Chunky Monkey Club
Exclusive membership for the 'overachievers'Welcome to the Chunky Monkey Club!
This is a fun page…… the Chunky Monkey Club… was started for EPI Dogs because so many of us started on this journey with dogs looking like they were knocking on deaths door….and we were scared….very scared that our babies just were not going to make it! And then, once we found the balance to managing EPI they stopped losing weight…. then they started to gain weight…. and many (much to our pleasure) gained and gained…. and gained some more weight! AND THEN…. many of us even had to put our once starving dog on a D-I-E-T!!!!! Can you imagine? So this “Chunky Monkey Club” was started in fun to simply celebrate !
New members: (to include your dog’s name (and picture if you’d like) please email to: olesia.kennedy@gmail.com and they will be uploaded here).
Founding CMC member…Olesia’a Izzy
Epi4dogs was started because of this plain, little, brown dog who was the first Spanish Water Dog world-wide to be diagnosed with EPI….EPI???? What is EPI? I had no idea back then…..all i knew is that my little dog was sick, she only weighed 27lbs and i thought she was going to die. After we got her on the right treatment, time flew by and my plain little brown dog got healthier and healthier…. she ended up hovering around 48/+ lbs and had to go on a diet multiple times throughout the years. Izzy passed away at the age of 15, but she was the most vibrant and playful pup well into her senior years and did not falter until 1 week before she passed away. She taught me so much … especially the meaning of living life to it’s fullest…. my forever heart dog………………………….
Member…Pixie
Shirl’s “Pixie” went from 11.2 lbs to 19.5. We had already cut back her food when she reached around 18 lbs, so we had to cut back even more! Now she’s down to 18.7 which is pretty good for her size, not too skinny and not too chunky.
Member…Tripp
Tripp (American Staffordshire Terrier) in February 2013 weighing 10 lbs. at 6 mos. He had a broken leg and pelvis from abuse, yeast infection from ear mites and demodetic mange. He was diagnosed in May and began treatment with antibiotic, B12 and enzymes.
October 2013 – 14 mos. old and weighs 46 lbs. All prior injuries and infections healed. He is a happy and playful boy now. Still on Enzymediane and B12. His ideal weight is about 40 – 45 lbs. He has been cut from 4 cups of kibble a day to 3 cups of kibble a day. Thankfully, no SIBO since July.
The last picture is my favorite of him.
Tripp and his mommy are forever grateful to Olesia, epi4dogs, Enzymediane and Dr. Snell.
~Barbara… owned by Tripp~
Member…Vito
And yet another Chunky Monkey member… Alyssa’s dog “Vito” who went from 58lbs to a whopping 90LBS! Wheeee!
Member…Kain
Nicole’s Kain is now a member of the Chunky Monkey Club also… and this membership is extra special since Kain was one of those… ahem…shall we say “slightly fussy” eaters! But here he is now, 76lbs (his goal weight was 75lbs) YEAH Kain !!! His meals have now been reduced to 3-1/2 cups of dry food a day / broken down into 2 meals, first is 2 cups, second is 1-1/2 cups.
Member…Butterbean
And Susan’s “ButterBean” certainly belongs in the Chunky Monkey Club too!! Vet recently said he’d never believe it’s the same dog if he didn’t know better!
Member…Miss Lulupants
Craig’s “Miss Lulupants” is an official CHUNKY MONKEY!… Or as her Mother prefers to say, ‘a Miss Fatty-boom-stick-fluffy-pants’. Lulu has just weighed in at a buoyant 21.5kg!
After over a year of SIBO-free loveliness and weight maintenance at 19.5kg we had a little set-back in December which we couldn’t correct and needed a solid course of Tylan to wrest back into shape. So we commenced a regime of 1/4 tsp Tylan twice per day and one Metagenics B12 pill per day. After 6 weeks we tapered down to 1/4 tsp Tylan once per day for 4 weeks (which we are in the midst of, then we’ll try every other day for two week etc tapering it off). But interestingly after the SIBO started to give up the ghost in about week 4 the daily B12 really kicked in it seems and she’s stacked it on.
Lulu is as active as ever (probably more so but the results have led us to DECREASE her food intake by 1/2 a cup per day for the moment. We thought we’d see how this goes in the spirit of ‘one change at a time’ and leave the B12 intake where it is. She might just settle on less food, more B12 = healthier Lulu. We shall see.
But for now y’all can see the difference 22 months makes for I found a picture of her two months after diagnosis (first photo below) when we were still struggling with a lack of grain free food, the residual non-effects of plant-based enzymes so prevalent in Australia and not having yet secured a stash of Tylan.
For a picture-taker I didn’t take many when she was sick but managed to find one…
Lulu now thriving…
