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addevo · 02-18-2010, 05:23 AM

I have a rescue yorkie, Tina, who is a retired puppy mill breeder. She was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitus when we first got her about 5 years ago. The vet prescribed 50mg metronidazole daily and a low fat diet. Pill format was out of the question, Tina is very hand shy after her years in the mill, and clamps her jaw and starts thrashing when I try to force anything into her mouth. So we get the meds in a capsule and sprinkle it on her food. The vet suggested a prescription dry food that Tina absolutely refused to touch. She's a very fussy eater, which makes it that much harder to get her meds down her.

So we researched home cooked diets, and we've had her on a homecooked chicken and rice diet, with calcium and vitamin supplements since then, and she has been fairly stable. However, she still has occasional (once every 12 to 18 months) bouts of vomiting quickly followed by days at the vet on IV fluids to get her hydrated again. She had her last flare up about 7 months ago. The vet again suggested prescription dry food and gave us 3 different brands, each in a dry and canned formula. After extensive taste testing, Tina actually liked Purina EN Gastroenteritus formula dry food. So I've been wetting it with warm water, sprinkle her meds on it and giving her that twice daily. I know that these prescription foods can be very low quality but I hate to see Tina suffer with painful bouts of pancreatitus, so just "held my nose" and gave it to her.

A couple of days ago, I gave Tina a bath and blow dry on low heat. I was combing her and noticed that her skin has gotten very flakey. It was like that when we first got her, and the vet said it was due to poor nutrition.

So I'm back to square one. Give her crappy food and no pancreatitus, or high quality food and endure occasional flare ups? But then I had another idea.

We've switched our other dog to raw diet (Primal) about a year ago, and he's thriving on it.

I haven't been able to find anything about feeding raw diet with pancreatitus. Would it be too hard for her to digest? Is it too high in fat? Have any of you tried it?

Is there another option for diet for chronic pancreatitus?

02-18-2010, 05:23 AM	#1
addevo Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Alexandria, VA, USA (near Washington, DC) Posts: 312	Raw diet ok with pancreatitus? I have a rescue yorkie, Tina, who is a retired puppy mill breeder. She was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitus when we first got her about 5 years ago. The vet prescribed 50mg metronidazole daily and a low fat diet. Pill format was out of the question, Tina is very hand shy after her years in the mill, and clamps her jaw and starts thrashing when I try to force anything into her mouth. So we get the meds in a capsule and sprinkle it on her food. The vet suggested a prescription dry food that Tina absolutely refused to touch. She's a very fussy eater, which makes it that much harder to get her meds down her. So we researched home cooked diets, and we've had her on a homecooked chicken and rice diet, with calcium and vitamin supplements since then, and she has been fairly stable. However, she still has occasional (once every 12 to 18 months) bouts of vomiting quickly followed by days at the vet on IV fluids to get her hydrated again. She had her last flare up about 7 months ago. The vet again suggested prescription dry food and gave us 3 different brands, each in a dry and canned formula. After extensive taste testing, Tina actually liked Purina EN Gastroenteritus formula dry food. So I've been wetting it with warm water, sprinkle her meds on it and giving her that twice daily. I know that these prescription foods can be very low quality but I hate to see Tina suffer with painful bouts of pancreatitus, so just "held my nose" and gave it to her. A couple of days ago, I gave Tina a bath and blow dry on low heat. I was combing her and noticed that her skin has gotten very flakey. It was like that when we first got her, and the vet said it was due to poor nutrition. So I'm back to square one. Give her crappy food and no pancreatitus, or high quality food and endure occasional flare ups? But then I had another idea. We've switched our other dog to raw diet (Primal) about a year ago, and he's thriving on it. I haven't been able to find anything about feeding raw diet with pancreatitus. Would it be too hard for her to digest? Is it too high in fat? Have any of you tried it? Is there another option for diet for chronic pancreatitus?