Harper is one very relaxed, super gentle, and clever little Kelpie. This one year old has been going through all his puppy stages with his loving parents on Auckland’s North Shore, wrestling their two large teenage boys to a standstill, any puppies dream life. He was however increasingly ravenous, toileting all the time and struggling to put on weight, which although common to a small degree in some pups seemed pretty extreme.

 A couple of months prior his condition had started to look poor and his stools were getting really runny. After not responding to antibiotic treatments and dietary change he was presented as a one year old patient to VetCare towards the end of May for help with his illness. In the last few days he had also started vomiting, salivating, was depressed and had gone off his food, very unusual for his normally massive appetite plus we identified significant focal pain involving his intestines.

We admitted Harper into our hospital for blood tests, sedation and x-rays of his abdomen.  While he was chemically relaxed we could palpate solid masses that definitely shouldn’t be there. X-rays showed he had a lot of trapped gas in his stomach and intestines and a few lumps of dense foreign material in his intestines. No wonder he couldn’t keep anything down, nothing of any size could pass through his partially obstructed gut. The danger signs we had identified meant we needed to rapidly prepare this trusting little dog for a laparotomy. Multiple pieces of rubber were found and removed delicately through incisions in blocked bowel that was beginning to deteriorate as blood supply reduced and toxins built up.

 While examining all of his abdominal organs, part of a thorough laparotomy, we noticed his pancreas looked very abnormal and sparse so a biopsy sample was taken of the minimal pancreatic tissue. The pieces of offending rubber were identified as an old volleyball that Harper had recently being tearing strips off. His long standing illness and climbing appetite had driven Harper to make some serious mistakes with his dining choices.

He was supported with I/V fluids, antibiotics, given a pain patch and other drugs to help him recover comfortably from the surgery. Being one tough little cookie he recovered rapidly and was up walking well that night, eating and having no more vomiting.

 The sample of formalin preserved pancreatic tissue was analysed at the pathology lab and showed this lovely little dude had a condition called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) due to the destruction of his pancreatic tissue. A blood test called TLI that we had also requested confirmed a very low level of digestive enzymes and was consistent with EPI.         

The pancreas normally produces enzymes to digest Harpers, and our food.  These enzymes include amylase to digest starches, lipases to digest fats, and trypsin and proteases to digest proteins. They are stored in inactive forms inside special granules in the pancreatic tissue and are secreted into the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine after the stomach) when ground up food begins its passage out of the stomach. Once nutrients are broken down into smaller molecules they can be absorbed down the length of the GI tract, but …without adequate production of these enzymes Harper could not break down, digest and absorb his food. Dogs with this condition typically become skinny, have especially nasty rather greasy diarrhea and often develop a dry dandruff coat.

Our loving little patient had a wee upset when he tried to eat his pain patch about 8 hours after going home and had to come back to VetCare as he went very pale and wobbly with his morphine overdose. We’d never seen that before, he really does have a dangerous palate. He recovered very quickly after going back on a drip and being warmed up though and was back to his usual happy self in no time.

As Harper’s digestion is not working we need to add pancreatic enzymes to his food.  He’s currently getting those in the form of a capsule with each of his meals. We still found it difficult to stabilize the condition of this great little Kelpie until we realised he had a complicating condition called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth which dogs with EPI are prone to. When he was put back on antibiotics his diarrhea resolved and his owners are now celebrating his solid stools! He is having blood tests to check his Vitamin B12 levels, a common side effect of having EPI and he has also started a drug that reduces the acid in his stomach to aid digestion and reduce nausea. He is on a highly digestible diet (Royal Canin Gastrointestinal)  which is very palatable, has a high energy content and top quality ingredients to promote digestive security. We are hoping that he will start putting on weight very soon. The management of EPI is for life and without enzyme supplementation all the unpleasant symptoms would recur. Most dogs will respond quickly and lead a normal life span. Despite Harper’s particular complications he is doing really well, back to swimming on those great North Shore beaches and wearing out his two human brothers.