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Recurrent Pancreatitis in our 13-year-old lab mix

4K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Holly 
#1 ·
Hello all

My husband and I are at our wits end.

About 2 1/2 years ago our female spayed lab had her first bout with pancreatitis. Throwing up and refused to eat (something she NEVER does), we knew something was wrong and took her to the vet and discovered the pancreatitis.

We have since changed her food. At first, she was on Natural Balance Low Fat, but after another bout about a year ago we switched her to Science Diet I/D.

After another bout about two months ago, we switched her to Royal Canin Low Fat Gastro food. However, she despised the wet Royal Canin food and wouldn't touch it. So, we kept her on the Royal Canin dry food and feed her one can of I/D a day.

She has a host of other medical conditions considering she is 13 year old lab. She has heart disease, incontinence and arthritis, as well.

These are the medications we have her on currently:

Metacam (about 50 cc a day)-for her arthritis
Vetmedin (twice a day 50 mg)-for heart disease
Triple Omega 3-6-9 (twice a day)
Glucosomine with Chrondrotin (twice a day)-for her arthritis
Proin (one or two a day)-for her incontinence
Flagyl-one a day-we started her on this after her last bout with pancreatitis-the vet said she would have to remain on this for the rest of her life due to her issues

So, today she threw up again and seems to be feeling unwell. There is no way she got any table scraps, everyone who comes into the house is informed not to feed her anything. My husband (or me) watch her when she goes outside to poop/pee-we haven't seen her eat anything, even grass. We are VERY vigilant about not giving her ANYTHING other than her food and medication.

Does anyone have any insight on what we can do to help our pup? Could this be part of a bigger issue at this point (failure of the pancreas, diabetes, Crohns, anything?). Could it be all the medications she is on? Or, could this just be an old pup in her old age and some of her organs are just failing? Does anyone have anyone that has helped their pup with this issue? Anything?

Thank you, in advance, for any insight anyone might have...
 
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#2 ·
Oh, and I'm sorry, I should add we already have an appt. with the vet this afternoon. I'm not looking for a diagnosis or anything...just wondering if anyone has had any luck with anything other than what we have tried or if anyone has gone through something similar.
 
#3 ·
My dog Emma has chronic pancreatitis. But, since the food change she hasn't had an other problems with it. She eats Royal Canin Duck & Potato.

Has she had any recent blood work done? I'm almost thinking it's something else other than pancreatitis, just because it keeps reoccurring. I would for sure be getting some blood work done today. Please keep us updated, and let us know what your vet says. Good luck!
 
#4 ·
Ditto having FULL Bloodwork rechecked and I think it's time for her to have an abdominal ultrasound, if she's not had one recently, to see if there is something else going on. At that age, I would 100% do it.

Could it be her meds? Eh, yeah, but I'm not convinced it is. Could she be a chronic pancreatitis dog that never really gets over it? Yes, this is more likely. Also could be totally unrelated to anything in her abdomen and perhaps something has changed with her heart-- that can cause GI signs as well.


Perhaps more advice can be given once she's been to the vet and we know what they found/what they did etc.

Good Luck.
 
#5 ·
Well, we are back from the vet.

Thank you for advice people have posted so far, I appreciate it.

First, we have done a blood work up within the last three months. Our poor pup had an incident about three months ago, it was NOT pancreatitis but we still don't have good idea of what it was. She seemed to have a seizure, collapse on the floor and then was having trouble walking. Took her to the ER vet, took her to our vet the next day and had a complete blood panel done. The only thing we could come up with is she was bitten by a spider or by a bee (because her leg swelled the next day, although they could never find a bite or anything in that leg). Anyhow, the blood panel revealed nothing abnormal, with the exception of slightly elevated liver enzymes-which, the vet attributed to the Metacam.

We did have a abdominal ultrasound done...during the last bad bout she had. It didn't reveal anything, though...well, except her pancreas was enlarged...which was to be expected as she was going through one her bouts.

So, the vet today basically stated she has chronic low-level pancreatitis. We are going to cut out her flagyl, decrease her metacam and up the dosage of the Pepcid we give her (forgot to list that on my original post-we give her 20 mg of Pepcid every day, we are going to give her 40 mg of Pepcid now). We are going to start feeding her chicken/brown rice or some greek yogurt every day (for some protein), and decrease the amount of wet food i/d we give her (since he says that really isn't low enough in fat for her).

At this point, he said the rest of her body will give out to old age before the pancreatitis has any time to do any real damage (diabetes or organ failure). As hard as it is to hear that, I know that is probably the reality. She is a 13 year old large dog, and she has a had a really great life with us...really, I just want to keep her comfortable and happy for whatever time she has left with us...and the vet assured us she is not uncomfortable or in any pain.

We will try the above changes and will go back in another month to recheck her pancreatitis panel.

Anyone else have any insight, please let me know...thanks so much.
 
#6 ·
Just one comment (I'm on my phone so sorry for the short reply).... But the omega 3-6-9 supplement is a fat. The only fat I would be giving is EPA/DHA (omega 3 from fish oil), which can actually help in pancreatitis, and I've used it at extremely high doses. The omega 6-9 in the supplement could be contributing to the flare ups.
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