Sheebs (my White Beauty) and EPI

[Sheebs Mummy]

Hi

I'm starting this off just so that it's here. I have more to post but now that I've put this on here, I'm hoping that Sharon will start the story off with the history of Sheba and how she came to be a rescue baby, my ,White Beauty. The rest of our story will follow.

Love Sheebs Mummy (Gerri)

[Sharon.Searle]

Post by JOHN - BIGGSD June 09[Sheba has come into rescue as her owners were going to have her put to sleep rather than paying out vet charges to sort out her loose stomach, she has lived with children of 6 and 7 years, said to loves cats other dogs good on and off lead, at present in foster with Sharon (Bruni) and can be seen on tomorrows walk at Elstead in Surrey.

This was back at the beginning of June 2009.
And this was just the beginning of a very long story for this girl.
She arrived at Vigil in the back of my car from the South Coast where she had lived from a puppy. Vigil had been called by her family when Sheba has suddenly developed diarrhea after allegedly being given her usual worming tablet and although she had been given a course of antibiotics she had not recovered and it seemed to be getting worse. Due to the families personal issues they were unable to pay for any more treatment and if she couldn't get into a rescue they would have to put her to sleep (I don't know if this would have actually happened but we as a rescue could never call their bluff to find out).
So a trip to the seaside was called for and Sheba soon found herself in leafy sunny Surrey.

She was a very nervous girl and in this picture we had just arrived back, the other shep I had transported with her had already got out of the car and was tucking into some food but not Sheba. She wouldn’t get out of the car and this along with the fact that we thought she should be fostered to keep an eye on her stomach, really decided her fate and she came home with me!
The first night was the only night in al the time I fostered Sheba that my patio doors were shut. Thank goodness it was very warm! This was because of her pretty constant diarrhea. She was going to the toilet 12-15 times a day and they were (sorry to say) very similar to cow pats and bright orange. I have never seen anything like it! Sheba found it very hard to settle at first and it was worse in the evenings. She would whine and pace and obviously missed her old family. It was quite a while before she settled but all of a sudden she did and planted her feet firmly under the table!
While all this was going on we still had her diet to sort out and get to the bottom of her stomach problem so as well as change her diet, put her on 24 hour starvation, give her a bland diet, the chance of a home and the home falling through, we decided it was time to visit our lovely vet Georgie at Pet doctors in Godalming.
After a few more weeks of different anti biotics and other things that we needed to rule out, we started having major testing’s done. Georgie wanted to make sure all avenues were covered so she contacted (with Sheba’s previous owners permission) her previous vet. This proved very interesting. We deduced that Sheba had diarrhea before she was given the worming tablet and in fact this was why she was given the worming tablet in the first place! When this didn’t stop it she was taken to the vets and given a course of antibiotics this didn’t stop it either and the day after the course was finished they contacted Vigil asking us to take Sheba or she would be pts.

While we waited Sheba seemed to be enjoying her life with 4 other sheps to play with, 3 cats as company, 2 walks a day a huge walk on Sunday with a group of dogs I don't think she could quite believe it. All through this time Sheba had been steadily losing weight although no-one would have ever noticed as she never seemed or acted ill......ever. She ran and played and chased just as all the other dogs did and she had such a long lovely coat that it covered the fact that really she was very skinny underneath. One thing that never changed from day 1 was her appetite she was great with her food and wolfed it down as if she wouldn't get any more, which really surprised me as I was told when I picked her up that she grazed her food - (she had food in her bowl throughout the day and not 1 or 2 meals per day at a set time) there was never a chance of her grazing here as she literally scoffed her food, so much so that I had to put an up turned jug in her bowl so it would slow her down.
Soon the verdict came; yes Sheba had a pancreatic problem which although quite rare is fairly common is Sheps around 18 months - 2 years old. Sheba's pancreas was supplying her with insulin which was fabulous as this meant she didn't have diabetes, but it wasn't creating enzymes which are needed to absorb food into the body, this was why Sheba was going to the toilet so often and it was just going straight through her causing her to lose weight. Sheba was put on a powder based enzyme and also because her tests showed she had various very low counts it was suggested she also be given an injection of B12 every week for 6 weeks and then every other week there after to get her back to some sort of stability. It was also said that if she hadn't come into Vigil when she did she would quite possibly have been dead.

