Pancreatitis

[anetka21]

Hi,
I have two 6 year old yorkie girls - Maya and Lily. Maya has developed a little bit of diarrhea over a period of 7 days which wasn't severe until the past two days. She would do about 4-5 times at night and maybe up to 10 times a day with very little coming out. First it was brown liquid and over the last day it turned into dark black color and light bloody mucus. This morning at 3:30am she had something I have never seen in my life - Explosive, projectile diarrhea!!! She was standing not moving and it was spraying everywhere - it's even hard to explain. She also started vomiting this morning. We took her to the vet who ran all the blood work and she stated she was very dehydrated, had no parasites in stool, but had blood in the stool, and that it was acute pancreatitis but she said it was mild... To me it was severe!!! Poor baby was in so much pain. Anyways, they gave her IV fluids, a shot to control vomiting and diarrhea for 24 hours, sent us home with Antibiotic, Probiotic, Vomiting medication, and another medication that is supposed to help rebuild the lining of the intestines. I gave her the antibiotic and the other medication for lining and she ate a little bit of blend cooked rice and chicken breast. Boy did she have an appetite but I only gave her small portion around 1pm and again about 5pm. She hasn't had a diarrhea episode since 11am so I'm hoping the medication has started working.

Has any one had this happen to their little babies before? I am very worried about this. I google it but it doesn't say much about how long this will last, is this life threatening, etc. My second one - Lily is starting to get some diarrhea symptoms and since they are sisters from the same litter they tend to have the same issues at the same time. Please, if anyone can share their story and give me pointers I would truly appreciate. I'm 5 weeks pregnant and the shock and scare she put me through last night made me very worried and stressed. I'm scared something worse will happen to her.

[Cherie6446]

Pancreatatis can be fatal. My Zoey has had it three times - twice from too high fat % in her food and the third time just happened for no reason. Now she is on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat canned and kibble. She will be on this for the rest of her life. My first yorkie died from complications of pancreatatis. Many yorkies get this terrible disease. You must not let the diarrhea go on for days. Now, if Zoey throws up thick white foam or has smelly diarrhea- off to the vet she goes.

[anetka21]

Oh Cherie6446 - I'm so sorry you lost a doggie to this awful disease I hope Zoey is going to be ok.

My dogs always ate canned food and not dried food cause they are so fussy. I fed them Newman's Own Organic Beef and Liver, or only Beef depending on what they wanted specific day. But they did eat definitely too many treats. I have to make changes and serious once to their diet. For now I am going to try cooked chicken with rice to concentrate on getting them back to normal which hopefully will happen soon. I don't understand food labels for dogs and never know what's the best possible low fat food. My vet is not very helpful with that either she just says control the diet. Easy to say !

How long do these attacks usually last? Do you know how long it will take them to recover?

[Cherie6446]

You can read the label for the fat content. My vet said it should not be over 5% fat. The second bout of P happened because I was giving her treats that were 24% fat! I can't believe I was so stupid. Her rx food is 1% fat. I have to feed her three times per day because the food is not filling. She is always hungry, poor thing. She gets a few Cherrios as treats per vet's instructions.

[anetka21]

I am so mad at myself for feeding them these awful treats. Don't even get me started - I have horrible remorse right now making me cry I thought the food was good too, even though it says on it 3.5% fat it's still really bad for them. I really need to look into the food you are talking about but it looks like it's vet prescribed - is that correct? I just can't figure out how I am going to get them to eat their dry food when they NEVER wanted to touch it!

[ladyjane]

If both girls have the same symptoms it is doubtful this is pancreatitis. Sometimes the amylase and lipase in the blood work will be elevated and pancreatitis is assumed. No harm done because the treatment is the same for most of the GI issues of vomiting and diarrhea. This may be a viral thing...or bad treats. Some dog treats and foods have been recalled due to salmonella....be careful because that can also affect you! You definitely don't need that if you are pregnant!

What I will say is please do not let your pups have such symptoms for so long....you really need to realize how quickly a pup can get dehydrated and die.

As for treats...they simply don't need them and it is not that hard. You just have to know to say NO. If you must give them something, make it a tiny piece of sweet potato or a green bean...or even a piece of their dog food. They don't know the difference.

