Zoey has pancreatitis again

[JuliannaB]

So sorry to hear that your Zoey is under the weather. I have no experience, so can't give advice. There are many here that have and will chime in. Hoping she gets better real soon. All the very best to you and yours!

[Scoobstersmom]

Originally Posted by theporkieyorkie

What home cooked food do you feed your pup with pancreatitis??

I've thought about cooking for my boys, but I've always steered clear of it because my older guy has GI problems. From an abdominal ultraound, we learned he has sludge in his gall bladder and he has scarring to his liver and mild pancreatitis....most likely due to his gall bladder problems. His stomach issues come and go...I know that stress is a trigger, but sometimes I don't know why it happens.

Anyways...I'd love to have a home cooked recipe....at least to have on hand for emergencies when my boys refuse to eat their dog food. For the past 3 days, they've been protesting and boycotting their food bowls. I finally just boiled some chicken and rice tonight and they decided that was ok...but I know I didn't cook a balanced meal for them.

ThePorkieYorkie, it sounds like you are raising my dog! My older guy (15 now) has pretty much the same GI issues, with liver-pancreas-gall bladder involvement. He also occasionally has the mild flare-ups that I can't always pinpoint to any particular cause but they generally turn out to be related to pancreas inflammation. I have spent a fortune on the Spec cPL testing for pancreatitis, but have finally learned to listen to what is body is telling me and have been able to really cut back on the frequency and intensity of flare ups. His last few tests have come back in the 300's, so the inflammation is there but we've been able to catch it before it goes into full blown pancreatitis.

I've been feeding my Scooby a mostly home cooked diet now for about a year and it has made a big difference. He gets one small meal of Royal Canin Gastrointestinal diet around mid-day (just because he likes it), and two or three small meals of his home cooked diet. I use a website called Nutritiondata.com (free, but it only works with Firefox) to balance his proteins, calories and carbs, and if you are feeding a variety of fresh fruits and veggies, a carb source (I use boiled white potato, short grained glutinous rice, NoYolks noodles,or boiled sweet potato) and a high quality easily digestible protein (skinless, boneless chicken breast, egg white or a white ocean fish), the diet will naturally balance itself out over time and is much healthier than any prepared doggie diet you could possibly feed. Anytime you are home cooking it is important to balance the calcium in the diet with the phosphorous, so when I input his diet to nutritiondata, it gives me the phos count and then I add an equal amount of pure calcium carbonate to the cooked food. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not bad. I only actually cook for him once every several weeks, and it takes me about three hours. I cook a variety of food at once, package it into meal sized containers and freeze them. He also gets a cocktail of supplements every day that include denamarin, ursodial, a B complex vitamin, fish oil, vitamin e, and coQ10. For treats, he gets small pieces of peeled sliced apple or pear, or fresh watermelon.

I actually feed all three of my toy breed dogs the same diet except that the other two don't get the denamarin and ursodial. They have all thrived on the diet. I swear, commercially prepared dog food scares the heck out of me these days with all the recalls, and by cooking fresh food for them, I know exactly what is going into their little bodies.

Hope this helps a little. I am an advocate of home cooking for all dogs!

Diana and Scooby

[Cherie6446]

Prior to the attack she wasn't on any meds. She is taking Metoclopram every 12 hrs for three days. I assumed it was an anti-nausea med. maybe not. Also, he prescribed ampicillin but I went to two pharmacies and they didn't have it. Dr called fri evening to see how she was doing and I told him I couldn't get the ampicillin. He said it was ok as she was to take it for a short time.
She did not vomit this morning but she did get poop stripes on my cover as she must have come down stairs during the night and pooped on her pad. Good girl. Easy to take care of - better than bile barf. She pooped before we went to bed. BIG pile and soft. Had to wash her behind. I am used to tiny very firm tootsie roll poops with the raw food. This morning she doesn't want anything to eat. Just laying on a blanket next to me. If she still feels bad tomorrow I will take her back to the vet. I will also ask about the blood test results at that time.
I did find out that the treats we were giving her were super high in fat. Never occurred to me to check the content since they were so small.
The last time she had this she ate Hill's and she did like it. I'll talk with the dr about this too since she really doesn't care for the RC
Thank you all for responding and giving me advise. It is really appreciated.

[ladyjane]

I think she is still sick .. you really won't know what food she likes or does not like until this has passed.
The stool you described is not what a normal dog stool looks like on any food and certainly not RC low fat.
If she does indeed have pancreatitis, it does not go away quickly...I have found that most pups are not the same for about a week .. sometimes longer if it was a really bad case.

[Cherie6446]

Zoey had terrible diarrhea today. She didn't want to eat before the diarrhea but after she wanted something to eat. Not interested in the RC so I made her some boiled rice. She ate it with gusto. Now, about three hours later she wants to eat again so I mixed a little of her RC with the rice. Not pleased. It was kinda funny watching her trying to eat the rice without getting the meat in her mouth. Tomorrow I'm going to speak with the vet about this.

[dottiesyrky]

WTG Zoey, sorry about the diarrhea, but glad you felt a little hungry and ate something. Tough to eat the rice without the RC, it is very sticky! Hope you feel better soon.

