Canine Pancreatitis--Recognizing Pancreaitis in Dogs

Canine Pancreatitis is a serious medical issue but one that you and your dog can avoid with attention to proper feeding and nutrition. I apologize if this sound as if I'm suggesting that you would deliberately not feed your dog correctly or deliberately under nourish it. Very often, we may be completely unaware that we are engaging in a practice that could be of potential harm to our pet.

So, here is a question for you--do you feed your dog table scraps? I don't want to scare you, but if you do, you might be predisposing your puppy to pancreatitis. This is part will depend on the quality of the "scraps."

I'd like to go over briefly what pancreatitis is and how you know it when you see it in your dog. First, the pancreas is a tiny organ that lays across the back of the stomach and makes digestive enzymes--chemicals that asssit in breaking down food for digestion. Pancreatitis is a severe inflammation of the pancreas and if severe enough can, in fact, kill your dog.

What do table scraps have to do with pancreatitis? A diet of low quality scraps can lead to this condition. The scraps from a meal made from pre-trimmed, pre-battered, pre-buttered, pre-cooked, and pre-packaged foods consists of only bits and pieces that are usually inedible and generally unwanted by humans. Such a diet of scraps cannot provide sufficient and balanced nutrition. In fact, they may provide no nutrition at all.

Symptoms of pancreatitis may be your dog suddently vomiting, dehydration, lethargy, and/or diarrhea. These symptoms also belong to many other diseases, but if you suspect pancreatitis, take your dog to a vet immediately. If you normally feed your dog lots of scraps and human junk food, and you also notice your dog beginning to manifest the symptoms mentioned above, you could be facing pancreatitis. Get your dog to a vet. As a rule, high amounts of fat, a high-fat meal, the dog feeding out of the garbage can lead to canine pancreatitis. Ingestion of pesticides can also manifest as pancreatitis.

Does this mean that you should never feed your dog any human food? Read on in find out.

When wondering whether or not to feed your dog table scraps, ask youself what you would do with the scraps otherwise. Would you throw them in the garbage or eat them yourself? If you would throw them in the garbage, don't feed them to your dog. This is a good rule of thumb--if you won't eat it yourself, don't feed it to your dog.

Most table scraps are fats and carbohydrates, providing a way too many low quality calories and little else. As a result, the dog obtains a most of its daily caloric need from the useless scraps and loses his appetite entirely for the commercial food. I am not talking about feeding your dog the occasional tid bit of food you would eat yourself or the occasional chunk of fat from a roast. I'm referring to the garbage left over that would ordinarily go to the curb for garbage pick up or into the disposal.

No dog is a garbage disposal. Dog have nutritional needs and demands of their own particular metabolism that must be respected in order for them to have healthy life. If you don't want to feed a dog commercial dog food, there is plenty of information on how to make your own dog food. In fact, as I develope this page, I'll provide some basic information on dog and puppy nutrition.

By refusing to put table scraps on the food, you may feel that you are leaving your dog with unpalatable dog food. However, from my point of view, by refusing to feed you dog table scraps, you are simply refusing to poison your dog. I can assure you that you will be doing just fine if you are feeding your dog a good quality dog food for such a food will have balanced nutrition.

If you feel you must feed your dog something extra from the table, then save some of the good portions of meal, such as rice, potatos, or meat. Add just a tiny bit to the dog food and blend it well. Remember, just a tiny bit of good quality table food (not scraps, as such) All you are doing here is enhancing the aromatic quality of the food, and this, in turn will heighten the dog's sense of tasting the food.

One thing that I do for my dogs is feed them a few ounces of chopped beef liver with their dry dog food. They love it, and the liver does them no end of good. Believe me, there are other solutions than table scraps!

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To cut to the chase, the key feature of a canine pancreatitis diet is that it low in protein and fat. Keep in mind as well that many diets designed to manage gastrointestinal tract problems may not be suitable for helping with canine pancreatitis. Also, it may be necessary to feed your dog a prescription diet, and of course, you must consult a vet at the first sign of pancreatic trouble.

