Dutch Shepherd Forum

Was she tested for Giardia?

H had the worst poo problems for most of his life. We tested for EPI and it was negative. I've found in this breed sensitive stomach tends to be a real PITA if it rears its ugly head. As far as malabsorption/EPI, does she have the EPI poo? There is a really good EPI website that is very informative with symptoms and how it progressed in different dogs. If she doesn't 100% match the symptoms or have the poo I would delay testing because it's pricey and would try a few things first before going the EPI route.

I'm assuming she was put on an antibiotic? This can really rip up the irritated gut even more and cause a viscous loop. I'm also assuming she was put on chicken and rice - how'd she do on that if she was? How fast did you transition her back onto kibble?

If it were me, and feel free to ignore this advice, I would add slippery elm syrup and colostrum for a week then slowly ween off. If she starts to slide back, go back and continue the course for a few more days, then try again. I found most of my problems when H would get into the dire rear loop was gut inflammation. Once I got a handle on that, things got better real fast. Once I got the inflammation down I added in a probiotic to help restore the flora balance for a week or two. Herbsmith has the best - the Purina one most vets try to get you on is just terrible. It was all a balancing act based on what his system needed and I would tailor to what he was doing.

As far as the exercise, if it came on halfway through the dire rear I would hazard dehydration and just lethargy from not feeling good. These are easy enough to fix with pedilyte or electrolytes and rest as she recovers. Poor thing. Tummy troubles are no fun!

And as far as the height, she should be slowing down on growing so you may not see steady increases like when she was younger. I wouldn't worry about it unless she starts rapidly losing weight and gets so lethargic she can't lift her head; then that's a major emergency.

Thanks for the reply!
Yes, she was on Flagyl and boiled chicken and rice. She improved after 3 days on flagyl, then got worse again. her stomach finally calming down. Visited vet today-she doesn't think EPI, but does think Grendel not digesting fats, so have to put her on Honest Kitchen base with raw, low fat meats and a special enzyme for a month to see how she does. No raw bones (marrow too high fat), and same treats the whole time.

On a related note- I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for people that had adopted Grendel's litter mates, and I'm VERY psyched to have received a response today! The guy is so F'n lucky! Both his pups have already hit 60 and 70 lbs respectively, no health issues at all. Other than their size (I'm jealous), they look exactly like Grendel. What's more, the guy took a pic of the older brother that was at the property at the time Grendel and her litter mates were being sold, so I got a pic of him. It was actually based on the brother that I thought Grendel would be at least 60 lbs. See below. They are all gorgeous dogs.

The first two are her litter mates. The last one is her older brother. I can't believe how much the pic of the two of them look like Grendel. Damn. I want her to be their size!

dogs are sexually dismorphic so the females will always be smaller than their direct male relatives regardless of what you do (with the exception of the odd fluke, koda is larger than both her parents)
and youre not going to see a change in height over 3 weeks at her age, her growth is slowing and she might get a little bit taller by the time shes 1 or 2, but nothing substantial.
why do you want her to be bigger than she is so much?:P id count your blessings, dutch shepherds are a lot of dog, and a lot of dutch shepherd is... not for the faint of heart

She just look so, so tiny. People think she is 5 or 6 months old. She has the body of a German Shepherd, but with her size looks like a miniature, brindle GSD.

I think it's odd that she would be so much smaller than her male siblings. Substantially so. I'm hoping to hear from people who adopted her female litter mates, as I'm interested in how they are shaping up.

She has not actually gained any height since she left for the board and train- so it's been about 6 weeks. Vet seems to think another growth spurt may happen. I'm not holding my breath.

And when she's feeling well, she's definitely a lot of dog. Though from what I've read here, it seems the GSD may be tempering some of the DS. She can definitely chill. Especially on a warm day (which we've had alot of lately).

Right now my primary concern is getting this digestion thing fixed. I would really like her to feel better all or most of the time, and it would be nice not to worry about how many bags we'll need for one walk...