Food after bout of Pancreatitis

[Kendraleigh]

Can anyone provide insight on what dog foods are good and appealing for yorkies that have just gotten over pancreatitis?

So far I've tried the Royal Canine dry and the Hills w/d wet...no luck.

I used to have him on Innova adult dry and he loved that. I really thought that food was great, but I need a high fiber, low fat food.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Ellie May]

Ellie has had pancreatitis but I homecook for her, so I'm not much help.
Canidae makes a food for seniors. That should be lower fat but I'm not sure about the fiber. Innova also makes a reduced fat formula.

[Kendraleigh]

He is such a picky eater though! He doesn't like ANY meat so chicken and rice or ground beef is not an option. What do you cook for her? I'm going to call my vet tomorrow and find out all of my options for OTC food.

Thanks for responding. When she had pancreatitis, how long did it last and when did her diarrhea finally subside? Sam isn't vomiting as of today, but still has loose stools. I want to know when to expect to be in the clear.

[Ellie May]

Actually, she threw up 8 times in one day and I pulled food and gave her PediaLyte if I remember right. She was fine the next day, so she never even saw the vet. Then a week later she had an ultrasound for something else and the specialist said she had it.

Her diet is 18% fat.
She usually gets chicken or egg.
Red meat is out for her because her liver function is questionable.
You could do fish or maybe turkey breast if you want to homecook.

[Kendraleigh]

wow that's lucky they found that b/c i can't believe how bad this can get. today is the first day he's back to himself, but he'll only eat cheerios, rice krispies, pita bread, or saltines. i really want to get him on his food that i'll be giving him from now on b/c he's getting spoiled right now.

i'll try the turkey, i know he definitely doesn't like fish. i have a vegetarian on my hands!

[nvnvgirl]

Max had pancreatitis a couple of years ago (and it was TERRIBLE and he had to spend the weekend in the hospital on IV's)...he never had diarrhea (at least not at home) but he wouldn't touch food and just kept vomitiing white frothy stuff. It was just awful!

When he got home, the vet put him on Hill's W/D and he's been on it ever since; I think he'd been on Royal Canin first (along with some Cesar's which he loved), and I think he wasn't too excited about the W/D at first, but it didn't really take him too long to get used to it. Now I give him the canned twice a day as his normal feeding and use the dry in between when he gets his "snacks"....Max is not really a picky eater at all though. And he's always wanting something to eat, so I thought it would be good for him to have SOME of the dry food, so that's why he gets a few as a 'Snack" or treat in between meals. I figured it was safer than giving him other treats, although sometimes he gets apple.

I think the main thing is to keep them away from rich or high fat foods. Things that would aggravate the pancreas or make it work harder (so anything that would require more insulin production to digest).

The W/D supposedly has more fiber in it which is supposed to make them feel fuller, but I sure don't notice that with Max...he's perpetually looking for food!

Good luck with your little one. I know how scary it is to go thru that and not know what's going on~ our episode was a true nightmare, but thank goodness, it turned out ok!

[Ladymom]

Originally Posted by Kendraleigh

wow that's lucky they found that b/c i can't believe how bad this can get. today is the first day he's back to himself, but he'll only eat cheerios, rice krispies, pita bread, or saltines. i really want to get him on his food that i'll be giving him from now on b/c he's getting spoiled right now.

i'll try the turkey, i know he definitely doesn't like fish. i have a vegetarian on my hands!

Turkey can actually trigger pancreatitis in some dogs so you want to steer clear of it. Vets see lots of emergencies on Thanksgiving when dogs get turkey leftovers. I'd stick with chicken breast or whitefish if you are going to homecook.

Natures Recipe (available at Petsmart) makes a high fiber, lowfat food that is a pretty good quality food. It's their senior lamb and rice recipe. I fed it to Lady for quite awhile until she became allergic to lamb.

Nature's Recipe Senior Lamb Meal & Rice Recipe - Food Center - PetSmart

[Kendraleigh]

Thanks for your response nvnvgirl. So right now he's taking little bits of the royal canine only if we wrap each piece in tiny bits of pita bread. As long as he's getting that nutrition I'm ok with it for now, but I know we're just spoiling him to death! He's getting cheerios and pita bread...now the little bit of dog food. He's not drinking as much as I would like on his own, but I've been giving him 1tsp dropper fulls of pedialyte mixed with water about every hour or so. I'm probably going to take him later this evening to our vet to get the fluid under his skin just to keep him really hydrated. I feel like every time I turn around though he's peeing! Did Max do that? He hasn't had any diarrhea since 1-2am and I don't know if that's b/c his diet is so bland and he's getting constipated now or if he's just slowly recovering and it's starting to form. Let's hope that's the case!

