Epi4Dogs

I wonder if you'd be interested in ordering a ScheBo test from Enzyme Diane? It's about $50, and can be used to rule out EPI. Maybe a good step to take first. Poor you. I haven't read back through your history, but I do know my vet never would have come up with the EPI diagnosis if I hadn't read a rescue post about a dog not gaining weight, that piqued my interest. I fortunately had a vet who knew she needed help, and sent me to a very kind man who spent hours talking me through all kinds of 'experiments' before he concluded Tucker had EPI. As they always say, the best vet to have is one who is willing to listen & has an open mind.

I guess I haven't helped, but know I am sending you positive thoughts.---Pam

Hi Moni, have you had your pup tested for Epi yet?

Jill

you mention raised Cortisol have the best tested for Cushings disease.my friends did became difficult and this was diagnosed

Hi everyone,

Yes she has been tested for EPI and Cushing's as well as diabetes and thyroid problems- everything came back normal. I don't think she qualifies for EPI because her weight is stable but I'm wondering if it could possibly be a low grade chronic pancreatitis situation. I have heard of this being a common problem with boxers. My girl is especially good at hiding pain or expresses it to me by being really clingy (pawing at me nonstop, sleeping pressed up against me at night but never cuddles me during the day the way she used to) and I strongly feel in the my gut that it is not just being old (she's about to be 10) or plain anxious.

Hi Moni,

I am so sorry to hear that they can't seem to find what is wrong with Sienna.... but i will say one thing.... if YOU feel in your gut that something is not right, then go with your gut. An old-timey vet told me long time ago that when a pet owner feels something is wrong, THEY know that pet better than the vet... and that the vet should keep on looking cause 9 times out of 10, the pet owner is right, something is wrong.............


YOur assessment that maybe this is low grade pancreatitis.....sounds very plausible to me..... pancreatitis can be very very painful and a lot of what you described, even though yes, some of it can be attributed to anxiety..... but a lot of it sounds like a reaction to pain, which if very anxious can also be heightened even more.

Question for you, when they ruled out Cushings.... did they also rule out "A-Typical Cushings".... test wise, they show differently and the symptoms you mention all fall in line with A-Typical Cushings too.........still wondering about this, because one of my dogs was diagnosed with A-Typical ... took them 2 years to finally figure it out............................

Thank you, I appreciate the support! Yes, I do feel in my gut that something is up. I know that these symptoms definitely heightened after we took her off of a low fat home cooked diet (she was losing too much weight and had terrible stools) and switched her back to kibble. I wonder if the cooked diet did her system more harm than good. She did have a bout of nearly fatal acute pancreatitis when she was one, according to her previous owner's vet records. She will have yellow soft stool if I add so much as fish oil or hemp oil to her food. And lots of refluxy burping too.

We never discussed atypical cushing's but I can definitely ask our internist at our appointment next week.

Olesia, also forgot to ask- does your pup take any medicine for the atypical cushing's?

I just read a few articles on it and it definitely is interesting-- one paper I read mentioned how T3 and T4 can be low on bloodwork (she had this issue for about a year) because the cortisol interferes with those levels somehow. Her T4 was very low but when we tried trazodone for anxiety her T4 shot up into normal range after taking it for 2 weeks. Her bloodwork always showed normal cortisol levels but as mentioned, the cortisol level in her feces was very high. I can definitely see this being a part of it + poor gut health and possible pancreatitis issues.

This happened with my non-EPI dog. As a matter of fact... my vet was almost positive Rico had EPI, but when we TLI tested him he did not. It took a while for them to figure out it was A-Typical Cushings.... i guess A-Typical Cushings is not very straight-forward.... ANYWAY.. they put Rico on a very low dose of Lysodren (They use this for Cushing conditions) and 3 mg of Melatonin and he had to take special Flax Seed Hulls for the SGA Lignans... within 1 week i noticed a huge improvement. The excessive peeing stopped, the loose and yucky stools firmed up and became brown, he no longer was "cranky" with everything and everyone, etc. etc.

My vet sent Rico's lab work to Dr. Jack Oliver from the UNiv of TN who actually diagnosed my Rico .... he was well known for being the premier research vet with A-Typical Cushings. Although Dr. Oliver has since passed away..... you can read about his protocol for A-Typical Cushings here: https://www.lignans.net/canine-cushings ... t-options/

And here is an easy to read article about it for lay folks in the WDJ.... https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/healt ... e-in-dogs/

https://www.dvm360.com/view/newer-tests ... -disorders

Thank you so much for sharing. This seems pretty likely for my girl. I'll definitely ask our internist about it next week. I read your links and they are super informative. I found one product on amazon- Dr. Mercola Canine Hormone Support- it has the lignans and DIM (which is helpful with estrogen related stuff ) and melatonin too.

What kind of diet is Rico on now?

Rico passed away 2 years ago at 16 years old..... he had A-Typical Cushings since he was 4 years old.... so it was very well managed.... thanks to Dr. Jack Oliver and his recommendations.

I feed him home cooked meats (variety) along with kibble... i just made sure i did NOT give him any organ meats... and i also made sure that all the various kibble i gave him over the years was "middle of the road" protein.... i didn't give any kibble that had a higher protein count than 33-35%.