Low Fat Food And Treats After Pancreatitis

[Guest peggy]

My 10 1/2 year old grey, Peggy, recently suffered a severe bout of pancreatitis. After a 4 night hospitalization, she has been home from the vet for a little over a week now and seems to be doing great! (Thank goodness!) The vet told us to begin transitioning her off the Rx diet and back onto her old food.

 

Her "old food" is Blue Buffalo grain-free chicken recipe for seniors - b/c we used to have issues with diarrhea on the food with grains. Prior to the pancreatitis she has been doing 100% great on the Blue Buffalo grain free diet.

 

We believe the pancreatitis was linked to too many high fat 'special' treats including cheese, peanut butter and non-low fat yogurt. We foolishly didn't know that it could cause such a skinny dog such life-threatening problems, and we have since removed all of this from her diet - much to her chagrin.

 

The Blue Buffalo label says that the crude fat content is 10% MIN. Is that ok for her?

 

Would you guys suggest a different food for her?

 

Also, do you all have suggestions on low fat treats? She was getting Milk Bones, but we have learned they are high in fat and have taken them out of her diet. Right now she is getting bits of boiled chicken, but that is a rather expensive and labor intensive treat to keep up for the rest of her life, which we hope to be a very, very long time.

 

Thank you all in advance for your suggestions.

 

-Courtney and Peggy

[PrairieProf]

Beth had a bout of near pancreatitis about two years ago (her bloodwork revealed she was just under the level for acute pancreatitis) and I've fed her like a pancreatitis dog ever since.

 

I have kept her on Prescription I/D because she's done better on it than any of her previous foods, and I trust the actual feed trials and quality control/safety of Hills much more than most brands. It might be that any lower fat food would be OK (I/D is 9% fat) but I haven't wanted to mess with success, and she clearly has a touchy tummy in general. Her weight, coat, energy, poop are all great on it. No real advice on the Blue Buffalo except to follow your vet's advice. (I will say my vet hates BB, says he sees lots of animals do poorly on it.)

 

I won't feed her anything over 10% fat as a treat, and preferably lower. Our treats include low fat cottage cheese, low fat yogurt, dried sweet potato chews (Sam's Yams, I get them online), freeze-dried chicken breast and low-fat turkey jerky, and low-fat biscuits. If you look in any store, really most/many dog biscuits are under 10% fat. The one we've been using for a while is Nutro Natural Choice grain-free turkey and potato biscuits (they make other flavors too). I do give her a small portion of sardines in tomato sauce or water a few days a week for the Omega 3, but I'm very careful (and give it midday, away from other meals -- remember it is not just percentage of fat that matters but really more the total amount of fat they consume at one time). I believe it was fish oil that triggered Beth's incident.

 

Also remember, per my vet the diet for a pancreatitis dog is low fat and moderate protein -- so don't go overboard on low-fat meat treats either.

 

Anything fruit or vegetable would be fine if she likes it. Banana, apple sauce, etc. If you use a Kong, low- or non-fat Greek yogurt works really well to freeze in it instead of peanut butter (Greek yogurt being less runny than regular yogurt, so it is easier to handle for smearing), and Beth loves it.

 

She gets occasional D if she eats something yucky at the park etc., but has had no further evidence of pancreatic problems.

Edited January 21, 2013 by PrairieProf

[MerlinsMum]

Merlin has severe and chronic IBD. He can only eat I/D and Low Fat I/D diet food. He has both the kibble and the canned food.

 

These are the only treats he can eat without any problems. They are hypo-allergenic and low fat. You should be able to buy them from your vet's office.

 

 

 

I'm sorry - I couldn't find a larger image of them. They are prescription treats and compatible with the I/D diet. Merlin loves them.

Edited January 21, 2013 by MerlinsMum

[Guest OPointyDog]

High value treats at our house are kongs stuffed with a mix of pumpkin and kibble. Sometimes instead of kibble, I will mix the remnants of the bottom of a bag of dog biscuits (all that powder and broken bits - just mix them in the pumpkin!). Put in the freezer and voila! I've also used leftover plain noodles or rice. Keeps them busy for at least 30-45 minutes, though one of them has learned to throw the kong against things to loosen the kibbles faster!

[Hubcitypam]

After Poodle almost died (one hospital day then they let him come home and me take him back for more subQ fluids for two days) the woman at the expensive pet store said Natual Balance Ultra Light (light blue bag) was very good for dogs with pancreas problems. It is 8% fat. For three years Poodle has done just great on both it and Purina One Healthy weight - also 8% fat.

 

They'e not high class but Alpo Variety Snaps (used to be Liver Snaps back in the day) are only 4% fat and at the grocery store or Wal-Mart. They are his favorite treat everyday treat. He gets a tin of sardines in tomato sauce split with his brother Buddy and cousin Barkley once a week and 1/2 of a thin slice of turkey lunchmeat twice a day when he gets his insulin shot.

[Guest 2dogs4cats]

I make treats for Daisy as she has allergies, stomach issues, past pancreatitis and diabetes.

Bananas or sweet potatos

brown rice flour, and some all purpose flour

dry milk

eggs

I like making treats, so then I know exactly what is in them and no added sugar or salt.

