Pancreatitis Treatment?

[Guest NJgrey]

Ellie hadn't been feeling well for a few days but took a turn for the worse last night. Rushed her to the e-vet and blood test confirmed pancreatitis, plus some sort of intestinal hemorrhaging (forget the medical term for it), basically pooping blood. They have her there on fluids, anti-biotics and other things to calm her system until at least Sunday. Does that sound right to those with experience with this? I assumed at least 24 hrs on IV fluids, but 48 hrs or more seemed like a lot.

 

Thanks, can't stop thinking about our little trooper

[Guest Lovemyhound]

Pancreatitis can REALLY make a pup sick. And they may really require a lot of supportive care during their recovery. It is not unreasonable to expect hospitalization at some point but not absolutely necessary every time. I would imagine however after 24 hours someone will be re-evaluating your pups condition to establish further treatment (ie- need for more IV fluids or not) Be an advocate for your doggie! Call the vet for updates and ask that question - do you think we can take her home sooner? Will she need more IV fluids? Her diet will be little to nothing to start and only the blandest of stuff (rice and boiled chicken) but being absolutely certain that she is getting enough fluids is paramount. You will have to be sure that she is actually drinking and able to keep her liquids down before coming home -- and that the diarrhea subsided enough that she's not pooping all that blood and losing all of her fluids through her bowel.

 

Pancreatitis is icky bad, but the pup's can recover from it with proper support. Try and determine if there is something in her diet which might have triggered the pancreatitis (and remove that from her diet, of course). Look at your current regular food source (kibble?) and determine whether the fat content is low enough that she will be able to go back to that food at some point.

 

Best of luck!! and, scritches for that girl Ellie!

[Hubcitypam]

Poodle had to stay one whole day at the vet for fluids and I had to take him back the next day but they did sub Q fluids. He was on boiled chicken and rice for a while and we did change to a low fat food. He likes the Dick Van Patten Natural Balance ULTRA light and I like it because it doesn't have celluose in it like most light foods.

 

Poodle's bout was so bad it affected his pancreas to where it doesn't work right so about a month after the pancreatitis his thirsty switch wouldn't turn off and we found out the pancreatitis had caused diabetes. Lots of dogs get pancreatitis and don't develop diabetes, but just something to keep an eye out for.

 

Good luck.

[Batmom]

Can imagine how worried you must be. Sending prayers pupper does well and can come home Sunday.

[Guest NJgrey]

Spoke to the vet again this afternoon, they may let her out tomorrow evening, but most likely Monday morning. She was very greyhound savvy and said she didn't want to take a chance with her, especially with so much bleeding involved. But she's doing a lot better - no vomiting, no diarrhea, she's got more pep to her. Still, poor thing. This is the first time we've had to leave her overnight at the vet, and it just sucks. Feel so bad for her, but it's the only way she was going to get better.

 

I think we brought this on by messing with her food schedule. She has been picky for the past about 2 weeks, and in restrospect obviously wasn't feeling well, and instead of just letting her miss a few meals, we were switching her kibble and food to try to tempt her to eat. I think that was finally too much for her and sent her system into shock.

 

Hubcitypam - the same thing happened to my mom's bichon. She had several bouts of pancreatitis and just a few months ago developed diabetes.

[EllenEveBaz]

Sending low-fat hugs to Miss Ellie

[Guest LoveSeniorGreys]

Panceatitis is bad news, very painful! My male has had it.

 

Just be very aware from this point on of what's in the foods & treats given. It's easy get it again & again.

[Wonder]

I never knew Passion had pancreatitis this past summer.

She's fine and we didn't do anything other than postpone her dental.

Best of luck

and you will have to keep an very close eye on what you feed her going forward

[Guest NJgrey]

Well, the Ellie is home from the e-vet tonight. She just finished her dinner of Hill's prescription food and is now napping under her blankie.

 

Regarding food going forward, we're going to keep her on this for the next couple days, but should we really just be worried about fat and fiber in future foods? Like, keep it under 10% fat, something like that, with a good amount of fiber? Do we need to watch for protein too, or is that not a concern?

[Wonder]

I have Passion on low fat kibble and I actually just asked my vet if I needed to keep her on it and he said yes.

It's from Kirkland so not from the vet.

