Wellness

[CinNC]

Now I remember part of what I used to do.........keep small jars of plain chicken baby food on hand if I needed ""emergency"" chicken and rice.

So glad Gracie is home and doing better!

[Gracies Mom]

CindyinNC---Thanks for your suggestion about the baby food!! I used to give Gracie that when she was a puppy and refused dog food--she LOVED it. Right now I'll stay with the boiled chicken & rice since she's still relishing it.

Another QVC'er told me about the baby food, but to make sure it's organic (chicken) and doesn't contain onions or garlic--I didn't even think of that! Good to be reminded!

Gracie is having a good day---she even pooped 3x today and her body appears to be normalizing--WOOHOO!!!!! She hadn't gone to the bathroom in almost a week and I was anxious about that being a problem, but the vet told me it's not unusual for a dog to get constipated after such an ordeal--I can tell Gracie feels much better now that she relieved herself. Never thought I'd be so thrilled to see her poop!!! Sometimes it's the little things you have to be grateful for (am I sounding too melodramatic??)--LOL!!

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and concern--it means a lot to me (and to Gracie too!!).

God Bless,

GraciesMom

[JudiL]

My dog had it 4 months ago. Terrible! He is now a skinny mess but he is doing ok. It was definitely my fault. Even locally grown humane beef and pork have fat, so... He is on the Hills Science ID low fat. We just started mixing it 50-50 with the regular ID. He had a small bout of it again a few weeks later because I had him on the regular so we switched to low fat. He is doing well now, thank goodness. I still give him boiled chicken as a treat because he looks like he is always starving.

[DoubleDog2]

Check out DogAware.com. This is a wonderful site that has lots of info on various diseases and diets, including pancreatitis. I have fed home-made, raw meat diets for 20 years to our dogs and rescues, I will never feed kibble to a dog again.

[MalteseMomma]

A few yrs ago, Royal Canin and Science Diet were two of the worst brands you can feed your dog. Please Google them and read up.

Vets recommend them because they get paid to do so.

I hope Gracie does well and gets better quickly

[JohnnyWasnt]

Hi Gracie's Mom,

I'm so glad to hear that Gracie is feeling better and eating! Our 17 year old Pomeranian had 3 bouts of Pancreatitis. She had to be on a virtually fat free diet and we gave her the Royal Canin intestinal ultra low fat. We couldn't find any dog food that was as low fat. She ended up being on it for about 1 1/2 years.

We were diligent about giving her virtually no fat. And, it is NOT easy to find treats that are low fat. Trader Joe's beef and turkey jerky were a staple. We also made her egg white omelets with no fat cheese and our vet said that the 96% fat free burgers from Trader Joe's were OK to give her, too.

Sadly, she passed back in April, from another bout of pancreatitis due to an inflamed gall bladder (discovered with ultrasound).

That was the source of one of our other Pom's pancreatitis - a bad gall bladder. He had it removed when he was 14 and lived to be 2 weeks shy of 17.

We wish you and Gracie the best!

[Gracies Mom]

Again, thank you everyone for telling me your experiences with this dreaded condition--and for dog food suggestions--I appreciate everyone's kind concern and helpfulness.

So sorry about the loss of your angel, laurie--and I'm glad you told me that your dog was on the Royal Canin brand--the vet has ordered their hydrolyzed protein diet for Gracie. It got great reviews online, so I decided to try it--it should arrive next week and I will start Gracie on it--only time will tell, right? I had no idea that dogs get gallbladder trouble, but I guess any animal with a gallbladder can have it. Something to think about.

Since Gracie couldn't eat any kind of beef or eggs or cheese before her pancreatitis--low fat or not--that's not an option to supplement her diet with. The only thing I can give her, along with her dog food, would be boiled chicken breast.

I will check out the DogAware website--thanks so much!

As for Royal Canin not being the best choice for Gracie, I was hesitant about trying this brand too, but the online reviews from dog owners whose dogs cannot tolerate dog foods were excellent--plus two of Gracie's vets (one is a canine nutritionist) highly recommended this diet for a "pancreatitis" dog--I will give it a try, as I trust these vets--and they know how much Gracie means to me.

I appreciate all of the good wishes---so does my beloved Gracie!!!

God Bless,

GraciesMom

[watcher513]

Earlier this year our 12 y.o. (almost 13) dog developed pancreatitis. Our vet had me feed her cooked chicken (just the meat) and rice, in smaller amounts 2x/day. We started out with 3x/day and progressed to 2x/day. She got 1/2 cup of each twice a day. Every 3 days I made rice. Every X-days I put a chicken in the slow cooker overnight and picked it the next day then bagged it up in feeding portions and froze most of it. Then I'd just take 2 of them out every night for the next days feedings.

[Gracies Mom]

The slow cooker is a great idea, TSDTS!! Thanks for the tip!! I've been boiling Gracie's chicken in batches, shredding the meat and then putting it in Lock n Lock containers in the refrigerator--the meat will stay fresh for a week (I keep it in the back of the refrigerator so it stays ice cold)--then I microwave the meat (& rice) so it's warm and appetizing.

Right now I'm feeding Gracie 3x a day--the rice only with her breakfast and dinner (she's still on two antibiotics). Hopefully by late next week maybe I can start introducing her new dog food--I have to speak to the vet on Monday to see what she suggests.

Hope your angel baby is doing well now!!!!

God Bless,

GraciesMom

[DoubleDog2]

On 10/2/2014 MalteseMomma said:

A few yrs ago, Royal Canin and Science Diet were two of the worst brands you can feed your dog. Please Google them and read up.

Vets recommend them because they get paid to do so.

I hope Gracie does well and gets better quickly

Science Diet/Hills sponsor nutrition classes in many of the vet schools. Hills puts out a large collage text book "Small Animal Clinical Nutrition" that contains wonderful information on nutritional approach to various diseases. BUT of course suggests their own RX foods for most conditions. This is why most vets recommend them, it's what they learn in school. I agree though, most have terrible ingredients.

I use the information from this book to create my own diets for kidney and liver diseases in dogs.