Brit so glad to hear that Jackson is coming home tonight. You have had a very rough few days. Sending ((hugs)) to you both. I will be awaiting your next update.
Glad the house is alright. Gosh enough already!

Great news! Thanks for the updates. He's gonna be one happy pooch when he gets home to you!

I am glad to hear Jackson is doing better and gets to come home tonight. I hope he continues to recover & yall can get back to normal soon. :animal-pa

Can I just say the kindness, generosity and pure compassion on YT is amazing? I can't thank you all enough for your concern, your advice, and even your donations. Two people gave me a donation and I don't know if you want your names mentioned or not, but I'd like to thank you. It means the world to me -- being a "broke" college student (lol). No I am just glad I keep a nice cushion in my bank account for emergencies such as these. My dad is going to cover some of it too and says I can pay him back whenever. My grandma is also being amazing and told me to forget about my phone bill for a few months (I am on her plan and pay her every month). I put down $750 so far and I am not sure what the total is going to boil down to. I'm guessing right around $1200 but maybe more with meds and food, etc. It just shows how loved Jackson really is and he truly is a member of this family. I had so many phone calls and text messages checking in on him and I'm so glad he can bring the same joy, worry and concern to you all that he does to me (I don't feel so alone! ;))

But besides the money issue, I knew I had to get my boy in right away and I know I did the right thing. I am so glad that I made the decision that I did because I feel like I caught it just in time before it got extremely worse.

I sincerely don't know what I would do without the support of my YT friends who help me like none other. I am also so grateful that I found an amazing vet who I really trust and he took such fantastic care of my dog. The whole staff was very understanding of everything.

I just feel very lucky right now and am going to hold Jackson so tight tonight (well, not TOO tight ;)) but I am going to be so happy to look over and see him in my bed again. Last night was so lonely.

Thank you once again to all my YT prayers, support, and love that I received. You all truly helped me through the worst of it.

I can't wait until he is home.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

So happy for you Brit.

Oh Brit, I'm sorry! I'm a college student too and completely understand your financial situation and let me just say that you are a WONDERFUL example of how it's not age but the love and dedication that makes a great dog owner. I am so happy that Jackson is coming home to you tonight, I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for you to not have him around, and I'm sure you felt guilty about Jackson's pancreatitis (even though we've assured you that it is not your fault). I hope Jackson is back to his old self in no time. Thank you for taking your time to update us.
-Rose and Teddy

So glad to hear Jackson is coming home.So glad to hear he is doing better.:)

I have been following the thread. I am so glad Jackson is doing better and will get to come home. I agree YT people are the best ! Prayers for you sweet Brittany. And hope that you will get a good sleep tonight, and hugs for Jackson too.

I'm so happy Jackson gets to come home to night! Sorry about the lightening and your basement flooding as well. I will still continue praying for you and Jackson.

He is home. :)

He was really excited when he ran out and saw me. My mom, stepdad and little sister came too. He was VERY excited! Went outside and peed right away a lot. He was pretty mellow on the car-ride but that's pretty typical. I held him and he stuck his head out the window a little bit which means he's feeling good!

Whew did his butt stink. I'm assuming his anal glands (I've smelled that smell before...) because he expresses them when he's scared, even when he gets his nails cut. He did have a bit of poop stuck to his butt too.

We walked in the door to our house and he was so happy to be home -- I could just tell. He peed a lot again when we got home, to be expected. I used a sponge and dog shampoo and tried to clean his butt as much as possible for tonight. It smells a little better... whew!

He was starving. I offered him his Purina E/N kibble and he ate it up! Not a lot... probably like 15 kibbles? He used to get 1/2 cup a day of TOTW and the vet said 1/3 of his usual diet... I'm pretty sure. Either way, it wasn't a lot.

This is going to be hard... he's basically his 'normal' self. Step-dad took out his quesidillias from the fridge to eat and Jackson was sitting right beside him, laying head on lap, just waiting for us to give him a piece (don't worry - I took him down). He clearly has no idea what caused this mess, LOL. Then he walked around the whole kitchen just sniffing the floor scrounging for food. This IS the dog with an ID tag that states 'Treat Monster'. *sigh* Oh, then he found a piece of a treat on the floor left over I suppose from the other day. One of those freeze dried liver treats, I pried open his mouth and took it out. He looked at me so confused, poor fella. But it's for the best and I am not taking any more chances.

He did try to play with his Orbee ball for about 3 minutes with me and bounced it around but he's pretty tired. I'm sure from just the whole ordeal, the sickness and everything. So he just went under my bed for some rest, which he does almost every night, so very typical of him. Oh he did just have the "hershey squirts" as my dad calls them outside but he's drinking water well and had a bit of food.

Glad to hear Jackson is back to his old self, almost. Poor guy. Lol at the treat monster. But just remember, he will love you not matter what and will get over not having all of the treats. Especially when his system starts feeling 100% better.

My Cairn always had toruble expressing her anal glands, and then Maizy, my other Cairn expresses them when she's nervous and I agree it's a odor that's so...Gah! I can't even describe it.

But I'm so happy your baby is back! Have a good cuddle night!:p

Of course the vet on the phone also told me "stay away from all natural diets and feed high quality kibbles such as IAMS, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc". So he's basically saying the Purina E/N only needs to be fed until the bag is finished and then I should go to one of those foods *sigh* This is difficult for me.... lol. I can tell he will not discuss any other types of food with me and is totally against anything else.

