[Howard J]

Seven months ago the vet discovered that my 11 year old cairn terrier had multiple nodules on her pancreas. They said that it was either a tumor, benign or malignant or hyperplasia of the pancreas, which is common in old dogs. A month ago she was acting lethargic, depressed and had a seizure like episode. They prescribed her doxycycline after she tested light positive for anaplasmosis and from here on she got much worse. She threw up yellow, foamy bile every night. She’s always had GI PROBLEMS but the doxy made her feel very sick, she refused to eat anything, and lost 2.5lbs in the process.

We brought her back in and they took her off the doxy, they gave her an anti-nausea injection and prescribed various medications to treat her stomach and pancreas. A few weeks later her blood test seemed to have improved, her ALKP at the time of the crisis was over 6000!! However, it went down to less than 2000 with all other liver enzymes in the reference range. Everything else was normal, including the blood count, except for slightly high calcium and BUN levels.

Any who, they compared her pancreas photos from seven months ago and the nodules have not changed at all. They said they are ruling out cancer, and it is most likely something that shouldn’t be worried about. However, they are saying her liver enzymes are still high and they want to do a liver biopsy to figure out what is the problem, in order to give us a better diagnosis and to implement a treatment plan. We refused and instead opted to give monthly urine samples, as well as administrating milk thistle into her diet.

MY QUESTION: What should her diet consist of? After the supposed pancreatitis episode we introduced her to chicken and rice, which she seemed to do okay on. We then introduced her to Fromm grain free, shredded chicken and Natural Instincts frozen raw venison. She absolutely loved it, and seemed to be doing great. We fed her a small amount of the medallions. I know raw diet, especially natural instinct has high fat content, so maybe it isn’t good? She is back to Fromm with some boiled chicken and rice and her symptoms of pancreatitis seem to be coming BACK!

Her stools are muscusy, yellow, greasy diarrhea, which are signs of pancreatitis and/or too much fat in her diet. She has also been dry heaving occasionally. These symptoms have developed after we stopped giving her Natural Instinct. Today we fed her just chicken but her stools are the same. Pungent, yellow diarrhea.

Should we give her ENZYMES and/or probiotics, it seems that she isn’t digesting her food properly and the vets aren’t really helping diet wise. Is it wise to give dogs with pancreatitis raw diets and if so which brand is the best for this condition. If not, what food is appropriate for her condition?

I would greatly appreciate the input!

John

[Howard J]

She also would somewhat randomly get extremely loud belly gurgles. Almost like a squirting noise. Loud enough to hear from another room. She appears to be completely normal at these times.

[anonymously]

Doesn’t sound good. I assume your dog is under the care of a Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialist, I would go by their recommendations, prescription diet, additional testing….
Anyway, maybe someone over here has been through this with their cairn. http://www.cairntalk.net/
Also, you might find this sight helpful http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=pancreatitis
Good luck.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by anonymously.

[Susan]

Hi Howard, did she take Metronidazole (Flagyl)? its an antibiotic for the stomach & bowel, also smell her breath does it smell & what of?? that’s how I know what’s happening with my boy when I smell his breath, when my boy starts doing the yellow mushy poos I have a few scripts of Metronidazole the vet has given me & I put Patch on the Metronidazole with food for 10 days & change diet, also I cook potatoes instead of rice, boiled rice can irritate the bowel…. Australian vets are using boiled potatoes now instead or the old fashion boiled rice..
When Patch has had the gurgling pinning bowel noises it was either from the boiled rice or an ingredient he was sensitive too, then over the years I found he has food sensitives…. He has had Pancreatitis when I first rescued him, vet put him on a vet diet for his skin allergies & the fat was toooo high at 19%…..now I cook chicken breast, potatoes, broccoli, zucchini, sweet potatoes, it depends some days I add Kangaroo rissoles some days or I add salmon in spring water drained, I put it all thru a blender for a few seconds….
I cant get The Honest Kitchen in Australia if I could I’d be feeding Patch the “Zeal” the fat is only 8.50% its low in carbs & limited ingredients & fish as protein so easy to digest, for the days I’m lazy…..http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/zeal

I wouldn’t be feeding a raw diet with those symptoms, or if you do want to feed a raw diet, I went thru a Naturopath cause Patch was diagnosed with IBD & needs low fat diet & has Skin Allergies the raw worked for his skin but not his stomach (IBD) he kept regurgitating & burping up the raw Kangaroo & blended raw veggies but when I bake the kangaroo into rissoles & boil the same veggies, he’s OK, so I cook instead now & freeze meals…..

