Pancreatitis-need advice from those with experience

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by HShanks

Thanks so much for the info. OMG, a relapse and an added bacterial infection would be enough to send me over the edge. I worry so much for our babies since they can't verbally tell us what is going on. Glad to hear your little on is recovered.

I will stop the I/D ASAP. I have only given her about a tbsp of it total for the past 2 days. I have been feeding a bland diet of boiled chicken breast, diluted water from the chicken that I boiled, and white rice. I will speak to my vet about the Z/D. I did look it up on the Hills website and the ingredients sound exactly like what we are looking for.

I appreciate each of you taking the time to respond. I want to get a handle on this right away. I have barely been eating or sleeping since she got sick. It is so stressful when our furbabies aren't feeling well.

She seems to be doing a little better this evening. We went on an afternoon walk and she had a small bloody diarrhea with a few more spots of jelly like blood tinged stool when we got home, but no vomitting. She has not had any other diarrhea since 2 PM. Fed her a bit of white rice and 2 bites of chicken breast around 5 PM. It is now 9 PM. She has been napping on the couch for the past several hours. Hoping that was the last of the diarrhea but my gut tells me that she may have a few more episodes as this seems to be a slow healing process.

Please keep her in your prayers.

please do not exercise her pancreatitis is very painful and her body is trying to recover and i would not exercise until she is 100% as that disease takes alot out of their body and she needs to just rest until she is better

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by dwerten

please do not exercise her pancreatitis is very painful and her body is trying to recover and i would not exercise until she is 100% as that disease takes alot out of their body and she needs to just rest until she is better

.....I cannot stress enough how serious pancreatitis is. I probably sound like a parrot repeating myself, but this is something I have had a lot of experience with and I know how quickly these little ones can go downhill.

Aside from fluids, fluids, fluids they do need rest! That is another great reason for them to be hospitalized. When they are acutely ill, they honestly rarely are affected by short term hospitalization. I don't like leaving my own pups or my fosters at a vet, but sometimes it is for their own good.

[HShanks]

I know she needs the rest but she has been begging to get outside. She seemed so depressed being stuck inside and the walk defintely helped to cheer her spirits. I in no way "exercised" her. We walked 1/2 a block and came right back home. I figured a short walk was way better than her patroling the neighborhood from the back of the couch barking at everything that passed her way and jumping up and down for hours at a time. After her walk she was much happier and healthier acting.

If I thought in any way, shape or form that the walk was too much we would not have taken on step off of the front porch.

[HShanks]

Once again for those of you dealing with pancreatitis please follow YOUR vets plan of care.

Good news to report as well! It is a little after 2 AM and she just had her first formed stool. It was still a little soft and gelatinous but there were only a few tiny specs of blood in it. No vomitting since Thursday night. She seems to be on her way to recovery.

Thanks for all the continuing prayers.

[HShanks]

It is almost 9 AM and Abbie seems to be doing even better this morning.

After reading the above posts and others experiences with pancreatitis I have decided that we will not be going on a walk again until she is 100%. Even though she loved her walk yesterday I realize that she needs to give her body time to recover. She tried to play "keep away" with my husband this morning but I stressed to him that she needed to rest. My husband understands this but it is hard to make Abbie understand

I'm glad to see her up and wagging her cute little nub. No diarrhea since yesterday at 2 PM and still no vomitting. The flagyl and bland diet seem to be doing their job. Last night just before she had her soft stool her little belly was making gaseous/churning noises. They stopped after she went to the bathroom but I can still tell her tummy is a little sore and I'm hoping this will subside soon. I am still supplementing her water intake just to be sure she doesn't dehydrate. Her skin turgor is good, gums are pink and glossy, she is urinating normally, and her cute little black nose is nice and moist

I hope that by keeping a minute by minute play of her condition I am able to help others if they are ever in this situation. I am posting a photo of her Day 1 gelatinous bloody stool (one of the hallmark signs of pancreatitis) versus her soft formed Day 3 stool from last night. When I was in nursing school our instructors used to tell us, "It's all about the poo!" Boy were they ever right!

