Foods for Pancreatitis
 

So we have had an eventful few days. Started last Thursday with vomiting and Bronx ended up at the emergency vet from early Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. He was diagnosed with pancreatitis on Thursday night and sent home with supportive care and under the skin fluids but as soon as the cerenia wore off after 24 hours (midnight) he was back to vomiting and we took him back to the vet and he was admitted.

He was sent home with Rayne Clinical Nutrition Low Fat Kangaroo canned food and he absolutely loves it. His discharge instructions said we can transition him to his regular diet in a few days but we think we want to keep him on something low fat to try and reduce the risk of this happening again.

Has anyone used this brand before? We want to use a combo of wet and dry food for him but we are open to suggestions. Has anyone found their baby preferred a different food/had success with a different one? I know Royal Canin and Science Diet would be other options from our vet so we are just trying to figure out what we want to do for him.

He has a follow up with our regular vet tomorrow and I am going to ask her as well what she suggests but I am curious if anyone prefers one over the other.

He is still pretty tired but he is eating and keeping it down. He is currently on a medication for diarrhea and is on liquid pepcid for a few more days. I didn't realize how long pancreatitis flares can knock them down and I hate seeing him so blah. We are now in the process of having our trainer helping us focus on a "drop it" command as apparently some things (like the layer of fat from a steak that someone threw off of their balcony while using the BBQ) are too tempting for him to ignore. Thankfully my husband got most of it out of his mouth but I have now learned how little it can take to cause pancreatitis :(

I think it's such a good idea to continue with low fat for a good while, if not for life. Pancreatitis is so awful, and hopefully he'll never have to go thru that again.

Yes, it can So long to recover - same as in humans too - months!! Humans can end up in the ICU just from the effects of pancreatitis

I fostered a pancreatitis kiddo - and he did great on RC - but I think any of the options above would be good Rx brands.

Hope to hear of continued progress :)!

Sorry to hear Bronx is going through this. I have no input on Pancreatitis but wanted to add on the "drop it command".

Several years ago with my now passed girl, I was walking to my car on my driveway with my girl, all of a sudden she snapped something off the driveway, I screamed at her to drop it not knowing what she had snapped up, well, it was a chicken bone that some feral cat must have been eating it on my driveway. From that day forward when ever I take my pups out I keep them on a short leash held close to me while my eyes scan the driveway for any food droppings from animals.
The drop it command is so very, very important.
Hope little Bronx makes a full recovery.

So sorry to hear that little Bronx has such a rough time. I hope that he is feeling better, and soon back to his bouncy little self!

I agree about continuing with a low fat diet, but is there any particular reason you chose kangaroo as a protein source? It's quite pricey, and would mainly be used if your dog has an allergic reaction to other protein sources.

My Cali had her first, and only, pancreatic attack about 2 years ago. The board certified vet put her in low fat dog food and suggested that she stay stay on it for life. Frankly, I fear a repeat of the one episode and don’t want her to go through that again. She is doing well - her yearly labs are perfect, but still they feel strongly she should stay on the prescription dog food — so we do! And all is well:D

That is my only experience with pancreatitis.

Thanks everyone. We just got back from his follow up and our vet feels he is recovering well and showed no signs of pain when she pushed on his tummy.

She said it could take a few weeks for him to be 100% but she was happy with how he is doing. She said not to worry about the fact that he isn’t drinking as he wasn’t dehydrated and he is getting enough fluid from his food.

He also had his heartworm test today and we will get those results soon...this was to make sure his treatment 8 months ago was successful.

We are going to keep him on a low fat so we can do what we can to try and prevent this again.

We didn’t intentionally put him on kangaroo. The first food they sent home with us was RC low fat and he didn’t want to eat it so when he was admitted for the weekend the vet there tried this one and he absolutely loves it. I talked with the vet today and we talked about the cost of it and she has recommended that we keep him on kangaroo for at least a month until we know he is fully healed and eating well. After this month we will discuss switching him to something else to save a little money. Our concern right now is just to keep him eating something and since he loves it so much, we don’t want to mess around with it at the moment. But I agree...really expensive. Just bought a case of 12 cans for $80 (he eats 3/4 can a day) so if we can avoid this on a regular basis...would be preferable lol

Thank you for the update. So glad to hear that Bronx is doing well. --KatysMom

Great update, yay :)!

Unfortunately he threw up again last night. The vet said to with hold food until this morning and now he only wants to eat grass and won’t touch his food. I didn’t let him eat the grass but I’m so beyond frustrated right now.

The vet said that it could be awhile until he feels better but I can’t handle him getting worse. He still seems like himself, just doesn’t want food 🙁

Sorry your baby had this P flare up. Never heard of the Kangaroo food. My dog had a mild flare up years ago and the vet put him on canned Hills Prescription ID Low Fat for a few days plus Pepcid and Cerenia. He improved In a week and I then fed him frequent meals of the same food but in kibble form. I also gave him Pepcid at night and gradually tapered off the Pepcid. He has done well with this regimen after several years. I feel him no people food and only very low fat treats occasionally. My vet suggested I keep the same regimen for life to prevent P and so far it has worked. Hope your baby gets well soon.

Thanks.

He had a bowel movement and thankfully was diarrhea and didn’t have any noticeable blood in it. Didn’t try to eat grass this time outside, so maybe he’s starting to feel better.

This set back is killing me because I was so excited he was doing so well. He did eat a tiny piece of boiled chicken and a few licks of his food a couple of hours ago and he kept it down. I hope he eats soon though.

I am a mess at the moment and so worried for him.

Thanks.

He had a bowel movement and thankfully was diarrhea and didn’t have any noticeable blood in it. Didn’t try to eat grass this time outside, so maybe he’s starting to feel better.

This set back is killing me because I was so excited he was doing so well. He did eat a tiny piece of boiled chicken and a few licks of his food a couple of hours ago and he kept it down. I hope he eats soon though.

I am a mess at the moment and so worried for him.

The nasty P disease
 

I understand you are very worried for your baby. But it does seem he is on the mend. Boiled lean chicken breast and well cooked rice may well be a suitable diet in small quantities if he will accept it. I found the canned Hills was always acceptable when my dog was sick. It also contains lots of water to keep him hydrated. If he continues to eat, but seems not hungry, Cerenia usually works to ease any nausea. I see a new post is in that I have not read so please excuse if this post is overtaken by events! Good luck and I feel for you and your patient.

I see the post is a Duplicate!

Thanks. I remember you helped me a lot with our previous dog too :)

He just ate a small spoonful of boiled chicken (I even rinsed it in cool water to remove as much extra fat as possible) and a spoonful of rice. Now I am hoping it just stays down and we continue moving forward.

I’ve never dealt with pancreatitis before and I wasn’t prepared/aware of how long it can take to recover and how some days he may still feel a little off until this passes.

I feel guilty that he got into something on a walk with my husband but I keep reminding myself that 1. I wasn’t the one walking him and 2. He was a stray for awhile before he was rescued so he can still act like a little scavenger and 3. I am thankful my husband got most of it out of his mouth so he only had a small bite and I got him to the vet as soon as he started vomiting last week.

He doesn’t like the RC low fat food and we haven’t tried the Hills with him yet. Tonight I’m just going to leave him with his chicken and rice and see how that goes and try to introduce his canned food again slowly tomorrow. If he is still not eating or keeping it down, I’ve already made sure our vet can see him tomorrow if needed.

Also trying to stay happy that his heartworm test came back negative...can finally consider him heartworm free and cured from his treatment 8 months ago.