Pancreatitis?

[ladycody]

New here and am so glad I found you all. The forum I used to go to doesn't seem to exist in the same format anymore. My girl is five and seems to have had flare. She was never miserable...just off...and posturing with nose to the air pretty regularly. We had her on liquid for 2 days and have been slowly reintroducing food but her vet gave us hills ID...which seems to be chicken flavored corn and grains. Shs always been grain free and fish focused with low fat...and has been a perfect weight with no skin issues and a ton of energy. Her snacks have been fesh veggies and fruit....though my mother would through her some bits of high fat stuff when visiting (which has now stopped). We've always fed her out of a kong because she is a crazy gobbler....so cooking for her would present issues too I think. Anyway... I've read too much conflicting info at this point and am looking for some schnauz-a-holic input.

Right now I have mixed the hills with her normal kibble and another super low fat grain free food with a good reputation...but am wondering if my concern about switching her to a fully grain oriented food is unwarranted. I want what's best for her but am not 100% sure what that is in this instance. She's been sooo stupid healthy without grains that going in the complete opposite direction has me nervous. My gut had me create the mix...but now I wonder if I should listen to the vet and feed straight hillsID...put her on the super low fat grain free...or if mixing the foods (so her blend right now is 30%grain and fat is at 7%) was a decent alternative. Any thoughts and input appreciated.

[zeta1454]

Welcome to the Forum Christine

In over 20 years of owning miniature schnauzers we have never experienced pancreatitis with our dogs so I cannot speak from experience with this but there are a number of Forum members who may be able to help with advice from going through this with their own canines.

We feed our dogs raw prepared food and, in general, I would avoid kibble as the main source of food for a dog and also any foods which are high in grains or other ‘fillers’ which contain too much carbohydrate. It is certainly possible to feed a dog who has suffered a single attack of pancreatitis or even a chronic condition with food other than a “prescription” diet but you may want to wait to decide on the regular diet once the pancreatitis symptoms have gone.

I assume the pancreatitis was diagnosed by the vet after relevant tests? I have known some vets who seem to “diagnose” pancreatitis without testing especially if the dog is one of the breeds known to have a higher prevalence of this.

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/ ... ty-in-dogs

There are a couple of links here re diet and dogs with pancreatitis which may also be helpful to you. Hopefully someone with direct experience of managing this successfully with their dogs will be able to give more help too

https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/artic ... ncreatitis

https://dogsfirst.ie/health-issues/panc ... -solution/

A useful supplement to alleviate inflammation in the digestive system is Tree Barks Powder which may also be of help:

https://www.dorwest.com/product/tree-ba ... -and-cats/

[ladycody]

Thank you!...yes...bloodwork showed elevation of markers...not omg-ish but not nothing either. Will keep reading...she is pretty much fine right now but I'd like her to stay that way.