Jason,

My advice would be to take the dog to a vet and have him tested specifically for EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency). We have a GSD with this disease and it's not something you want to fool around with, especially if the dog has already lost nearly 25% of his normal body weight. One of the difficulties of EPI is that there is not 1 quick fix. Enzyme supplementation is a must... but the dosage varies, a change in diet is almost always a must... but the recipe varies. If untreated, your dog could literally starve to death while eating full meals every day. Raw pork or beef pancrease can help, but dosing is a lot easier with the tablets or powder form. There is often an overgrowth of gut bacteria associated with this disease, we've found yogurt to help, but sometimes requires antibiotics.

Go to Yahoo! and join the k9-EPIglobal list, there is a lot of good information here.

Typically a dog with this disease has a hard time digesting fats, especially low quality fats & high amounts of any fat. Also, corn, grains and other fillers can be problematic. Raw is a great way to go, but educate yourself...Ed's info was very helpful. We feed our boy raw chicken quarters (skin & fat stripped off), venison, raw egg, small amount of pain non-fat yogurt & a little EVO to ensure complete nutrition + Enzymes. High quality fats found in fish and wild game are typically OK.

The enzymes have Lipase, Protease & Amylase...so they're full-spectrum. Our dog was diagnosed at about 4 yrs of age and is now going on 8 and doing fine. The enzymes can be expensive, but the low cost of feeding raw can help offset the expense.

If it is EPI, try some of what I mentioned and feel free to e-mail me if you need help. Go to the Yahoo Group b/c it helps to talk to people that have dealt with the disease. Dogs die from this a lot, mostly because it takes too long to figure out what is wrong, and because simply feeding more food or food with more fat (which seems like the thing to do) doesn't work.

Thanks all for the advice and concern. We are waiting the results of the EPI test. I've been doing a lot of research on the raw diet and aside form my girlfriend being a little squeamish about handling the raw meat I think Alex will do well on the new diet. I'll update this thread as I know more. The good news is that Alex is still his crazy high dive self, although at this point I'm trying to keep his exercise and training sessions short as I don't want to stress his body too much. I have a feeling that he could be nearly dead and he'd still keep going. He's a strong dog and I pray we get through this.

Jason, keep us posted on Alex, and know that thoughts and prayers are with you all.

John's enzyme list is exactly what's in Prozyme. It's not terribly expensive; I just paid $24 for a fairly decent sized bottle. Dosage does vary, and it's recommended to double the dosage for older animals and animals with special needs. Good luck with this; I think you're wise to limit his exercise, as these dogs often are "near death" and acting "just fine." Please keep us posted, and since I'm local, let me know if I can help you out any. I often get venison that I don't have room for, which is a great food for dogs with EPI, if that's in fact what is going on with him.

Jason my White GSD has epi. I would reccomend http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/k9-EPIGLOBAL/ (just like John suggested) I just signed up. The information is a big help. Good luck

I got the test results back today. He does have EPI vet had me start him on Panacare. Hopefully this works for him.

Jason, at least you now know what you are dealing with. As you also know, there are several people on board who have experience with this and, I'm sure, will do everything they can to help you. Also, I believe some good links were posted where you can at least study up on EPI.

Best of luck to you and Alex and let us know how he progresses.

Just an update I Alex had his first solid stool in weeks yesterday... haha probably the best Christmass gift I could get.
We switched off of the raw food, I had a stool anaylisis done and he was not processing the fat very well. At the sugesstion of a vet friend we now have him on "Royal Canin Maxi German Shepherd" evidently EPI dogs do well with soy protine and The GSD Maxi is formulated specifically for ease of digestion.

Jason
I hope Royal works for you, I really think Raw would be best but I understand.
Good luck and have a Happy Holidays

http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r77/cadogancna/

My reasearch tells me that the RAW diet should be better but he is stalbalizing on the Maxi so who am I to argue. Anyone near Crystal lake Il want to pick up 30 Lb's of chicken leg quarters cheap... free?