Originally Posted by Britster (Post 3610845)

Jackson did great last night. The tech came in around midnight and let him out. No vomiting or diarrhea at all since he's been there. Tech said they are going to try to give him some Purina E/N wet food (I think that's what she said) and see how he does. If he keeps it down, she is pretty sure is can come home tonight, but the vet will give me a call later.

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 3609515)

So got up Saturday morning, went to breakfast with my step-dad and sister, ran a few errands. Got home around 1PM and saw two throw up piles in the living room - thought it was odd, as Jackson rarely pukes or has any sort of accident while I'm not home. But he seemed okay and was all excited and jumping up and down because I was home.

Took him outside to potty, he was chowing down on grass. He always eats grass but he never eats THAT much so I knew his stomach was hurting. He did poop and it was solid. Came back inside, and he puked three more small times but there was nothing in it except the long pieces of grass he had just eaten. It was just clear liquid-y substance along with grass in all 3 'piles'.

He did it again, same thing, probably around 4pm. I went out to dinner with my mom around 5:30, because he was acting fine (I never leave him when he's sick usually)... came back, I'd say around 7pm. Gave him a piece of chicken (he hadn't eaten anything else all day) and 10 minutes later, he threw it back up along with grass and more just white clear 'foam' looking stuff.

Then around 1am, took him outside, he again puked but I couldn't see what it looked like as it was so dark. 4am, he again threw up just clear white liquid, just looked like spit, in two separate 'piles'. He was not 'hacking' but more, like, regurgitating.

So basically, Friday from around 3pm-10pm, we had a family cookout at my uncles house and I think he ate terrible. Scratch that, I know he ate terrible! I know for a fact that a piece of a chocolate cupcake dropped on the floor but it was not a huge amount and I ran over and before I could -- he got to it. It wasn't much so I didn't fret at the time, he had gotten a small piece of chocolate before by accident and nothing happened. I also know he had few pieces of the sausage from topping of a pizza (my aunt gave him a few pieces and then I saw and told her he had enough, in a nice way) and honestly, who knows if he grabbed anything else with all those kids there. I watched him 99% of the time but I just don't know if he was slipped any other kind of food. Plus the pool was also a salt water pool and his head got dunked all the way under and I am wondering if the salt water is causing such upset stomach as well. Do you think it's just a combination of everything?

Does this sound like a case of pancreatitis? I feel awful because, yes, I've always given Jackson bits of people food w/ no problems and I give him really small amounts (and nothing too fatty - it's usually only ever meat, or a noodle here and there, etc) but I really should tell other people not to feed him. Plus I'm sure the accidental piece of a chocolate cupcake did him in.

He has a vet appt. at 2pm. He has not puked since 5am but I did not get any sleep last night. He also has been drinking lots of water with my encouragement so I feel confident that he's been staying fairly hydrated. He has not eaten anything since Friday evening. Friday night was fine, also, and he slept the entire night with no problems until 10am.

Any advice is appreciated. Good vibes, too.

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 3610221)

Thank you so much for the advice. I really really appreciate this. I'm just freaking out a *little*. :rolleyes: But Barney sounds like he does really well.

I'm going to ask the vet tomorrow about diet, etc, but I am more and more interested in homecooking now. We'll see, I suppose.

I'll cut out canned food, too. I wonder if I'll be able to at least mix chicken in with his kibble to get him to eat. He's never eaten kibble by itself... *sigh* I suppose if we have to, I'll just have to show him some tough love if kibble is all he can eat.

Not sure what I'm gonna do about treats... he LOVES clicker training and trick training so much, I don't want to... stop. I'm going to have to find some kind of soft small treats I can use.

I use Canz Real Meat treats right now... the venison one I have is this: Crude Protein: not less than 25%, Crude Fat: not less than 20%, crude fiber: not more than 2%, moisture: not more than 20%. Too high? I don't know how to differentiate between treats and kibble and canned guaranteed analysis' etc.

But I shouldn't even be worrying about this right now. Just wanna get him better. Will ask vet questions tomorrow....

Originally Posted by kjc (Post 3611139)

Oh no! I'm so sorry Jackson has taken ill... just read the whole thread now... what a weekend!

As he had a questionable type/amount of food Friday, before the vomiting started, it is most likely that that is what has triggered this attack of pancreatitis. Most likely when this resolves, there is really no reason not to get him back on his regular diet (minus the bully stics) after a week or two of the Rx diet.

This happened when DH started giving Peek a Boo some cheese in the morning (sharing his breakfast!). Thank goodness I happened to get up early and spied the piece of cheese sitting off to the side.

