Yikes. These are bad ideas for a dog w/ pancreatitis!!!

Why would a treat that is low in fat, and without much protein, trigger pancreatitis?

I believe pig ears are high in fat? I think Brit would be better off with either Nylabones are perhaps Himalayan chews...that are low in fat.

It is not known all things that can trigger pancreatitis.

A pig's ear is not fat - it is cartilege, just like the human ear. FYI, Himalayan chews are (very) hard cheese.

Himalayan chews are high in protein. High protein can trigger pancreatitis. A dog with a history of pancreatitis is usually given a moderate protein and lowered fat diet.

With all due respect, you said, "Yikes", and said specifically that the things I suggested would cause pancreatitis. I was trying to offer things with low fat and low protein. If you operate on the assumption that literally anything can cause pancreatitis, that would suggest you should never feed your animal anything at all.

For a frozen kong, you could also put in sweet vegetables like carrots or oatmeal, along with some chicken.

I have always read that pig ears are high in fat. Here is one vet's note on them (first paragraph he says he does not recommend them because of their fat content): Jones Natural Chews Co Recalls Pig Ear Dog Chews Because Of Possible Salmonella Health Risk

QS: Bone unnecessarily irritates intestines even in healthy dogs. Intestinal irritation needs to be avoided.

Brit, this is what "I" would do (FWIW):

If I was set on a holistic food or homecooked diet, I would contact a veterinary nutritionist asap. They would be able to advise you much better than any of us can about what chews and treats are appropriate anyway.

OR

I'd listen to the vet about feeding a major brand food (and inquire about and probably request that my dog go on RC Lowfat for maintenance). This would be even more important if it's a chronic issue (chronic would make me more likely to talk to a vet nutritionist). I would not give animal by-product chews at all. I would consider tiny pieces of lean chicken or non fatty fish. I'd give some approved vegetables. I'd avoid most fruit. I would talk to my vet or nutritionist about what non by product chews to give. I'd consider keeping some canned rx food on hand (like EN) if Kongs are important to him. I wouldn't choose a food based on fat content or protein content alone, but I'd talk to my vet or nutritionist about whether or not they feel the ingredients in said food are okay because this case definitely wasn't too mild.

Anybody that you go to and ask for a diet recommendation should have a DVM behind their name. They can interpret blood work best.

Again this is JMHO and it is what I would do if I could do everything over again with Ellie.

Don't want to give you a hard time, but this is one of my pet peeves, freezing does not kill bacteria, it slows the growth down, but as soon as you thaw it, bacteria become active and start multiplying. If done properly, freezing will kill some parasites.

By the way, here’s some information on pigs ears, guess they aren’t regulated and some do have very high fat. PetDiets

No, I did not say they could specifically cause pancreatitis. I said it was not a good idea to feed these items to a dog with pancreatitis. Yes, I said yikes because I found your advice to be alarming for Jackson. However, I think some of your ideas for treats are wonderful such as carrots or oatmeal in a kong (not pig parts or raw stuff or cream cheese) but these are not items I'd feed to a dog who is currenly experiencing unresolved pancreatitis and I would not do this for many months following the event to make sure the pancreas isn't tipped off.

As to the rest of your comments about assumptions, I do not operate on the assumption that anything can cause pancreatitis and have stated that over and over. But we are dealing with a breed predisposed to pancreatitis so being aware is a good thing. However, it is not worth the risk for a dog with a KNOWN history of pancreatitis when it is UNKNOWN all things that could tip him off. Just as a reminder, pancreatitis can become a life threatening illness and each pancreatitis event is usually more severe than the one before. I would hate to come on here some day and see that Jackson is back in the hospital with a hemorrhaging pancreas knocking on death's door for something as silly as a treat! That was a little dramatic but I take this stuff extremely seriously.

With all that said, Brit has to make the choices here and I respect that of course. I know what I would do if this was my dog, I've shared that on the thread and with Brit herself.

Boy it's a tricky balance isn't it?

I definitely don't want indirectly hurt Jackson either! :) As I said, I don't know a tremendous amount about dog nutrition. I was just trying to think of chews that are not fatty or high protein since Britster suggested he needs SOME kind of chew. Lowfat cream cheese (and other "reduced fat" cheeses) are mostly carbohydrate.

Maybe a kong with rice soaked in chicken stock would be a good bet.

My mistake on the pig's ears. They do appear to be quite fatty. I googled the nutritional value of pig's feet, and they look like a better bet.

