What Foods Are Ok For A Dog With Pancreatitis?

[Reef]

We just found out my 13 year old boy (ACD x BC) has pancreatitis. He has to spend the night at the vets on a drip. Hopefully I will be able to bring him home tomorrow. Fortunately I think we caught it early as we noticed he was panting quite a bit and refused to eat his food last night (a definite sign my boy isn't feeling good as he usually has the appetite of a Labrador!).

What foods are suitable for a dog with pancreatitis?

At the moment he is on 100g of chicken mince mixed veggies a couple of chicken necks and half a cup of Eagle Pack Holisitic. He also gets chicken carcasses and sardines twice a week. Are the sardines a no-no?

I don't know that there is a whole lot I can cut out of his diet as it's already fairly restricted since we've been trying to get him to drop a couple of kilos.

[Dogsfevr]

The first thing is what was he feed that started the attack??

Things like pig ears etc etc can be all to much,besides his diet what treats has he been given.

Generally a low fat diet is what is used & with our girl who had it we feed her smaller meals ,ore often

[Reef]

The only different thing he has eaten in the last few days is beef bone (though he has had these before without incident) and a bit of pork fat. But I'm not really sure what triggered it as he is nearly 13 and has never had any problems before. I'm hoping the vet might be able to shed a bit more light on it tomorrow.

[TangerineDream]

The pork fat might have been the 'straw that broke the camels back' (so to speak) - ....it was bacon fat that caused it with my last GSP.....and bones also have a lot of fat on them.

I fed Cadence on chicken mince (had to cook it and then skim the fat off because he was so sensitive to it), boiled rice and oatmeal and the only dry food I could feed him that was low enough in fat and agreed with his gut was Supercoat. He lived for another 9 years without a single attack, but I was boringly vigilant over his food while I learnt what his system could and couldn't cope with (this is individual to the dog). I could feed him wet food so long as it was 8% fat content or less for about 3 days and then he'd start to show signs of intolerance and it'd be 2 days onto chicken fillets and rice and yoghurt to settle him again.....he couldn't have any bones after that at all - too much fat.

Lots of luck - it's high maintenance in a way (keeping people from putting food in your dog's mouth) but easily controlled once you work out what diet does and doesn't suit your dog.

[Reef]

Thanks. I'm wondering if it was a combination of the pork fat and the the bone. From what I've been reading, I think I've probably been lucky, as it sounds like it could have been a lot worse. He had a bit of diarrhoea and his tummy was tight and he just didn't seem very happy, but no vomiting or extreme pain.

Can it come on all of a sudden? Because although he doesn't get fatty scraps very often he has had bits of bacon rind and alike before with no problems?

I'll have to become a food Nazi and ban everyone from feeding him scraps!

[sandgrubber]

My understanding is that the pancreas produces the enzymes that break down fats, and diets for pancreatitis are low fat diets.

Bones vary. Marrow is quite fatty, and some bone (eg briscuit [sp?]) tend to be sheathed in fat. Roo tail bits are typically lean.

Roo is usually the leanest of meats. I'd guess that some combination of roo and a low fat biscuit would do the trick, depending on how badly your dog is affected. There are also some low fat meat rolls. As for treats, fat is the issue. Eg, avoid the gravy and keep the veggies unbuttered. No cheese.

[Reef]

Are chicken carcases and necks ok or are they fairly high in fat? I'm guessing marrow bones and lamb flaps will probably be off the menu.

Edited October 30, 2007 by Reef

[Miranda]

I had an older bitch who developed pancreatitis, it was quite severe and any fatty foods caused vomiting and diarrhoea. We fed her chicken breast and the Hills ID dry and canned food. She could also tolerate one of the Tucker Time dog rolls that was low in fat. Other than the breast chicken in any form provoked an attack, so did any variety of mince. She could eat brisket bones, but I had to ensure that ALL the fat was removed.

Different dogs can deal with different foods, how much fat she can handle depends on how badly her pancreas is damaged.

I just read your last comment, chicken wings, carcasses, marrow bones and lamb flaps are high in fat and should be avoided, necks may be ok, but make sure you remove any residual fat. Obviously if you get a reaction to a particular food don't feed it again.

Edited October 30, 2007 by Miranda

[poodlefan]

Yep, you need to try to limit fat but I'd also suggest you add digestive enzymes to the diet. Have you discussed diet with your vet?

[sandgrubber]

Are chicken carcases and necks ok or are they fairly high in fat? I'm guessing marrow bones and lamb flaps will probably be off the menu.

