# Hunte Corporation dog... Columbus, Ga



## gagsd

The local Humane Society called me today about a dog that was scheduled for euthanasia. She was an owner turn-in as they were moving, and she was thin and no one knew why. I was told she was acting aggressively toward staff so they could not put her on the adoption floor.

So I went to get her and was very surprised, as I had not understood how thin she is. 35 pounds. Interestingly, she has shown ZERO aggression outside of the shelter.




























I am guessing EPI. But at this point who knows. She came with her "ACA" registrations papers, pedigree certified and researched for "The Hunte Corporation." Sold through Petland. Yeah.

German Shepherd Female, blk/crmDate of Birth 7/31/10
Name "Daisy"
contact gagsd4(at)yahoo dot com

Feel free to crosspost and forward as she certainly needs and deserves a home of her own. Hopefully we can figure out what is going on with her and get Miss Daisy on the path to health.


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## Shade

Oh wow that's sad, I really hope she can find a good home soon!


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## CeCe

Bless you for getting her out of there. So sad.


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## gagsd

Daisy is at the vet's office today. She is so malnourished and emaciated that the prognosis is questionable. Her potassium levels are through the roof due to dehydration.
Starting on B12, IV therapy, and pancreazyme powder.


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## RebelGSD

Omg, thank you for taking her in. I had a male foster that was this thin and did not have EPI. It was some kind of bacterial infection in the gi system that prevented him from absorbing nutrients. It took a longer term antibiotic treatment to get it under control. He would not want to eat, probably because of GI discomfort. EPI tends to respond pretty quickly if the dosage is high enough and it was easier to get under control. 
I'll be happy to talk to you over the phone if you need help, have experience with EPI and other stuff.
Good luck to you and her, please keep us posted.


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## gagsd

Thanks! 
The vet is supplementing with b12 now, and also metronidazole or tylosin for possible SIBO. 
Poor dog is starving. But everything I have given her passed right through.


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## JakodaCD OA

poor girl


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## Caitydid255

gagsd said:


> Thanks!
> The vet is supplementing with b12 now, and also metronidazole or tylosin for possible SIBO.
> Poor dog is starving. But everything I have given her passed right through.


I was going to suggest adding a possible antibacterial but you already beat me to it. Thank you for saving this dog.

When my parents took in their collie, he weighed in at 45lbs, and this was after being in a foster home. He is now a healthy 75lbs with no GI issues. He was a wreck when the foster took him from the shelter and he had to be shaved due to matting. The fosters managed to make him quite a bit healthier, but I'm glad they never told us his original weight from the day they brought him home. Stories like this break my heart. Hopefully your girl has no GI issues, and this can all be solved with a healthy diet.


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## Beau

Bless you for opening your home to this poor girl and saving her life!


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## RebelGSD

If it was a lack of food that caused the condition, then her food intake has to be increased very gradually over time as the GI tract is not used to handling food.
To comfort you, my foster looked like her, and he is gorgeous and normal looking now. You will also have to check thyroid levels.


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## gagsd

Thank you everyone! I hope she too has a positive future. The vet is still pretty concerned about heart/organ damage from her malnutrition/starvation.
She has been given food, but her body is unable to process it.

She is eating some type of liquid goo with what appears to be chicken pieces floating around. Pretty gross looking.... but she almost took my hand off to get to it.

She will be back at the vet's office tomorrow to recheck Potassium levels and cobalamin (I think).

Rebel.... please no more tests!!! 
I was expecting a behavior case, not a medical case and financially.... well, this was not a good decision.


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## RebelGSD

I understand well, I am in the same boat with the finances 
You can also try baby food mush from the jar, something of that consistency to begin with. Overcooked veggies, soup and maybe some fish or chicken turned into mush in the food processor. A couple of spoonfuls every couple of hours, you have to start very slowly. It is good sign that she wants to eat: mine did not.


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## gagsd

I wonder how soon, if the enzymes work, I will see a difference in stool?

She had a large BM when I brought her home this evening. Some form, but still very soft.
Better than last night though.


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## RebelGSD

Pretty fast. In my case the vet prescribed too low a dose and I did not see improvement for a month. The second vet told mecto double the dose, and that worked. He immediately started gaining weight.


