Health Problems With Gsd

[Kirov_grrl]

Recently we've been having some problems with my almost 3yo GSD female.

She's a rescue dog that was a foster failure - we got her at 8 months old and she had severe pneumonia. She recovered, although we were warned about there being some scarring on her lungs due to the infection. She's always been a smaller than average GSD - vet put this down to malnutrition as a puppy.

She's a happy healthy girl (desexed at 8months also)

Fast forward til now - we moved house 6 months ago.

Now (or so it seems) I can't keep weight on her. She has dropped from 28kg (nice healthy weight - for her) to 23kg.

We've been back to the vets a couple of times. First time they suspected EPI - did the tests, they came back negative....

She also has had bad skin for about 6weeks - 2 months or so. (skin scraping etc)

First started her on cortizone, which cleared it up- but it came back. Tried Maleseb wash - with little relief.

I sought help from a holistic vet, but after one month there was no improvement.

Back to the vets just recently - more cortizone for the itching, and find out she has lost another kg - now 23....

Discuss again weight issues and skin problems - vet is still convinced it is EPI (same clinic but different vet) - although tests came back negative??

Anyways, was suggested to start her on the EPI treatment (pancreatic enzymes) so see if this helps (which we have done)

She is fed a BARF diet, and on recommendation of the vet, we swapped her to Eukanuba after the first visit - but the itching did not stop, and her weight barely changed... we are back on BARF now. (Also is wormed regularly)

Does anyone know how accurate the EPI testing is??

Has anyone had any experience in this area??

She is bright, good coat, clear eyes - basically nothing wrong with her... except she's REALLY skinny, and has some skin problems.....

[puggy_puggy]

Does she eat her own poo? Does she throw up or get the runs?

What enzymes are you giving and how much?

What exaclty are you feeding?

I look after a pug that has EPI. She is much much smaller then your average pug (most would say she looks very skinny), her hair is a little coarser then other pugs, she eats her own poo and will throw up and have the runs if she is fed the wrong things. She gets three small meals a day (1/3 of a BARF kangaroo pattie for breakfast & dinner, chicken necks for lunch) which always have enzyme powder sprinkled on them.

[Kavik]

Hey I wonder if ours are related

I am having the same problems with Diesel, my GSD who is 5 years old.

He has had skin problems for several years (if you search under skin problems in this section, mine will likely come up) and I have problems keeping weight on him too. At the moment I feed him about 5 times as much food as Kaos, who is about 10 or so kgs lighter and much more active than Diesel.

We had blood tests done recently to check liver, pancreas etc and all came back clear, so still not sure what the problem is. I have increased his food and he is looking better this week.

He is on antihistamines and antibiotics and seems to be scratching less

ETA: Here is my skin problem thread:

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...hl=skin+problem

Edited May 5, 2009 by Kavik

[Kirov_grrl]

Does she eat her own poo? Does she throw up or get the runs?

What enzymes are you giving and how much?

What exaclty are you feeding?

I look after a pug that has EPI. She is much much smaller then your average pug (most would say she looks very skinny), her hair is a little coarser then other pugs, she eats her own poo and will throw up and have the runs if she is fed the wrong things. She gets three small meals a day (1/3 of a BARF kangaroo pattie for breakfast & dinner, chicken necks for lunch) which always have enzyme powder sprinkled on them.

We are on the human medicine of - Creon (not sure what number - will check) 2 tabs - 1 hour before dinner. These have only just started - as of yesterday.

BARF - mix of beef and chicken mince, vegies and fruit, offal as a base - then lamb shanks, bones, chicken neck/wings - fish, egg, yoghurt...... not all at once obviously!!! (I tried the Dr B's lamb patties - but she wouldn't eat them!)

She has been known to eat poop, but not on a regular basis...

Has some diarrhea but usually poops are fine.

She does get the runs if she drinks different water other than from home - but always just put it down to sensitive stomach.

Hey I wonder if ours are related

I am having the same problems with Diesel, my GSD who is 5 years old.