Also, I did not mean to suggest that Jackson should immediately be showered with dozens of different chews. I wanted to suggest things that might be good to try when he is feeling better.

What about Sam's Yams for chews?

As Ellie May said in another post, potato starch is tougher than rice on the pancreas. I was advised to not feed Barney sweet potatoes during his pancreatitis recovery.

My brain hurts. :shocked7q

But I deeply appreciate all of the input in this thread. I've sincerely learned so much and I think others have, too, which is always great when others can take in information as well.

As far as the chews, Cathy you said you give Nylabones and Cuz ball. The small Cuz balls, Jackson chews open in about 5 minutes, so they are a waste of money. I've gotten him the mediums but he doesn't like 'em much -- I guess they are TOO big. The only Nylabones he enjoys are the Flexi ones (chicken flavored) but he tends to chew off the ends pretty quickly. I'm not sure what the proper time is to throw them away. It's always made me nervous, even before this incident, that he was ingested too much of the plastic they are made out of... but if the vet thinks they are safe and okay, I will give him those because he does like them. He literally needs something to chew at certain times... if I need to get work done, or just simply want to watch a movie, that's when the bully stick would be an awesome babysitter. Kind of like Rylee, he has been licking the carpet, and finding anything else around the house to chew. And I'm being realistic that living with a 3 1/2 year old, not everything is going to picked up ALL of the time so he WILL find alternatives (bad things) to chew if not provided with something he CAN.

On another note, most things that I have read over this past week, low fat cottage cheese seems to be okay for this, but don't worry -- I'm not going to go giving him a bunch of cottage cheese or anything. But it's hard to wrap my brain around understanding all the conflicting views from certified professionals.

I also really enjoy our lifestyle. He is an active dog and I try to be as active as possible. I am not going to keep him on a leash forever and I know there will be times when he eats something outside that he's not supposed to. It's guaranteed to happen. I will be as diligent as humanely possible but I know mistakes happen so I guess I will just have to deal with things as they come along. Pepcid and hyodrogen proxide are probably good things to keep around the house, I suppose... :p but I am still going to fully allow him to... be a dog, and not keep him in the bubble forever.

I also will need some kind of a motivating treat for him because I am not stopping our training, either. I highly enjoy clicker training as does he but I want him to be super motivated, too. We were in the process of more complex tricks (like doing a handstand, and we had just learned backwards circles around my legs, etc) and he won't be that enthused to do these kinds of things for a piece of kibble, that's just the truth. I'm hoping this is where the chicken will come in.

But basically, I understand that this is going to be a lifestyle change in regards to his diet. And believe me when I say I am going to be super paranoid and strict about what goes in his little mouth but I also don't want to live in fear every single day and I have faith that we can find a happy balance in regards to his diet and what works for him.

Brit, a handstand???? No. Way.

Jackson won't touch potatoes anyways... never has and I doubt he ever will. That is one thing; if a potato chip, french frie, baked potatoe, etc fell on the floor, that he would not touch!

Lol, yep, like this:


I bet you Thor could do it!

For now, I'd stick with the Rx diet and stuff that into the kong. Going forward, rice might be ok. I think I would only do chicken stock if I made it myself and it was defatted and unsalted. Finding chicken stock w/o onions is really hard also.

Barney lasts 2 minutes w/ the Small Cuz toys too. The nylabones I use are the blue dental ones. I also buy the BBQ ribs nylabone and he likes those. I've been using these forever, even with puppies, and never had an issue but of course every dog is different.

I can understand your concerns about active lifestyle and letting your dog be a dog! I know it must sound like I am a neurotic nut, but my Barney is no couch slouch. He runs around the yard, he goes on walks, he does obedience training, and he does occasionally get into trouble doing all of those things.

I really think you would benefit from a consult with a vet nutritionist because I think they do take into account YOU and YOUR DOG and your lifestyle. For example, I work 80-90 hours a week, I cannot steam tilapia on the stove. I need to roast chicken in the oven when I'm doing other things. These are things a vet nutritionist listens to. Some things are going to be "non-negotiables" but that is for his best interest, but for the most part, there is a lot of flexibility. I wonder if you could home feed one meal and do one kibble meal -using the nutrition from the second meal for treats and training.

I know you have a lot to think about and I'm contributing to your brain hurting so I'm going to step away from your thread now and wish Jackson a swift recovery and ongoing health!

