[Ellie May]

I guess if they are getting enough out of his leg, that is fine. There are some challenges with taking it that way in small dogs because their veins collapse. So most go for the larger vein (jugular). Nearly all blood draws on all sized pups are taken from the neck here, so was just kinda curious..

There is a link somewhere here about what makes lipase go up. It's not just the pancreas, but after acute pancreatitis, that is highly likely. You can Google "dog lipase" to see what you get. I think Cornell has some info on it.

If it doesn't go down over time or if it does go down but the cPL stays up, I'd assume that's how a chronic issue is diagnosed. You don't always have continuous symptoms with a chronic problem.

It has only been 10 days though, so his pancreas is probably just still angry. And I'd trust the outside lab's reading much more.

Yup, baseline bloods on all pups so you can compare later. So you'll know for the next pup you get.. Ellie hadn't had bloods til like age 5! Oops.

All animal by-product chews are going to be the same story. No reason to risk it with that much protein and fat content is variable. You don't want him to be getting a bacterial infection that sets off the intestines and makes things angry in there. So they are all best avoided in his case.

You will be able to find something he can have. I'd talk to the vet about it. Lots of people like the CET Chews. They tend to be good for teeth. But they do seem like a choking hazard. Not something I give Rylee. Nylabone Flexibles and Gumabones are what we're going to start using for him to see how it works. I like that they are soft enough for his teeth, but large pieces won't come off (unless your pup proves to be a very powerful chew). I wouldn't give him anything except he has taken to licking and trying to chews up carpet fibers - and he tries to chew my hair...sooooooo, he wins this one.