Pancreatitis

Talk to me. We're not sure, but there's a possibility that Hazel may have it. She's been doing a fair bit of lip smacking and generally sounding and acting like a dog with acid reflux over the last couple of weeks. I stopped the raw as I've had some dogs as they get older, not handle it well--tried some canned and rice and famitidine and no improvement and over the last couple of days, she's thrown up her meals after a couple of hours. No other vomiting, but every meal in the last couple of days has come up. There is some belly tenderness--we went to my vet today. No diarrhea or other vomiting. Energy pretty good, but her tail is down more than it should be. We've put her on Sulcrate and the blandest food we can find and we'll see what happens. If she isn't improved in a couple of days, then we'll do X-rays and blood work. Could just be a gastroenteritis or it could be pancreatitis. Or, God forbid, a blockage--although she's not one to eat weird things. And she's become very itchy in the last couple of weeks. No clue what that's about.

I'm not panicked yet, but am trending that way.

Sending good thoughts for Hazel.

No experience with pancreatitis, just lots of good thoughts that it turns out to be "just one of those things" and she's okay. Will anxiously wait for updates.

Aussie Witch wrote:No experience with pancreatitis, just lots of good thoughts that it turns out to be "just one of those things" and she's okay. Will anxiously wait for updates.

Yep, that's about all I have to offer too. I'm sorry to hear this. I hope you can get it figured out and manageable. My son has terrible reflux. For years we could not pin it down, but now daily zantac has been a lifesaver and really cut down on the flare-ups.

Blanche - is the vomiting specific to one protein source? Mei-Ling used to projectile vomit on beef.

pugpillow wrote:Blanche - is the vomiting specific to one protein source? Mei-Ling used to projectile vomit on beef.

Nope. It was two hours after every meal regardless of the meal.

My vet put her on Sulcrate and the Medi-Cal Gastro and so far, so good. Much as I dislike the vet diets, if she does have pancreatitis, she needs low fat and low protein and until I can do enough research to figure out how to do that myself, Gastro it is.

She does seem improved so I'm hoping that we just had an attack of gastroenteritis. Which is what we would have assumed, but no diarrhea and the vomiting exactly two hours after meals was not consistent with gastroenteritis. Mind you, her symptoms haven't been consistent for pancreatitis, either, but pancreatitis can present in a variety of weird and baffling ways.

In any case, she's keeping food down, she's less itchy (God knows if that was related) and her tail is up more.

Glad she's feeling better!

In my experience with chronic pancreatitis low-fat is way more important than low protein... however easily digestible protein is the way to go. Keep red meat down to one-third or less of the protein given and it MUST be low fat. Make lean poultry another third and the rest should be fish.
No milk products at all (trade in the yoghurt for probiotics) and watch the supplements for sneaky fat or lactose. If chronics have a pancreatitis attack, withhold all food and oral fluids for 24 hours so the pancreas slows down, you will need sub-q gear to rehydrate if necessary.

The odd stand-alone attack of pancreatitis is much more common in middle-aged and older dogs than you would think - mostly it is attributed to gastro or similar because it comes and goes in a day or two. I am not surprised that your vet isn't convinced it is pancreatitis - have her enzyme levels been tested, as that is definitive?

It actually sounds more like a stomach ulcer to me, so those prescribed meds would be helping, it is just a matter of keeping up the meds until the ulcer heals and ensuring that her digestive tract doesn't have to work too hard. If it doesn't heal fairly quickly then you would have to do more investigation, which you already know. If it's an ulcer or pancreatitis, the general itchiness would probably not be connected, unless stress makes her itchy?

Hugs to the gal and hope she feels better soon.

Hope she is still feeling good today.

leslyeb wrote:Hope she is still feeling good today.

I'm checking to see how she's doing too.....Hope she's on the road to recovery!

Puggered wrote:In my experience with chronic pancreatitis low-fat is way more important than low protein... however easily digestible protein is the way to go. Keep red meat down to one-third or less of the protein given and it MUST be low fat. Make lean poultry another third and the rest should be fish.
No milk products at all (trade in the yoghurt for probiotics) and watch the supplements for sneaky fat or lactose. If chronics have a pancreatitis attack, withhold all food and oral fluids for 24 hours so the pancreas slows down, you will need sub-q gear to rehydrate if necessary.

The odd stand-alone attack of pancreatitis is much more common in middle-aged and older dogs than you would think - mostly it is attributed to gastro or similar because it comes and goes in a day or two. I am not surprised that your vet isn't convinced it is pancreatitis - have her enzyme levels been tested, as that is definitive?

It actually sounds more like a stomach ulcer to me, so those prescribed meds would be helping, it is just a matter of keeping up the meds until the ulcer heals and ensuring that her digestive tract doesn't have to work too hard. If it doesn't heal fairly quickly then you would have to do more investigation, which you already know. If it's an ulcer or pancreatitis, the general itchiness would probably not be connected, unless stress makes her itchy?

Hugs to the gal and hope she feels better soon.

Thanks, Angela. None of my dogs get anything dairy. They do get a lactose free, non dairy acidophilus added to their food. and I don't feed high fat proteins--the closest would be the lamb, but they don't get that often. Mostly they get elk, venison, rabbit, goat, beef offal, boar and fish. I've taken Hazel off of the raw for now as I want to figure out what's going on. I suspect we had a gastroenteritis attack as she is now right as rain on the sulcrate and the gastro food. I am going to keep her on a low fat, lean protein food in any case just to be safe. She's the only dog in the house that CAN eat chicken so I will be thinking about how I modify her diet in future.

We didn't do enzyme levels as she just wasn't presenting as sufficiently pancreatic to warrant that. And given her response to the sulcrate and gastro food, I'm more sure it's gastric as opposed to pancreatic. I still can't explain her weight loss, but my vet's scale can be wacky. she sure doesn't look or feel like she's lost a kilo of weight--but I'm boosting up her rations and adding rice pablum to try and get some weight back on her.

Tail is back up, she again interested in chewing on her bones and things and she remains as loonie as ever. So for now, I'll keep an eye on her and not panic.

Thanks for the advice and support, one and all. I know she's eyeless and nuts, but I love her to death.

She sounds like she's doing better! Hopefully it was just a little stomach bug or something like that.

Glad to hear her tail is curled and she's feeling better.