Thanks to all for all the kind words and good wishes. Its much appreciated.
Tom and Katz-
I feel the same. I have always felt that Brock was meant to be with me, even before I met him, and this confirms that feeling even more. I mean, I adopt him and four days later he starts having loose stool. What are the odds? EPI just kind of happens whenever it happens. What if it happened a week sooner? He may not have been adopted out. And because my dad is a vet, (he's actually a dermatologist. but he knows the basics, and also has been working with a vet he knows well throughout all of this, who is an internalist) we were able to quickly and properly diagnose Brock in a little over a month. (When, as I said before, it often takes as long as 6 months or more before dogs get diagnosed). We are also financially able to manage his condition (and of course my dad being a vet helps cut down a lot of costs). Who knows what might've happened if he was adopted by someone else. He mightve ended up back in rescue, or he may have gone undiagnosed for months. Maybe even becoming too ill to recover. Anyways.. I believe everything happens for a reason, and I know Brock has a lot to teach me in the years ahead. (And who knows who else we might educate & help together).
lovemyshiba-
First of all, you are not being nosey at all! Feel free to ask anything you want about whats going on with Brock.
The main symptoms are diarrhea and weight loss. If you dont at least have these symptoms its probably not EPI. And like I said in my first post, many EPI symptoms are the same in a lot of other disorders. However, it is good to be aware of & open to the possibility! It usually occurs in younger dogs, between 6 months and 2 years, give or take, (though this is just the average, it can happen to any aged dog) or older dogs who have had chronic pancreatits for years. In young dogs/dogs without pancreatitis, it is thought to be an auto immue disorder.
For Brock we ran a TLI (trypsin-like immunoreactivity) blood test, because he is young and we knew it had to be an immune problem, (not caused by pancreatitis. Im not sure how it would be diagnosed in a pancreatitis dog. Nor how its treated in those cases either. you can go to the link I posted for more info). I believe there are some other ways to go about diagnosing it, but to my understanding this is the most accurate.
Quoting from my memory of how my dad explained it, (in other words, this might not be 100% accurate but you get the picture) the TLI reads how much the pancreas is producing, so the lower the score, the lower the pancreas is producing. EPI dogs have very low TLI scores because their pancreases are destoryed/being destroyed, so they cant produce any enzymes.
Now just FYI, I remember reading on one website that some people may have difficulty finding a vet/lab that will/can run the TLI test. We had no problems though. I dont know how expensive it is either, and/or if its much different than other blood tests.
And again check out that link I posted, there is more accurate + more thourough info there. You can also just search the net. And good luck with Riley's check up, hope all goes well!







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