Chronic Diarrhea vet doesn’t think it’s EPI

[korimajhor]

My 7 year old GSD has been having chronic diarrhea on and off now for about 2 years. It used to come in waves where the vet thought he had stress colitis he’s very anxious and a big barker. It would happen when we would board him too. We would get antibiotics and things would calm down. Then the cycle would start again, sometimes a few days sometimes weeks. Recently it’s been getting a lot worse. I had the doctor run all the blood and GI tests. He only came back with low vitamin B we started him on weekly injections and purina probiotics daily. His BM’s got better, then worse again. He hasn’t dropped weight quickly but he had lost some. The vet said he doesn’t show the typical symptoms of a dog with EPI because he’s not dropping weight as fast. I asked for the enzymes (pill form, 2 2x before meals) just in case. He’s been on them for a few weeks now and he seemed like he started to feel better. Stools started getting thicker but now he is back to having straight liquid diarrhea. He still eats good decently happy/playful still. He’s been eating Purina Pro Plan sensitive skin and stomach salmon and rice for about 3 years now. Had switched to Royal canin GSD for a while but his stool was super yellow, so we switched back to the purina. I got the RX for Hills Biome we will start that today. He also only gets bottled water. I’m kind of at a loss right now. I’m really hoping the new food helps. I’m not sure what to do or what’s the next step if it doesn’t get better.

 

[dcyshy]

@korimajhor Some people on this sub have said their dogs had allergies to different protein sources and switched to hydrolyzed protein. Hopefully some of them will comment.

 

[nylde0705]

@dcyshy I was going to suggest the hydrolyzed protein. Our dog is Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein due to skin issues.

 

[aiwass]

@korimajhor We're only a few months in trying to figure out what is going on with my girl (frequent nausea, occasional vomiting & loose stools), and I'm sorry you guys have been battling trying to figure things out for so much longer. Has your dog been tested for SIBO/SID? From my reading, it sounds like this can present with EPI, or I am guessing, by itself. I'm waiting to hear back from my vet and I plan to ask about this, but there is a ton of info on this website: https://epi4dogs.com

While it hasn't been the magic bullet, we've had the best success with RC hydrolyzed kibble plus I add pureed sweet potatoes because otherwise she won't touch it. The plan is not to have her on this forever, but it's a bandaid for now until we can rule out other conditions like the above. As others have mentioned, an endoscopy is a good idea. We would've had it done by now, but since we live out in the sticks, it's a few hour drive to the closest place that does them so we're waiting for the weather to clear.

Another resource to keep in your back pocket if your pup does get a diagnosis of IBD is this diet plan that's super simple: https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departm...ammatory-bowel-disease-and-home-prepared-diet

 

[korimajhor]

@aiwass I hope y’all find out what’s wrong. It’s so miserable when your baby isn’t feeling well.

Thank you for the info, if the diarrhea continues after this new food, I will definitely bring this up to the vet/vets.

 

[mhcapa1]

@korimajhor We had this same issue with one of our senior dogs last year. Lasted about six months—with a few temporary improvements every couple weeks. *He had a bout of pancreatitis a few years earlier, but this time our vet could find nothing wrong medically.

I tried powdered enzymes, but they just seemed to make the diarrhea more painful for him. Homemade food (chicken and rice.) I cut back on all his supplements (he had issues with glucosamine in the past.)

I noticed it was high protein that made the problem worse, so I stopped the homemade chicken/rice diet and switched to the SD biome with a scoop of canned food (Fromm Beef Barkandy.) His stool immediately firmed up! When the Biome ran out, I tried our other dogs kibble (Fromm gold adult) and things stayed the same.

Unfortunately I can’t say if the food change was a permanent fix because in August we had to put him down for a different issue (GOLPP.)

I hope you find a good food combination or cure for your dog! Dealing with chronic diarrhea is extremely unpleasant.

 

[korimajhor]

@mhcapa1 Thank you, I’m so sorry you had to put your baby down. We had a really bad day yesterday with an accident in the kennel and then some puking because he tried to clean up the accident

 

[argamon]

@mhcapa1 I'm having the same issue. We make our GSD homemade food. Maybe he's eating too much protein. I'll add more veggies and add flaxseed to his food. Thank you for the idea.

 

[mhcapa1]

@argamon No problem!

My dog had a neurological issue (GOLPP.) I was hoping a high protein/fat “Keto” style diet would help slow the progression of his disease. Unfortunately It just created other issues.

I’m all for homemade dog food, but it’s tricky to get the balance right. It may be helpful to do a ‘reset’ with your dogs food by feeding only kibble for a few weeks—then gradually reintroduce the homemade food.

 

[chandler50]

@mhcapa1 Our dog has GOLPP, our vet was pretty nonchalant about it and said it’s basically just them getting older? Would you be willing to share your experience with it?

 

[mhcapa1]

@chandler50 Sure! Is there anything specific you would like to know?

 

[chandler50]

@mhcapa1 How long did he have it?

 

[mhcapa1]

@chandler50 He started showing symptoms around 9-10, mainly heavy breathing and the occasional honking cough. It got progressively worse over the next few years. His rear end got weak and he started having potty accidents around age 12.

After turning 13 last march, we had to shorten our walks to less than a half mile. He got winded easily because he couldn’t breathe well and his rear legs were very weak. By august his quality of life was poor, he started collapsing, the tone of his cough changed. So we took him to be put down.

We kept him as active as possible to counter the rear end weaknesses, but it was a struggle because he had difficulty breathing. We took him swimming as much as possible (with a float coat.) Swimming, honestly helped the most because it helped him relax. When he was relaxed, he could breathe better.

Since the goal was for him to be as relaxed as possible, he got 15mg of CBD in the morning. At 6pm he got a Bonine tablet and 15mg CBG. His symptoms worsened in the evening, so I gave him the heavier stuff later in the day. On occasion, if he was struggling, he would get a Benadryl.

 

[chandler50]

@mhcapa1 Thank you so much. We’re probably about 1-1.5 years in. Same, trying to keep him as active as possible but it’s hard to keep them relaxed. Walks are short. Night is def worse. We have Gabapentin and some other pain meds. Haven’t tried cbd so we might. Thanks again for sharing. It’s really hard when they get older.

 

[pjvermont]

@korimajhor I had similar concerns with my 3 y/o gsd. We got him recently but his stool had been all over the place. Our vet had us try benefiber in his kibble before trying an Epi diagnosis. From what I can tell, your pup and mine have similar symptoms, so you might want to try benefiber and see. The vet recommended 1/4 tsp per 20 lbs and it’s been working great.

 

[korimajhor]

@pjvermont We have tried fiber pills before, powdered pumpkin, canned pumpkin. I think this is more than a fiber issue for my baby unfortunately.

 

[pjvermont]

@korimajhor I’m sorry the fiber didn’t end up working. It sounds like you’re really trying everything you can for your baby. I hope you figure out what’s going on, and that your vet listens to you and works well with you on it

 

[korimajhor]

@pjvermont We are definitely trying! Me too, I think I’m going to look into other vets I can take him to maybe I can take him to the vet school we have.

 

[pjvermont]

@korimajhor This sounds like a great idea! When we adopted our boy, his previous vet from out of state had a phone convo with us before we switched vets to one close by us, and that first vet was very dismissive about our concerns. Our new vet sat with us, listened to our symptoms and concerns, and walked us through her process as to why it wasn’t EPI. Find a vet who walks you through there process, and knows what they’re saying

 

[mrbentley]

@korimajhor Next step is to go to an Internist and have an endoscopy done. So you can get a diagnosis.