Your dog's diet will depend, to some degree, on the severity of the attack. However, generally speaking, you want to reduce or eliminate fat and minimize the intake of proteins in favor of carbohydrates. In other words, you will be increasing the quanitity of carbohydrates and serverly reducing the amount of protein in your dog's diet. The point of this is to reduce the production of the enzymes that cause the inflammation of the pancreas. Remember, absolutely no table scraps or junk treats!

When resorting to a special pancreatitis diet, a dog food low in fat is generally fed in small quantities and then gradually increased following the plan set forth by your vet. If your dog is dehydrated, then it may need intravenous fluids to bring hydration back to normal.

I'll talk more about his, but this is the fundamental information that I think is important to know right at the start.

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There are a few dog feeders who foolishly insist that meat is the only thing a dog should ever be fed. Meat alone is entirely inadequate for a dog. The foremost deficiency in a diet of meat is its lack of calcium. lf the meat is trimmed of fat there is also likely to occur a deficiency in energy. There are numerous other deficiencies, but none as dramatic as these two.

Meat, nevertheless, is the single most important source of protein fed to dogs. Thousands of tons of horse meat and beef are used each year in producing commercial dog foods. Hundreds of tons more are fed as a supplement to commercial foods or in home-made rations.

When fed as an addition to a balanced commercial food, meat can be added up to 10 percent of the weight of the mixture. When added in any greater amounts it will dilute the commercial food to the extent that the diet will no longer be balanced or adequate. When used as the sole source of protein in a home-made ration, meat should constitute at least 25 percent of the total weight of the diet. However, home-made rations should ever contain more than 75 percent of its weight as meat

All meats except pork can be fed to a dog either cooked or raw, but will usually furnish more nourishment in the raw state. Vitamins are destroyed by the heat of cooking. Fat also is driven out of meat during cooking, and unless it is poured back into the ration, it will become lost as an energy source. The only real justification for feeding a dog cooked meat in a homemade ration is because it is pork, or because the dog does not like raw meat. Dogs having a genuine dislike for raw meat are few and far between.

The nature of the animal from which the meat comes does not seem to be too important where protein is concerned. Nutritionally, most proteins from different animals seem to be about equal. For years it was contended by some dog owners that pork could not be fed to dogs. Feeding experiments do not find this to be true. In fact, pork liver is probably among the most nutritious livers commonly available to dogs. The only restriction which pork has when being fed to dogs is that it be cooked. Feel free to check out my article on dog health and nutrition fundamentals.

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Canine pancreaitis, as I've mentioned in the modules above can be a serious and painful condition for your dog. And there are varying degrees of pancreatitis and it may be possible to catch it at an early stage or even before it starts if you know what to look for.

Common causes of canine pancreatitis include:

high levels of fat in the blood

high amounts of calcium in the blood

trauma and shock are also correlated with pancreatitis

diet of fatty, greasy food or garbage can precipitate pancreatitis in a dog

Symptoms to be aware of include:

extremely painful abdomen

abdominal distention

lack of appetite

depression

dehydration

a 'hunched up' posture

vomiting,

diarrhea with the feces yellow and greasy

Fever may also accompany these symptoms. Mind you, we are talking about acute canine pancreatitis, here. The dog could also develop rhythmic irregularity of the heart and body wide infection. If the condition is extreme enough, it could lead to a fatal condition called disseminated intravascular coagulation. This condition essentially results in the loss of most of the dog's red blood cells. If you suspect pancreatitis in your dog, get it to a vet immediately.

Treatment generally begins by not feeding or letting the dog drink for 24 hours. The point of this is to allow the pancreas to stop producing digestive enzymes. If the dog seems to respond, then depending on the severity of the condition, the dog can be allowed small feedings of bland, low fat, low protein food. If the dog responds well, then the quantity of food may be increased. Because treatment usually involves the withholding of hydration, fluids are reintroduced via intravenous or subcutaneous means. Treating the dog in the early stages may require no food and water for several days, so the intravenous fluid therapy is often a key element of recovery.