Sounds like you just haven’t found the right diet yet or she may do what happens with Patch, he needs his foods changed every month when I feed kibbles or he starts reacting to an ingredient, I posted a link about this I’ll try & find it, he cant stay on the same kibble too long he starts doing yellow sloppy poos….
Go supermarket get a couple brown potatoes, 1 small sweet potatoes, 1 zucchini & a small broccoli head, peel boil & put in containers in the fridge also maybe change the chicken to turkey or try the chicken & potato & see if there’s any gurgling pinning bowel noises & yellow mushy poo, if its still making loud noises change the protein, no chicken…maybe at first just do the chicken & potato & see if there’s improvement in stools, if there is then add some zucchini wait 2 days look at poos if poos are firm then add broccoli or whatever you want to add, then after a couple of weeks start adding some tin salmon in spring water drained to get all the healthy omegas & vitamins from the salmon, I add 1/2 a small tin per meal but you could make a few meals for a couple of days having a smaller dog… if you do see vet ask for a script for some Metronidazole its good have in cupboard when this happens, she may have too much bad bacteria in the stomach/bowel (S.I.B.O) & needs the metronidazole to fix everything up again….

[Howard J]

She does not take Metronidazole. We gave her Royal Canine low fat wet food a few hours ago, the ingredients are horrendous but she seems to be doing better. Probably will never give it to her again. Still looks like she is losing weight though.

Her breath does not smell good. Smells like putrid throw up, although it has gotten better. Her butthole seems to be inflamed too. I’ll try the mashed potatoes.

I’ll refrain from giving her a raw based diet, also I mine as well buy the Honest Kitchen food looks great! My only question is the Fromm wet food I have been feeding her has 44.63% Protein on a dry matter basis of 100 grams and 10.24% Fat on a dray matter basis of 100 grams. I can only imagine the fat content of Natural Instinct’s Venison Raw.

For Honest Kitchen the Zeal Dog food profile says Protein is 38.40% on a Dry matter basis and Fat is 9.25%, which is less than the Fromm wet food. However, it does not say the amount of grams, which would be my only concern. If its 100grams then she would likely do better on this food, in part because of the low protein and fat content and the better ingredients. The Fiber is much lower than Fromm’s wet food however the carbs are higher, not sure if that is good or bad for pancreatitis.

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/media/wysiwyg/AAFCO/ZEAL-nutrient-profile-1.pdf
http://frommfamily.com/products/four-star/dog/can/shredded-chicken/technical-analysis/

Also, the As-Is Basis of fat per 100 grams of the Fromm is 2.10, which is lower than the As Received (8.5%) as well as the As Served Hydrated (4.25%). Yet, Fromms dry matter basis of 100g, the fat % is higher than all the categories in the Zeal Dog Food Nutrient Profile.

Really confusing!

[Howard J]

So does the Fromm have less fat per 100g than the Zeal dog food or more? Also, would administrating probiotics and pancreatic enzymes help her pancreas. The reason why we chose to feed raw food was because of the good enzymes. Cooking would kill the enzymes, correct? Also, thanks for the input, I really appreciate it!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Howard J.

[Howard J]

The only great thing about Royal Canin is a max of 2.5% fat in their wet food. Is there any food with a DM matter basis of fat 5% or less with good ingredients?

[Susan]

Hi, have you joined the “Canine Pancreatitis Support ” group on face Book ? someone on the site might know good low fat wet tin foods with good ingredients cause I live Australia I don’t get a lot of the American foods, we get all the Well Pet range Wellness, Holistic Select, Eagle Pack, Earthborn Holistic range & all our Royal Canine Vet diets have different ingredients to the Americian Royal Canine vet diets the Australian R/C has a bit better ingredients cause we have very strict custom laws…..