My vet is putting together a list of other dog foods I can try for this little guy. Thank you again for your help! I'm glad to hear Max is doing well!

[Kendraleigh]

Thank you LadyMom! We haven't tried the turkey b/c I know for sure that he won't even take it, so I'm glad you gave me that advice!

I'll have to try that food and see if he likes it...thank you so much! My vet is putting together a list for me of dog foods that he's allowed to have now. I really hope he'll like something!

[nvnvgirl]

Originally Posted by Kendraleigh

Thanks for your response nvnvgirl. So right now he's taking little bits of the royal canine only if we wrap each piece in tiny bits of pita bread. As long as he's getting that nutrition I'm ok with it for now, but I know we're just spoiling him to death! He's getting cheerios and pita bread...now the little bit of dog food. He's not drinking as much as I would like on his own, but I've been giving him 1tsp dropper fulls of pedialyte mixed with water about every hour or so. I'm probably going to take him later this evening to our vet to get the fluid under his skin just to keep him really hydrated. I feel like every time I turn around though he's peeing! Did Max do that? He hasn't had any diarrhea since 1-2am and I don't know if that's b/c his diet is so bland and he's getting constipated now or if he's just slowly recovering and it's starting to form. Let's hope that's the case!

My vet is putting together a list of other dog foods I can try for this little guy. Thank you again for your help! I'm glad to hear Max is doing well!

Kendra~ I don't remember the part about peeing all the time, but Max was about a year old when he got it and was housetrained by then. I think taking him to the vet is a good idea, just to let her/him see how he's doing and if there's anything you should or shouldn't be doing.

I do remember though, about the pooping....I was concerned b/c Max wasn't pooping like he normally did and the vet told me that I should make sure I was feeding him enough bulk that would make it be enough that he would poop. Does that make sense? B/c I was only giving him little amounts at a time, so it would take a lot longer for it to build up.
Also, the thing that I was really thrilled about when he started on the W/D is that it makes their poops more formed and solid; so when they DO poop, it's much easier to clean up plus, it helps with that anal gland issue...Max never needs his cleaned out at the groomers b/c of that.

I know that your baby is still fresh from this trauma, but at first Max wouldn't eat the dry W/D either....at first I was giving him the dry. She told me not to coddle him and that when he got hungry and realized that he wasn't going to get anything else, he'd eat. And she was right. Now, Max was overweight at the time (which was one possibility of the cause of the pancreatitis), so we didn't have to worry about him failing. And he was never THAT picky of an eater (except when it came to DOG food). Talk to your vet when you take him in and see what they have to say about that. You can always put your ear up to his belly to see if you hear bowel sounds (or use a stethoscope; there should be at least a little gurgling down there). I figure as long as I can hear them, his stomach is working and there will eventually be poop. If he didn't have any, but had bowels sounds, after awhile I'd def. talk to the vet.

Also, I don't know if they put yours on Reglan (Max came home on antibiotic and antifungal and the Reglan, which helps motility in the gut), but Max was acting very oddly, like snapping at flies (he was hallucinating I think) and when I told the vet, she said to discontinue the Reglan....so I did, and the symptoms stopped. He was on it one other time when he was having some tummy problems and I forgot he'd had that reaction to it, but he started doing it again almost immediately, so that made me remember and I stopped it and now have it written down that he shouldn't get it. Some of those stomach meds made some of my patients in the ICU hallucinate too, so I shouldn't have been so surprised. I'm just telling you this in case yours does something similar, you'll at least have a clue what it is!

Good luck with your little one; I'm sure it will all work out, but gosh, it's scary in the beginning!