[Scoobstersmom]

Originally Posted by Cherie6446

Zoey had terrible diarrhea today. She didn't want to eat before the diarrhea but after she wanted something to eat. Not interested in the RC so I made her some boiled rice. She ate it with gusto. Now, about three hours later she wants to eat again so I mixed a little of her RC with the rice. Not pleased. It was kinda funny watching her trying to eat the rice without getting the meat in her mouth. Tomorrow I'm going to speak with the vet about this.

My vet recommends fasting for at least 24 hours after the last bout of diarrhea or vomiting. When you start to feed again, feed very small amounts - like a teaspoon of overcooked, mushy rice or boiled white potato - every hour or two. If tolerated. The food should be practically pureed, as it's easier to digest that way. You are not looking to fill her up but to slowly get her belly used to tolerating food again. If she tolerates the teaspoon of food well for a day, you can slowly increase the amount you're feeding and eventually add a little skinless, boneless boiled chicken breast on day three. Little dogs with pancreatitis can go south pretty fast, and this condition can easily be fatal, so I wouldn't be in any hurry to push food even if she seems hungry. Her pancreas needs to rest, and the way to do that is to fast first, and then very slowly introduce very small amounts of bland food and build up her ability to handle food. It's a tough concept, but food is the enemy right now and over feeding or forcing your dog to eat can make her worse. As long as your dog is well hydrated, she can go a day or two without eating. Why don't the vets tell you this stuff? It's the million dollar question. My vet didn't tell me either. But after weeks of my dog doing better, then getting worse, then doing better and then getting worse again, I was really scared and started doing my own research. I feel like I had to practically educate my vet! But eventually my dog did get better, and it didn't happen until I stopped feeding him. Now my vet is totally on board with this feeding protocol and recommends it to other clients. She even (with my permission) gives my email address out to other pet parents of difficult patients to walk through the process.

Take that feather blanket off your bed to save a lot of laundry!

Diana and Scooby

[Cherie6446]

Thanks for your input. I do know not to give too much food at first. Just a tablespoon. Today is day three. I will talk with the vet tomorrow. Her gums are very red so she is not dehydrated, thank goodness. She will get nothing more tonight. Plain rice earlier and one tablespoon of rice and RC later. That's it until tomorrow.

[Scoobstersmom]

You can continue to give her a teaspoon of rice every hour or two if she's tolerating it. It is day three since she was diagnosed, but she had diarrhea this morning, right? Or last night? She should go 24 hours after the last bout of diarrhea before feeding again. I really, really hope that she feels better soon. Pancreatitis is very scary. I thought we were going to lose our Scooby in June when he was so sick.

Sending good thoughts,

Diana

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by Cherie6446

Thanks for your input. I do know not to give too much food at first. Just a tablespoon. Today is day three. I will talk with the vet tomorrow. Her gums are very red so she is not dehydrated, thank goodness. She will get nothing more tonight. Plain rice earlier and one tablespoon of rice and RC later. That's it until tomorrow.

The color of gums is not the way to check for dehydration. You need to lift her lip and touch her gums...they should be moist, not dry or sticky to the touch.

Here is a link that is helpful

How to Check Dog's Gums Dog Gum Color Exam | Suite101

[Cherie6446]

I checked her gums (Lady Jane) and they were good. She doesn't act sick. She wants to play frisbee. Her diarrhea was this morning. I am waiting now for her evening poop. Her little nose is cold and wet - so no fever.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by Cherie6446

I checked her gums (Lady Jane) and they were good. She doesn't act sick. She wants to play frisbee. Her diarrhea was this morning. I am waiting now for her evening poop. Her little nose is cold and wet - so no fever.

That's good....hopefully the worst is over. Check that link out though...it is a great reference for things to check for sick pups.

[Lilah Charm]

Originally Posted by Cherie6446

I tried the Honest Kitchen last year and frankly, I couldn't stand the smell. They are located here in San Diego. There was a recall on one of their products months ago for salmonella (sp). For now I'll stick with the RC and maybe shel'll learn to like it. Right now she is a walking stink bomb. She never had gas before and all she does is poot all the time. Here tummy most feel awful. I told my husband not to say a word to her if she dropped one under his nose because she can't help it. He is a sweetheart about her.

Bummer! I wanted lilah to like HK but she really didn't. We tried all of the flavors. The recall was voluntary because the farmer that they sources their parsley from hAd sold parsley to a restraunt where someone got sick, they let the farmer go. Shame though, especially when diamond/tow etc etc has so many recalls that are directly affecting animals and consumers. I thought their food smelled like cheap top ramen though, lol. She was not down with the texture. It confuses me with royal canon and hills being so full of corn and wheat and getting such rave reviews but it really makes me wonder when pets especially sick ones thrive on it, really makes me re think what I think I know about nutrition....???

[Cherie6446]

Linda, I did check out the link and did the pressure test.
I was kinda wondering the same thing about the ingredients in the RC.

[dottiesyrky]

I agree about the prescription foods and the crummy ingredients. They contain all the things we have learned are bad. I cannot see what is in the food that makes it work so well and where the nutrition is? My dog loves the kibble and canned and he is doing well on it, so I will stick with it for his health. But I hate every bit I put in his bowl! Why they have to use corn and by products I know not when I am sure there are better things that would work as well?