Effects of diet on clinical signs of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in dogs.
Epi in dogs diet.
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency epi in dogs and cats is when acinar cells atrophy sometimes called pancreatic acinar atrophy paa in the exocrine part of the pancreas and is no longer producing sufficient digestive enzymes.
Epi researchers suggest a low fiber diet below 4 that is usually grain free.
The same applies to the fiber content.
Basically a cat or dog with epi is starving to death even as it develops a voracious appetite.
When this happens it is especially dangerous because many.
Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency epi also known as maldigestion syndrome causes an animal to be unable to break down the nutrients in food.
Pancreatic acinar atrphic paa is the most common cause of epi.
Some epi dogs have unrelated food allergies further limiting their diet.
If your dog has chronic pancreatitis this can become epi.
There are three main causes of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency including.
Dog food ideas for epi dogs.
This in turn causes the nutrients in the food to pass through the body undigested.
While most epi dogs do best on a low fiber below 4 grain free diet with normal amounts of fat older studies found a diet that was low in fat below 12 was better but this protocol has been changed some dogs may do just fine with grains and conversely others may still do better with a lower fat diet.
Most but not all epi dogs require a grain free food.
Many dogs with epi thrive on raw diets and some owners find a raw diet is the only one that works for their dogs.
Bacterial lipase and high fat diets in canine exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.
Finding the right food is trial and error every dog is different.
Other dogs cannot tolerate even as little as 12 percent fat.
Some epi dogs have unrelated food allergies further limiting their diet.
The dog food industry is constantly changing and increasing the availability of many different types of canine commercial diets in this section we have comprised a massive list of brand name foods that many of our members have used successfully however this is no guarantee that a particular commercial diet will work for your epi dog just because it worked for someone else s epi.
Suzuki a mizumoto a sarr mg et al.
Home cooked raw food or a combination are also options.
Westermarck e wiberg me.
A new therapy of steatorrhea.
General guidelines are to avoid food with more than 4 fibre some dogs need their fat content reduced others should not be restricted.
Conversely other epi dogs cannot tolerate raw diets.
J am vet med assoc 2006 228 2 225 229.
Older research suggested that fat should be restricted at below 12 while current research suggests normal amounts of fat some dogs will be able to tolerate more fiber than others or more fat and some may do well with some grains.
Many dogs with epi thrive on raw diets and some owners find that a raw diet is the only one that works for their dogs.
Lipase amylase trypsin protease that are needed to properly digest nutrients from food.
