Help - Kiya is having a diarrhea bout for months

[Alex]

Quick update, we called 10 vets on Monday, most are not accepting new patients, there is a shortage of vets in the industry due to covid I guess. We got 1 hit, which is all we needed, and had a mobile vet come to our house yesterday. The vet agreed that it does not look like a parasite infection, since we tried the usual anti-biotics without any success and took a bunch of blood tests (including TLI test for EPI). EPI tests is also something that was suggested by a bunch of Basenji people in the Basenji Companions FB group and also folks in the EPI Facebook group. I really hope that is it and a diet plan + enzyme supplement will get Kiya to digest the food again.

I also ordered an animal biome test, so we will see what that comes back with.

[Zande]

@alex Very interested to hear what the final diagnosis is. And so glad you found a vet. We are experiencing similar problems here but at least mine are well trained in Basenji-health

[Alex]

Quick update on Kiya, hope this is helpful to others dealing with similar issues:

We had a full blood panel done for parasites, kidneys, thyroid, liver function, etc.. also a TLI test for EPI and a urine test. Still waiting for the gut test results from (animalbiome.com).

While waiting for test results, and since all the signals were pointing at EPI, we started her on an enzyme supplement (BioCase Plus), which is enzymes + probiotic + b12 supplement. Something a lot of people successfully use for treating EPI dogs according to the EPI FB group. To our surprise after 2 days of supplement, liquid poop firmed up a bit and for the first time in months, she had solid poops (not consistently solid, but also not as liquid as before and not needing to go out every 30 min).

Fortunately and unfortunately, the EPI test came negative, her TLI was fine, and her liver functions were fine, no thyroid issues, but her proteins+b12+calcium level was very low, which supports the weight loss of 5lbs in two months. The vet diagnosed and decided to treat her for PLE protein-losing enteropathy and said we should continue BioCase Plus as it's probably helping her pancreas, which in turn helps other body functions.

She had an injection of a steroid (dexamethasone) and is on prednisone to ease her GI inflammation, also she is eating Hills Diet Biome prescription food right now + taking b12 + calcium supplement. It seems like she is doing better (no major diarrhea) and is less anxious, but time will tell and we will see if she starts gaining weight over the next few weeks on this new prescription diet.

[tanza]

@alex - Glad to hear that she is doing better and you at least got some answers...

[Zande]

@alex I sometimes wish we humans could get the same benefit from Vitamin B12 as our older Basenjis do ! My Vet calls it geriatric juice. So glad she is doing better -

[JENGOSMonkey]

@alex I'm no expert and am certainly not a vet, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Jengo had loose stools for the longest time. We struggled and finally ended up going to a grain free high protein kibble. That seemed to do the trick for him, but in retrospect I believe it was a mistake. Too much protein and not enough fiber.

I feed my current two high protein kibble, but not a lot. I mix in riced cauliflower or diced broccoli with each of their two daily meals, and pumpkin with each diner. I also mix in Dogzymes Probiotic Max with each meal. There are several other things I add, but the vegetables and probiotics are what seem to keep them firm.

Glad you're making progress.

[Alex]

@jengosmonkey thanks for the advice. Both Chance and Kiya (almost the same age) were on high protein kibble (Acana Grasslands), until they started having severe GI issues, at that time our vet recommended getting them off a high protein diet. So we've been on Dr. Harvey's premix + protein for over a year, until recently, when we think the formula changed or Kiya developed PLE.

[tanza]

@alex - That is always a problem with store bought foods... they change the mix or a different place that makes it and never tell the public... I think that many, many issues are because of this....

[tanza]

@jengosmonkey - Me too Jengosmonkey, I have always in the last 10+ years changed up foods all the time... and I too mix in lots of veggies and they get yogurt every day and they love it as a treat... I do find that they have "more" poops/bigger poops when I do not use the grain free, not a huge problem.. just what I have seen... and I do use canned wet in the morning, but only a heaping teaspoon... But by changing up the foods all the time, I never even at age 12, have to worry about tummy upset at this point.

[elbrant]

@zande said in Help - Kiya is having a diarrhea bout for months:

wish we humans could get the same benefit from Vitamin B12

as an aside: Humans need all of the B Vitamins for B12 to work it's magic. B12 alone will not do the trick, I take a "Super B Complex" vitamin every day for exactly this reason!