possible pancretitis / diet

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by valerieam

A month ago Pippin had severe vomiting during the night, with flecks of red blood. I took him to the vet and he said either pancreatitis, intestinal infection or ate something poisonous. He put him on antibiotics, medication and did blood tests. He had me start feeding him Hills I/D food.

The blood tests showed the lipase levels at 4,300. He had no more vomiting. He had one black tarry stool, and has been fine since. After a month we did another lipase test. It came back 799. The vet said he would like it a little lower, but just keep him on the Hill I/D. I mentioned I'd read about the Hills Z/D being lower in fat, and he said the I/D was fine.

I need to purchase more food and I don't know which way to go. In the posts I've seen suggestions for:
Purina HA
Hills I/D, W/D, Z/D,
Wellness Core Reduced Fat
Royal Canin Low Fat LF20

My vet sells Hill so I think that is why he suggests that. If he wants his levels to go lower why didn't he think I should go with the lower fat (W/D or Z/D)?

Pippin is 2 1/2 years old and never had any stomach or bowel problems. I had been feeding him Neutro Natural Choice for sensitive stomachs. I chose that because he did have some itching. I need to call and ask the vet today did we find out that it is pancreatitis or could it have been a intestional infection.

Any suggestions? I'm almost out of the Hills I/D and I don't know if I should keep him on that or try something else.

sounds like ibd to me not pancreatitis as dogs with ibd can have elevated lipase and amylase as well - how long after switching to this food did your dog start vomitting? also many have posted here that nutro is not a good food they have had their share of problems. Dexter got pancreatitis at 2 years and 5 months 7/06 and he was born 1/25/04 so sounds to me that this is the problem as dex has ibd of small intestines which triggered his pancreas took us a year to find out and realize white potato was the culprit as he was on ivd white fish and white potato at the time of the attack which is a low fat diet

the black tarry stool is more of an ulcer situation as is vomitting blood that look like coffee grounds so if the I/D is working i would stick to it as my concern would be with ibd symtpoms and possible ulcer symptoms i would not mess with this at all and stick with what works until it does not work anymore which can happen with ibd dogs as it is a food intolerance disease so a dog that eats the same food for a long time can acquire an intolerance and i hope and pray it does not happen to dex but so far we are good. Dex has went into a vomitting attack 2 times from dh dropping ONE SMALL PEA on floor and one other time i pilled dd with yams and gave him a TINY piece both ended up being 8hrs of vomitting and i was a nervous wreck so any little thing can set these dogs off and dex is a 10lb yorkie not a little guy but once he starts vomitting he is very hard to stop - now i have given him little bites of chicken and no vomitting and he eats sometimes my maltese poop and she eats newman's own organic food (chicken and rice very high in grain diet) and he never vomits so GO FIGURE

[valerieam]

Originally Posted by dwerten

Lipase alone will not determine pancreatitis they both have to be elevated sounds like a fluke to me and cpli is the true test for pancreatitis anyway - Lipase is the enzyme from pancreas that digests fats so sounds like a high fat meal may have been eaten prior to test did you do a fasting blood test or after food as best to always do a 12 hr fasting blood work up . Amylase is an enzyme from pancreas that digests starch and sugar and usually with pancreatitis both are elevated BUT not always as my dex was normal on both and really sick and vice versa when not sick his numbers were super high so again CPLI is the test for pancreatitis not amylase and lipase as those can be all over the place i have found

Amylase - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lipase - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

both of my yorkies dex and dd always have higher than normal lipase but amylase is normal and dex has high triglycerides on 12 hr fast even on an 8% fat diet

He hadn't kept anything down in 24 hours when the first test was done. He has been on Hill's I/D since then (a month) and they did the second test Tuesday. I called the day before the second test and asked if he needed to fast and the vet said no. From what I'd read on here I thought they needed to fast.

I saw the video you posted on another post about pancreatitis. Where the doctor said Schnauzers and Yorkies are both prone to this disease. I was amazed when I started to search for information on YT how many dogs on here suffer from it.

Thanks for your help.

