Note about Pancreatitis in Yorkies

[tinkysmommy]

What it is:

pancreatitis is where digestive enzymes are released early (in the pancreas) as a result of too much fatty food. In other words, the pancreas is being digested.

Symptoms include:

lethargy
nausea
diarrhea
abnormal eating/drinking habits
panting in room temperature (72 degree) environments

What you need to do:

if you suspect pancreatitis, it's relatively common in Yorkies. Ask your vet to check the pancreas area for swelling. If you feel concerned, ask for bloodwork to be done.
You also need to immediately cut back on common fatty foods such as cheese.

[gracielove]

Yes, Pancreatitis can be deadly, especially to a small dog. It is most often brought on by the dog eating something fatty but can be brought on by other factors. Vets often have an increase of cases during holidays when people feed more scraps to their pets than usual.

Don't wait if your dog has been vomiting or having diarrhea. A simple blood test can diagnose the problem. If not treated promptly a dog can go down hill fast.

[tinkysmommy]

The good thing is, my Yorkie is a mix (probably Australian terrier), so she was OK. If you suspect your Yorkie has pancreatitis, take your Yorkie to the vet ASAP.

[Teegy]

All too familiar with this evil disease.
I switched to a holistic vet to deal with this.
They gave me a product called Pro-Gut to increase the healthy flora in his digestive system, Curcugen by Genestra, it's from the turmeric root. Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory/antimicrobial and helps the pancreas heal, along with a digestive enzyme to help in breaking down the food to rest the pancreas.

I recommend feeding a natural gentle protein diet of cooked chicken or turkey in plain cold/room temp chicken or turkey water. Mix in curcugen as well as a digestive enzyme, I used AOR DPPzyme and a probiotic I used Genestra HMF pre/pro.

Remember your dogs system is under stress, giving them something that their body naturally cannot digest, when it's in an unhealthy place, isn't going to help it.
I switched to a holistic vet at this point and returned the canned royal canin food to my old vet with a no thanks.
I now feed 100% raw, whether it be ground with organ and green tripe or prey model whole pieces.
I vary my proteins regularly to allow my dogs a variety of vitamins and minerals available in different meats.
Lamb/Rabbit/Pork/Beef/Turkey/Duck are my usual meats of choice, with bones and cartlidge.
My wee fella is happy and healthy

[Cherie6446]

Zoey has had 2 attacks of pancreatitis in two years. The last one was a few months ago. She had been on raw food for nearly four years with no problems. Now she is on that junky Royal Canin Gastro. Her breath smells. Her eyes have tear stains and she licks her feet. Her vet said that the raw fat content was too high for her. It was not the food that caused this last episode (IMO) but the treats that were high in fat - 24% for each little cookie and she was getting these several times per day. My question is - I would love to put her back on raw but I am afraid that she will have another bout with pancreatitis and I would be very embarrassed to have gone against the vets advise. Any suggestions?

[tinkysmommy]

Don't put her back on cookies, but if she was on raw with no issues, go back to it. If she feels better with raw food, I'd do it. Just double check all food on their fat content and no treats. I hope Zoey feels better.

[Cherie6446]

I found no fat treats and she actually likes them. I just don't know what is considered too high fat content for dogs prone to pancreatitis. Maybe I should find a nutritionist.

[Teegy]

Put her back I can PM you the same thing I had my friend do with her yorkie recently who has become incredibly ill from royal canin

[Teegy]

Originally Posted by Cherie6446

I found no fat treats and she actually likes them. I just don't know what is considered too high fat content for dogs prone to pancreatitis. Maybe I should find a nutritionist.

Teegy eats rabbit pork lamb duck turkey and beef. He gets only dehydrated or freeze dried organ or fish as treats. I think the first job is to get them healthy and their immune system functioning properly again as naturally as possible as chemicals and pharmaceuticals only put more stress on already damaged organs

[IDPiper]

From what I have read the fat content should be no higher than 5% and the protein level should be no higher than 18%. Of course this info was obtained on the web so no idea as to its accuracy. I know that Darwin's just created a RX raw food but you have to have a prescription to order it. Maybe you could show the info to your vet and see what they say about it. My vet is very against raw food period but Piper has done so well on it that I'm going to continue feeding raw but on a side note, she has never had any pancreas issues.

[xFoxyx]

My first sign with Presley of pancreatitis was coming home and opening the laundry room door to a floor full of blood. We had no clue before then...he was very normal. But, he was being fed Eukanuba food and being fed from the table. I wish the internet has been around when he was younger. It probably was, but we didn't have a computer. He lived with it for 10 years. Sporadically having flare ups. But, nothing like the first time. I am so grateful for this site....I have learned so much for my new baby.

[Cherie6446]

Originally Posted by IDPiper

From what I have read the fat content should be no higher than 5% and the protein level should be no higher than 18%. Of course this info was obtained on the web so no idea as to its accuracy. I know that Darwin's just created a RX raw food but you have to have a prescription to order it. Maybe you could show the info to your vet and see what they say about it. My vet is very against raw food period but Piper has done so well on it that I'm going to continue feeding raw but on a side note, she has never had any pancreas issues.

My vet said the same as you wrote - no higher than 5% fat and Natures Variety beef is 15%. If I could find raw with 5% or less I would try it.

[gracielove]

Originally Posted by Cherie6446

Zoey has had 2 attacks of pancreatitis in two years. The last one was a few months ago. She had been on raw food for nearly four years with no problems. Now she is on that junky Royal Canin Gastro. Her breath smells. Her eyes have tear stains and she licks her feet. Her vet said that the raw fat content was too high for her. It was not the food that caused this last episode (IMO) but the treats that were high in fat - 24% for each little cookie and she was getting these several times per day. My question is - I would love to put her back on raw but I am afraid that she will have another bout with pancreatitis and I would be very embarrassed to have gone against the vets advise. Any suggestions?

If you are quite sure that it was the treats then get her a good quality freeze dried raw treat instead on any of the typical treats found on grocery store and department store shelves.
Make sure the raw you are feeding is from lean cuts of meat. We use Stella & Chewy's brand and we use both the frozen and the raw. They use grass fed livestock as their meat source. Grass fed animals are not force fed GMO feeds to fatten them up and are not injected with hormones, antibiotics, or steroids. There may be other brands out there that use grass fed livestock but I'm not sure who they are. Make sure you do your research.
I don't blame you for not wanting to feed the stuff your vet gave you.

[IDPiper]

Originally Posted by gracielove

If you are quite sure that it was the treats then get her a good quality freeze dried raw treat instead on any of the typical treats found on grocery store and department store shelves.
Make sure the raw you are feeding is from lean cuts of meat. We use Stella & Chewy's brand and we use both the frozen and the raw. They use grass fed livestock as their meat source. Grass fed animals are not force fed GMO feeds to fatten them up and are not injected with hormones, antibiotics, or steroids. There may be other brands out there that use grass fed livestock but I'm not sure who they are. Make sure you do your research.
I don't blame you for not wanting to feed the stuff your vet gave you.

I buy Piper the Purebites freeze dried liver treats and she absolutely goes crazy for them! I feed Darwin's premade raw and I know that the Integrative LS Formula that they just created (available by RX only) was at 4% with an 11% protein, I think!!

[Cherie6446]

The first time Zoey had pancreatitis I had switched from Natures Variety to Stella
And Chewys freeze dried raw. I had been feeding that for about 3 weeks when she got sick. The freeze dried was high in fat but I was told that after rehydrating it thr fat content would be reduced. Guess not.