Long story short, my dog was having lose stools for a while, so i took Osiris in for his full GI labs, internal organ function, and pancreatitis color change test. The internal organ test came back perfect, and the pancreatitis color test came back negative. When his GI blood work came back, he had a high level of folate and a high level of 50 for his TLI. The doctor was a bit confused because she said that high TLI usually means pancreatitis, but two other tests confirmed everything was normal. She suspects he has a bacterial overgrowth in his intestines which is causing his pancreas to over produce the enzymes causing the TLI to raise. So bascially, she thinks the raised TLI is secondary to the bacterial overgrowth. He is now on Z/D hypoallergenic food. Have you guys seen anything like this before? Appreciate your input!

P.S the doctor is putting him on some med, ty-something, for 6 weeks (can't remember the name because they have to special order it because it's a "compound" medication they don't keep in stock, but its to reduce the overgrowth in his intestines).

if I remember correctly Z/D should only be used for a 3 - 8 week period.  if you look at the guidelines on the back of the bag it would say something like that. Its meant to level the body so you can start introducing new foods to see what your dog is allergic to.

I'm sorry to hear that something ended up being wrong and wish you the best of luck.
maybe you could get a second opinion?

A second opinion sounds good...

Ok, I may not know what I'm talking about, but here goes...I personally had GI problems pop up last spring similar to what you describe in your dog - after thousands of dollars of tests and exams, it has been concluded that I am non-celiac gluten intolerant, allergic to beef, salmon, scallops and flounder (all flat-fish). So I am now much more of a believer in diet as a root cause of illness than I used to be. Having eliminated gluten and the other foods from my diet, my GI issues disappeared, my weight is normalizing, and best news of all, the multiple sclerosis dx is now being doubted. Bacterial overgrowth was one of the possibilities - as I understand it, poor digestion of carbohydrates can promote bacterial overgrowth. I would just want to make sure your Vet doesn't see you as a lucrative venture...

Hope you get it all sorted out.

I don't know anything about what you mentioned above, but I also have a husky who had inconsistent bowel movements (mainly loose stool). It took me a long time, but I kind of figured out that he is allergic (or at least intolerant) to chicken, and maybe fish too. I'm now feeding him Nature's Variety LID Lamb formula. And his stools are pretty good now. More good than bad!

We feed him 4 times a day as larger meals do not agree with his stomach. 1tsp of coconut oil per meal which has helped with his itchy skin. And 1 probiotic pill every morning. I have a thread for this too as I was very concerned that Gus was too skinny. He still is. He's only 45lbs, and even though he has had good bowel movements for a couple months now, he still hasn't gained much weight.

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t11273-feeding-and-weight-gain-pics

I didn't realize there were such a thing as a GI test! But I am definitely going to ask my vet about that now. He didn't seem too concerned as long as Gus wasn't losing any weight as he is still young.

Yeah, GI testing gave us more information, but less answers. All in all 4 tests cost me $500. Money is not the issue for me, making my 45lb 4 year old husky gain weight and have normal stools is. The Z/D food should rule out any allergy he might have, but i'm assuming he does not have any allergies. His skin, coat, eyes, ears are all perfect. He never itches or has rashes. The Z/D food is hydrolyzed protein so his body won't even have a chance to react to it as an allergy. I'm just hoping the meds will balance out his bacteria and his stool will firm up. Seems to me like he is just having a poor absorption of nutrients into his body. The medication that is on order is Tylosin. Never used it before but I hope it works.

he might just be intolerant to a specific ingredient, a lot of the time side effects of intolerance is lose/bloody stools.

Our vet also put Gus on Tylosin when he had giardia.  He said it's supposed to help with loose stools.  

I feel the same about Gus.  That he also has poor absorption of nutrients.  I hate it when the vets run all these tests, then just come back with more MAYBE-it's-this.  More info, but also more questions, and less answers!! At least some of our stool problems are fixed now with this new food.  But it's still kind of inconsistent.  Some days it's very normal, some days it's very soft (usually after his hike with his dogwalker), and some days it's SUPER dry!  It's pretty frustrating, but once i get back from vacation, I plan to bring him elsewhere for a second opinion.

I agree that it could possibly be an intolerance to a food ingredient. Gus was never itchy until wintertime, and i think it is just the dry air that is making him itchy. The loose stools was a constant since we brought him home until we switched him to a LID lamb formula.

He has been on almost every food on the block with different protien sources. So far salmon has been the best but I was still getting firm stools with yellowish stringy mucus. Since then the mucus has gone but the stools aren't firm. I'll update when I get the meds in his system.

I too would seriously think of finding a different vet. As you stated this is a stand in for the vet you normally saw and that doesn't mean they approach treatment the same way. This sounds like either a new vet that is used to running tests without worry of cost or one that is milking a cash cow. It just doesn't smell quite right.

I would also make sure that in the ingredients lets say he possibly has an intolerance to chicken make sure there is no chicken in the ingredients at all. youd be surprised at how often ive seen salmon dog food with the 4-5 ingredient being another meat

Sounds like Gus is inconsistent as far as retaining the stool in his colon. If its super dry its staying in there too long, and if its mushy its going through too fast. I'm a dog groomer by work so I see all kinds of different stools from all different breeds ( that I have to clean up )