Hi everyone any feed back on my problem would be helpful.
I took my 10 month old dog to the vets 10 days ago (not the first time) as i was sick of his cow pat like poohs. He has poor appetite and i can not get weight on him. Armed with a container of pooh off we went.
The vet checked him over, nothing visibly wrong, as usual, so he inspected his pooh and said it was undigested food and felt he had a pancreatic enzyme deficiency so took bloods for analysis. Blood tests came back no enzyme deficiency but significantly low levels of vitamin b12 and folic acid. This will be corrected with a series of injections over six weeks, but we haven't got to the bottom of the problem. Courses of antibiotics help to firm his pooh but within days of finishing we are back to square one. Does anyone have any ideas?
Irene

Hi Irene
What are you feeding him? if its undigested food it could be something that he can't tolerate?. How long was the anti biotic course he was given? What level was his TLI ?

He is fed on Royal Canin maxi junior and this is the food he was reared on. We did try a month trial on wafcol salmon and potato to test for dietary intolerance but this made absolutely no difference. He has had a few courses of antibiotics the last one was for ten days amoxycare and metronidazole, as i said they improve matters while he is taking them although his poohs are still on the soft side, not like the other dogs. I didn't ask about TLI. Am seeing vet on Saturday for his first b12 injection so will ask then.

Ok, not sure if I'm on the right track but reading again I am reminded of a similar case of a dog suspected with EPI. Turned out he had Malabsorption
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Malabsorption+Stool&page=1&qsrc=6&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gastromd.com%2Feducation%2Fmalabsorptionsyndromes.html
Malabsorption is difficulty in the digestion or absorption of nutrients from food
It mentions in the link above about B12 and folate deficiency. Do any of the symptoms match his?

some symptoms are the same, he does get gas, nearly always has diorrhea and although he doesn't have significant weight loss he doesn't gain any weight, so as he is getting older he appears thinner. I did wonder about malabsorbtion myself.

The symptoms are very similar to pancreatic insufficiency which is probably why your vet did the TLI test
Metrondiazole is the only antibiotic that sorts Maddie out when she has a flare up of diarrhoea, but she is on it for a month at a time, she also has to have Vit B12 but she has a tablet daily.
Hope you find out what's going on and get him sorted soon

I hope my post isn't too random... however I have permanently low b12 and folic acid levels, unless I receive injections every three months. It is known as Pernicious Aneamia... is this condition possible in dogs? My understanding of it is that your body can not absorb b12 from your food no matter the volume of b12 rich food you eat. For me the symptoms where significant tiredness and fatigue/loss of breath after small amounts of exercise. If your dog isn't digesting his food properly then he may not be getting the required nutrients from it... or as with me, his body may not absorb them anyway. I am sorry if you have said already... but have you tried a different type of food? It sounds as though your vet may be attempting to correct the b12 deficiency with the injections, let's hope that has a significant impact. Crossing fingers for you.

My dog has this and has been on the injections for 2yrs now. it s a case of 'how long is a piece of string' when it come to the length of time it will take to correct the problem ,if it ever does.

the gas problem needs to be watched carefully as mine Bloated, so the sooner the jabs start the better.

it does help the body to digest the food properly and he will gain weight and be normal again whilst on the injections. i went from weekly jabs, 2 weekly. 4 weekly, 2 months and now 4 months between.

i changed his diet from kibble to raw as soon as the jabs started on my vets advise. An Endoscope and biopsys can also be done if there is no improvement.

my dogs levels are borderline now but i will still give the jabs if the symptoms return.