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Thread: Pancreatitis

  1. #1
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    Pancreatitis

    Hi everyone, this may be long so I'm apologizing in advance.

    Last Sunday my 9 yr old male lab started to act restless on the couch which was odd. So I took his temperature and it was up to 103.7. My initial thought was that he maybe had a tick borne illness. We went to the ER vet and he proceeded to vomit 2 times while he was there. His Temp had gone down while we were there (about 3 hours) They did the tick test which was negative and gave him a shot of cerenia if the nausea was causing the restlessness and they x rated his abdomen. Nothing was really standing out so the plan was to watch him over the next 24 hrs to see if he was maybe "brewing" something that would present itself better. So long story longer, Monday morning he was very lethargic and his temperature was up again. We went back to ER Vet and they ran blood and his liver values were elevated. They admitted him for IV fluids and meds and ultrasounded his abdomen. Nothing remarkable visually on ultrasound, but every time the vet tried to get a good look at his pancreas he was painful. So they made the diagnosis of pancreatitis. The next day his liver values were back to normal and I was able to take him home on several medications, including an antibiotic in case the cause was something bacterial. He is doing so much better now, but the whole ordeal was so frightening for me! We have an appointment next week with our regular vet to recheck his liver values to make sure they are remaining within the normal range.

    Has anyone else ever dealt with this? Any tips going forward? We have no idea what caused this.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Three of our dogs have had pancreatitis. It comes on very quickly and can be lethal. You did the right thing and he should be just fine since he was treated.

    Two of ours had it because of something they ate. Argos got into the chicken feed and Zo ate something in the yard. Argos threw up twelve times in fifteen minutes. Nikki had it a little over a week ago with only one vomiting episode and subsequently had two masses removed, one on her pancreas and another nearby. She is recovering now but they treated the pancreatitis before they did the surgery.

    Again, he should be fine. Do check your yard, etc to make sure he can't get into anything but you handled it just right. They really just need the chance to stabilize with fluids and meds to stop the runaway effect.

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    This you janedoe. Luckily, I am very obsessive and in tune with him so I was lucky to catch it early enough. I am just so relived that he is Ok. The vet said on a scale of 1-10 he was about a 4, so not terrible, but I was still a nervous, crying wreck! I have heard that sometimes these dogs need to be kept on a lower fat diet and that once they get it they are more prone to reoccurrence. Did you have to switch yours to a different food?

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    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    I cook for all of my dogs. We have a nutritionist. So when stuff like this happens, she usually tells us to do turkey or boiled chicken, sweet potatoes and pumpkin along with their supplements and that goes on for a week or two. It kind of depends on the dog. We know that Argos got into the chicken feed so it wasn't something that was likely to be a chronic issue but Nikki will probably have to be on a low fat diet for the rest of her life since her pancreas may have been compromised by the tumor. Better safe than sorry.

    Definitely discuss your boy with your vet, especially since you're not sure what triggered it.

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    Thanks, we discussed it yesterday and we are going to try a low fat-high fiber food. He has always done better with a higher fiber food for his loose stool issue.

    Now, I'm just waiting for the call today that his liver values are remaining good! I'm exhausted from worrying about him non-stop!

  7. #6
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    How is your boy doing?

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    Thanks for asking, sorry I've been lax on an update.

    He is doing well, his liver values have returned to normal and he's back to his old self! Of course, I'm still traumatized
    He seems to be liking the lower fat food and tolerating it well. He's always been a pain to find a food he likes and doesn't give loose stools or nausea. So far, so good. I joined the pancreatitis Facebook page and have learned a lot from that. From what I gather in reading the posts of others on that page, he had a somewhat mild case! Thanks again for asking about my boy!

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    Senior Dog Charlotte K.'s Avatar
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    That is good news, which I am glad to hear!

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    Stella's flares up every once in a while. We switch to the prescription ID soft canned food and sometimes an antibiotic. I swear it's the mushrooms in the yard that bring it on. No matter how diligent I am in picking them up, even when Stella is literally standing next to me, she'll try to get a mushroom. Any advice on that?

 



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