No no you really don't have to step away at all!! LOL I am so deeply appreciative of all of this help you have been giving me. I couldn't have got through this alone! I just meant it's a lot to take in but I have been more relaxed these past few days and I'm just going to make sure I speak with a trusted professional who can advise me on what to do, like I said, for our personal benefit.

I actually was wondering about doing half homecooked/half kibble. So that I can always have kibble on hand if homecooked is not available for some reason.

And 80-90hrs a week?! How do you keep up?! I admit my schedule is pretty lax right now, with me being on break from school, and having a dayjob as a dogwalker... it's pretty good money but the schedule is very flexible. So I've probably had too much time to think about all this stuff too much!!

I will take a look into all the nylabone products and choices, I am sure we will find something he can chew on eventually.

I'm going to say one last argumentative thing, and then I will be quiet.

Realisitically, how much chicken stock soaked-rice would go into a kong - 1/4 cup if you use a lot? Assuming that fully half of that is from stock, that is 2 tbps. Two tbps of the average stock is < 5 calories. At that point, onions, fat, or sodium are not material.

I don't know, maybe I am just used to tiny portions. Thor's kong could probably fit one tablespoon of treat, and he thinks the kong is too big to bother with.

NM ignore please.

How does anyone feel about Dentastix by Pedigree?

They don't last long, so might kind of defeat the purpose of a "chew" but just curious anybody's thoughts.


CRUDE PROTEIN MIN. 8.0%
CRUDE FAT MIN. 1.0%
CRUDE FIBER MAX. 4.5%
MOISTURE MAX. 18.0%
ZINC MIN. 350 MG/KG
VITAMIN C* MIN. 70 MG/KG

Rice Flour, Wheat Starch, Glycerin, Gelatin, Gum Arabic, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Poultry Flavor, Powdered Cellulose, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Salt (Iodized), Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate [source of Vitamin C], Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, D-calcium Pantothenate, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Dl-alpha Tocopherol Acetate [source of Vitamin E], Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1]), Potassium Sorbate (a Preservative), Smoke Flavor, Zinc Sulphate, Green Tea Extract, Turmeric, Iron Oxide, Copper Sulfate.

I realize it has a "min" fat and not a "max" but 1% seems darn low.

Just checking up dates. Wishing and praying for you and your sweet Jackson. I didn't offer advice because people who know so much more did that. But I wanted you to know many of us care about you Brit and Jackson.

I think a lot of this will end up being trial and error. Some owners would just choose to feed one food and very few types of safe treats without ever feeding anything considered risky. Others will want to use animal chews and such. That may or may not be wrong (I guess it depends on your opinion of it), but it is just probably more likely that these dogs will relapse.

I took the second approach with Ellie (at least once gave her something that wasn't on her list of things that were okay - without asking..). She had an episode and through trial and error I now know it's a no no. However, because her cases seem to be getting progressively worse, I am now at the point with her that I will stress over everything she eats. For "her", I know if she gets a Cheerio that falls or something, it will result in nothing more than some itchies. I know if a potato chip falls, I sure as heck better have the peroxide handy.

She is only lazy bc I'm lazy. There is no reason she can't take walks, play in the grass, play with her brother, play fetch, do trick training, etc. That said, I'm not going to let her stand there and continue to eat things out of the grass, etc. Attention diversion..

A couple weeks ago she got a piece of R's kibble. Still thankful that one didn't set her off!

Makes sense. I am not really willing to risk a lot... I'd surely prefer to be safe than sorry. I am obviously not going to purposely give him a piece of cheese, or really much of anything that I know is not approved. I'm fine with giving him minimum amounts of everything and not really risking too much. As long as some lean chicken is okay, I think we will be fine in the treat department and he will be very happy with that. He doesn't need all sorts of different treats to be happy.

Since you have been thru this many times before, I definitely will take your advice. I'd obviously prefer not to have Jackson have to suffer through a bout of this worse than the one he just had. So I'll do anything in my power to not let it happen again. I'm just saying I know for a fact he will, at some point in time, eat something in the yard. Yes, I'll be out there with him, and yes I'll try to divert his attention, but I know Jackson and how quick he is to just *gulp* swallow something. He's always been a dog that has eaten EVERYTHING, lol. Obviously. Or we probably wouldn't be in this mess right now. Luckily, he's got a got a fairly good 'leave it' and 'drop it' but sometimes... he doesn't listen.

Btw, results from the cPL will be here by (earliest) Friday and (latest) Monday.
So I guess once we get those results, we will take it from there....