My boy was eating theVet Diet Royal Canine Gastrointestinal Low Fat Kibble, but it has wheat & barley & Patch started to smell real yeasty & scratch & had bad fermenting breath smell so I changed kibbles again, he couldn’t eat the R/C Gastrointestinal Low Fat wet tin food cause it has rice in the Australian Royal Canine, there’s also Hills Vet Diet I/d Low Fat Restore wet tin food, it has digestive enzymes but it has rice so Patch can’t eat it… http://www.hillspet.com.au/en-au/products/pd-canine-id-low-fat-canned.html

I understand about the raw having enzymes but when a dog has a compromised immune system they can’t fight the bad bacteria in the raw that’s why I went thru a Naturopath Jacqueline Rudan from “Natural Animal Solutions” & she would not let Patch eat any of the commercial raw diets, she said I’ve seen them all being made & they all have very low grade meats & veggies, so I had to buy raw human kangaroo, fresh chicken breast & fresh veggies & make my own raw, it was pretty easy & soooo fresh, I had to put her digestive Enzymes 1/2 capsule & a human Probiotic that is dairy free gluten free 1/2 capsule with every meal to help Patch digest the raw & not get diarrhea.. but he kept regurgitating & burping up the raw even with the Digestive Enzymes & Probiotic, so I cooked the raw & stopped the Digestive enzymes & stopped the Probiotic Patch doesn’t do well on Probiotics he does better on Prebiotics… here’s her site she answers all emails & only cost me $60 for 1 hour phone consultation, she does Skype for overseas customers, every now & then Patch gets bad pain right side chest area under front paw, stomach pancreas area, he comes to me lifts his right paw whinges & wants me to rub his chest after eating certain kibbles that are high in protein over 25% protein, Jacqueline told me Patches Pancreas isn’t doing its job & working properly, all vet test came back OK but he gets all the symptoms of Pancreatitis, vets said it IBD & Helicobacter-Pylori he had Endoscope & Biopsies done 1 year ago, we tried every vet diet none worked for Patch but that’s cause of the boiled rice cause when I was first buying the Hills I/d Low Fat Restore the wet tin had no boiled rice, when we read the ingredients we must of missed rice & when I opened the tin I couldn’t see the rice he was doing really well on the I/d Low Fat Restore wet tin food, then I must of bought a different batch when I opened the tin the top was full of clumps of boiled rice, I rung Hills & said whats happening she said the I/d Restore is made at 2 different places, it sounds like the rice wasn’t grounded & has clumped all together, do I know the Batch numbers of the I/d Low Fat wet tin foods he was doing really well on, I said NO but I have the Batch numbers of all these tins full of rice, so I had to take them all back to the vets for refund, I was so disappointed even though, I hate Hills it worked & you start to not worry what the ingredients are when they start gaining weight & doing better, I tried feeding the i/d wet tin with the rice & scoping out most of the boiled rice but he started having his yellow sloppy smelly poos again farting rumbling bowel noises that you could hear in the next room, his breath stunk so his vet put him back on the Metronidazole for 3 weeks & gave me 3 repeat scripts for when it happens again I don’t have to keep seeing her just for some Metronidazole, the Metronidazole clears everything up I can’t believe how good it is the vet wanted to keep Patch on the Metronidazole she said she has a few dogs like Patch & they are on a low dose of Metronidaole once a day, but I just use when needed I have found since Ive been cooking chicken breast, sweet potatoes, broccoli, zucchini & kangaroo some days & using 1/2 spoon of the Natural Animal Solutions DigestaVite Plus-100 Patch is slowly getting better……I can’t believe it all these years I thought he couldn’t eat cooked food but it was the stupid rice it ferments in their stomach & was iratating his bowel….he can eat grounded rice in kibble just not boiled rice.. I contacted Jacqueline the Naturopath for help naturally.. her diets are under “Information” you pick 1 to 2 proteins I started with just the 1 protein Kangaroo now I feed chicken more then you pick 2-4 veggies & 1-2 fruits, I picked apple when he was eating raw but now I cut up watermelon & give as a treat or Paw Paw, Paw Paw is suppose to be excellent for the somach it has natural digestive enzymes..I freeze inice cube tray, its Summer here in Australia
http://www.naturalanimalsolutions.com.au/intestinal-flora-imbalance.html