He has had skin problems for several years (if you search under skin problems in this section, mine will likely come up) and I have problems keeping weight on him too. At the moment I feed him about 5 times as much food as Kaos, who is about 10 or so kgs lighter and much more active than Diesel.

We had blood tests done recently to check liver, pancreas etc and all came back clear, so still not sure what the problem is. I have increased his food and he is looking better this week.

He is on antihistamines and antibiotics and seems to be scratching less

yes, I'm currently feeding her about 3 times as much as my other dog... and still can't keep the weight on!!!! (other one is also super active and she's not so much)

We've not had any skin problems before - so is very strange, and hard to find the cause!

[Kirov_grrl]

Oh, she also gets fish oil! (only a recent thing since seeing the holistic vet) - We were also given some herbs to assist her itching, and some "digestive enzymes" - which I have stopped due to the Pancreatic Enzymes....

[Dogsfevr]

I would drop the beef out.Well known skin allergy starter & also can give many dogs the runs.

[Kirov_grrl]

Thanks settrlvr - you must be a mind reader...!!

I've just decided tonight to drop the beef out when I was mixing up the latest BARF.... will see how it goes!

Thanks Kavik for the link - very interesting!

[puggy_puggy]

Yes I to would suggest to get rid of the beef. It could well be to fatty for her. Make sure that the other meats and bones you are feeding are not to fatty.

Kangaroo is a very low fat meat so might be worth considering over the others.

When the pug I look after has a bit of a flair up, throwing up or the runs, the amount of enzymes she gets is increased.

[Golden Rules]

I would drop the beef out.Well known skin allergy starter & also can give many dogs the runs.

Another vote here to avoid beef after I had a goldie who itched a lot after eating it, I kept to chicken and occasional roo meat.

Hope you get it sorted as this isn't the right time of year to drop weight (even though we seem to have a never ending summer, it must get cold soon!)

[Kirov_grrl]

Thanks heaps guys... will definately try without the beef..... fingers crossed!!!

Arty - do you get the roo meat from supermarket? or is there a supplier in Perth??

[dianed]

I don,t know if this is of any help with the itch prob. When I got my rescue 3 year old GSD last year she had the biggest itch problem. As was stated on this forum once"she sounded like a steam engine" when she scratched.

It wasn't fleas as she been advantixed each month. I mixed up some Nucadol in a watering can as per directions for dogs and soaked her after her normal bath.

The itching ceased dramatically and her coat thickened up, it had been very sparse for a shepherd. She now has fish oil a few times a week.

[Kirov_grrl]

Thanks dianed - can I ask what Nucadol is? - is it available over the counter??

[Golden Rules]

Thanks heaps guys... will definately try without the beef..... fingers crossed!!!

Arty - do you get the roo meat from supermarket? or is there a supplier in Perth??

I just got roo from the supermarket as I only fed it once or twice a week as a change from the constant chicken.

Thinking back now though, my thoughts at the time were to stick to chicken and turkey (the latter being quite inexpensive) because I read somewhere that any red meat can cause allergies more so than white meats.

[Kirov_grrl]

Cheers Arty... was wondering that, as she gets the odd lamb shank too.....

[dogdayz]

The EPI test is generally accurate the issue with it is that the dog must be starved 12 hours prior. This proved impossible with my weim, and his test came back negative too, though he has now been successfully treated for around 5 years as EPI. While you may have starved your dog, the dog may not have starved itself, that is to say my boy was eating dirt and stones through hunger during the 12 hours and this would have raised him from his baseline reading. Without literally constant supervision for 12 hours we would never have achieved a true test reading.

I cant comment on whether your dog has EPI or not, but I just wanted to check what you meant by giving creon an hour prior to meals, Im not sure how effective this would be or indeed whether it would harm the dogs stomach to be exposed to large amounts of enzyme with no food present. Our instructions are never to give without food, but I know some people presoak the food with enzymes is this what you mean?