[Kendraleigh]

Nvnvgirl~

I was thinking of trying to leave out the dry food (Royal Canine) and then just let him get hungry enough, but I get so nervous b/c he just started eating a couple days ago and now he's finally hungry like he used to be. I guess I'll ask my vet about that. I think the peeing is b/c I've been giving him 1tsp of pedialyte mixed with water every hour or so and normally when he's completely healthy, he doesn't drink a lot of water anyway, so I might be causing that! His belly is definitely gurgling so I know it's working in there! It's so sweet b/c I think he waits until everyone's out of the room to do his business (we have him on wee wee pads). He's been doing it just at night when it's just me (I've been sleeping on the couch with him every night b/c I can't bear to leave him alone).

He's on flagyl and pepcid. I really think the flagyl is helping with his bowels b/c they're not bloody anymore and they do seem to be forming better with each time going.

Thanks for all your information! You have no idea how reassuring it is to hear someone else went through the same thing. I mean I'm not glad to know little Max had to suffer like this, but I don't feel so lost and unsure of what to do! Thanks again!

[nvnvgirl]

Originally Posted by Kendraleigh

Nvnvgirl~

I was thinking of trying to leave out the dry food (Royal Canine) and then just let him get hungry enough, but I get so nervous b/c he just started eating a couple days ago and now he's finally hungry like he used to be. I guess I'll ask my vet about that. I think the peeing is b/c I've been giving him 1tsp of pedialyte mixed with water every hour or so and normally when he's completely healthy, he doesn't drink a lot of water anyway, so I might be causing that! His belly is definitely gurgling so I know it's working in there! It's so sweet b/c I think he waits until everyone's out of the room to do his business (we have him on wee wee pads). He's been doing it just at night when it's just me (I've been sleeping on the couch with him every night b/c I can't bear to leave him alone).

He's on flagyl and pepcid. I really think the flagyl is helping with his bowels b/c they're not bloody anymore and they do seem to be forming better with each time going.

Thanks for all your information! You have no idea how reassuring it is to hear someone else went through the same thing. I mean I'm not glad to know little Max had to suffer like this, but I don't feel so lost and unsure of what to do! Thanks again!

Kendra~ check with the vet specifically about the Royal Canin. Mine had me use the W/D dry (in fact, that's what she told me to feed til I told her he liked the canned better and now he scarfs up either one!). I think mine told me the Royal Canin was too high in something...been so long (hallelujah!) that I forget. I see that your vet is giving you a list of acceptable foods, so that's great! That way, you don't have to feel frantic if you can't get to the vet to get the Hill's. I know a lot of people here don't like Hill's foods, but Max has been doing so great on it, that I'm not going to take any chances again with his stomach. The thing I'm not too crazy about is that you can only get them at the vets' office, which is a little inconvenient sometimes.

LOL..yeah, you might be causing the pee thing, hehe....Max doesn't drink a lot of water either (at least, not noticeably). I am not a dog expert, but I know with people, if you pinch the skin on the back of the hand (or forearm) and it stays that way, they're dehydrated. I think if you pinched the skin on his belly and it returns to normal immediately, he's not dehydrated. Again, no expert here.

Pepcid is much better I think for their tummies.....Madison is on it and it's done WONDERS for him. The Flagyl should probably help clear up any of the diarrhea issues.

It sounds like he's progressing just like he should. It's amazing how they get better after being so sick, isn't it? And I think the experience is something you don't forget about~ it's really made us pretty stringent about what goes into Max (and observant about what comes out, LOL)!

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by Ladymom

Turkey can actually trigger pancreatitis in some dogs so you want to steer clear of it. Vets see lots of emergencies on Thanksgiving when dogs get turkey leftovers. I'd stick with chicken breast or whitefish if you are going to homecook.

Natures Recipe (available at Petsmart) makes a high fiber, lowfat food that is a pretty good quality food. It's their senior lamb and rice recipe. I fed it to Lady for quite awhile until she became allergic to lamb.

Nature's Recipe Senior Lamb Meal & Rice Recipe - Food Center - PetSmart

I give Ellie turkey because the breast is extremely lean (it has to be as lean as chicken breast) and it seems to be fine. I would never give dark meat though. Whatever you do, make sure you're comfortable with it.

[littlelady]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

Ellie has had pancreatitis but I homecook for her, so I'm not much help.
Canidae makes a food for seniors. That should be lower fat but I'm not sure about the fiber. Innova also makes a reduced fat formula.

When Ellie had pancreatitis how old was she and did she have abnormal blood test?

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by littlelady

When Ellie had pancreatitis how old was she and did she have abnormal blood test?

She was six and no blood was drawn at the time.