ScoobyDoo

Hi, We recently believed our Shihtzu had pancreatitus. After blood and urine tests, it seems he is "fine"!!!!! Knowing that, did not stop the projectile vomiting etc, so we were a little dubious about the "fine" diagnosis. However, we took the vet's advice and choice of three canned prescription foods to trial, Hills I/D, W/D and another from Royal Canine (which we haven't tried yet). The Hills products have done wonders for ScoobyDoo. Truly, he is a totally different dog. Considering we have had to clean up spews almost every day for the past 10 months, we are thinking this is a miracle. Since starting this new canned food, he has not thrown up once and seems much more contented.

Without disputing any of the good advice already posted. We had a dear little female Shihtzu, Jess, who threw up yellow bile her entire 15 years, off and on. EVERY time she visited the vet, we asked about the problem, with no advice forthcoming. I believe, however, it had a lot to do with diet. This is something I have recently twigged onto, because our current male Shihtzu has a vomiting problem also, but not the same. But comparing the two, I truly believe, simply because Jess used to eat, as well as her dog food, everything we ate. Curry and chilli meals were her favourite. I mean that would make any self-respecting dog sick. Reflux - that is the answer. Keep the diet, low-fat, low spice, low salt.

Hi, When we first fostered our beige Shihtzu three years ago, when he was 9, he was covered with a dreadful itchy rash. He was in constant agony of itching and scratching 24 hours a day. He was currently on cortisone tablets, which we immediately tried to wean him off, but the rash persisted. At the same time, I was having a few itchy problems myself and my GP prescribed Elecon Lotion, which is very helpful for people suffering psoriasis. I tried a little patch on Scooby one day and like magic, the next day that area was totally clear. Now, I use the lotion every time I notice he is favouring special areas for licking and gnawing attention. He has not had a sign of a rash or even a pink patch of hair or skin since beginning this treatment.

Everyone is probably going to think we are silly. The vet finally took some blood and urine to test. Scooby's pancreas is fine, his liver is fine. His kidneys showed some dehydration but the urine test showed no dehydration. When the vet called with the results, I said "OK, so what is wrong with ScoobyDoo?" Don't know. Probably just a tummy thing. What treatment? Same as what we are doing - low fat diet, slippery elm. The vet said that we can probably expect further bouts of vomiting in the future however. But all we can do is watch his diet. We are going to look at buying some special diet type canned food because he refuses dry food. He is a very emotional little dog and lots of things seem to upset him, and we have noticed when he has been upset (it can even be just hearing another dog barking), that he will probably be sick later. So back to the drawing board.

ScoobyDoo isn't doing too well today. He showed signs of abdomen pain this morning on his walk and we had to carry him home, he just stopped and sat and wouldn't move, forward or back home. We will take him to the vet today, I think. It is awful, I wish dogs could talk and I wish they could understand what we say. We'd tell him that we love him.

Thank you very much. We worked the non-fat diet thing out ourselves, just by seeing how much "grease" stain was left on the cement after cleaning up where ScoobyDoo threw up. As far as CAUSE is concerned, I am of the opinion that years of taking cortisone, for a dreadful skin rash he had, is the culprit. ScoobyDoo is 12 years old, but we fostered him only three years ago. Since then we have cleared his rash with a topical lotion that people use for psoriasis - worked wonders. I would still like some feedback about the Slippery Elm and it's effect on pancreatitis. I know it is great for everything else to do with the digestive system, but is the pancreas part of the digestive system??!!

Hi, Our ScoobyDoo, a 12 year old male Shihtzu, has been very ill since November last year. The vet has been of no help whatsoever and even, at one stage, said he had helicobactor pilori for which he prescribed massive doses of antibiotics, and at times, other obscure medicines. Well, we figured, after that, there was no infection causing his problem. So we have had to experiment. All ScoobyDoo eats now, is cooked chicken and rice and canned tuna in springwater and rice, three times a day, in small doses. We give him a teaspoon of Slippery Elm paste with his morning meal. Since he has been on this, he has improved, out of sight. However, he has had two bouts recently, caused, we think, mainly from emotional stress and worry. We saw on the net, only yesterday, the symptoms for pancreatitis and they are the symptoms that ScoobyDoo suffers. Has anybody else tried slippery elm to relieve the symptoms of pancreatitis? I am worried we might be doing the wrong thing. Any comments would be appreciated.