[Stacy D]

Hi I’m new to raw feeding and have a GSD with EPI. And he’s a gulper. I’m in the second week. I started out feeding ground chicken and things were going great. When I started adding small amounts of other proteins and organ meat his poops started turning yellow and mushy. I’m back to feeding just chicken but clearly need to be giving him more as he’s not getting all the nutrition he needs. Help!!!

[neezerfan]

Are you giving him the enzymes?

[Susan]

Hi Stacey, google “Raw diets for dogs with EPI” I know EPI dogs cant digest too much fiber & need a very low fiber/FAT diet, enzymes are suppose to help with the digestion of the food, u soak their food in a enzyme for 20mins, but Ive also read that enzymes can give mouth ulcers thats why Ive never tried any enyzmes,..here’s a good site
http://www.epi4dogs.com/diet.htm scroll down to Meat/Protein Vegetables, vegetables must be fully cooked & mashed up & you only add 1 new vegetable at a time, 1 new veggie a week to see if they can tolerate that vegetable, once you work out what he can eat & what he can’t you’ll be right but you have a big dog to feed, so maybe do 3-4 smaller meals a day that way its not too much for him to digest..also google “foods that are low in fiber” I dont know if pasta is low in fiber, I know brown rice has more fiber then white rice, the pasta will help fill him up & maybe gain weight, you need to do a bit of research, I did the research last year when I thought Patch had EPI….Wild Salmon oil is suppose to be good for dogs with EPI & Gastro problems, but you start with a real little bit then work ur way to the dose over 2 week period, Ive always been too scared that the Salmon oil will give Patch bad diarrhea so Ive never tried, it helps their stomach & skin…. if you keep scrolling down there’s recipes aswell, but you must take it very slow & cause they always feel hungry he’ll gulp his meals so maybe just add little food in his bowl then a little more, I have 2 bowls, 1 bowl has the meal then I put Patches bowl on a little chair so its level with his stomach & I just add 1 spoon at a time & feed slowly I have to lift the bowl when putting in food or he’ll gulp the food as Im adding it to his bowl, he’s getting better, he seems to gulp his food more as the day goes on..it takes a bit longer but that way he doesnt get his pain & have his bad burping after eating…its an awful disease….poor boy

[Nancy C]

Hi Stacey – this can be a difficult mystery. Check out my post that I just sent (near the top of the page) under “ZiwiPeak” — as an idea. Last spring my vet thought our GSD’s digestive problem “Might Be” EPI. Turned out it was due to a SOLESTO flea collar which was making him terribly sick with some of the standard symptoms of EPI. The food I discuss there is highly digestible. Good luck. Don’t give up! There is a solution somewhere, but the food is definitely part of it.

[Stacy D]

Yes he absolutely gets enzymes. Enzyme Diane 6x powder 1 1/2 tsp per meal. I also have raw beef pancreas and raw green tripe. I’m going to ferment fresh raw goat’s milk for probiotics. I’m active on the epi4dogs forum as well. There they talk a lot about cooked diets and alternating raw with kibble, which I would never consider doing. I’m looking for someone to give me straight advice about raw diet. One person says cook the vegetables. Another one (including Billinghurst) says don’t cook, just pulverize. Of course the EPI dog is a different set of rules.

[Stacy D]

Also, he does not need to gain weight. He’s had EPI for going on two years and has been easy to stabilize. Right before I switched him to raw he had lost some weight (about 5 pounds) and stomach was gurgling a lot (signs of bacterial overgrowth in small intestine from undigested food). He was eating Earthborn Holistic Natural kibble. When I switched to raw the gurgling stopped, he put the weight back on immediately, he stopped shedding, and his coat is glistening. He looks great and is happy and energetic. But the poop just doesn’t look like it should. Is it detox? Is it yellow because he’s eating mostly chicken? Or is it yellow due to malabsorption?

[Lisa]

After about 4 months of various symptoms my 18 month old male GSD was down to 64 lbs(normal weight was 80-85 lbs) we finally got a the EPI diagnoses from our vet. He was originally on Eagle Pack, then Taste of the Wild eventually we tried to Go!Sensitive and Shine and Grandma Lucy’s Goat. With these 2 foods he improved a little and gained about 5 lbs in 2 weeks. The vet prescribed enzymes but after doing some research we decided to try raw food including raw beef pancreas. We ordered beef pancreas and green tripe from http://www.hare-today.com and from the very first feeding we saw results. Green tripe is totally gross but Reggie absolutely loves it!
It took about 3 weeks for him to completely stabilize, he went from 3 meals a day to 2, his poops are perfect and he goes about 3 times a day, no gas or stomach rumbling, he sleeps through the night again. Now he is about 100 lbs and is full of energy he probably runs/walks about 5-7 miles a day, barely sheds and his coat super soft and shining.
We are been able to reduce the amount of beef pancreas per feeding so a 16 oz tube will last a few days and his diet is probably about 70% raw he likes ground meat,organ,bone mixed with Taste of the Wild kibble or Grandma Lucy’s with a occasional egg. We switch the type of protein(fish,chicken,beef, turkey, goat, even llama) he eats every few days and their is no change in his bowel movements. He gets coconut oil as a supplement as well as 8 Gentleman Chinese herbs. We got the Chinese herb from a local holistic equine vet, we believe it was a key component in his recovery.
I love to watch him eat RMBs he throughly enjoys laying in the grass and slow tearing into the meat and savoring every bite, just like his ancestors did..this is the way canines are supposed to eat!
Raw feeding takes a little extra work but it is definitely worth it. We have a freezer in the basement and we have a small refrigerator where we keep the raw food separate from our food. I know every dog’s situation is different but this solution saved Reggie’s life.

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