[Hubcitypam]

Regarding food going forward, we're going to keep her on this for the next couple days, but should we really just be worried about fat and fiber in future foods? Like, keep it under 10% fat, something like that, with a good amount of fiber? Do we need to watch for protein too, or is that not a concern?

The tricky thing is most foods say "minimum fat % XXX" not maximum, but usually it is within a percent or two. What Poodle eats is 6% and evidently one of the lower ones out there. First five ingredients are brown rice, chicken, salmon meal, lamb meal and oatmeal. As stated before, I just refuse to give my dog celluose, but that's just me.

 

With his diabetes I was wandering into grain free. I went to Wellness Core reduced fat for his diabetes on advice from another board hope I could reduce his big insulin dose but his numbers didn't come down so I went back to the Natural Balance Ultra reduced calorie and he loves it and I love the cheaper price.

 

I told my vet exactly where the w/d crap sat with me.

[Guest NJgrey]

Yeah, our main vet seems to be pushing the Hill's stuff, as well as some prescription Royal Canin product. We're going to keep her on it for now because her tummy has just been through too much already, but in a few weeks I want to transition her over to some other kibble.

 

She has done excellent on Natural Balance duck and potato in the past but stopped eating it. Maybe she'll go for another formula.

 

To be honest, I'm just weary of some of the more premium stuff right now, it may be all too rich for her. I'd like to try her on the Wellness Core reduced fat, but I just don't know. If it was just a matter of loose poop, that's one thing, but if it's going to trigger something life threatening then I can't risk it any more.

[Guest argolola]

I'm so sorry your sweet pup has had pancreatitis, but so glad she's home now. Both of our pups have had it and now I cook their "canned" food. They are both on a low fat senior kibble with my special "stew" mixed in. I make a stew with a combination of some of these (it's always a bit different): beef hearts, low fat ground beef, low fat ground chicken, low fat canned chicken or tuna in water. I check everything for fat, and just boil everything. They do get a low fat dog biscuit and also some Vanilla Ensure when they are looking a bit thin. Rudy had to have watered down Ensure to get his water intake up. Also, small frequent meals seems to be best. Hydration is the key at first. Please keep us posted on how she's doing. God bless you both.

 

Oops, I forgot to finish the recipe. You add the desired meat to wheat pasta, orzo, oatmeal, noodles and/or whatever else along with spinach, low salt green beans, carrots, squash or any veggies that are ok for greyhounds.

 

p.s. we did give our pups canned I/D (Hills maybe) for the first few days or so until they could eat again. It is great for that.

Edited November 1, 2010 by argolola

[MP_the4pack]

Because of her age, when my 15 yr old vomited last week what looked to be food from several meals ago, they did blood tests and confirmed pancreatitis. She was still feeling fine enough to be home. I just made her a bland diet of elbow macaroni and boiled chicken. (I don't like giving her rice with her tieback)

 

The vets told me just supportive care is really all they can do. There is no cure.

[krissn333]

Sutra had chronic pancreatitis and had lost A TON of weight while he was sick. The main thing is to give the pancreas a rest - it has to work harder to produce the enzymes needed to digest things like meat and kibble. Mushy foods like mashed potatoes, macaroni, cottage cheese, turkey baby food, are all pretty easy to digest, so those are good choices. For Sutra, I had to put weight back on him while keeping the fat low, so he ate the things I just mentioned, plus Ensure, yogurt, and oatmeal. The vet had tried to give us some prescription diet food and he wouldn't touch it, and if he ate any of it, he puked it right back up. Their tummies just can't perform the work needed to break that stuff down when they're coming away from a bout of pancreatitis.

 

When he was much better, I put him on Solid Gold Wolf King. It still has a good amount of protein (which I wanted, to help him build his muscle back up) while keeping the fat low (I think it's 9% fat). Most grain free kibbles out there are pretty high in fat - but most have "good" fats. After Sutra ate the Solid Gold for about 6 months, I put him on TOTW Pacific Stream and he did really well with it. However, if your pup has had issues with the "richness" of grain free foods before, you might want to stick to something more like the Solid Gold.

 

Once he was better, I always was watching for signs that he might be having a flare up...if he would refuse food and act like he wasn't feeling well, I knew it was time to get him to the vet to have a CPL run