[Kirov_grrl]

The EPI test is generally accurate the issue with it is that the dog must be starved 12 hours prior. This proved impossible with my weim, and his test came back negative too, though he has now been successfully treated for around 5 years as EPI. While you may have starved your dog, the dog may not have starved itself, that is to say my boy was eating dirt and stones through hunger during the 12 hours and this would have raised him from his baseline reading. Without literally constant supervision for 12 hours we would never have achieved a true test reading.

I cant comment on whether your dog has EPI or not, but I just wanted to check what you meant by giving creon an hour prior to meals, Im not sure how effective this would be or indeed whether it would harm the dogs stomach to be exposed to large amounts of enzyme with no food present. Our instructions are never to give without food, but I know some people presoak the food with enzymes is this what you mean?

Hrm, thanks for that dogdayz - very interesting...

Yes, it would have been more than 12 hours since I fed her, she certainly may have been eating something else from the garden...

I will look into your information regarding Creon... the directions are definitely "1 hour before feeding" but I sure don't want to be doing any further damage!!!!!

[Lizzy06]

Recently we've been having some problems with my almost 3yo GSD female.

She's a rescue dog that was a foster failure - we got her at 8 months old and she had severe pneumonia. She recovered, although we were warned about there being some scarring on her lungs due to the infection. She's always been a smaller than average GSD - vet put this down to malnutrition as a puppy.

She's a happy healthy girl (desexed at 8months also)

Fast forward til now - we moved house 6 months ago.

Now (or so it seems) I can't keep weight on her. She has dropped from 28kg (nice healthy weight - for her) to 23kg.

We've been back to the vets a couple of times. First time they suspected EPI - did the tests, they came back negative....

She also has had bad skin for about 6weeks - 2 months or so. (skin scraping etc)

First started her on cortizone, which cleared it up- but it came back. Tried Maleseb wash - with little relief.

I sought help from a holistic vet, but after one month there was no improvement.

Back to the vets just recently - more cortizone for the itching, and find out she has lost another kg - now 23....

Discuss again weight issues and skin problems - vet is still convinced it is EPI (same clinic but different vet) - although tests came back negative??

Anyways, was suggested to start her on the EPI treatment (pancreatic enzymes) so see if this helps (which we have done)

She is fed a BARF diet, and on recommendation of the vet, we swapped her to Eukanuba after the first visit - but the itching did not stop, and her weight barely changed... we are back on BARF now. (Also is wormed regularly)

Does anyone know how accurate the EPI testing is??

Has anyone had any experience in this area??

She is bright, good coat, clear eyes - basically nothing wrong with her... except she's REALLY skinny, and has some skin problems.....

My girl has EPI. My vet said the test is about 80% accurate. The only way to get more accurate is via biopsies. Lizzys came back as positive though. I was not told to starve her when hers was done so i'm unsure whether she ate or not b4 the test.

[dianed]

I don,t know if this is of any help with the itch prob. When I got my rescue 3 year old GSD last year she had the biggest itch problem. As was stated on this forum once"she sounded like a steam engine" when she scratched.

It wasn't fleas as she been advantixed each month. I mixed up some Nucadol in a watering can as per directions for dogs and soaked her after her normal bath.

The itching ceased dramatically and her coat thickened up, it had been very sparse for a shepherd. She now has fish oil a few times a week.

Yes its available at Produce stores in a 500ml tin. I had the spelling wrong, its Nucidol 200EC. Its an insecticide used on cattle and pigs for mange and lice. On dogs for fleas, horses. goats and for flies in animal sheds.

We used in the dairy we had in Victoria years ago to keep flies away.

When I moved to the NSW south coast my then German Shepherds became very itchy. I took them to the vet and he was the one who advised I use it. Also the flies where biting one dogs ears and I mixed a little with Vaseline and it worked.

I wouldn't be surprised if my latest dog had mites when I got her, that's all I can think off. I tried changing her diet but nothing worked. Whatever caused the problem its gone now.

PS I ,d be careful using it on broken skin.