# Gretta -- EPI



## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I have not spoken much about Gretta here. It is not a story that I am particularly proud of. And yet...

Gretta was a return. At just under six months her owner drove her home from Long Island, and I took her back. Her trainers had her pegged as a very hard and stubborn dog, and her owner felt over-matched by her. 

The owners were good people. They took her to the vet and to doggy daycare and to two different trainers. The vet bills in the 2 months alone, for well-puppy visits, amounted to 800$+ without even a spay surgery in there. And they brought her all the way back. I offered to meet them half-way. But they came all the way back with her. This was two years ago. 

I got her back. She is not hard nor stubborn. In fact she is very nice, and if anything a bit too soft. I let her relax. And after a few months started taking her to classes. She was nervous, but she worked for me. The darn Lakeland Terrier nailed her in the back as we were going by, but she did not become dog reactive. By the end of the summer, we took the CGC test, and flunked. But I was happy with it because we only flunked the last test, supervised separation, and we had not practiced that at all. 

Well, over the following winter, we did not do much training, and the following spring, Dolly and Gretta started losing weight. Dolly worse than Gretta. So I took her in and did blood work. The vet found something miner on the bloodwork, and suggested a supplement, and I gave it to both dogs. A few weeks later, Dolly was looking much better. But Gretta was looking worse. I switched the food from 50/50 chicken and rice and extreme athlete, to all chicken and rice She got worse. All extreme athlete. she got worse. I took her to the vet and was shocked to find her down to about 49 pounds -- she has a plush coat, and doesn't show ribs as quickly as the others do. 

We did bloodwork for EPI, and while I was on vacation, the results can bake positive. So I started her on enzymes. And she started to gain weight slowly. She got up to sixty, and I stopped weighing her multiple times per month. 

And then the hard winter hit. I noticed it in her coat first. Her coat just hasn't been very good. And I could only brush it out, bathing in the winter, especially to a dog that has to go out often because of the loose stools, and is already compromised isn't a good idea. So I started brushing her and brushing her, to see if I could improve her coat by lots of grooming. Of course I noticed that she was getting thinner again. 

The vet had told me she may need to have vitamin B shots have the enzymes changed. So I took her back expecting them to do more bloodwork. But, they didn't. She was at 59 pounds. She said, let's just get give her the shots every week, for a month and then once a month. They showed me how, and gave me a small vial and some shots. And they ordered some Tylon for her.

I gave her the shots and started weighing her regularly. Slowly she started gaining again. Then I added the Tylon. The tylon was the biggest factor I think. 

She is down to eating 3.5 cups of food per day, 3 half teaspoons of enzymes and 1/4 teaspoon of Tylon. She is over 70 pounds now. My only problem with her at present, is that if I have strangers over near her kennel she will bark aggressively. But, if I take her out of there, she is fine. So it is some kind of weird territorial thing, that I am not overly concerned with. She is awesome with me. I can turn her over and apply medicine to ouchy spots, she stands quietly when I brush her all over, and has no problem when I bathe her. 

The big thing is getting her over 70 pounds. She will be three in November.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

You did right by her and that counts. Will you keep her or try to place her one day?


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

Hope she stays healthy, good luck.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

llombardo said:


> You did right by her and that counts. Will you keep her or try to place her one day?


You know, I have enough dogs. She would be better off with someone of her own. But people do not line up for 3 year old bitches that have serious medical issues. She has a home with me for as long as I can keep her comfortable. But if the right person came along and was willing to take her on, I would not stand in her way of having that person of her own.


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## Ashley_M (Feb 19, 2003)

Thanks for sharing and good luck. Please keep us updated as to her progress


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