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## gagsd

The vet gave her a double dose with her lunch feeding. I gave a full dose with her meal here.

The vet really doesn't think she will make it a week if this doesn't work, so we may not have a lot of wiggle room to try different things.


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## RebelGSD

I used Panakare rather than Pankreazyme, it is less expensive. 
There are many dogs like this nursed back to health in rescue, I had three. I guess vets don't see them very often. My vet only had one EPI dog before my foster and that one was euthanized. You can contact Southern Cross GSD rescue, they often take in dogs in bad shape.


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## RebelGSD

Small, easy to digest meals several times a day.


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## gagsd

RebelGSD said:


> I used Panakare rather than Pankreazyme, it is less expensive.
> There are many dogs like this nursed back to health in rescue, I had three. I guess vets don't see them very often. My vet only had one EPI dog before my foster and that one was euthanized. You can contact Southern Cross GSD rescue, they often take in dogs in bad shape.


 I think the vet is most concerned about signs of organ failure on the bloodwork. Not to mention the dog is miserable, she is so hungry.

I can reach out to Molly. I hate to though, as I never have any cute easily adoptable ones.


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## JanaeUlva

You are the best Mary! I have my fingers crossed for her <X>


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## RebelGSD

I thought Molly may give you nutrition advice and recommend reasonably priced vet care. I did not mean her taking the dog. The dog looks pretty spunky in the photos, I hope she bounces back quickly. Some of them cannot even stand.


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## msvette2u

When we get dogs like this in, we feed them very small meals. Their bodies aren't used to digesting food so they need to be graduated back onto meals.

Part of the skin and bones look is due to dehydration because their body fat and sub-cutaneous tissue is gone, so there's nothing to hold the fluid in.

The only thing to do is keep feeding and they'll eventually gain. We've taken cases like this (not a GSD, but other breeds) and had them survive, does the bloodwork indicate something is going on with EPI/SIBO?

The temptation is to feed them a ton but by doing so, it overwhelms their systems quickly.


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## gagsd

she has been under the care of vetrinarians since April and gotten progressively worse.
(the previous owners did take her in to their vet multiple times, according to records received today.)

However, no one has tried pancreatic enzymes. she has been dewormed multiple times, and treated with metronidazole. I wasn't involved until yesterday, but it seems like the ball was dropped on her case..... Quite badly.


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## msvette2u

Eek. 
Are the enzymes helping? We used Tylosin successfully on a SIBO dog we had here, and now our hospice foster is on it, she had symptoms of a bacterial infection and then it helped her eyes so much, she's still on it until she passes away.


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## RebelGSD

Many veterinarians have no experience with EPI and they are not good at treating it. The first vet gave up on my dog and recommended pts. After I doubled the dose, the dog normalized in weight within a month. The improvement can be dramatic.


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## gagsd

Thank you all so much for ideas and support!!!
I really hope she recovers. I fed her about 45 minutes ago.... And so far so good. Little bit of rice with that gross chicken stuff over it, and 1/2 tsp medicine.


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## gagsd

Do you feed the powder with each meal... Even little meals? So far that is what I am doing.


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## msvette2u

Yeah and you have to let the powder sit and make a slurry of the meal too. 
We did this with ours a few times but he didn't have EPI, just SIBO so we quit. 
It takes 20-30min. for the enzymes to work on the food.


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## BowWowMeow

Mary,

Thanks for taking this girl in. It certainly does sound like EPI and now with other complications. I agree that multiple small meals are best. Consider switching to pureed sweet potato instead of (overcooked) rice. 

I really hope she makes it! 

p.s. this is a great website: Enzyme Diane -


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN

DEFINITELY THANK YOU! The enzymes will work pretty quickly - we have had luck with a no grain fish based food like Acana. 

http://www.vsas.org/news_2_1398496085.pdf check out page 2, Abby. Blood work also poor - you can see the results though. It did not take long for a turnaround. She did not have EPI, was just starved.  We all were hoping it was EPI so we didn't have to believe that people who had adopted her from the shelter (no screening, municipal) just didn't feed her. 