Things were looking up for Sheba, now we knew what her problem was, she was getting all the medication she needed and was really doing well in her self, it was time to start seriously looking for her forever home. This took a bit of a while, we weren’t really in to much of a hurry it was more important to find the best home for her & it was clear what sort of home would be best suited to her and the fact that she was showing she like to be boss and rule he roost in terms of the dogs she was living with so even though she is a super friendly girl she would probably make another dogs life if she lived with it 24/7 hell. lol
Obviously it had to be a specifically special home, that was happy to take on a dog with a serious problem and that would be on medication for the rest of it's life. These very special homes don't come up very often, and more often then not don't even realize how special they are. Around the middle of August I received a phone call. I heard from a lady who had called John BIGGSD about a dog she had seen on the site, she went on to say they had originally wanted to rehome a dog they had seen on a website that had epilepsy but it had fallen through as the fosterers said they wanted to keep the dog. So very soon I was speaking to a lovely (if a bit mad ) lady that wanted to give Sheba a forever home. Once we went through all of Sheba's special needs her fortnightly injections, her constant food measuring, the way she has to be given her enzymes, the way she might take ages to settle, the fact that she may whine for sometime, the fact I think she should be the only dog and to many other things to mention, I realised that this might be the special home that we had been hoping for. After many phone calls the end of August loomed and it was time to take another car journey this time to a place she would be staying for a lot longer than she had been at mine.
Sheba was off to her forever home.

[Sheebs Mummy]

Following on from Sharon's 'beginning of Sheb's story', this is where I take it up - The Mad Lady

On the 27th July we had to have our 14 1/2 year old black German Shepherd/Lab, Leroy, pts. Needless to say it broke our hearts and many others that had got to know him over his lifetime. My home life was again incomplete without a dog around. My husband, 'The Hubs', was working away which made the house even emptier. I missed having a dog around, so began my journey of finding a new dog to give a home to. Just quickly, all 3 of our previous dogs have been rescue dogs.

'The Hubs' suggested looking to see if we could adopt a retired police dog, I thought at the time that this would not be possible and searching the web proved this. So a GSD was the option. I continued searching and every time I found a dog that we both liked the sound of, bearing in mind we have cats and our eldest daughter is due to have our first Grandchild in the New Year, there were certain things we had to look for, they had been re-homed, which was great for the dogs.

Through Pro-dogs Direct I saw a handsome looking boy - Tyson. I contacted the relevant person, who has since become very supportive and a lovely person to keep in touch with (thank you Donna) and following the Home Visit was advised that we could go and see him. Tyson suffers with Epilepsy, but that did not deter me. His medication keeps him stable, so I was enthusiastic to meet him. Unfortunately or as the case happens to be - fortunately for us and for him, he had settled with his Foster parents and had found himself a new home.

We then had a Home visit by GSD Rescue, during which Roger asked us if we had a preference to colour of GSD, I hadn't thought about this at all, but 'The Hubs' said 'No' and at this point Roger explained how some peeps were prejudiced against pure Black or White. After Roger left us, we spoke more about colours at which time 'The Hubs' asked me to look for a White GSD. Thus began my search again, through which a call to John put me intouch with Sharon and thus I found our 'White Beauty'.

After chatting with Sharon I was straight on the phone to 'The Hubs', and told him all about Sheba, as he was in the first instance about Tyson, so he was about Sheba but with gentle long distance arm twisting I changed his mind. I went onto the walks forum and downloaded pictures of Sheebs so that he could see her when he got home on the Friday, but I couldn't wait that long so took a picture with my phone and sent it to him. That did the trick.

Through searches about EPI I found this fantastic story about a dog called Cheetah, http://www.ellsbury.com/cheetah.htm. After reading her story my thoughts were that a dog with EPI can be treated, pending on how critical the condition is/was, quite normally so long as certain rules were kept. Cheetah's diet is one of pig’s pancreas and Chappie.

When 'The Hubs' came home that Friday, we talked more, he had a chat with Sharon, which put his mind at ease even more. A short period of time later Sharon advised us that we could, once we had met her and all went well, we could adopt her, I was over the moon and was looking forward to going along to the August Fun Day to meet her. We didn't make it as the car broke down, but good ol' Aunty Sharon (despite getting lost on her way) brought her to us. I have never felt so nervous. When she came out of the back of the van my first thought was 'OMG' she's big but beautiful.