Day One
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/pic...ictureid=80492

Day Three (after Flagyl and bland diet)
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/pic...ictureid=80493

**Wow, that first picture is scary. I can't believe that came out of my little one**

[dwerten]

that is so wild as dexter never had any diarrhea only violent vomitting

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by dwerten

that is so wild as dexter never had any diarrhea only violent vomitting

My George has had diarrhea, but not like that. It was horrible constant vomiting....and some diarrhea. But not bloody globs.
The fact that Metronidazole was RX'd leads me to think the vet thought something else was going on. ......
???

[dwerten]

what was the cpli number? I just pulled my boys cpli test from this year as i have it tested when he has blood work along with tli since having pancreatitis

per our internal medicine specialist the cpli can be elevated in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease and since your girl is acting so normal as mine was deathly ill with this I am thinking it may not be pancreatitis as well and may be more ibd or colitis from the look of that poop and not acting so sick.

also was anything on the cbc off?

[HShanks]

LadyJane, can you please explain further? I thought that Flagyl was a common antibiotic for GI upset in dogs. The CPL test was positive as well as elevated amylase and lipase from the CBC. Electrolytes were normal. I have often wondered (the past few days) if she isn't suffering from IBS. Any thoughts on this?

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by HShanks

LadyJane, can you please explain further? I thought that Flagyl was a common antibiotic for GI upset in dogs. The CPL test was positive as well as elevated amylase and lipase from the CBC. Electrolytes were normal. I have often wondered (the past few days) if she isn't suffering from IBS. Any thoughts on this?

i think more ibd or colitis possible ibs - do you have the exact numbers as i have the values for pancreatitis and that cpli would have to be really high

metronidazole is a gi antibiotc and they can have bacteria infections with pancreatitis as the pancreas gets toxic

[HShanks]

Dwerten, I did not see your above post before I replied. Looks like we both suspect the same thing.

I don't have her numbers. I was so thankful to get a dx that I didn't even ask for a copy of the results. Office is closed today but I will get copies in the AM. I do know that the vet said the amylase and lipase were "off the charts" and consistent with pancreatitis. Would this be the case with IBS or colitis? Also, she did have a few sporadic episodes of white foamy vomit earlier in the week but nothing like others are describing when their little one had pancreatitis. Hmm, now this has really got me thinking.

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by HShanks

Dwerten, I did not see your above post before I replied. Looks like we both suspect the same thing.

I don't have her numbers. I was so thankful to get a dx that I didn't even ask for a copy of the results. Office is closed today but I will get copies in the AM. I do know that the vet said the amylase and lipase were "off the charts" and consistent with pancreatitis. Would this be the case with IBS or colitis? Also, she did have a few sporadic episodes of white foamy vomit earlier in the week but nothing like others are describing when their little one had pancreatitis. Hmm, now this has really got me thinking.

oh trust me when they have this the vomitting is horrendous and they cannot lay down as they are in so much pain tossing and turning doing prayer position. I just dealt with him vomitting this week when dex vomits it takes forever for him to stop scared me to death as had horrible flash backs but he was not tossing and turning so we made it through it. Amylase and lipase can also be off due to ibd as well per our internal medicine specialist as well as the cpli so she said some dogs will test high on the cpli but not have all the symptoms of pancreatitis and that is ibd. She is doing a study on pancreatitis right now. I think the vomitting would have been alot worse but maybe she had a mild case of it which mine had a severe so that could be the difference.

what did you feed the 24 hrs prior to this? what percentage of fat content and protein in dog food?

[HShanks]

Dwerten, seems like I remember the vet saying her cpli was over 400. I have no idea is this number correlates with the cpli results. Does this sound possible?

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by HShanks

Dwerten, seems like I remember the vet saying her cpli was over 400. I have no idea is this number correlates with the cpli results. Does this sound possible?

if over 400 per the cpli values that is pancreatitis

[Sofee]

My 4 1/2 year old female was diagnosed in September, after an ultra sound.
She is on Science Diet, store bought, no other food, she is doing well so far.
You can search the internet for the correct percentage of fat.
It is trial and error.
I wish you and your little one the best.