Long time listener, first time caller :)
Posted: 21 Mar 2023, 10:17
I have read some of these forums for a while, it comes up often when I'm searching for new information. I have a 3 1/2 year old Australian Cattle Dog named Jigsaw. She is a rescue and we adopted her knowing some - but certainly not all - of her eccentricities. Jiggy was a stray, she was taken into animal control, they had no idea what to do with her, and turned her over to a rescue group, this was in mid 2020, I suppose there were other things going on in the world then. She was 29 pounds and presented with all manner of confusing bloodwork, but settled on treatment for EPI and low B12, with notes that other issues may be present. I adopted her 3 months later, she weighed 39 pounds. She's a cattle dog, through and through - very active, very protective. EPI is the least of our concerns, she's also aggressive and nips people. I had a dozen people in the first year we had her tell me to give her back (vets, trainers, random people who thought they were helping).
Like everyone here, I'm sure, we watch her poops very closely. We're actually in a pretty good place right now. We started on Viokase because the rescue group gave it to us, and ran into significant difficulties in getting it refilled. So running low, I bought some Enzyme Diane on an impulse to make sure we had something, my vet thought it was a bad idea, laughed at me for buying black market meds, but I needed something. It was great, I liked knowing the composition of every batch. Generally I saw no difference in management in the switch. My dog will eat. I'm sure it's the EPI mixed with being a stray, she will eat without stopping anything that's put in front of her, we have to use a slow feeder, she'll aspirate it out of a normal bowl. We had it mostly figured out within a year, we are no longer at the vet every 2 weeks. We did reconfirm EPI with my vet, and we've done the cobalmin blood work several times. She's "borderline", so probably not the worst case that ever existed. We do a scant tsp per meal, and we only feed 2x a day, maybe 1.5 C per meal. Also I have kids, so she gets plenty of unplanned food, which seems to not cause any problems.
I'm currently feeding American Journey Protein and Grains Salmon, I get a big bag autoshipped every 6 weeks. She's on Epizyme (prescription) right now, which we switched from Enzyme Diane purely for cost reasons in 2022, and we have a 12oz bottle autoshipped every 10 weeks. We learned to give injections (it's really not bad) and buy our needles from the vet, we give 1cc every 2 weeks. Needles and liquid b12 are both cheap cheap, so we maintain it that way, I distract her with treats and my husband gives the shot. Apparently there's very few nerves in the scruff. Finding the right vet was key, our first vet with her was not the right fit, they didn't understand her, they were clearly frustrated. We've been with our current vet for two years and they really are a huge partner in figuring out her needs. Other than the general aggression, she will absolutely not tolerate nail trimming, so she has to be sedated for that. She's also allergic to chicken, flares up, scratching, itching, it's awful. tried the claritin and it made her act like a psycho. So we just avoid chicken. She's a very expensive dog, but she is really a wonderful pet and we love her so much.
Like everyone here, I'm sure, we watch her poops very closely. We're actually in a pretty good place right now. We started on Viokase because the rescue group gave it to us, and ran into significant difficulties in getting it refilled. So running low, I bought some Enzyme Diane on an impulse to make sure we had something, my vet thought it was a bad idea, laughed at me for buying black market meds, but I needed something. It was great, I liked knowing the composition of every batch. Generally I saw no difference in management in the switch. My dog will eat. I'm sure it's the EPI mixed with being a stray, she will eat without stopping anything that's put in front of her, we have to use a slow feeder, she'll aspirate it out of a normal bowl. We had it mostly figured out within a year, we are no longer at the vet every 2 weeks. We did reconfirm EPI with my vet, and we've done the cobalmin blood work several times. She's "borderline", so probably not the worst case that ever existed. We do a scant tsp per meal, and we only feed 2x a day, maybe 1.5 C per meal. Also I have kids, so she gets plenty of unplanned food, which seems to not cause any problems.
I'm currently feeding American Journey Protein and Grains Salmon, I get a big bag autoshipped every 6 weeks. She's on Epizyme (prescription) right now, which we switched from Enzyme Diane purely for cost reasons in 2022, and we have a 12oz bottle autoshipped every 10 weeks. We learned to give injections (it's really not bad) and buy our needles from the vet, we give 1cc every 2 weeks. Needles and liquid b12 are both cheap cheap, so we maintain it that way, I distract her with treats and my husband gives the shot. Apparently there's very few nerves in the scruff. Finding the right vet was key, our first vet with her was not the right fit, they didn't understand her, they were clearly frustrated. We've been with our current vet for two years and they really are a huge partner in figuring out her needs. Other than the general aggression, she will absolutely not tolerate nail trimming, so she has to be sedated for that. She's also allergic to chicken, flares up, scratching, itching, it's awful. tried the claritin and it made her act like a psycho. So we just avoid chicken. She's a very expensive dog, but she is really a wonderful pet and we love her so much.