Raw foods vary in fat content depending on what animal they came from and how that animal was fed and butchered. Some necks are lean. Some fatty. Lamb flaps are, in my experience, usually very fatty. Mince is all over the place. Look at it and feel it. Heat it. If you don't get the impression that it's fatty, it probably isn't. If a "red" meat mince is pink it is probably fatty. If it's deep red or maroon, it's probably lean.

[Crysti_Lei]

i have heard Greenies products are alright for them.

Edited October 30, 2007 by Crysti_Lei

[Miranda]

i have heard Greenies products are alright for them.

I wouldn't feed any Greenies product to a dog.

[Reef]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to discuss the diet change with the vet yet. At this stage it looks like he might be at the vets for a couple more days, depending on his next blood tests. Just from a quick discussion with one of the nurses today, they suggested the chicken mince may be ok, definetly no carcases and I think they might want to put him on the Hills ID prescription diet dry food (glad I didn't buy another 15kg bag of Eagle Pack just yet!). From the advice everyone has given it sounds like his diet willl probably come down to just how sensitive he is.

He gets feed human grade chicken mince which usually looks pretty lean, but I'll talk to the vet about the roo mince. My only concern with the roo mince is he stools can be a bit loose if he gets too much. So perhaps a mix of roo and chicken mince?

I've sworn of greenies since I've been educated about them.

[bellab]

Yes it must vary dog to dog. My late dog, Major, a border collie cross poodle (accidental conception not designer dog) had it from 12 to 17.5 years. We could only ever feed him chicken breast boiled to remove any excess fat mixed with white rice and a tsp of cottage cheese. Even then, the meal had to be tiny and fed 4-5 times per day. We couldn't vary from this at all without triggering an attack - no treats, no raw meat, no bones. In retrospect, we could have added some grated veggies but other than that, hills prescription diet was too fatty/protein rich. Remember it's not just fat that becomes difficult to digest - its also protein - so stick with chicken as the protein source, as its protein is the easiest to digest. We tried roo mince (as its almost 0% fat) but it triggered attacks because it was too protein rich. Reading now, he must have been very sensitive as we could never feed him anything interesting. Poor boy! Anyway, he lasted til 17.5 on that diet before he suffered too much and was an otherwise healthy, happy boy.

[Jumabaar]

I personally would go onto the prescription diet for a little while to give his body a chance to rest and recover then look at introducing the meat and veggies back into the diet.

I get roo tails that don't generally have much fat on them which might be an idea if he can tolerate the roo.

[Guest lavendergirl]

I know this is an old thread but I noticed the comments about Greenies - what is the matter with Greenies

[Sheridan]

It was chicken that did it for Grumpy last Christmas, though it wasn't confirmed that it was pancreatitis. Because of the symptoms it was determined to treat it as though it was. He gets his Vivitonin tablet in a piece of sliced chicken twice a day and that's it. Everything but one type of bikkie and liver treats is fish-based now. No bones, no ears.

[SchnauzerMax]

I know this is an old thread but I noticed the comments about Greenies - what is the matter with Greenies

I think people don't like them because they are artificial but if I remember correctly, they were originally made for dogs who couldn't eat bones.

My guys go crazy for Dentastixs but previous dogs have loved them (Greenies) with no ill effects.

[monster]

We just found out my 13 year old boy (ACD x BC) has pancreatitis. He has to spend the night at the vets on a drip. Hopefully I will be able to bring him home tomorrow. Fortunately I think we caught it early as we noticed he was panting quite a bit and refused to eat his food last night (a definite sign my boy isn't feeling good as he usually has the appetite of a Labrador!).

What foods are suitable for a dog with pancreatitis?

At the moment he is on 100g of chicken mince mixed veggies a couple of chicken necks and half a cup of Eagle Pack Holisitic. He also gets chicken carcasses and sardines twice a week. Are the sardines a no-no?

I don't know that there is a whole lot I can cut out of his diet as it's already fairly restricted since we've been trying to get him to drop a couple of kilos.

Hi our cavalier boy also was unlucky to be diagnosed with pancreatitis, after a recovery from 1st vet stay we put him on prescription diet, worked reasonably well, was he was stable we decided to change him to Bonnie Light dry, yoghurt (low fat) Kangaroo mince , BUT THE BEST AND ONE OF THE THINGS HE HAS BEEN ON NOW FOR 4 YEARS IS WHITING(fish) which is lightly grilled or barbecue or just on george lucky though my dads a fisherman, as all my Cavvies have always loved fish as for treats(greedy cavvies) we felt that we looked at the lowest fat content in dog biscuits which was 2x4 Greyhound biscuits we break in half so he a least still gets a treat I wish you and your boy all the best.