Pancreatic Insufficiency

[ljsabo]

Does anyone have a basenji that has been diagnosed with Pancreatic insufficiency? If yes, can you tell me how you are treating it and how your dog is doing?

I have a puppy that is six months old and we have been at that vet 3 x this week doing all sorts of tests. We are thinking she has pancreatic insufficiency but it has not been confirmed yet. Her blood results and symptoms seem to be in line with this diagnosis and I wanted to find out more about it. I am waiting for the test results to come back from Texas A&M as they were sent out today. It takes 7-14 days for the results so as you can imagine I am very worried for my little Riley girl.

[tanza]

I don't know about it being called Pancreatic insufficiency but they can get ISPID or IBD

http://www.basenji.org/PUBLIC/HealthInfo.htm

[nobarkus]

What were the symptoms that made you feel she has a pancreas problem? I had a Basenjis that had to have pancreazyme mixed in his food all his life. It was thought he had Pancreatic problem but the vet said he was OK. I think he had malabsorption. The pancrezyme breaks the food down prior to eating. It had to sit 20 minutes after being mixed in. If he didn't have it mixed in the food he would get the runs and loose weight. We just kept him on that as it worked.

[dcmclcm4]

I had a young B that I thought had IBSID because he had some of the symptoms but not all. This started when he was about 5-6 months old and I thought it was food allergies at first. He had been on Prednisone which did not help at all and I thought it made his symptoms worse. It turned out he had an esophagus problem, along with acid digestive problems, and is now on prescription intestinal dog food, Prilosec, and Reglan. He has to eat his food with the bowl elevated so he is not bending down to eat.

[elena86]

Was your dog having symptoms similar to diabetes?

[dcmclcm4]

What symptoms of diabetes are you referring to?

[wizard]

I hope you have news to share on Riley's problem - how is she doing now?

[ljsabo]

She was diagnosed yesterday with EPI. It has been a long and tough two weeks for me and especially Riley to say the least. Her levels per her TLI test from Texas A&M University were at a 0.44 and a normal dogs are at 5-27. Thankfully we figured out what it was in time to start treatment.

I want to make sure this posts gets out so others may learn from this in case their basenji too falls ill with this condition. Unfortunately it is a lifelong condition with no cure but there is treatment. She has been placed on pancreatic enzyme supplements and metronidazole (this is to prevent her from SIBO - small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, which is a secondary condition that occurs from EPI). This is to take the place of her pancrease not producing enzymes to break down the food and thus help aid in digestion. She will need this enzyme for the rest of her life during every meal.

Her symptoms were:

• Rapid weight loss and appearing to become emanciated regardless of a vigorious appetite (she started eating her own feces and even rocks, anything she could get her mouth on!).
• Diarheaa, stool gradually become greasy, volumionous and yellowish
• Lethargic, no energy to play
• Agressive towards food to point she bit me and my other basenji for a plastic toy so she was trying to eat

Anybody that wants more info on EPI can view a great site at http://www.epi4dogs.com.

I also took pictures of her the other day but need to shrink them down so I can show you just how rapid her weight loss was in two weeks. She was at about 15# on 6/1 and is down to 8 or 9# now.

For now, we started the treatment 2 days ago so we are watching her closely and really hoping she pulls through this.

[tanza]

Thanks for the update on her…. and finger crossed that she does well with the treatment. This is being discussed on another list (was brought up by her breeder).. and there are a few people on that list with EPI that are doing really well with the treatment. I am sure that your breeder has passed along that information to you. As another result, looks like the CPP site will begin to track this, since there are more then just a few cases.... It seems to be pretty obvious that this is an auto-immune disease

[nobarkus]

I used the Pancrezyme powder in his food all his life. He did very well too! The powder was not cheap though about $100 per 8 oz bottle. 1/2-1 tsp per meal mixed in.

[Basenjimamma]

I am very glad to hear that you finally know what is wrong with her. I pray and hope this next couple of months will go easy and that she will do well on her treatment. Please keep us updated. I can't believe the weightloss, amazing.

[ljsabo]

We are slowly seeing progress on our puppy. She has gained about 1# over the last 1.5 weeks and eating 3 full meals a day right now (2 cups) to get her weight and strength up. She seems to be responding well to the enzymes as her stool is getting back to normal. She is still very lethargic and wants to sleep all the time which is so sad considering she is only 6 months old. I miss my spunky little girl :-(. She also seems very agitated towards my other b, probably because she is still not feeling well. If he comes near her she will growl and show teeth to get him to back away which is behavior we never saw in her before all this. She has been very submissive up to this point.

For now we are just being patient with her and letting her get all the rest she needs. Thanks for all your kind words on this site, much appreciated!

[Kananga]

I'm glad you've found a treatment and she is improving.

[Basenjimamma]

Poor little sweet girl. I hope she will improve with big steps these next couple of days. Taht being saiod, i understand here weightloss not being a good thing at such a young age. Have you conidered "Satin Balls"? It is this homemade concotion, almost like doggie meatballs that are extremely yummy and will usually put weight on fairly quickly. I realize she mighht not be able to eat certain things, but check it out via google or even on this forum, I think there are several recipes. Good luck, I feel for her and y'all.

[agilebasenji]

Poor baby. Seems like a friend's GSD had epi. And (you may already know) be sure to separate your dogs when you feed them. Your girl thinks she is starving, literally starving. This will make a dog guard her food (and really, who can blame her?) from her housemates.

Also, unless she's on a vet's restrictive diet, my pups really like the muttloaf found here:
http://www.maryshouse.us/Recipes.htm

[barklessk9]

I just recently read about this in the Whole Dog Journal…

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-37934461_ITM