[Howard J]

Thank you so much. I’m going to bring her in to see a nutritionalist vet on Monday. Her poop is still watery and yellow. I’m also going to try the Honest Kitchen dog food and see if that works for her. I’ll give her mashed sweet potato and chicken breast tonight. If I were to give her cooked food I would have to supplement with amino acids and vitamins. DigestaVite Plus 100g looks great and will probably help put good bacteria back in her system. However, I don’t know where to buy it? The site doesn’t have a checkout and I looked on amazon and it said it would ship between january 5-February 8, which is a long time from now. It’s obviously not an American company.

What fruit and veggies do you recommend? I know that they most likely have to be pureed or boiled for easy digestion. I just don’t want to overwork her pancreas that’s why I want to give her pancreatic enzymes, they are just expensive.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Howard J.

[Susan]

Hi, I’ve been thinking about your poor girl this morning, I read your email then had to go shopping, has she been tested for EPI & SIBO?? they normally come together….there’s a group on Face Book called “Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency” & there’s a lady called “Dianne Folwarczny-Sloan she makes Pancreatic Enzymes called “Enzyme Dianne”
http://www.enzymediane.com/ everyone uses them on their EPI dogs, they’re suppose to be cheaper there’s also the human ones called Creon digestive enzymes google Creon Digestive Enzymes sold at chemist also the ladies give their dogs B12 shots to help with their weight loss & loss of nutrients coming back out in their poos….you may need a new vet that knows about EPI & SIBO you will get heaps of help in the EPI group just post your story about your girl, Diane will probably answer your post & help you I know she is closing for Xmas I just looked she is on EPI Facebook group site at the moment https://www.facebook.com/groups/38663535025/
I don’t know if she has samples, maybe ask people in the group for a really good EPI
vet in your area as a lot of vets don’t know much about EPI & these poor dogs go untreated I don’t think it will make much of a difference what she eats unless its the rice that’s causing the diarrhea it so hard to work out what’s wrong cause they normally have a few health problems that’s when vets just say “oh it’s IBD” & give you a vet diet, also try white potatoes not sweet potatoes as sweet potatoes have more fiber fruit has fiber… I think she needs a very low fiber diet…
EPI dog cant digest fiber a lot of the dogs are eating the Taste Of The Wild Kibble cause the fiber is low 3 % or vet diet Eukanuba Intestinal has their fiber at 1.7% low residue kibble easy to digest…
I really think she needs some Metronidazole to get rid of the bad bacteria then when the bad bacteria has all gone away then you start a prebiotic like DigestaVite Plus-100 that keeps the bad bacteria away…… Gee your going to have a yukky Christmas worrying about your poor girl…I hope you get it sorted before Christmas you have just over 1 week everything closes then..

[Howard J]

Good news. We received her blood work and her liver enzymes have dropped into normal range. Everything is excellent, except for slightly high calcium levels. Apparently she had colitis as well as bad bacteria in the small intestine, probably from the raw diet we were feeding her. They gave her Metronidazole and an anti-acid and she is doing better. Still feeding her chicken and rice/potatoes. We are going to to see a nutritionist on Monday.

