Elvira, 10.5 month old GSD, recently diagnosed.

[Olesia711]

when re-checking the B12....
1. she needs to not have received any B12 shots for 30 days. or...
2. she needs to not have received any oral B12 for the past 1 week

regarding training... what you can do is just before her training class.... make a mush of some of her dog food with the right amount of powdered enzymes in it... put in a squeeze bottle.... and while at training class, for a reward just give her a squirt of her "enzymed" treat.

or .... hold off until she gets stable.

Glad you picked up the free feeding bowls... smart move.

If you are interested... i have an xcalibur 9 tray dehydrator and LOVE it... i use it to dry meats, flowers, fruits, veggies.... not just for the dog but for us too... here is the one i have:
https://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-9-Tray ... hdGY&psc=1

[TheFatCampKid]

So, the poops are back. We were doing so well.

We have a vet appointment 4/19 and stopped the B12 on 4/11, to get a correct B12 count.

The diarrhea started Sunday night. We're back up to more than 5 bowel movements a day.

She didn't want to eat Sunday or yesterday. I finally got her to eat this am after adding dehydrated chicken liver.

Should I stay off the B12 until bloodwork Friday, or should I just keep giving her the B12 and just know her B12 is low and she needs the meds?

[Olesia711]

so sorry to hear this, but this is rather typical. What you are most likely seeing is SID/SIBO/Dysbiosis rearing it's ugly head. This seems to happen around the 3rd to 5th week after starting enzymes. The best way i can explain it is that all the bad metabolites have been accumulated prior to enzymes and the nutrition was not being properly absorbed from the food... and these bad metabolites collected. Then you start the dog on enzymes which starts doing the proper job of digesting all the nutrients and in a few weeks it is almost like all those bad metabolites are getting shook loose. This is obviously not the proper scientific explanation, but i hope this is kind of makes sense.

SO.... you can try prebiotics (we suggest slippery elm powder : https://epi4dogs.com/slippery-elm/# ) but if you don't see a positive response in a few days (improved poo).... then talk to your vet about trying a pre+probiotic. We suggest Proviable, Visbiome or OTC VetriScience Mega Probiotics... and there are others, but with probiotics, there is no guarantee which one will work (if it does work) for which dog. If you don't see improvement in two weeks... THEN talk to your vet about a course of Tylan (Tylosin tartrate antibiotic powder) twice a day with food for 45 days. https://epi4dogs.com/antibiotics/

Or... you can skip the pre/probiotics and just jump right to the Tylan. Tylan does NOT kill all the gut flora bacteria as it is a macrolide antibiotic and just inhibit the growth of new bacteria.... where as Metronidazole (Flagyl) kills everything. DO NOT let your vet prescribe Metronidazole!

I hope this helps and i hope that it allays your fears, as almost all of us go thru this........

[Tuckaboo Pam]

Hi Julie. It's such a bummer, when the poo goes south. I am so sorry. These things can happen, though, and the good people on this forum will help you get Elvira back on track.

To add my two cents to what Olesia wrote, my Nina started on one capsule of slippery elm about a week ago, and her poops are firmer. But my late boy Tucker, also EPI, never responded to it, and had to take Tylan. So, you never know.

Here is some additional info on slippery elm (SE). https://epi4dogs.com/slippery-elm/

Many vets like to prescribe metronidazole for diarrhea, but it can have bad side effects, including permanent gut issues, so Tylan is definitely what you want, if the slippery elm doesn't help.

Gotta go. Nina won't keep her snout off my keyboard. ---Pam