Pancreatitis
 

I read an article posted on another thread about this & I'm freaked out. I believe my dog has had 3 boutes of pancreatitis since christmas. I am panicked. I tried searching for it, but the search engine won't bring up anything. I need to know everything I can about this. I have already told my hubby sternly no more people food; I thought some were okay, but since he's already having issues I don't think any are. I'm so scared of losing my little man or having to constantly treat this. I need to do whatever I can to eliminate this issue. Please any help would be appreciated. I love him so much.

Awwww.......
Why do you think this?
I was reading another thread and I think it was you that listed some symptoms of your dog and I thought it was pancreatitis.
What are his symptoms?
Some symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy... and then it can get serious (organ problems and death).
There is acute pancreatitis (more like a one time thing) which seems to come out of nowhere and then there is chronic pancreatitis which is usually milder.
Dogs with this disease could wind up in the hospital on IVs.
Usually high fat meals set it off but excess calcium in the blood stream and trauma to the abdominal area are other possibilities.

I never knew Ellie had a problem with this until her ultrasound the other day. Her pancreas looks bright and angry. This is probably what it is. I think I may have done it to her by giving her canned Innova for a bile acid test. It has turkey skin in it and is way too high in fat (but she needed high fat for the test...). Never again will I give that and hopefully it doesn't happen again.

What do you need to know?
Amylase and I think lipase levels might be elevated on a blood panel. His abdomen could also be painful. It would cost up to $1000-$2000 ro treat per time in the hospital with testing and everything, so I would definately stay low fat on everything. Can you go see your vet?

I googled 'canine pancreatitis' and came up will lots of information. Here are two of the sites: http://www.vetcentric.com/reference/...ness&MODE=full
http://www.swiftwaterfarms.com/swift...ncreatitis.htm

He is over his latest boute. The one vet says he doesn't have, never had it. The other said it's possible. The 2 times we've taken him to the vet, once was just 2 weeks ago. The have us faste him for 24 hours, then feed him a bland diet of either science diet AD or rice & cottage cheese. My one vet think he has something similar to IBS or an irrated GI tract, that's what showed up on the x-ray. They didn't say anything about his prancreas looking inflamed on the x-ray. We used to feed him all kinds of people food; not a ton of any, but a wide variety. I've decided that people food is now prohibited except for carrots. He has all the symptoms the last 2 bouts, one was right before the new years, the other was 2 weeks ago. He has a hunched up appearance, pain, depression, lack of appetite, vomiting. I'm just so afraid it will cause long term damage or become chronic. So i'm trying to be proactive & preventive.

What food are you feeding....the exact kind?

ouchie! i had human pancreatitis and it SUCKS! i hope you find out for sure...it can be fatal if not caught in time.....best wishes!

I think this is the article you are referring to. I posted the link in the other thread:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=335

Another caution about pancreatitis....

Repeated bouts of it can cause diabetes as the pancreas produces insulin. It is thought that one third of all cases of canine diabetes are caused by damage to the pancreas from pancreatitis. My Lady is a diabetic and I can tell you that she had several bouts of mild pancreatitis before she was diagnosed with diabetes. I had no idea about the pork connection and my neighbor used to give her a piece of bologna as a treat when we'd take our walks. :(

We are currently switching him from proplan small breed formula to proplan sensitive stomach & sensitive skin.
He also gets milk bones for treats.

Have him checked out for sure. I don't know if yorkies are prone to diabetes or not but we lost one of our schnauzers to pancreatis because of diabetes. We never gave him people food. It is also very painful and there is alot of vomiting. He was on IV's the whole week-end and we still lost him. Don't take a chance.

Okay, I don't know why in the world a vet would give A/D for pancreatitis but I would be having a fit...:mad: That is 30% fat. A normal dog food is maybe 14-20% fat and the goal is to LOWER fat intake. They could've made it worse by feeding that.:rolleyes:

A radiograph might show something. Maybe try an ultrasound if you are that concerned. I don't think this can go on though. Even if these cases are mild they can turn severe. What foods were you giving when this happened? I have given stuff I shouldn't have too. Don't be too hard on yourself.
Did they do a blood panel?

Veggies aren't going to aggrevate it. You are safe with those.

They did a full blood screen when we took him before new years & all the numbers came back normal except he showed that he was slightly dehydrated, but they had already given him fluids so it wasn't a big deal. Both of my vets feel that he doesn't have pancreatitis just an irrated GI tract. They think that he just has a sensitive stomach. And my one vet feels that the stress & anxiety I've been under may be causing his issues. I'm just trying to self diagnosis right now & be preventive.

He started vomiting right before christmas because my in-laws fed him a bunch of junk. Then he seemed okay for a week, but not quite himself then stopped eating again right before new years. He was having proplan small breed formula & some people food. they fasted him for a day, gave him moxicillian & then had me feed rice & cottage cheese for 3 days. We then went back to his normal food & routine. The last time he was big time chowing down hooves, so I thought passing one might be what irritated it this time. However, I'm being to think it's roast beef from arby's that triggers it. My hubby gave him this the day before it started & we had arby's before his boute on new years. I have convinced hubby no more people food, so maybe things will be okay.

All the people at the vets think he just has a sensitive stomach. I'm just having a hard time figuring things out. He used to be able to eat anything & now it seems like he's constantly sick. I just don't know what to do. I just think it's weird that all this came on somewhat suddenly at 2.5 years old.

This all stems from christmas time. We had friends over the thurs. before christmas & he had a rawhide stick, this was to keep the friends beagle quiet that he chowed down & then ate half of the beagles rawhide stick. Then sat. at my in-laws, he had crackers (lots of them given by an uncle, he's getting put away next year or staying with my mom), lots of carrots, ham, mashed potatoes, and rolls. I feel like such a bad mommy right now. Then sunday morning he woke up very sick.

That's all I can think of regarding the current situation.

You know, I agree with you. It looks like pancreatitis exactly. It seems to be brought on by fatty meat (ham, Arbys). An irritated GI tract could be it but pancreatitis is SO common around Christmas time.

The only symptom Ellie really had about a week ago was vomiting all day. Evidently it was more serious than just a bug.

Logan vomits for about 5 hours with each boute & then doesn't seem to want to eat for about 12 hours. Then he starts to feel better.
I'm really hoping cutting out people food will solve the problem. That's what i'm trying first anyway. I'm also going to call the one vet I trust & see if she recommends doing anything else for him. Hopefully he doesn't have another boute, my dumbbutt of a husband (i love him, i really do) gave him a pepperoni last night & I chewed him a new one. I made him read that article on pancreatitis & I believe I have him convinced that people food is bad.

Ham is the #1 trigger of pancreatitis, along with bacon. From what you described he is being being fed, no wonder he is sick.

Some dogs are more predisposed to pancreatitis. A co-worker's Yorkie ended up at the emergency vet's on Thanksgiving when her dad gave Sugar one piece of ham. Whether you call it a sensitive stomach or not, you have to be very, very careful about everything that goes into his mouth. As Sandybabies said, pancreatitis can be fatal.

You need to educate your whole family about the risks of feeding him table food. If they can't be trusted, you need to shut him away during family visits that involve food for his own protection.

I understand your hesitancy to feed people food now, but it won't hurt. I would stay away from all meats that could possibly be a little bit fatty though. Ellie gets all homecooked and it was the Innova canned that I think may have effected her. So make sure the dog food you feed is low in fat.