Pancreatitis in Dogs and What You Can Do To Avoid It!

Pancreatitis in dogs is a painful and often life-threatening condition where the pancreas becomes inflamed. There is no cure for pancreatitis. Dogs living with pancreatitis have to be monitored carefully and fed a careful diet, so as not to cause a flare up.

Types of Pancreatitis in Dogs

When inflamed, the pancreas overproduces the enzymes used to break up food. When that happens, the enzymes attack the pancreas itself, damaging the organ. As the cells die, the enzymes can escape and enter the bloodstream, causing damage to other tissue and organs. There are two types of pancreatitis:

Acute Pancreatitis: a sudden onset of pancreatitis or a severe flare up in a dog with chronic pancreatitis.

Chronic Pancreatitis: pancreatitis that happens over a course of time, can be months and even years. Dogs with chronic pancreatitis can have acute flare ups and acute pancreatitis can cause chronic pancreatitis.

Signs of Pancreatitis in dogs:

· Hunched back

· Vomiting

· Diarrhea

· Lethargy

· Loss of appetite

· Painful or bloated abdomen

· Fever

· Dehydration

Since these symptoms can be seen with a myriad of medical issues, it’s best to get to the vet and have your dog diagnosed.

What Causes Pancreatitis in Dogs? (And How Can You Avoid It)

Unfortunately, there is not one thing that vets can say, “do or don’t do this and your dog won’t develop pancreatitis.” Certain breeds are more disposed to developing pancreatitis, in particular the miniature schnauzer and other toy/terrier breeds like the miniature poodle.

Other causes for pancreatitis can include blunt-force trauma to the abdomen and certain medications – your vet should warn you of any side effects to potential medications your dog is on so you can watch for symptoms. Other medical conditions such as hypothyroidism and obesity can also cause pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis in Dogs, Obesity and Fatty Foods

While you can’t control a lot of the factors that may lead to pancreatitis in your dog, obesity and diet are things you do have control over. A major cause of pancreatitis in dogs is a high fat diet. This includes not just their kibble, but those high fat table scrapes you feed your dog because you love him so much. You are literally killing him with kindness. In fact, vets often see a boost in dogs coming in with acute pancreatitis around the holidays because of all the fatty leftovers being fed to dogs.

A low-fat diet is essential if your dog already has chronic pancreatitis, to slow the progression of the disease and avoid acute flare ups.

The problem with homemade food. The vets at North Coast Veterinary Specialist and Referral Centre in Queensland note that homemade food can be a problem if you are feeding a dog with pancreatitis because you cannot possibly know how much fat he is getting.

A note about fasting. At Stay Loyal, we recommend fasting. And it used to be that vets would recommending fasting a dog that was having a flare up. However, research by the University of Melbourne has shown that fasting for dogs, in most cases, is not appropriate when dealing with pancreatitis.

We all want what’s best for our dogs. Feeding a low-fat diet has a lot of health benefits, and no negative side effects. North Coast Veterinary Specialists recommend a low-fat dog food with 18% or less fat for dogs with pancreatitis. Our Salmon turkey and porkrobert product meets this requirement. Also remember to keep portions down to keep a lean healthy weight as obesity and overfeeding are the main causes of Pancreatitis.

So, next time you want to give your dog a treat from the table, reach for the carrot stick instead of the French fries.