Our 3 year old is recovering from a bout with pancreatitis he had about 2 weeks ago. Well, he is over it . . . Yes, it was frightening and this site helped us to learn quite a bit so I am sure others will chime in. In our situation, Pfender had a 663 lipase level (from his blood work). The vet told us to give him very bland food (chicken and rice) for about 10 days, put him on an antibiotic (Baytril) and an antacid. After 10 days we returned for a follow up and thankfully his lipase level was 63. Unfortunately, once having it a Yorkie is susceptible so you ahve to watch his diet keeping it low fat. Plus they are already more inclined to kidney problems so you have to watch the protein amounts. Our vet recommende keeping his diet at about 25% protein/12% fat. We were feeding him Stella & Chewy's raw chicken patties for about a month before this happened. He liked them at first but now he can't keep them down (and they have the percentages we are looking for). So, we have been searching for the right kibble. One tip we received is to feed Senior Formula food which are typically lower in protein and fat. Some of these however seem TOO low in fat for a fairly young dog. Also, it seems that many of these have ingredient lists where the meat product is pretty low on the list.
He likes Greatlife Buffalo but it is at 14% fat; it doesn't seem to far off the 12% mark but we are scared to do it since the fat is what you watch for pancreatitis. Anyway, he didn't like Innova or Merrick. Right now he is eating Lotus Chicken Recipe Senior Formula but again, at 18% protein/8% fat, it seems rather low. So we supplement it with a little chicken breast a few times a week. But, we are still searching for the right food.
Some of the others I have heard are Whole Earth Farms, Solid Gold, and Holistic. Our vet said that its important to find the food they will eat and than stay with it.
Also, Pfender used to love bully sticks and pig's ear but never again. Now we are looking for low fat/lower protein treats, veggie based preferrably.
Good luck with this. You will see lots of success stories here. |