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I wanted to just lay out a list of the symptoms that can present when pancreatitis is present in your dog. This is by no means a definitive list, though I think it is pretty complete. It is also important to remember, that combinations of these symptoms do not necessarily mean a diagnosis of pancratitis. Other pathologies can elicit combinations of the same symtpoms. However, if you suspect canine pancreatitis, get you dog to a vet. Better safe than sorry!

• Painful abdomen


• Abdominal distention


• Lack of appetite


• Depression


• Dehydration


• Change in posture


• Vomiting


• Color change in red tissues of the mouth and eyes


• Diarrhea


• Yellow, greasy stool


• Fever

When canine pantreatitis is severe and acute, you may see these symptoms:

• Heart arrhythmia


• Sepsis


• Difficulty breathing


• Disseminated intravascular coagulation


• Severe inflammation of the organs near the pancreas

Your vet is a pretty significant figure in your dog's life - and thus, in yours. Hopefully, you'll only ever need him or her for routine checkups and preventative procedures; but just in case, it's worth taking the time to develop a good relationship with a suitable vet, before you need their services.

Keep in mind that your vet isn't just your dog's doctor; he or she is also the dentist, manicurist, psychologist, and - hopefully! - a friend. When you roll all these things up into one, you can see why it's necessary to spend some time confirming that you've made the right choice.

The best place to start looking for a vet is by word of mouth. If you have any friends or relatives who take good care of their dogs, then that's a great place to start: ask them who they'd recommend, and why. This last one is particularly important, because everyone has different priorities: for example, perhaps they like their own vet because he/she is a specialist in their own particular breed; or they don't charge very much; or the clinic is only five minutes' drive %u2026 their priorities are not necessarily yours, so it's a good idea to make sure that your values coincide with the person giving the recommendations.

Another great place to find a vet is through local training clubs These organizations are almost guaranteed to place a great deal of importance on high-quality veterinary care, because the health and well-being of their dogs is such a priority.

Once you've got a list of vets that you're interested in pursuing further, all you have to do is call up the clinic and explain that you're looking to find a regular vet for your dog(s): can you come in for a quick chat, introduce your dog, and have a look at the premises?

While you're at the clinic, you'll want to be assessing your potential vet's overall attitude and approach to health care and animals; and you'll also probably want answers to some specific questions.

Helpful Questions to Ask Your Future Vet:

- How many vets are there on staff? If you need to make an urgent appointment, you don't want to be waiting around while precious minutes tick past. Ideally, there'll be at least two qualified veterinarians on hand (not just technicians or assistants.)

- What kind of testing and analysis capabilities does the clinic have If they have to send away to a lab for this kind of stuff, it means that the results are going to be delayed. If your dog is very sick, time is an important factor: it's best if the clinic has at least blood-analysis testing on hand.

- What after-hours services are available? A lot of clinics close the doors in the evenings and on weekends, which means that if there's an emergency, you'll have to go somewhere else - and subject your dog (and yourself) to an unfamiliar vet. (If you don't mind this, then that's fine; but be aware that in a high-stress situation when emotions are running high, it's reassuring for your dog and yourself to deal with someone familiar.)

- What's their price range? How are payments made? Is there a facility for payment plans in case of unexpected vet bills? The payment-plan option is particularly important. Even with pet insurance, vet bills can sometimes be astronomical - and not everyone has the resources to deal with large vet bills straight away. Ask the clinic how they cater for situations like that.

- How up-to-date is the staff with advances in the industry? Do the vet, the technicians, and the assistants attend seminars and workshops regularly? The field of medical care is always moving forward - responsible vets make the effort to keep up with the times, and see that their staff do, too.

One final thing to consider is that a gifted vet knows how to take care of you as well as your dog. The relationship that you have with your vet will hopefully be one that's based around a healthy mutual respect and positive synergy - there should be very little scope for misunderstanding. When the two of you see eye to eye, it makes caring for your dog that much easier.

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