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Originally Posted by Maximo  This episode changes his entire system and requires a complete and permanent lifestyle change relative to food or anything that goes in the mouth. |
I agree with Nancy.
Really like this post. Sums it up perfectly. His stomach should be no different after he heals a bit. It's a question of whether pancreatic enzymes are breaking down his food properly or trying to break down the pancreas itself. So even if there is no vomiting or diarrhea, there is still a chance that something is going on.
A little bit of "fear" is okay with pancreatitis. It's better than not being worried and so not being strict. Honestly, if the smallest little pea sized piece of a forbidden food is eaten, it can theoretically put him back in the hospital. Very life threatening in some cases... Ellie has had it a couple times and the last one was somewhat hard on her. That is the week that I fed some white meat chicken and then some white potato. Went off a couple hours after the potato. No idea what the trigger was, but she sure as heck doesn't get either one of those things anymore! That's how crazy it can get.
Some have one case and are just fine. They do fine on their regular food as long as owners are careful with treats. Others can't go back to their regular food (vet doesn't want them to or they can't tolerate it). Fifteen % fat isn't high. Might be a little high for some vets' liking. Ellie went back on 18% fat after an episode. She did okay as far as the pancreas went, but when changing whatever ingredient around (forget what I did), it didn't help matters. I'd hesitate to stick with 18% if I was in the same situation again. I'd also hesitate to stick with 15%. But bc this is the first time, the vet may be okay with it.
Rx diets don't work for all and pups can have flare up on them also, but they are usually a good idea. I'd go to rx or possibly homecooked food for pancreatitis before all else. That's JMO.
I regret all the crap that Ellie used to get too. Can't change it now though.
There are canned foods that he can probably have and you can bake treats for them, but they will mostly be rx.
For Ellie's pancreas and intestines (it's different because we are concurrently dealing with intestines and food allergies), the only thing that is working now is HA. Not even homecooked was cutting it. In all honestly, I don't like this food for a few reasons (I do like the lack of animal fat coating it though!), but it works for her and that's good enough for me. Not recommending this food at all, but just shows sometimes only one single foods seems to work. Other times several foods could work.