[valerieam]

[QUOTE=dwerten;3037616]sounds like ibd to me not pancreatitis as dogs with ibd can have elevated lipase and amylase as well - how long after switching to this food did your dog start vomitting? also many have posted here that nutro is not a good food they have had their share of problems. Dexter got pancreatitis at 2 years and 5 months 7/06 and he was born 1/25/04 so sounds to me that this is the problem as dex has ibd of small intestines which triggered his pancreas took us a year to find out and realize white potato was the culprit as he was on ivd white fish and white potato at the time of the attack which is a low fat diet

I never would have guessed white potato could cause problems. I would think it would be a plain starch like white rice. I am discovering how little I know about foods.

Prior to Pippin getting violently sick he had been on Neuto Natural Choice for sensitive stomachs. Evening treat are usually raw or cooked veggies. When I cook us veggies I put some aside for them before I season them. The night he was sick I played back in my head if he had anything different to eat and he hadn't.

Now I need to do my homework and read up on IDB.

[dwerten]

[QUOTE=valerieam;3038093]

Originally Posted by dwerten

sounds like ibd to me not pancreatitis as dogs with ibd can have elevated lipase and amylase as well - how long after switching to this food did your dog start vomitting? also many have posted here that nutro is not a good food they have had their share of problems. Dexter got pancreatitis at 2 years and 5 months 7/06 and he was born 1/25/04 so sounds to me that this is the problem as dex has ibd of small intestines which triggered his pancreas took us a year to find out and realize white potato was the culprit as he was on ivd white fish and white potato at the time of the attack which is a low fat diet

I never would have guessed white potato could cause problems. I would think it would be a plain starch like white rice. I am discovering how little I know about foods.

Prior to Pippin getting violently sick he had been on Neuto Natural Choice for sensitive stomachs. Evening treat are usually raw or cooked veggies. When I cook us veggies I put some aside for them before I season them. The night he was sick I played back in my head if he had anything different to eat and he hadn't.

Now I need to do my homework and read up on IDB.

white potato is an inflammatory food which will inflamed the intestines and best on veggies to food process and break the cellular wall down so easier for them to digest and absorb nutrients and always do organic for these little guys

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by valerieam

He hadn't kept anything down in 24 hours when the first test was done. He has been on Hill's I/D since then (a month) and they did the second test Tuesday. I called the day before the second test and asked if he needed to fast and the vet said no. From what I'd read on here I thought they needed to fast.

I saw the video you posted on another post about pancreatitis. Where the doctor said Schnauzers and Yorkies are both prone to this disease. I was amazed when I started to search for information on YT how many dogs on here suffer from it.

Thanks for your help.

i always do fasting blood work for mine just like i do for myself as i think it is way more accurate when food is not added to the equation. I doubt your dog had pancreatitis - it sounds more like ibd and if the food is working for a month stick to it as i/d works good for some ibd dogs i just do not like it for pancreatitis - the reason yorkies are prone is they have a high fat content in their blood naturally unlike other breeds

I think that is why both my yorkies have high lipase on every blood work as something to do with the lipase digestive enzyme due to high fat content -- dd does not have high triglycerides though but dex does

[valerieam]

Where do you purchase your dog food? I just went to the pet store and thought because they carry Science Diet that they would have the prescription ones. It looks like I can only get it from a vet.

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by valerieam

Where do you purchase your dog food? I just went to the pet store and thought because they carry Science Diet that they would have the prescription ones. It looks like I can only get it from a vet.

i get mine from the vet

[ally173]

i agree this sounds like IBD not pancreatitis; my dog is been there 5 times; read my posts; she was misdiagnosed with pancreatitis because the amylase was high; however last episode i took her to a new vet and decided to get an endoscopy to determine the true cause. yep, it was IBD; her small intestine was severly inflammed and her stomach has red spots; she was vomiting with blood too. so now because her case is severe he put her on prednisone, which i dont think ur dog will need; but diet is extremly important. my dog is eating iams low residue wet food; and she loves it and so far so good. ur vet can order the food for u.
and she's on bene-bac probiotic to help her GI.
don't touch the RC low fat as my dog relapsed on it back in november;
i heard the z/d and purina HA were good.
but from my experience (for the past 2 years going thru this); the iams low residue wet food is great.