[Susan]

That’s excellent, great news, so she has IBD like Patch, IBD covers a lot of health problems from the stomach, small bowel thru to the large bowel she’s very lucky its not EPI, I thought S.I.B.O as soon as you explained her poo’s & smelly breath, how long has your vet put her on the Metronidazole?? Patches vet was only giving me 10 days worth of Metronidazole tablets at first & the S.I.B.O kept coming back every 4-6months, from foods I was feeding & ingredients in kibbles & Vet Diets, I changed vets then I joined the EPI Face Book group & they said when a dog has S.I.B.O, vet needs to put them on the Metronidazole for 21-28 days, that’s when Patches new vet gave me about 4 repeat scripts of 21 days worth of Metronidazole tablets so when I start to see his poos going yellow & smelly & his breath smelling like fermenting food, I have to start Patch on the Metronidazole again, I just finished a 3 week course about 1-2 months ago, I had tried anew kibble, the Earthborn Holistic Ocean Fusion kibble it had Barley, Rye flour & Sweet Potatoes then about 3-4 weeks of eating the Earthborn Holistic kibble Patches poos were going yellow & sloppy, some poo’s look like the end had a condom on them (Colitis) so something in the new kibble he was sensitive too causing the colitis & causing the bacteria over growth…. then I read Barley is a High Fodmap carb, so now I avoid any kibbles with barley here’s a list of high Fodmap foods & Low Fodmap foods its for humans but you’ll get an idea what foods feed your girl & what foods to stay away from……..
http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/

There’s a Human group on Face Book called “Fast tract Diet (Official Group)” run by Dr Norm Robillard, for S.I.B.O, Colitis, IBS, Acid Reflux & Hypochlorhydria-low stomach acid, Drs & vets prescribe ant acid meds thinking patient is making too much stomach acid when they have very low acid, a lot of really good info & links in this group. Dr Norm has a few books, what foods to avoid & to eat & how to change to a low Fodmap diet & avoid fermentable carbs like rice…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FastTractDiet/

This is an excellent video it explains how some people cant digest carbohydrates & explains how bacteria lives off these carbs using them as energy to survive….. http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap

[anonymously]

@ Howard J
Excellent!
Btw, I regret that I referred you to the cairn talk (link in a previous post).
I no longer recommend that site to anyone.

[Howard J]

Hi!
She is starting to feel a lot better. Her stools are formed although they still are slightly yellow and mucusy. We brought her to a homeopathic vet and nutritionist today, she said she likely suffered from acute pancreatitis from the blood works and symptoms that we gave her. She also said she has symptoms for textbook Cushing’s disease and our other vet, thought this could be the case as well. She said to feed her chicken and rice for a few more days and she will help guide in the right direction regarding diet. She gave us PMG pancreatrophin, Paraplex and Enteric all whole food supplements. Here hormones are out of whack and she believed it stems from her pituitary gland.

[anonymously]

Sounds good. I am glad that you have found a veterinarian (or two) that you trust and that your dog is responding to treatment.

[Howard J]

The holistic vet also gave her low potency phosphorus like beads for her to take everyday. I’m not sure why she wanted us to do this, maybe because of high calcium levels?

[anonymously]

I don’t know, are they concerned about bladder stones?
“Phosphates are used as dietary supplements for patients who are unable to get enough phosphorus in their regular diet, usually because of certain illnesses or diseases”.
“Phosphate is the drug form (salt) of phosphorus. Some phosphates are used to make the urine more acid, which helps treat certain urinary tract infections. Some phosphates are used to prevent the formation of calcium stones in the urinary tract”.

Just a guess…. You could ask your traditional vet for his opinion, leave a message for him to call you back when he has a minute, just to ask him a quick question.

You may find that homeopathic vets and traditional vets often don’t agree on treatment modalities. Then you will have to decide which one you want to believe.

[Howard J]

I see, I’ll call her and see what she says. It might even be a phosphorus binder, I have to look at the paperwork. Her calcium is elevated. Maybe it is due to the fact that her diet consists of chicken and rice for the time being, which is why she introduced it.

[Howard J]

UPDATE: So Coco is now 16lbs. She lost 3.2lbs in just over a month. We have been giving her supplements, including Pancreatrophin PMG and an Enteric powder as well. We still feed her boiled chicken and/or beef with rice occasionally. However, around a week ago we have been feeding her Honest Kitchen Zeal meal and she really likes it. She also has a super amount of energy, she is a completely different dog!

There’s a problem. Her stools are back to normal, they are formed and brown, yet, I noticed after a rainstorm that her poop seemed to still have all of the pieces of food found in the zeal meal. It’s as if she is not absorbing the nutrients. I’m not sure though. She also has blocked anal sacs, so we are trying to figure that one out.