Sheba's last weigh in before coming to us was 21.7Kg. Within 4 months of Sheba being with us, she is now at her ideal weight of 30.2Kg and looks fantastic. How did we do this, apart from alot of love and attention - read on please.

Sheba's main diet is Arden Grange Lamb and Rice. I tried her on the Chicken and Rice, but this really does not suit her - trial and error, but not until she had started slowly to gain weight. I scoured the internet to find where I could find her enzymes and her food from at a cheaper price and found a couple of them, the enzymes I get sent to me postage FOC, there's a small charge for the dog food. A short while ago, due to a delay in her Arden food being delivered I came across Harrington Dog Food Lamb and Rice, this with the Arden Grange suits Sheebs perfectly (and makes her poo's look even more normal), along with other home made treats and semi-cooked vegetables. I believe in re-cycling and so when it comes to the stalks of a cauliflower and broccoli, these are chopped up, boiled for a short period of time and put to one side for Sheba - NO SALT of course; she also loves cucumber, peeled, as she can't digest the skin. Her home made treats are made up of white Tesco value fish (you can find this in the Freezer section) boiled, Cous Cous (use the water from cooking the fish), scrambled or poached eggs (again done in the water from the fish), all chopped up together with some Gluten Free flour, made in to balls and baked on 160 (fan oven) until golden brown. Needless to say she's loves them and has never had a reaction to them. I add on occasions mashed up veg, swede, parsnips, carrots etc - all variations go down a treat, or chopped up and just placed on the top of her food. In her breakfast meal she has a boiled egg and a tomato quartered. She used to have a jug in her bowl to keep her from wolfing down her food, but for the past couple of weeks, she has slowed down enough for us to not have to use the jug. Sheba also has to go to the vets every 2 weeks for a B12 injection, this assists with the weight gain, and after speaking with our vet, she will stay on the 2 mgs until she is spayed, which will be in about 3 months time having just finished her first season with us - December 2009.

I have looked into getting raw pancreas, but it's not the easiest of things to get hold of. One kind butcher explained that 1 pancreas weighs about 2oz, in relation to Sheebs weight means about 5 a day, and to find that amount I need to find a very big Abattoir, which I thought wouldn't be too hard through farming contacts from when I worked for the NFU - wrong, but I have people out there working on this for me as well. 1/03/2010 - update on the pigs pancreas. I have since decided not to go down this root. The reason for this is 1. I can't get hold of it. 2. My job involves talking to Pharmacists that work in the NHS, and I have been advised by a couple of them that to freeze enzymes, the gfreezing process has to be instant other wise the enzymes die, and as I only have a normal freezer, this cannot be done.

1/03/2010

Since writing the above story, the latest update on Sheba is that Sheba now weighs 31.7kg, she was weighed at the weekend. She is now at a point where she herself has reduced the amount of food she is eating, but still putting on weight. Sheba no-longer gorges her food, no more jug, and will sometimes even leave some. The number of poo's has reduced and are smaller (my challenge with Sheebs for the New Year), so definitely absorbing more from the food that she is eating. I'm convinced that for Sheba, fish is the way to go for her, she loves it. But it does not mean that every now and again that I won't try something else with her, odd bit of sausage, or some other type of meat. One point I would like to emphasize NEVER allow them to have bread, gluten is a big NO NO.

So for all those that have a GSD with this condition - please add your notes so that we can all learn more about what works with these dogs, to enable them to have as normal life as possible.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

Sheebs Mummy and Sheba

[biggsd]

Those of you who know me wont be surprised at the following words,

This is the real meaning of the word RESCUE together with rescueing dogs like Sheeba you have also got have people who are willing to go that extra mile in having the patience and determination of taking on the dogs like Sheeba and old dogs and others with behavoural problems .

Thank you Sheebs mum

[Sharon.Searle]

I am ecstatic to let you all know that Sheeba tipped the scales this weekend at 32.9kgs!! Proving that even dogs that seem a semi lost cause are worth trying that bit harder. From 21.7kg last September Gerri and family have managed to put 11.2kg onto this girl in 7 months. There has been no magic potion or expensive preperations, just a few more minutes a day cooking up her veg and making her treats that unknown to Sheebs are actually part of the medication process.
At last Gerri has sent down some piccs of her White Beauty'! & my ' White Thing'





And hopefully now they are on the road we'll have them down soon for a BIGGSD walk!