New to EPI - Food Recommendations?

[Tuckaboo Pam]

Hi Rachel. Welcome to you & Brownie Bear. I'm thinking the three little ones had a hand in naming him?

So, the things you've been told are exactly what I would advise, too.

I just want to add this---You are on the right track, and everything you are doing is going to help him get well, even if it's not all exactly perfect(I'm not saying it isn't!). Over time you will be tweaking his routine because there can be fluctuations along the way.

As far as the dog sitter goes, just label the lids of everything, have them feed him twice daily, and also write the routine down on a card. Just emphasize that everything he eats has to be enzymed. I hardly ever leave town, but when I do, even my husband is able to follow my directions, and that is saying a lot. The occasional slip up happens, and I don't stress too much over that. I'm thinking your dog sitter will prefer the addition of supplements over picking up mounds of sloppy yellow poop. Maybe just be generous with your tip after the end of the ten days!

Like Jill said, ask all the questions, and maybe share this thread with your sitter in case something comes up while you are gone.

Take Care---Pam & Nina

[mommabear]

Thank you Jill, Andrea, and Pam for your words of support and encouragement.

And, yes Pam - our kids are responsible for his name. He looked like a little brown bear cub when we first fostered him (see attached pic), so the name was appropriate.

I am still waiting for the Epizyme to arrive & I put in an order for EnzymeDiane as well. I talked to Chewy this morning and the Epizyme ships today so I likely won't get until Monday at the earliest. So I am currently trying to bide my time with supplements from the drugstore. I was only able to find the Pancreatin by Solaray yesterday, so we started him on that using Enzyme Diane's conversion recommendation on her website. But at 9 capsules per cup of food (according to her conversion for 6x) - we already went through most of the bottle on a little lunch serving yesterday (1 cup = 9 capsules), dinner (2 cups = 18), & breakfast this morning (2 cups = 18 capsules)! No improvement to stool yet... in fact it's a little worse. But this could be the introduction of the new kibble? I added in 1/8 cup last night & 1/4 cup this morning to his ground turkey and potato.

I was able to order some porcine Pancreatin by Now on Amazon which arrives today & I will give him for dinner (& maybe even a small lunch serving if it arrives on time). Could anyone help me with the conversion per cup of food? On Diane's website she says 7-9 capsules of Pancreatin 4x by Now = 1 tsp 6x, but on the bottle it says Pancreatin 10x...

Thanks again everyone!
Rachel

[jilbert57]

I am not home right now but it's the amount of Lipase you are looking for. Did you order 6x or 8x from Diane? See how much lipase is in 1 teasp compared to lipase in 1- 10x NOW cap.

Jill

[mommabear]

I ordered 6x from Diane. But those likely won’t arrive until late next week.

So, I’m super confused… on her website under emergency enzymes she said that “ Pancreatin 4x by Now Porcine based 7-9 tablets or capsules crushed or sprinkled on the food with warm water will equal a teaspoon of Enzyme Diane® Pancreatin 6x in potency or 3/4 teaspoons of Enzyme Diane® Pancreatin 8x in potency.”

But if I do the calculations based on Lipase, each capsule only has 4,000 Lipase. To get to an equivalent strength of 1tsp of 6x of 77,880 I would need 19 capsules… so 38 capsules for 2 cups of food?!?

[jilbert57]

Here is info from our site:
https://epi4dogs.com/emergency-enzymes/

For now just do what Dianes instructions are for emergency enzymes. It will be better than none.

I was sure I was told Lipase was the most important enzyme that you needed to try to get the same between different enzymes but I cannot verify this right now.

Jill

[Tuckaboo Pam]

Just do your best. How do you get nine pills into him? FYI, I have also ordered Pantenex from Amazon, and it works well. It says 10X, but I have found I still need to use one teaspoon per one cup of kibble. ---Pam

[Diane S]

I ordered 6x from Diane. But those likely won’t arrive until late next week.

So, I’m super confused… on her website under emergency enzymes she said that “ Pancreatin 4x by Now Porcine based 7-9 tablets or capsules crushed or sprinkled on the food with warm water will equal a teaspoon of Enzyme Diane® Pancreatin 6x in potency or 3/4 teaspoons of Enzyme Diane® Pancreatin 8x in potency.”

But if I do the calculations based on Lipase, each capsule only has 4,000 Lipase. To get to an equivalent strength of 1tsp of 6x of 77,880 I would need 19 capsules… so 38 capsules for 2 cups of food?!?

The tablets do work differently. You should be fine with 7-9 to get some digestion going. I was able to use 5 but needed a teaspoon of 6x for 2 cups of food.

[Chance]

You should be OK with about 9 capsules per cup of food.

The lipase units is what you are focusing most on. That breaks down fats. Fats are usually the hardest to break down.

The numbers are confusing if you try to compare the other brands to Diane's though. Diane labels the packaging based on the numbers specs at time of manufacturing. (Ie: the highest possible in that bag. Diane does this because some dogs are sensitive and want exact doses their body needs. So if you buy a bag, and determine exactly what your dog wants, you can compare numbers on the next bag, and adjust amounts accordingly). So numbers listed are at manufacturing time....the time they are at their highest.

The bottles you are looking at are listing MINIMUM values. Essentially the numbers anticipated at expiry date. Almost always though you get a bottle well within date, and not exposed to too much heat or cold. So numbers are almost always higher than what is labeled. So it's safe to go by the 7 to 9 caps that Diane recommends.

I hope this makes sense!

[Tuckaboo Pam]

Not sure about CA, but just now I put a jar of Pantenex in my cart (just to see) & I was offered free overnight delivery. Pantenex contains what you need, and it would be fed as would Diane's. I have used it six times, according to my ordering history, and while I greatly prefer Diane, I have had good results from Pantenex. ---Pam

[mommabear]

Thank you Jill, Andrea, Diane, and Pam! This is all such incredibly helpful insightl

I ended up giving him 16 capsules worth of the Pancreatin by Now yesterday with his 2 cups of wet + dry kibble combo food & again this morning and he only pooped once yesterday & not yet today. It's not yet normal stool, but we are moving in the right direction. We've been dealing with 4-6 terrible poops a day for the past 2 months, so I seriously can't even express how optimistic I'm feeling. He also has so much more energy - back to his puppy self wanting to play & run around. Melted my momma heart last night to watch him playing fetch with the kids in the backyard. <3

The Epizyme will arrive today, so I'm looking forward to not having to break apart all of these capsules by hand. But, great tip about the Pantanex Pam! I will certainly make sure to avoid this situation in the future where I don't have enough enzymes on hand. Speaking of enzymes, in general what is the shelf life once opened? Do people generally stock up/order several months worth at a time? With my Epizyme and EnzymeDiane orders, I should have enough for a few months. But wondering if it makes sense to buy in bulk for the year?

Again - can't thank you enough for taking time to share your advice. Truly so grateful.