[Tamara C]

Susan My Yorkie was Diagnosed a month ago with Pancreatitus. I have spent almost $3,000. keeping him alive & I’m running out of money. He won’t eat ANYTHING>. He use to love vegetables. I called his vet this morning & asked if I could add vegetables to boiled chicken in a food processor & he said NO, that it would bring on a serious attack & possibly kill him. I see you’re feeding yours vegetables & I have read many others are to. I have asked about boiling fish as well because it’s so Low in fat & I was told the same thing that it would Kill him. I don’t know what to do…. The last 2 days he would eat NOTHING but boiled chicken & now he won’t eat that either. As of this morning everything he smells, he turns away from. He acts like I’m trying to poison him. He’s so obstinate, he would rather starve. He’ll be 8 on Oct 26th if he lives that long… Someone please help me…

[Bobby dog]

Hi Tamara C:
Sorry to read about your pup. I can’t offer any advice on food as each dog’s Dx and threshold regarding foods that might trigger future pancreatic episodes are different.

However, if I was in your predicament I would seek out a boarded Veterinary nutritionist to help develop a balanced homemade diet suitable for my dog’s condition. I would also ask them for recommendations on Rx and OTC foods that would be appropriate.

Your Vet might have one they refer clients to. You can find Veterinary nutritionists at some Vet schools and here is a directory for ACVN diplomats:http://www.acvn.org/directory/

I don’t know if this is an option, but perhaps ask your Vet about an appetite stimulate. Good luck with your pup.

[Howard J]

Hi Tamara!

I have a similar dog as you and she also suffered with pancreatitis. For our Carine Terrier we had to do a lot of trial and error to figure out what was best for her. Firstly, she was overweight, 19lbs; 4.5lbs overweight in November of 2015. She is now 14.6 and staying steady. One reason she might of lost so much weight was because she had EPI from the pancreatitis episode in 2015. So she wasn’t absorbing as many nutrients. We also focused on exercise a lot more.

In regards to PANCREATITIS, we put her on a strict diet for about a month after her episode. Chicken boiled twice, white rice, sometimes a starchy food like Yam or sweet potatoes steamed and/or boiled. We should of supplemented with vitamins at this time but we were a little ignorant. Anyway, after this we bought HONEST KITCHEN Zeal Meal fish formula and HONEST KITCHEN veggie formula which is just a topping if you feed her protein such as fish boiled or chicken boiled. For 5 months we have been on a regime feeding her twice a day, either the zeal meal, ground up in a blender for a sec. Or the Honest Kitchen veggie topping dehydrated one. Both need hot water and let sit for 5min. The veggie one is mixed with fish, chicken or 95% lean twice boiled beef. We introduce more fat like coconut oil which doesn’t require the pancreas to work like other fats in small amounts.

NO TABLE SCRAPS PERIOD!! Supplements are what saved our dog. She has more energy than she did when she was 7. For every meal and what I think is the most important for dogs suffering with pancreatitis is an enzyme replacement. You can get them from your vet but we just use the vegan powder formula on amazon. Not too much money and lasts a year. We sprinkle 1/2 a teaspoon on her food for nutrient absorption and so her pancreas doesn’t have to work as hard. The brand is called Nusentia Enzyme Miracle.

Other supplements include pancreatrophin from standard process, which also aids in her digestion, paraplex and enteric powder all from standard process. We barely use the last two.

I hope this helps a lot, we had to go through the same thing, it’s important to stay low fat, but not too low and to add in enzymes slowly.

