Need to help a dog with Pancreatitis

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

At Day Care today there was one dog who couldn't have any of my home made treats. A lovelyTibetan Terrier who is four years old and has had three bouts of Pancreatitis, the latest last week which was very serious. The owner is frantic and I talked with her today. She had just brought him in so the groomer could even out his legs because they had shaved one of them for the IV.  The vets had misdiagnosed the first first two bouts and it was the specialist hospital that took care of him last week and made a definite diagnosis. She was sent home with a bag of expensive Hills ID or some other RX rubbish.

I offered to help her to find a better food that will suit her dog since I just knew there were several dogs on DK who have had this serious illness and are now more prone to it. I did search for diet advice but couldn't find it though I do have Jane's great Pancreatitis post which I have copied.   For now she is giving boiled chicken and rice. I couldn't help myself when I offered to get some good advice for her and promised I would send her an email. It is difficult to get all the brands that are on offer in the US here but if I could get the breakdown of what is necessary in a safe long term diet I could research what is available. She is prepared to home cook indefinitely if needs be as this boy is the love of her life.

[Joyce (Casey & Cody's mom)]

Wow, I just responded to a similar post. I have one little guy that has chronic pancreatitis, but as long as we carefully monitor his diet, he is fine. With any flare ups, he gets boiled chicken and rice, but we haven't had to cook his special foods in a long time. He is maintained on a mixture of dry dog food and canned foods. Half of each. I use a variety of dry foods - all from the Fromm Family line, and all are 11% fat. As long as we keep him at 12% fat or less, he does fine. The canned food we use is anywhere between 3.5 to 5% fat. I dehydrate brocolli , cauliflower, carrots, etc as his snacks.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thanks for this info Joyce, it saves me having to look up the fat percentages in all of our recommended brands, lol!

[Joyce (Casey & Cody's mom)]

Karen, As you know, Fromm has 3 lines of food. Here are the ones that have 11% fat.  In the Classic line, the Mature Adult; In the Gold line - Reduced Activity Senior, and in the Four-Star line - Whitefish and Potato. I alter the dry foods from one bag to another and they have never had a problem switching from one to another even through it is in a different line within the brand.   I normally use Nulo Longevity Trout Recipe Senior Dog food as the canned food - that has 4% fat.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thank you again, Joyce, this is very helpful. 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I just found a food 'Burns' from the UK which is available here which is 7.5% fat and looks like a good one so I have sent the information to Karen and suggested that she try it mixed with home cooking. She emailed me back and said that Tilly threw up the ID food last night but ate the boiled chicken so I told her that Tilly knows what's good for her. She says she is terrified that she will lose Tilly.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

*Update* Just got a lovely message from Tilly's owner to say she is doing really well on the home cooked food that I recommended and that the vet has given her the supplements that she is adding (vitamins and calcium) No tummy problems at all and she is so happy and wanted me to thank you for all your help.

[Leslie and Halas]

Great news!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yay! Great news!

[F, Calla & Luca]

How nice to hear : )

[Jill, Woody & Maxi]

Yay :) !!!!!