my sheltie Sophie"s update

[virtualist]

Sophie is doing very well in some ways. She weighed 30.5 lbs Oct. 1, 2018. Dec 19 2018 she weighed 26.6 lbs and Dec 30, 27 lbs. Jan 10, 2019 she weighed 29 lbs. Feb 2, she weighed 29.8 lbs. Feb 9, 30.6 lbs and Feb 28, she weighed 32.4 lbs. So she weighs more than before she came down with EPI. And she has steadily gained back her lost weight and then more. This is wonderful! Also her poop has improved. She now has ~4 poops a day, 2 of which are excellent (like tootsie rolls) and 2 are so-so, dark brown, formed, but no segments and semi-soft. In Feb, for 7 days, she ate all three meals, each in less than a minute, The other 21 days, she wouldn't eat and then finally would eat 20-90 minutes later. This happened with either 1,2, or 3meals each of those days. But she did finally eat and some of those days, she would vomit. During Feb, she has vomited on the 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, and 28th. On Feb 10 I began giving her 1/2 pepcid pill in the morning and evening, twice a day. Feb. 20, I began transitioning to a new dry food, Merrick GF real duck sweet potato recipe. Yesterday she had only the Merrick food.

For breakfast, Sophie gets 1/3 c. wet Whole Earth and 1/3 dry Royal Canin and 1/8 t. of Tylan, one B12 capsule.
For lunch, 1/3 c. wet WE and 1/3 c. RC with 1/2 t slippery elm, 3/4 t. enzymes.
For dinner, 1/3 c wet WE and 1/3 c. RC with 3/4 t. enzymes and 1/8 t. Tylan.
I have been giving the 1/2 pepcid before breakfast and dinner. I tried some cottage cheese for a topper and she loved that a few times then it did not entice her to eat. The RC was disappearing with the transition to Merrick with the 25%-75%, etc. plan. Yesterday was all Merrick dry.

I'm really so concerned about the food. I can't seem to guess right on what to give her. I know she is supposed to have GF and no peas, white potatoes, legumes or lentils. She is such a wonderful dog and I can't find what to do to not make her sick. I keep great details in my journal and I do copy the ingredients of everything I give her. I try to only change one thing at a time. I did run out of the WE wet and had to use a different one for a day.

This morning I went out and got another bag of the RC to see if she would eat it. For lunch today I fixed 1 c. of RC with 1 t. of enzymes with 1/2 c water. It incubated for 20 minutes. She ate it all immediately. Of course she had missed a couple meals so she was hungry. She has not vomited from it. Should I stop the Merrick? Should I go back to part wet and part dry with the RC and transition another GF dry food or keep her on the wet WE and RC until her stomach settles some? I read about Victor Hero. It seemed to be a good one. I hesitate to buy the Sporting Dog dry food because it only comes in 30 lb bags and is expensive. i don't know if she would even eat it. I made an appt with our vet for Tuesday. I don't know really what she can tell us to do but I want to be sure it isn't something else along with the EPI. I also want a blood test for the B12 and taurine. Should anything else be checked out? I feel like I do nothing but beg for help from all of you. But you are a tremendous support and fountain of knowledge. Thank you in advance.

Sara

[Olesia711]

Hi Sara,

If the RC combination food with Pepcid AC appears to work...then go back to it.

Merrick has really good food.... BUT.... it did not agree with my EPI gal, and yet my other two dogs loved it, and i thought the ingredients looked really good. Quite honestly, sometimes finding a food that best agrees with these dogs can be mind-boggling. Some of the real expensive high quality foods that i tried turned out to be a waste of money for us too....

Just a thought for you....I am getting ready to order a bag of Sport Whitefish dog food.... i see that you live in PA, i am in NC.... i can always mail you a sample so that you can try it and see if it agrees with Sophie... if you want to do this, just email me privately ([email protected]) with your mailing address.

[virtualist]

Thank you so much. I'll let you know how she did!

Sara