock and that was one of the reasons (besides the cost) we wanted to try the raw pancreas!
She started the raw pancreas on 2/2/23 and her stools changed a bit in more volume and a little bit softer!
She is currently at 21.6 lbs (went up about 1 lb in last week) and the dosage for feeding the raw pancreas is as following: 1oz per 1 cup of kibble( twice a day-am/pm) ans 0.5 oz per 1/2 cup of kibble at lunch time.
Not sure if I should increase or decrease the dosage I'm currently giving her of raw pancreas!
Does she need more time to just adjust to the raw pancreas or feeding the raw pancreas just isn't for all the dogs?
We might just wait and see for the next vet visit when her B-12 shot is administered weekly, if she is continuing gaining more weight!
Just wanted to hear from all of you regardless if you feed feed raw pancreas or not what are your experiences! We are fairly new to this condition and just need some help and guidence!
Thank you,
Kat and Ella(the pup)
My girl Ella is a 22 months young Blue Heeler w/sassy attitude most of the time! In the beginning of the month of December 2022, we started to notice some changes in her stool which became more in volume and terrible in odor! After almost a week of no improvements we got her stool tested, however, came back negative! We put her on bland chicken and rice diet and her stools improved overnight! So that was exciting! We started to add her kibble slowly but her soft stools returned! We saw the vet and she put her on antibiotics and probiotics for 10 days! Initially we saw a slight improvement but her soft stools returned! We did a full fecal sample testing and that came back positive for clostridium pefringens alpha. The vet suggested prescription diet with higher fiber content which initially helped but her stools became oily! At this point it was week 6 with our struggles and our girl had the following signs and symptoms: weight loss (starting at 26.5 lbs and ending at 20.1 lbs), soft and volumous stools with no odor at all and at some point she tried to eat her feces, extreme hunger!
The vet started to suspect EPI and the tests came back as following (after 13 hours fasting):
cPL result-30-low normal
TLI result-7.2-low normal
B-12 result-233-low
Folate result-10.3-within normal range
The vet was surprised and because her cholesterol levels were a little low she ordered another test for Addison's disease since this one is actually called an imitator condition and will have symptoms of other diseases! The results came back negative! The Addison's was ruled out!
The vet wanted to go ahead with the digestive enzymes supplements and B-12 shots weekly for 6 weeks to see how she responds! Viokase was suggested to us and we started the powder enzymes on 1/25/23 and saw almost instant improvement! The next day she was having normal stools and less in volume as well!
Currently the powder is out of stock and that was one of the reasons (besides the cost) we wanted to try the raw pancreas!
She started the raw pancreas on 2/2/23 and her stools changed a bit in more volume and a little bit softer!
She is currently at 21.6 lbs (went up about 1 lb in last week) and the dosage for feeding the raw pancreas is as following: 1oz per 1 cup of kibble( twice a day-am/pm) ans 0.5 oz per 1/2 cup of kibble at lunch time.
Not sure if I should increase or decrease the dosage I'm currently giving her of raw pancreas!
Does she need more time to just adjust to the raw pancreas or feeding the raw pancreas just isn't for all the dogs?
We might just wait and see for the next vet visit when her B-12 shot is administered weekly, if she is continuing gaining more weight!
Just wanted to hear from all of you regardless if you feed feed raw pancreas or not what are your experiences! We are fairly new to this condition and just need some help and guidence!
Thank you,
Kat and Ella(the pup)