I am so afraid I will lose him
 

:confused:

My 8 year old yorkie, Buster, has had 4 very mild pancreatic attacks since his first major one in July, thursday the 18th the doctor gave him some more amoxillin again, I do the usual things, backing off the food and give him boiled hamburger/rice twice a day and the antibiotic after the meal. The vet says that reoccurrence of gastric problems is normal(chronic pancreas) I am at my wits end, walking on eggshells. He suggested possibly going from the Canidae (all stages, Lamb and rice) to Science diet I/D. What makes that so special, it has all the wrong stuff in it, corn and corn meal etc, I would never feed him corn... I just don't know what to do anymore. I am so afraid that after I get him weaned off the hamburger/rice and back onto (soaked) canidae he will lapse again into another attack. I am just about to cry to think I am doing something to cause this. Help!!! Does anyone think I could also supplement with digestive enzymes? Sorry this is so long. I just don't know what to do anymore. Any advise would be apprecieated!

I'm sorry you are having problems with your baby. I don't have any words of wisdom but wanted to send my thoughts and prayers for you both.

Kim

I know how you feel. When Lady was diagnosed with diabetes almost six years ago, the recommended food was Science Diet w/d. I had the same reaction you did. Why would I want to feed my already sick dog food full of corn and peanut hulls (yes, floor sweepings!) Worse yet, a lot of the Hills prescription kibble contain BHT and Ethoxyquin!

I'd really recommend consulting a nutritionist amd home cooking for Buster if you can't find a commercial food he can eat safely.

I hope you can figure out how to keep these attacks under control. I know how heartbreaking it is to live with and love a chronically ill dog.

Hi,

I just emailed a friend (also a member of YT) that has experience with this, hopefully tomorrow she will see it and will be able to advice you.

Best of Luck,

The whole food thing can be kind of hard, can't it? I was told that Ellie could go on Science Diet prescription a few months ago. I said "um, no" (well actually I said it nicer than that). Then the vet said she doesn't use it much either...lol. Anyway, I know that almost everyone on here says that corn is just a cheap filler. That is correct. However, sometimes in the prescription diets I overlook corn because that is the least of a dog's worries with serious health problems unless they are allergic. So my first suggestion is to talk to a nutritionist and homecook. My second is to find another processed dog food for pancreatitis. Third would be to use the I/D canned NOT dry since it has ethoxyquin in it. The canned does have pork liver in it and I would never want Ellie eating that but if I really thought it would help her, I would consider it. This is in no way an endorsement of Hills because again, I do not like Science Diet. I hope you find a solution quickly.

I don't know if this is the answer but the info is interesting, it may be worth a shot to do some investigating the RAW diet.....

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/animals.htm

I hope you find the answer soon.....

I hope Buster will start feeling better soon! I know you will get tons of great advice on here. We will be praying for Buster! Good luck!

......I PM'd you last night...........I have to leave now and will be back late tonight if you would like more information.........I know there are people that can help you...............stay hopeful and have a great day!

pancreatitis
 

my dexter who is a yorkie had severe pancreatitis and has ibd now and probably did before so you need to keep him on a low fat diet for the rest of his life or it will keep re-occuring. Dexter does well on purina ha and gets no treats at all only his kibble. I would suggest using this food for now and get some time under your belt before doing anything different. To keep getting pancreatitis is not good - did you get a cpli test done to determine it was pancreatitis? Do not feed hill's i/d as could make worse as it relapsed my dexter. Another food others have used is eukeneuba low residue but dex has done well on purina ha and it is a soy based diet and sounds like you have tried everything but that so that is what i recommend. Dex is not on any medications any more but he was on pepcid (famotidine) since this keeps re-curring and you live in colorado i would go to a specialist instead of a vet and see an internal medicine specialist as dex sees one as vet made him sicker :( and he almost died - he had to have a plasma transfusion. Pancreatitis is nothing to mess with as they can die from this so no treats ever again. Yorkies are prone to this disease and some more prone that others - my boy yorkie got it and girl did not and they ate the same things. are you near the hospital on animal planet that is called emergency vets if so i would go there - alameda east.

Debbie W

I'm really not an expert in this, but with pancreatitis, don't you need to be very concerned with the protein and fat levels of the food that you are feeding? You might want to try asking the vet about something like the reduced fat version of California Naturals-- it's a really high quality, very "clean" food, and the chicken and rice reduced fat formula has less fat and less protein than i/d by a considerable amount.

canidae has a platinum version for seniors and over weight pets. Its lower in fat so if you want to stick with canidae why don't you try switching to this one.

Praying that your furbaby will get better. :hands:

I just bought a bag of Canidae platinum prior to his mild attack on Oct. 18. I am slowing introducing it into his food as we speak. I like the idea that the platinum is 8.50 percent fat. I don't think I will have a problem weaning him the old Canidae(all stages) as it is basically the same formula, but the Vet suggested going very, very slow. So, what i am doing is soaking the kibble for a few minutes so it gets fairly soft and mix a small amount in right now with the hamburger and rice. I am now feeding smaller amounts 3x a day. No treats, haven't for several weeks. My husband thinks it was in part from the milk bone dog treats...I am awaiting a call from the vet now. Will keep everyone updated. Thanks

milk bone dog treats would not have done it as those i do not believe are high in fat - are you using the leanest hamburger and boiling in water and rinsing in water as to get all the fat out?

i/d has pork in it which is high in fat