Then Peek threw up foamy stuff. I asked DH, okay, and tell me the absolute truth... how long have you been giving him cheese and how much have you been giving him since this started? He says, Geez, Kathy, we only started off with less than a quater of a slice about a week ago. He wanted more (duh) so I just gave him more. Yesterday he had a whole slice for breakfast! (:eek:)

I asked DH, Hey, Hon, you got your wallet? He says , Yeah, What do you need? I said, Just make sure there's money in it bc we're going to the vet's. Now!. He says, Why? What's wrong? So DH learned all about how a 'little bit' of cheese can trigger pancreatitis. If I hadn't caught him with the cheese that morning, I would never have figured it out so quickly. And getting Peek right to the vet really helped. It ended up costing only $200 and he came home with us with some meds, and diet restrictions of course. Most cases I witnessed working for the vet usually ran in the and minimum 4 days in the hospital on IVs.

He actually relapsed two weeks later, but since then he's been fine. That's been about 7 years ago.




Just wanted to Red Flag you here: Where it says 'not less than 20%...', that's exactly what it means. It's at least 20%, and more likely over or way over 20%. Try to find a food that lists 'Maximum amounts', not minimums.


You may not have to worry about it at all, just go in moderation, and introduce everything one at a time and/or gradually back into his diet, after he has recovered completely, and if this is what your vet tells you (or similar).

Being this is his first attack, and there was good reason or cause for it... I think he'll do okay, you'll just have to pay a little more attention to watching for any recurring symptoms for a while, and really watch what he does get to eat, esp from well intentioned family members. If you have trouble getting them to stop feeding Jackson, it would be much safer to leave him home.

Hoping he gets to come home today! I'm sure he misses you too!

Originally Posted by ladyjane (Post 3610899)

EN is the Purina equivalent of Hill's I/D. I have used it many times. :) Happy to hear that Jackson is doing better! :)

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 3611192)

This post made me feel so much better and calm. Really.

I am going to be so strict now with his diet and I know I will stick to it as will my family members.

I am so nervous right now. Yesterday the vet said that he could leave by 4 IF he was ready to come home today. It's 2:30. I called about an hour ago and the tech answered and just said "Oh, they are still working on Jackson" and I asked if he knew if he'd be coming home tonight and he said he couldn't answer that and didn't know the answer but the vet would be calling me shortly.

Do you think "working on" just means re-running bloodwork, tests, etc? I don't even know if he kept down the food they supposedly were giving him earlier. I just want him back tonight. I don't know what I'll do if they tell me he has to stay another night. I really wanna speak to the vet.

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 3611353)

Btw, I'm stressed already (paying for this, Jackson's health, plus my mom has me stressed about other things and I spent all day with her high strung self). Our damn house just got struck by lightening.

Was sitting there watching TV and BOOM, loudest noise I've ever heard in my LIFE. Then we smelled smoke. Holy crap. My mom is NOT the type of person to deal with things like this so she started screaming, we ran out of the house into our car, called my step-dad, he was on his way in the pouring rain. My 3 1/2 year old sister was scared to DEATH. Oh and our basement flooded. Lovely day :rolleyes:

Maybe it was a blessing Jackson was not here. He surely would have had a complete full on panic attack.

Originally Posted by Maximo (Post 3611385)

It is a good thing Jackson wasn't home with you during all of that!

Is your house okay? All of your electronics?

Sending positive energy your way for this rough patch to pass.

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 3611380)

WOOHOO!!! Good news!! Jackson gets to come home tonight. I pick him up at 7:30, they are keeping him on fluids until then so he gets as much as possible.

Doc said just feed him very small amounts of the Purina E/N for the next few days. He's going to give me 2 weeks supply I think. Nothing else. He said lean boiled chicken is perfectly fine, but obviously not right away, just later down the road.

He may have diarrhea for the next few days, don't be alarmed. Gonna schedule him to come into vet again on Thursday to re-do bloodwork. He said this one level (sorry I don't know exactly what it is right now) was really high, like 3500 and it was supposed to only be like 1500 or 1800 or something like that. It went down by over 1000 today. He also will have to urinate alot tonight probably.

I'll find everything else out soon but I get to see my baby!!

Originally Posted by ladyjane (Post 3611392)

That's great that he is coming home! I know you will be happy to have him back with you.

The lipase and amylase elevate with pancreatitis. The amylase usually normalizes before the lipase.

Yes, he will void more because of the fluids.

Here is a link that I don't know if anyone has posted...but is a good one for information on pancreatitis.

Canine Pancreatitis