A friend of mine's GSD has EPI, and at the moment is on tablet for enzyme replacement. I have heard that raw pig pancreas is cheaper and possibly more effective, does anyone know where this can be sourced.

Also if you have an EPI dog, what enzyme replacement therapy do you use, and where is the best place to source it cheaper than through the vets?

Many thanks in advance
Kat

Has she seen this site;
http://www.epi4dogs.com/

Hope this is of help, while you await replys :)

Excellent site  Liv :)

ChinaBlue, my dog is on the Pancrex pro V - I used to get it cheaper by importing from the US but now we only need one tub a year I just pick it up from the vets, it about £56 ? I think.

My dad's dog had chronic EPI and we used to get the powder from the local chemist much cheaper than the vets,even baby's have this, used to buy really large tub £46.00  we never tried pig pancres as think this is too hard to get hold of but a really good food is !! wait for it CHAPPIE very low in fat and he always had the waltham diet from the vet's this is a really  horrible complaint I wish they could eraticate this from dogs

My 16 year old bitch collapsed with this almost 5 years ago.  She is still going strong, but I am 100% strict about food allowed.  She has Hill's ID tinned, and I buy the dry to give as treats when the other dogs get dog biscuits.  She has two meals a day, with Pancrex pro V added.  I did a search for best price online when they stopped doing the capsules (which I preferred, easier for dosing), and my tub cost me £42 so quite a bit cheaper than the vet price. The large tub does last for ages too.

Funnily enough, I have already recommended that she switch to Chappie :) Great minds, and she has been and bought some today.

What is the name of the powder you can buy from the chemist? There seem to be quite a few about, and I would guess some are for vet only use. Also do you need a prescription for it? Thank you all, and thank you for the link - brilliant

Kat

Not sure if the enzyme capsules from Boots chemist would be any good for enzyme replacement for EPI ?
http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&productId=16003&callingViewName=&langId=-1&catalogId=11051

I also found this (for humans) but it is Pancrex -

http://www.emc.medicines.org.uk/
Don't know how much it is though or whether you need a prescription?

Hi  there you need to speak with the pharmisit cause you have to get the pancrex and lipase in the correct amounts, this is where it is handy to live in a village because she had to time to go through the vets stuff and get all the ingredents as close as she could and how much to give, but I think you would be best to stick with the vet till you get the dosage right and to get your head round how much there is to learn then to start looking in to the alternitives

I think the only way that my friend is going to be able to afford to treat her EPI dog, is adding raw liquidised pig pancreas to her food. The powder from the vet and on the internet is just more than she can afford. I have established that we can get Pig pancreas from Landywoods. Has anyone done this? Not looking forward to it much :)

Try shopping around for your powder.  It is a non prescription item and you should try your local chemist.  I use pancrex capsules and get 300 for about £24.  My bitch is now on only 1 per day (medium size dog). 

I use Pancrex and obtain the capsules from the chemist as it is a non prescription drug.  Costs about £24 for 300 capsules,  My bitch weighs about 20k and has just 1 which I open and mix into her food.  She did have 2 or 3 to start with but is now stable, and has been for about 4 years now.  Took about a year to get her right and also find out which foods suited her.  She was fed on Burns mixed with Butchers (easier to mix the powder onto a wet food)

durham anima feeds do pig pancreas  £3 for 1kg
any good?

Barbara
x

Thanks Barbara, unfortunately DAF don't come out this far, but Landywoods apparently do it, it's just not listed on their product range but I phoned and asked them, so am going to get some and we will try it out. Unfortunately my friend is a vegetarian and feels sick at the idea of handling/liquidising it. Looks like I will get that job :)

Jen, thanks for the info, I tried my pharmacist but they told me I needed a prescription, although I can buy the capsules off the internet! So have ordered some of those. Can you tell me what the ratios of Protease, lipase and amylase are on the ones you have?  It is going to be trial and error as to how much she has to have, but right now we need to get her stabilised and her weight back up. Thank you all for your help, as usual it is invaluable.

Kat

Try another chemist - I have been buying mine now for about 4 years, and have never had a prescription.  The chemist knows me now when I go in to order another batch.  Here are the ratios for Pancrex V capsules:
Protease  430 BP units, Lipase - 8000BP units and Amylase 9000 BP units.

I open the capsule and mix the powder in with wet food, and then add the complete.  I would feed twice a day, its trial and error to see how many capsules she needs to start off with.  What comes out t'other end is a good guide, and of course depends how big your dog is.  To start off with I used 2 on each feed.  After some trial and error with diet I found using Butchers a Burns fish and brown rice as this was low in fatseemed to do the trick.  My bitch is absolutely fine and has been for the past 4 years or so, and has kept her weight stable.

Hope this helps.