GOOD LUCK!!!! Keep us posted.


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## RebelGSD

How is she doing today?


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## gagsd

OK.... well not as significant a change as I had hoped (yet). Stools are still pretty soon after eating, and loose with a little shape.

Up several times during the night because she had to go potty.

Feeding salmon and boiled, mashed, sweet potato right now. Warmed to body temp, add water, mix 3/4 tsp of the powder in each meal.... which is 5 times a day today.

I am sure all of the diet changes are not helpful, but just in case this is severe food allergy I thought I would go this route. So if you have some extra cans of salmon around, feel free to send them my way.

Still ravenous! 

Back to the vet again in the morning.


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## RebelGSD

Do you let the powder sit on the food long enough? Longer is better, the food gets processed more. Good that the stools are starting to have shape.


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## BowWowMeow

Scrambled eggs might work too. My food sensitive dogs have done well on eggs. 

I wonder if you could add a really good probiotic to help heal the gut?


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## Falkosmom

Not professing any knowledge here, but isn't that Nutrical stuff supposed to be as close as you can get to being predigested?


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## gagsd

Update- I am not feeling really positive. 
Have added scrambled eggs and Kefir (just now) to the mix. Letting the powder sit on mix for about 20 minutes. 

Vet pulled catheter Friday. But I still had concerns as we had only 1 normal BM, and she did not seem to be drinking enough.
Friday afternoon and Saturday, back to watery yellow stools. Urinating frequently and not drinking very much.
Still bright, alert and ravenous.


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## Beau

I was hoping for better news. Thoughts and prayers are with you!


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## gagsd

I am not giving up yet, just feeling a bit down. Weigh-in on Monday will be the true tell on whether the enzymes are working.


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## BowWowMeow

Oh, bummer. 

Do you think her combined daily intake is up to the amount of a good weight would consume?

I have some other suggestions that are not related to EPI. She clearly has a malapsortion problem of some sort so that needs to be addressed. I have had tremendous luck with the following for diarrhea:

Slippery Elm: to help heal the gut
Honest Kitchen's Perfect Form: a great combo to help with the gut (contains slippery elm)
Homeopet's Digestive Upsets: this really helps get diarrhea under control. It has no side effects and can be given with regular meds and/or herbs

You might try a grain like quinoa which is full of great nutrients. Or oats. I cook the grain with double the amount of water for twice as long. Then I add eggs in while it's hot (so that they cook quickly) and also pureed chicken thighs and sweet potatoes and a little canned pumpkin. It's my dog sickie stew. 

I am hoping she gets better!!!!!!!!!!!


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## RebelGSD

Be careful not to overdo with the protein, too much protein can cause diarrhea in a healthy dog. Too many new foods at the same time may cause problems too. My dog was very sensitive to the powder, it caused gum bleeding (dripping blood). I let it sit for two hours on the food, until everything was a uniform mush.

If may take some time for her gut to heal, poor baby.

Beaming positive thoughts. Did any of the lab results come back? Can you post it?


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## Beau

:bump: 

Any update on Daisy?


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## RebelGSD

I keep coming back too


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## gsdmi

we had a foster dog who had very similar issues. He had the worst case of parasites coccidia, that took a couple of months to clear. Once clear, his gut was all out of wack. We had him on Prozyme for a number of months. Stools varied -- we had get a semi-firm, then days to a week of liquid. Then another semi-firm, repeat. He was bright, alert, similar to what you describe.

It took quite a bit a time (a number of months) and eventually his system did heal.


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## gagsd

Thanks to much support from the EPI community, we were able to pull blood and run a full GI panel. Hopefully will have the results Monday or Tuesday.
Daisy is now 35 pounds.


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## Beau

I am hoping this story has a happy ending! Thank you so much for all of your efforts with this girl. Please keep us posted as to her progress.


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## Billie

What is EPI? 
This poor sick girl..... nice of you to help her out, I hope it works out ....


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## gagsd

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency


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## Falkosmom

I am almost afraid to bump this.....any news?


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## gagsd

Here is Daisy's Blog!
She is doing well, and currently annoying the tar out of me. I am completely slimed with Kong-ball slime. Yech


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