good luck

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by ally173

i agree this sounds like IBD not pancreatitis; my dog is been there 5 times; read my posts; she was misdiagnosed with pancreatitis because the amylase was high; however last episode i took her to a new vet and decided to get an endoscopy to determine the true cause. yep, it was IBD; her small intestine was severly inflammed and her stomach has red spots; she was vomiting with blood too. so now because her case is severe he put her on prednisone, which i dont think ur dog will need; but diet is extremly important. my dog is eating iams low residue wet food; and she loves it and so far so good. ur vet can order the food for u.
and she's on bene-bac probiotic to help her GI.
don't touch the RC low fat as my dog relapsed on it back in november;
i heard the z/d and purina HA were good.
but from my experience (for the past 2 years going thru this); the iams low residue wet food is great.

good luck

glad you posted this

just make sure ULTRA z/d not z/d as ultra is hydrolized and z/d is not

[valerieam]

Pippin had another vomiting episode the other day. I think I'm going to take the advice and start home cooking. I just can't watch him go through that again. I had given him a few shredded wheat. I don't know if that's what set it off, but I won't be giving those to him again.

Do those of you who home cook also feed a little kibble? In case you don't have something ready? Also, do you feed your other dogs the same diet?

Dewerten- You said sweet potato triggered yours. Are there any veggies I need to stay away from? Do the veggies need to be put in a blender?

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by valerieam

Pippin had another vomiting episode the other day. I think I'm going to take the advice and start home cooking. I just can't watch him go through that again. I had given him a few shredded wheat. I don't know if that's what set it off, but I won't be giving those to him again.

Do those of you who home cook also feed a little kibble? In case you don't have something ready? Also, do you feed your other dogs the same diet?

Dewerten- You said sweet potato triggered yours. Are there any veggies I need to stay away from? Do the veggies need to be put in a blender?

actually it was white potato as it is inflammatory and dex has inflammatory bowel disease in small intestines but two times one pea that rolled off dh plate set dex off so really anything can set them off once they have it sadly ims told me anything not just fatty foods so he gets nothing but his purina ha and has for 4 years now. I am super strict and i measure out his food too.

I am so sorry as i know how scary it is when dogs with this vomit. I am a nervous wreck when dex starts vomitting as once it starts many times it does not stop

[Izzy Princess]

Originally Posted by valerieam

Pippin had another vomiting episode the other day. I think I'm going to take the advice and start home cooking. I just can't watch him go through that again. I had given him a few shredded wheat. I don't know if that's what set it off, but I won't be giving those to him again.

Do those of you who home cook also feed a little kibble? In case you don't have something ready? Also, do you feed your other dogs the same diet?

Dewerten- You said sweet potato triggered yours. Are there any veggies I need to stay away from? Do the veggies need to be put in a blender?

Oh so sorry to hear that Pippin vomited again. Yes when they vomit that's no good...not eating a meal or two not life threatening. Izzy has pancreatitis/sibo/IBD and we have been OK for over a year now since her episodes a while back which were terrible.

izzy is on half home-cooked and half Purina EN (can)..she hates kibble and will not eat it. So she gets steamed tilapia and smashed green beans or sweet potato. I also supplement with many things per her vet and nutritionist..such as the enzymes, probiotic, vitamineral green. Seems like a lot but once you get into a routine of doing it is pretty easy.

I work full time so this is doable. Very easy as you can buy the frozen tilapia at a warehouse club defrost 2-3 filets when y ou need and nuke them in a baggie in the mirco. She gets the Purina EN in the mornings as that's when I am on my way to work with little time. Then in the evening she gets the fish/veggie.

My vet told me not to panic if she does not eat a meal or even meals..she will eat when she is hungry. Only thing to watch out for is the vomiting. Once I learned to calm down and not worry when skipping a meal it got better. She just did this last week for some reason and would not eat for almost 2 days and then all of a sudden she was hungry like heck.

It seems like she gets fussy with her food every now and then.

Good luck and hope Pippin gets better soon.

[ally173]

my dog didnt do well on rx food; we tried iams low residue, purina ha and purina en. i thought the en will be good but she couldnt tolerate the beef.
so i am homecooking for a short term ground turkey and oatmeal and this week started introducing wellness simple solution duck and rice canned. also i will eventually feed her the wellness simple solution duck and rice kibble together with the can.
i also supplement with probiotic (gentle digest) once daily; gastriplex, gastri-soothe twice daily; and nordic omega 3 once daily.
i too agree that it sounds overwhelming or too much; but u will get into the routine and will become easier.
for now i suggest homecooking to reset the digestive system. if u want to feed kibble add a little water to make it easier to digest.
ask your vet about the best supplements and food. good luck