If your vet thinks they need a low fat food, then have her get an RX food for them. Royal Canin Low Fat is a good food. I have a pup who has a history of pancreatitis and he loves Purina EN.

Good luck and if Lily keeps up with the diarrhea, get her in to the vet asap!

[anetka21]

Thank You LadyJane. My pups tend to vomit and have a diarrhea that goes away within few days on it's own all the time. I didn't think it was very serious for the first few days because they were normal, eating normally, drinking water, and just playing. Lily just started having diarrhea today but I am splitting the medication between both of them and will call the doc tomorrow to give me more doses. I told my vet that I have a feeling my other one will be the same and the minute I walked into the house she started getting worse. It's like twins!!!

I definitely am ordering some of food right now. I am going to have to be strong on these treats!!!!

I am a little worried about the bacteria but wouldn't it be too extreme to see blood in stool if it was salmonella? Please forgive my un-education in this topic as I never in my life had to deal with this virus.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by anetka21

Thank You LadyJane. My pups tend to vomit and have a diarrhea that goes away within few days on it's own all the time. I didn't think it was very serious for the first few days because they were normal, eating normally, drinking water, and just playing. Lily just started having diarrhea today but I am splitting the medication between both of them and will call the doc tomorrow to give me more doses. I told my vet that I have a feeling my other one will be the same and the minute I walked into the house she started getting worse. It's like twins!!!

I definitely am ordering some of food right now. I am going to have to be strong on these treats!!!!

I am a little worried about the bacteria but wouldn't it be too extreme to see blood in stool if it was salmonella? Please forgive my un-education in this topic as I never in my life had to deal with this virus.

Actually you would see blood in the stool with salmonella. I doubt it IS salmonella, but it could be a possibility. Just be super cautious in cleaning up...which I am sure you are anyway! I only shared that because you really do have to be careful with foods and treats. The most important thing in picking a dog food is actually not the ingredients (not that they are not important); it is the company and how they handle the foods and package them! Most of the recalls are due to poor quality control. I stick with companies that have a proven track record...for me it is Hill's Science Diet, Purina and Royal Canin. There are some others that people on here have had success with. Always a good idea to look up the company and see how many recalls they have had...you can google their name and FDA recalls and find out!

Good luck with the girls. Please keep us posted!

[anetka21]

Thank you so much. I definitely will keep you posted!
I did order the Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Low Fat LF Dry Dog Food because that's the company they have ate from before and loved it but when they got fussy we switched them around to see which food they would like best.

I wear gloves when I clean up after them and I was them with gloves too. I know I need to protect myself and hopefully they will get better soon.

[capt_noonie]

Your poor dogs! I hope they are feeling better soon. I agree with Ladyjane, you shouldn't let them go that long with diarrhea. I'm thinking the original food you were feeding them wasn't really agreeing with them since you said they sometimes have diarrhea for a few days them goes away. It's not healthy to have watery or loose stools. Their poop should always be small, firm, and not too smelly.

If it was pancreatitis, it def can be fatal and it's a very painful condition, and if had once, whatever the trigger is, can trigger again next time with much less. Uni has had it twice. Though she is not on rx food, but she is on a lower fat kibble. A friend of mine's yorkie had it a few months ago and almost didn't make it. She's on rx food now for life. I actually had it late last year. Though it was from alcohol, and dogs don't drink alcohol. It was seriously the most painful thing I ever experienced. I was in ICU for over 4 weeks, so it just astonished me that dogs are usually treated "outpatient" and sent home. I feel SO bad I let Uni go through it twice after experiencing it myself! I'm sure she is still in a lot of pain if it is pancreatitis. I'm surprised she wanted to eat too. That's a good sign.

Just be vigilant about the treats. You can most definitely give veggies or fruits as treats. We hardly ever have real dog treats here at home. If we do, it's either a free sample or a gift from a friend. We never buy treats. Ours love tomato, watermelon, Korean pears (their favorite!), lettuce ribs, green beans, carrots, etc. Make sure you wash and peel all raw veggies you give them. Like the cucumber scare a few months ago. The love cukes too, but i make sure I wash and peel.