Obviously, I am going to listen to my vet's advice. I really trust his knowledge and I am going to use what is best for Jackson's tummy. But I am hoping I can maybe get him to agree on at least Natural Balance for the future? They have some pretty low fat and protein content foods.... I can't see how feeding Iams or Eukanuba would be any better than NB at least. But this is just my issue that I will speak to the vet about and possibly contact a few more just to get their opinion. Maybe find a canine nutritionist in the area, and we'll go from there. For now, he will stay on the Purina E/N.

Anyone know where to find a canine nutritionist? I'm still not totally giving up the idea of homecooking.

Brit,
He will adjust to "no people food" quicker than you think, I'm guessing. After many dogs we learned it's best just to start them off from day one with dog food or dog treats only. Eventually they don't even think about asking for people food, believe it or not. (I'm not sure Zoe even knows it's an option to eat anything we eat.)
My cavaliers used to get tidbits until we adopted this new policy (after finding out our mix has chronic pancreatitis, and later our male cav had acute.) Now they don't even ask for anything. (Well, except for poor Emma, she still struggles a bit when scrambled eggs are cooking :confused:.)
I hope he adjusts quickly...and he WILL still love getting dog treats just as much!
You are so a wonderful yorkie Mom; keep up the amazing!

It's my understanding that most dog treats are out, too? So I guess, when it comes time to figure out what will work for him, etc, I'll discuss with vet. He did tell me boiled skinless chicken would be fine (but not right away yet).

But yes, he will be fine! I also wish I had instituted the no people food policy from the get-go. My plan was to. Then I got lazy.

So glad he's home! Did you tell him he worried us SICK?! :p

I think he's gonna be happier than ever once he adjusts to the new food!

I am just seeing this and I am sorry for what you went through and I am happy he is now home with you!!!!
It is so hard to teach others that they can't feed that cute, big~eyed, I am hungry look on our little one's faces and even though they seem to understand I still have to tell them each time we visit so I know how hard it is.

Good luck and I pray that all continues to go well for him!! :)

Even nibbles of their normal dog food can seem like treats to them! Cindy does well on a few, (including LivaLittles), but you have to be very careful. Even stress alone can set her off at this point, but she's getting old. :(
(You are NOT lazy! ;) I don't know that I've ever seen someone with more going on and yet spending so much active time with their dog!

I am so happy he's home! I think someone's going to get a lot of love and extra hugs tonight!:D

I am so happy Jackson is home.

I know how much you love training and challenges, so food and diet are the new tricks to learn. As others commented, it is easy to train the doggies. When my family had the Airedale, my brothers and I could leave plates of food on the coffee table in front of the TV and the dog never went near them. We never gave her treats or scraps, so she knew not to bother anything that wasn't in her dish. Max and Teddy don't bother asking either, although we do have to keep food at the table. I don't think they would have any willpower if the food were in reach. :D

Enjoy your evening with your baby back home. :)

So happy Jackson is home with you:)

Glad to hear Jackson's back home.

I know this will be hard for you, but so much of what you read on the web is just "part" of the information. Nutrition is much more complex than what many websites have you believe. How separate foods work together is such a large part of the equation that very few amateur nutritionists address. Home cooking is really a costly and time consuming adventure, and is often necessary if there are multiple problems, allergies along with pancreatitis for example.

If you choose a canine nutritionist, please choose one who has actual credentials. Look at this website that tells the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist, and you will see ANYONE can call themselves a canine nutritionist. Dietitian vs. Nutritionist

I don't think you'll find a veterinary nutritionist close by. Most of us do phone consults. The only ones I would consider are DVM, PhD, and they really should be DACVN.

I'm not sure why he thinks Iams/Euk/SD in the regular version would be any better than natural diets, but I would bet it has something to do with him not having time to look into all the natural stuff and it's easier to stick with these ones. All the natural stuff can go terribly wrong very quickly. I'm sure you can find a vet that will help you choose a more "natural" food to feed, but it would probably be much easier for you if you just go with what this vet is saying. Homecooking is not a bad idea. Just requires dedication and is far from necessary for him right now.

I just picked up some SD Nature's Best for the new pup. I like this food quite a bit. No idea if it would work for Jackson (I'm really into rx diets for pancreas issues or diets formulated by veterinary nutritionists), but you would be fulfilling the vet's requirement of choosing among certain brands and it would be closer to what you are used to feeding.

I'm so very glad to hear that Jackson is home and feeling better.

:thumbup::thumbup: Home cooking is indeed very expensive and time consuming. If you choose to home cook for your dog, please make sure that a board certified vet nutritionist guarantees that the diet is balanced. You can check the American College of Veterinary Nutrition website for info at American College of Veterinary Nutrition

ETA: doesn't SD have a sensitive formula? Maybe that could work.
Or maybe Royal Canin?

Royal Canin Gastrointestinal low fat is what Dr R said was ok for Barney and my vet has since come to like it as well. It's rice-based.

http://www.royalcanin.us/adx/aspx/ad...+LFG%E4%F3.pdf

So very glad Jackson is home. You'll both sleep better tonight. He'll be ok. Just give him time.:)

I was thinking about that, but is it rx? I guess if the vet would write for it...

If I had a completely healthy pup except for pancreas issues and I wanted to feed kibble, this one would be at the top of my list bc I know she likes it in a lot of cases.