Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

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Flaro1522
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Tell us about yourself: Just purchased a Dutch Shepherd puppy and named him Murphy. He is 6 months old. I am formerly the owner of an Australian Shepherd. I live in the Chicagoland area. I am a high school teacher and coach.

Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by Flaro1522 »

Hi

Does anyone have any experience with Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency? My puppy may have it, according to my vet.

I got my puppy when he was 16 weeks old. He seldom, if ever, has solid bowel movements. For the most part, it is the consistency of mashed potatoes and I end up scraping it off the sidewalk or grass.

I addressed this right away with my vet and we've been working for the past 3 months on a solution for it. He seems to think that at this point, there is only one thing left to try before we go through the process of costly testing for this condition. We have tried a few different antibiotics, as well as probiotics. I have fed regular kibble, grain free, and RAW. There has not really been any changes.

According to the vet, his health is good. At 6 months, he was 55 lbs. He said he has been growing and putting weight on at a normal pace. Vet said his teeth, skin, and coat looked great. He is still super energetic and always happy. He did say he was a little on the skinny side, but I don't think he's that familiar with how sleek these guys are when they are young.

He said this condition runs in German Shepherds. He does not have any familiarity with the DS breed.

I know very little about this, except that my vet said it will be expensive.

I am worried that having this will not allow him to reach his full physical potential as well.

If anyone has heard of this or has any experience with this, let me know.

Thanks
Steve Gossmeyer
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Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by Steve Gossmeyer »

Have you had him tested for parasites? That’s what it sounds like to me... what kind of raw did you have him on? Have you tried goat milk? Don’t feed him for a day and give him goat milk that shit is amazing for dogs! I feed my dogs a premade raw diet from Maximumk9 nutrition... It honestly sounds to me like giardia which can come from drinking from a puddle playing with a toy another dog had or sniffing another dogs poop... I recently received a doberman puppy 5 months old for training and the owners wanted to switch him to raw because his stool was similar to yours... I switched him he had running poop still he only became solid on the days I gave him nothing but goat milk...their vet said all the same shit... a weeks worth of flagyl and boom solid shits every time!!!
TimL_168
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Location: central MD

Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by TimL_168 »

How long did you give on different feeds? It took my female two full weeks to adjust to a new kibble. Closest I could reason was that it had a different set of biotics/enzymes/bacteria than her previous food. But she normally had an iron gut. If the dogs testing negative for parasites, it may take a while to populate the gut with the necessary bacteria to break it down cleanly.
Tim L.
Aurora(Shiloh) Endeavor
Flaro1522
Just Whelped
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 2:16 am
Tell us about yourself: Just purchased a Dutch Shepherd puppy and named him Murphy. He is 6 months old. I am formerly the owner of an Australian Shepherd. I live in the Chicagoland area. I am a high school teacher and coach.

Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by Flaro1522 »

Steve Gossmeyer wrote: Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:28 pm Have you had him tested for parasites? That’s what it sounds like to me... what kind of raw did you have him on? Have you tried goat milk? Don’t feed him for a day and give him goat milk that shit is amazing for dogs! I feed my dogs a premade raw diet from Maximumk9 nutrition... It honestly sounds to me like giardia which can come from drinking from a puddle playing with a toy another dog had or sniffing another dogs poop... I recently received a doberman puppy 5 months old for training and the owners wanted to switch him to raw because his stool was similar to yours... I switched him he had running poop still he only became solid on the days I gave him nothing but goat milk...their vet said all the same shit... a weeks worth of flagyl and boom solid shits every time!!!
Yeah. He had all the tests for parasites. Said according to one of the more recent tests that he did have contact somewhere along the way with giardia. He gave me an extra long dose of antibiotics and still no change.

I'm going to try the goat milk thing. Want to explore all options before we go to the testing for the enzyme insufficiency

Thanks for the recommendation.
Flaro1522
Just Whelped
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 2:16 am
Tell us about yourself: Just purchased a Dutch Shepherd puppy and named him Murphy. He is 6 months old. I am formerly the owner of an Australian Shepherd. I live in the Chicagoland area. I am a high school teacher and coach.

Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by Flaro1522 »

TimL_168 wrote: Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:21 pm How long did you give on different feeds? It took my female two full weeks to adjust to a new kibble. Closest I could reason was that it had a different set of biotics/enzymes/bacteria than her previous food. But she normally had an iron gut. If the dogs testing negative for parasites, it may take a while to populate the gut with the necessary bacteria to break it down cleanly.
I went at least a half month on all the different food variations. I'm hoping that the probiotics will kick in eventually. I am going more of an extended period with them than I did on the last prescription. My last round of antibiotics just ran out, so I will stay on the probiotics. Probably won't make next appointment to see vet till they run out.

Thanks for the advice.
ralbucks
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Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by ralbucks »

Did you try boiled rice and chicken for a few days to see if his stomach settles. I sometimes give my dog loperamide ( anti-diarrheal medication prescribed for humans too), in case it's really runny, works to stop diarrhea, can get it over the counter. my dog has a sensitive stomach too :DScool: If you give too frequently antibiotics you can mess with his gut bacterial flora and get more problems so I would ask the vet about that too. Probiotics are good if he likes them.
Steve Gossmeyer
Training Dog
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Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 4:43 pm
Tell us about yourself: Schutzhund helper and trainer I own and work two Dutchies
Location: Long Island

Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by Steve Gossmeyer »

Chicken causes inflammation and really isn’t good for them... goat milk is way better than rice or even pumpkin
ralbucks
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Tell us about yourself: new puppy owner

Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by ralbucks »

Interesting I will try goat milk on mine as well thks
Mark77
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Re: Pancreatic Enzyme Insufficiency

Post by Mark77 »

Sounds like your dog still has the giardia and your vet failed to get rid of it. You need to do the seven to eight day Panacur regiment to be certain it's out of the system. In addition, remove all chicken fat from your dogs diet. Go grain free; I personally use Taste of the Wild grain free. Check ingredients to be sure no chicken fat in the kibble. If you want to add raw that's fine but no poultry.


M
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