 

ETA: My non-diabetic dog likes these treats too!

Edited January 21, 2013 by 2dogs4cats

[krissn333]

I enjoy making treats for my pups, so I use my dehydrator and make banana chips, and I take chicken breasts and slice them really thin (filet them) and then pound them with a meat tenderizer to get them even thinner. I cut them into snack-size pieces and dehydrate them. The pups love them!

 

My dogs eat grain-free, but some of their biscuits aren't grain free. They seem to do okay with them, but I like the more natural things that I can make myself.

[RedHead]

My old dog had a really severe and chronic pancreatitis attack when she was only a few years old. We tried everything, and it took a few years to figure out what worked, but after that she never had another problem again and lived a long and healthy life. Digestive enzymes, especially a pancreaitic enzyme powder can help. It really depends on your dog for what works but there are a lot of foods with a fat content of 9%-12% that are decent quality, especially if you look at the senior formulas. Here is a listing of some foods (I am not endorsing the site, but just thought it was useful that they posted fat and protein content of foods). http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/suggested-low-fat-dog-food/

 

Don't feel guilty for feeding cheese and yogurt, to be honest, I highly doubt that is what caused the pancreatitis. From what I was told, high fat foods trigger pancreatitis attacks, but don't necessarily cause it. Many dogs can recover quite well and go on eating their old food, other dogs need a more specific diet plan, but definitely be aware of keeping the fat lower. I fed a lot of fish and chicken/turkey which worked well.

[Guest peggy]

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts, opinions and insights!

[Guest trose]

Maxwell had a bad case of big D around New Years - he was on metronaidzole and bland diet but it got worse turned to dark brown water - was diagnosed with mild pancreatitus. I thought it might have been from the ground chuck too fatty even though i drained it or maybe the beef was bad as I had used some in my chili and had been a little sick. He had iv fluids a few hours on a friday and in the am on a Sat stayed on low residue diet - Iams with a little boiled chicken and some yogurt - as he got better split the iams special with his holistic lamb/rice continued with boiled chicken and some yogurt. For 3 weeks he was back to normal. I then had made a roast for 3 days he had some of that with his kibble (the greys had always had beef , chicken or turkey cooked for them with the kibble). On Thursday early am he had soft poo - went back to chicken w/ kibble and yogurt - later in day it got a little watery but by early evineing it started to look better. Friday poos were normal in am and early evening. Later that evening he had urgency to go out and the poo was watery - balance of night ok - Sat am poo was looking better but later some watery then evening lokking better again and today watery again. I had called the vet on Sat and they are doing a blood test early Monday am - must be 12 hours fasted to do. He hasn't had to go poo a lot just some smaller amounts maybe 4-5 times a day. He cant be on meds to have this blood test. He is on a very bland diet - oatmeal, boiled chicken and some yogurt. He is in good spirits seems normal except for the poo. Has anyone experience this up and down with diarreha. This is first time I has experience this - if the greys got D before it was over in a day.

[Guest 2greys2cats]

My 10 1/2 year old grey, Peggy, recently suffered a severe bout of pancreatitis. After a 4 night hospitalization, she has been home from the vet for a little over a week now and seems to be doing great! (Thank goodness!) The vet told us to begin transitioning her off the Rx diet and back onto her old food.

 

Her "old food" is Blue Buffalo grain-free chicken recipe for seniors - b/c we used to have issues with diarrhea on the food with grains. Prior to the pancreatitis she has been doing 100% great on the Blue Buffalo grain free diet.

 

We believe the pancreatitis was linked to too many high fat 'special' treats including cheese, peanut butter and non-low fat yogurt. We foolishly didn't know that it could cause such a skinny dog such life-threatening problems, and we have since removed all of this from her diet - much to her chagrin.

 

The Blue Buffalo label says that the crude fat content is 10% MIN. Is that ok for her?

 

Would you guys suggest a different food for her?

 

Also, do you all have suggestions on low fat treats? She was getting Milk Bones, but we have learned they are high in fat and have taken them out of her diet. Right now she is getting bits of boiled chicken, but that is a rather expensive and labor intensive treat to keep up for the rest of her life, which we hope to be a very, very long time.

 

Thank you all in advance for your suggestions.

 

-Courtney and Peggy

 

If she's doing well on the Blue, and it has 10% fat, I say don't rock the boat. Keep using it. We need to use low fat treats for our boy...I only use freeze dried treats, they're all natural, nothing added, so only the slight fat that naturally exists in meat is in there. We use freeze dried lamb, salmon, and chicken.

[Burpdog]

There is such a variation of what causes pancreatitis. My friend had a dobe that would get pancreatitis when she ate chicken. Jodie had mild pancreas attacks for 18 months (which is how Burpdog Biscuits got started). The lowest fat dog food I've found (that is good) is Solid Gold Holistique Blendz.

 

For treats apple chips (they come in bags like potato chips), and I think dates. I'll have to check. Rice cakes, corn cakes, I think mini bagels. I say "I think" because it's been a lot of years! Shadow had one bout that almost killed him, pulled out of it with conventional treatment and acupuncture. He was on pancreatic enzymes for around a month then off of them and never had another bout.