Hi,

My 7 month old pup is being tested for EPI. The vet said that it would be a few weeks before the results of the bloodwork came back. In the meantime, I would like to learn more about this disease in case she does have it. Does anyone have experience with this disease and information that they could share?

Thanks!

Dear Natalie,

I was sort of surprised at the age of your dog only being 7 months old. Normally EPI does not show up in dogs until they are two or older. My GSD came down with it when he was 5 years old. Usually the symptoms are, loss of weight, their feces usually looks like cow-piles, and has a terriable foul odor. Other breeds can have EPI, however it is more prevalent in GSD'S. The good news it can be treated, the bad news is the ground up pig-pancreas runs about $80.00 per month. It is ground up and you have to apply it to their food two or three times per day. As far as I know this is still the standard treatment.

There is no test developed at this time to see what dogs would be prone to this disease, they can only tell you through testing if your dog already has it. And it does not mean that if you dog has it that the rest of the litter would have it also. My dog (KATO) was the only one that came down with it out of a litter of nine. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I was truly blessed that when I lived in Florida I was very close to the University Of Florida Veterinary School and that is where I took Kato,
One of the top professors in gastroenterology was my vet for Kato. His name is Dr. Burrows, (no relation to me) I hope I have been of some help to you.

Hope you dog will be OK.

Sincerely, Joyce M. Burrows

Dear Natalie,

If you go to Ask Jeeves and type in:
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiendy. It will I'm sure answer all your questions.

Sincerely, Joyce M. Burrows

My ten-year-old male GSD has EPI. He was diagnosed at the age of 14 months.

I would recommend you try the PanaKare brand of pancreatic supplement (it's the usual stuff of porcine extraction). The Pancrezyme brand that many vets carry is now at about $110 per bottle. I am getting PanaKare now for $80 per bottle and it is the exact same stuff.

My boy runs at 95 lbs fighting weight and I find that a regular bottle of PanaKare (I think it's 12 ounces) will last him for two months or more. Dosage will depend on how badly dysfunctional your dog's pancreas is, but my dog has a pretty bad case of EPI so you will probably be in the same ballpark.

The good news is, as you can see, a dog can lead a long and normal life with EPI as long as he gets his daily supplement.

Pete

Thanks for the info Joyce and Pete!

After going through the sites that "Ask Jeeves" pulled up I can see why the vet suspects EPI.

She's a Malinois by the way. Ever since bringing her home at 8 and a half weeks of age, I have not been able to get a nice stool out of her (and yes, they smell awful!). She eats dirt and heads for the litter box for "kittie krunchies" every chance she gets. She's a bone rack and is constantly hungry despite the fact that she gets over 6 cups of food a day plus unlimited treats. I did some comparing at the pet food store last night and every brand that I tried her on where she got even worse diarrhea was high in fat. I took her off puppy food when she 3 months old because she didn't seem to be able to handle it...it just seemed to be too rich for her.

She has been put on a prescription diet that is low in fat and has digestive enzymes added to it. In 2 days there is already a difference for the better <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

She is also being tested for a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract. And of course, a fecal is being done to rule out parasites. But, the last one done a couple of months ago was negative. I just wanted to learn more about EPI in case that's what she has. It's good to hear that they can do well if supplemented properly <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks again!

Natalie

This is a serious problem but many dogs live mostly normal lives with enzyme supplementation.

From what I know from my tech training is, dogs who have this  may also have small intestinal bacterial overgrowi also. It is sometimes necessary to use antibiotic therapy for several months to try to get the bacteriallevels back
to normal. The most commonly recommended antibiotics for dogs with
pancreatic insufficiency and SIBO appear to be metronidazole.

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is usually a life long problem and dogs that have it do better on low fat diets.

There is another product that works really well with many dogs called Diapan 9. Put out by Thorne. It is QUITE a bit cheaper than the other products and is pure pancreatin. In Canada you can get a bottle of 60 for 30.00. My 12 yr. old recently started having some problems. I give him 3 capsules a day and he does fine.

I would like to thank everyone for their responses. I don't know why the vet tech told me it was a two week turnaround time for the blood work but I have good news...no EPI or bacterial infection in the intestinal tract <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Natalie

Dear Natalie,

That is the best news ever.

Check your PM <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Joyce Burrows