[Susan]

Hi Tamara change vets, I went thru 3 vets before I found Patches good vet, she’s into natural healing, feeding fresh foods as well….
I can’t see how boiled vegetables will kill your dog, they have no fat in them at all… have you joined the “Canine Pancreatitis” Face Book Group?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435920120029740/
The ladies in the Canine Pancreatitis group are very helpful. Look in the files… click on “Non RX foods” all wet tin foods that you can feed your dog will come up that are feed to dogs with Pancreatitis……Your dog can’t just live on boiled chicken, he needs his vitamins, minerals, omega fatty acid etc he’ll start to get dry itchy skin & loss weight…
The Honest Kitchen Zeal is low in fat-8.5% & is for seniors & dogs with Pancreatitis, IBD……all you do is add water, don’t add too much water, some people say its a bit sloppy, so add less water then is recommended….
Dr Judy Morgan uses the Honest Kitchen “Base Mixes” you just add your lean meat, Judy makes a few meat loaves for her sick little girl… you can find Dr Judy Morgan recipes on You-Tube she also sell supplements & has a Face Book page & answers all post & msg…. The Honest Kitchen sell samples, so you can try a few Zeal samples first, your dog will probably love it & its balanced & human grade ingredients … http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/zeal

[Sandy M]

Howard,

You mentioned your dog had a seizure-like episode? I have a Jack Russell who has dealt with pancreatitis for years. We finally have him on Honest Kitchen Preference. I add my own low fat beef which I grind and cook at home and he’s doing much better. He can’t eat chicken or turkey. He has seizure like episodes though and we are trying to figure out what’s going on with him. The vets say they don’t think it’s an actual seizure but he all of the sudden has an episode where he has no control of his legs, like he’s drunk. It only lasts for minutes and right after it’s like nothing happened. It’s horrible to see though. Does that sound like what happened to you dog?
Thanks
Sandy

[Tamara C]

No I found out he had a ton of things going on. He had just been diagnosed with pancreatitus, but they conveniently missed the fact that he also had the stomach flu, on top of a horrible infection from periodontal disease… When they took xray’s they showed that he had several bad discs & his whole spine was inflamed. That was the reason he collapsed & seemed to have a seizure. We had been playing outside (With ALL of that wrong & me having NO idea) He’s such an energetic little guy, he just played until he literally collapsed. He’s always been like that, that’s why I’ve almost lost him sooo many times. No one ever believes me that something’s wrong with him or that he’s dying, because he will play play play until he falls over dead. I can tell by looking in his eyes how weak, sick or far gone he is. Once they told me nothing was wrong with him (he was running All over the vets office, playing bouncing off the walls) Vet checked his gums, said he wasn’t Anemic, just to take him home & watch him over night? I DEMANDED they do a blood test (Which REALLY angered the ER Doctor. He slammed his hand down & said FINE I’ll do it, but it’s a Waste of Your Money!) Well he came back Screaming & told me I had to get him to another Hospital Immediately, 3 Hours Across State Lines For a Blood Transfusion because he was Sooo Anemic. (They don’t just have Animal Blood at every hospital) The DR even admitted that if I had taken him home, I would have woken up next to him dead.

For the Pancreatitus: Someone on here told me to Practice (Tough Love) Give him NOTHING but Hill’s ID Food with Nusentia Enzyme Miracle (Probiotics) sprinkled on it. Put it down for 15 min at Breakfast, lunch , Dinner. (Each Meal Time & if he didn’t eat it, put it up until the next meal time, because he wouldn’t eat. Well That worked, they were right. He eventually gave in & started eating that prescription food (Like it or not) he wouldn’t let himself starve. For the first time in 3 months, he started coming out of it, eating regularly, & getting stronger. He’s not sick anymore AT ALL, he eats on a normal schedule & is almost as strong & playful as he use to be. The only draw back is he really hates the smell of the ID food still. I joined the Pancreatitus Support group on Facebook that (Susan Above suggested) & a few days ago ordered that Zeal food from the Honest Kitchen that she suggested, but haven’t received it yet. ALL the people in this support group? SWEAR by this Honest Kitchen food, some of them have been using it with the probiotic supplements for years, with no problems. These people obviously know what they’re talking about, because I had seen 5 different Doctors at 3 Different Hospitals & spent over $6,000 & my baby was dying… If not for the advice from the ladies here on this post & the advice & help from the people in the group they sent me to? My Baby would be dead right now….

[anonymous]

Update: I no longer recommend the site mentioned below.

“Anyway, maybe someone over here has been through this with their cairn”
http://www.cairntalk.net/

[Author]

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