Best food to feed after pancreatitis

[zenon_bass]

Millie went down with pancreatitis at the end of August, BH Saturday! On reflection, she had been going off her Forthglade food for about a month previously and I had been mixing other wet foods in in to tempt her.  Finally it was sudden, absolute total refusal of all food, treats and water which was so alarming as she is a real foodie. So off to vet hospital and x3 on a drip. However she is well on the mend now.
What is noticeable is behaviours that had gradually disappeared are now returning, so she must be feeling better!

Qn: how long was it before you could take your dogs off the diet recommended by the vet, or tried introducing other food?

Millie is on Hillsi/d wet gastrointestinal food, currently 150g x3 daily. I've tried introducing fragments of other food, one at a time with the horrible results evident in the garden.. We retried Forthglade, 30gm: Millie's face was a scornful picture and poos were yuck: we tried 30g nature's menu fish (OKd by the vet) but she had a runny bum: we've tried very small slivers of F4D dried fish skins all to no avail. No human food whatsoever. Lowest fat content I can find...  Just Hills seems to produce the required results!

I realise that she may be on Hills for the forseeable future; it would be good to have a guide as to how long it was before you felt safe to include other foods. Also which food you eventually settled on... Have considered raw, but am not brave enough at this stage...
Just wish I could find something I could use as a treat that doesnt upset her tum.
Your advice would be appreciated, please!

[blodyn]

your story is so like mine. Misty had bouts of sickness and off her food loosing a kilo in weight.Vet visits did not produce a diagnosis and I was trying to feed her up on tasty things like sausages which was obviously the totally wrong thing to do considering she was eventually diagnosed with pancreatitis when I rushed her in as she was so bad and I thought her time had come.Following an overnight stay at vets on a drip she was much better and I was told to only feed low fat food.
I cooked chicken,turkey mince and fish and she had it with mashed potato,rice or pasta with various veg thrown in. She improved a lot on this diet.
I then searched for ready made low fat food and following meeting someone who's dog had had pancreatitis I tried Burns complete moist food (penlanfarm range) which has suited her well. My vet said to continue with it as going back to her old food (James Wellbeloved Kibble)might trigger the pancreatitis again.I have only found it online from vetuk but I expect you can get it from others as well.The only titbits she gets are either carrot or brockoly stalks.
fingers crossed for both our girls

[Archie bean]

When my last boy Dickon developed pancreatitis he couldn't go back to normal food. He remained on the prescription diet (Royal Canin Gastro intestinal low fat) for the rest of his life. He was allowed to have a little chappie mixed in but that was all. He did brilliantly in it despite the fact that, on paper, it doesn't appear to have the best ingredients. Before he became ill he was fed raw. Unfortunately raw is pretty high fat and he couldn't tolerate it at all afterwards. I think Nutriment do a complete raw diet (low purine?) which you could look at. If I remember rightly (from my investigations when Archie started his colitis issues) it is still a bit higher in fat that I was recommended to give for pancreatitis.

[rubyduby]

i use the Nutriment , low purine, lo-phos complete, and my dog loves it, it is suggested for dogs with kidney, liver etc problems, but might be worth speaking to them re the pancreatitis diet

[AlanT]

Are you all aware that there was/is a research program at Cambridge University specifically looking at Pancreatitis in Cockers?

Memory says there was an appeal for help, on here, some time back.

After this and following a few episodes of "throwing-up" I started to use Arden Grange low-fat Kibble and feed more fish and chicken.

Basically the dog follows our own low-fat diet preferences. Nice healthy boy at three years and 13kg perfect weight.

[zenon_bass]

Thanks everyone!
I'll reply in more detail in the next couple of days... Millie seems to be bouncing back now: yucky bum today, but that was probably the horse poo eaten in a flash! Thought she'd given that delicacy up! 

Another qn: were any of your dogs on Previcox and codeine as painkiller at the time of the pancreatic episode?

[zenon_bass]

Yes, I too had thought Millie's time had come and so did my friend who came with us to the vet hospital... Millie had lost half a kilo in two days: we'd weighed her at our own vet (corneal ulcer) only two days previously. It was a hairy few days with her on the vet hospital drip then subsequently twice on a drip at our own vet.
Its really interesting to see all the different food everyone has/is feeding and may try these in time after we've consolidated Millie's feeding pattern. I'm trying very gradually to reduce the three meals to two larger ones: an earlier attempt, by changing the meal by 10g caused her to be sick, though this seems to be improving. The website allaboutdogfood.co.uk was quite useful for looking for low fat foods, but our vet insisted that it wasnt the whole picture. Chappie might be the next thing to try, but her coat is doing well on the Hills.
If necessary, i'm resigned to her eating Hills i/d for the rest of her days, though I'd love to find a kibble we could use in association with it and as a treat!

[AlanT]

Try Arden Grange Light.

[Archie bean]

The Royal Canin low fat Gastro intestinal I used is dry.
https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-canine-gastrointestinal-low-fat-dry-dog-food/3932

[MUDDYBOOTS]

       
           Hi,Cloe had a bad bout of pancretitis and was on a drip for three days and sent home with very expensive diet(specific dog food ) I think it was called.Vet surgested Chappie and after a couple of weeks we put her on this and shes been fine for about eight months now.Also her ear problems have all cleared up so fingers crossed .

[rubybella]

I put my girl onto Chappie. Now on Millies Wolfheart Tracker mix which is low fat.

[zenon_bass]

The Royal Canin low fat Gastro intestinal I used is dry.
https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-canine-gastrointestinal-low-fat-dry-dog-food/3932

I have a friend who is going to give me a handful of this next week. One of her dogs is also a sufferer.

[zenon_bass]

       
           Hi,Cloe had a bad bout of pancretitis and was on a drip for three days and sent home with very expensive diet(specific dog food ) I think it was called.Vet surgested Chappie and after a couple of weeks we put her on this and shes been fine for about eight months now.Also her ear problems have all cleared up so fingers crossed .

Good to see ear problems have also cleared! That was another condition that affested Millie all summer, though seems fine now...
Chappie, here we come!

[1sttimecockermum]

Dennis is a fellow sufferer - My vet advised against Chappie - Dennis is on Royal Canin Low Fat Gastro Intestinal with some boiled white fish and rice - to make the tins go further  - touch wood he seems ok on this but any deviation or him stealing etc from this diet and he gets an upset tummy.   The only treat he has is a Biscrok milk bone which are made with skimmed milk.

[zenon_bass]

Guess its taking me a while to realise exactly how damaged Millie's pancreas must be... From 150g x3 Hills i/d gastro daily, I've very gradually changed to 170g, 110g, 170g.
This is an attempt to change eventually to two meals daily, morning and evening. She used to eat 200g x2 daily pre attack.

However, this morning 3hrs after a 170g meal, Millie produced half a thimbleful of blood along with her very wet, sloppy mucousy stool. Lucky I saw it... She hadnt eaten anything else that I know of to cause the change from firm to sloppy...

Has anyone else had this happen to their dog? How much blood? Did you go back to the vet? Do you think it was the quantity of food in one meal that caused the looseness?

So back to 150g x 3 it is, for the time being!
Looking forward to trying the Royal Canin dry gastro.
Chappie can wait for the moment...