Any Advice - Dog just diagnosed with Pancreatitis

[crunchybiscuitandtea]

Our getting elderly Terrier (11) has just been diagnosed with Pancreatitis after a horrible weekend of being in a lot of pain, a visit to the out of hours vet and follow up blood tests yesterday.

She has is now on a special low fat Diet (Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat) and painkillers for the next week. She is much brighter thank god as I have been really panicked at how ill she was looking.

So after any advice - Happy to keep her on the low fat diet, struggling with any form of treat - I like to give them all something mid day and don't want to leave her out. How low fat is low fat? Keep it under 4%?

Any advice gratefully received x

When you say treat, do you mean a chew type thing? If so, have a look at the Anco website. Anco Naturals Collagen Cigars have a fat content of 0.86%. They are not big and I would say just right for a terrier. They don't last my dog long but maybe 5-10 mins. She doesn't have pancreatitis but does best on a low fat diet.

As for food, maybe a white fish based diet, either wet or dry or both.
I wouldn't want to keep mine on Royal Canine unless she absolutely had to be.
Under 4% sounds ok to me but I guess the lower the better as long as they are getting everything they need.

Could you divide her daily ration of food over 3-4 meals? My vet suggested this when my dog had similar problems plus acid reflux. I've continued to feed mine 3 times a day and I make sure her meals aren't too high in fat. She can't cope with too much fat.

Smaller meals are easier to digest and less of a burden for the pancreas. Feeding more often will also help your dog with any hunger pangs. Once she starts to feel a bit better she might be hungry as the low fat food isn't very filling!

I'm going to check out those Anco treats you mentioned @redboxer321 , they sound good. I agree with everything you said, I wouldn't want to keep my dog on Royal Canin long term either and white fish is a great low fat food.

Hope your dog feels better soon @crunchybiscuitandtea 🐶

Hi, my terriers had chronic pancreatitis, I ended up on Tails kibble, my vet couldn’t believe the difference, I tried the foods they recommended but they were SO much better on this. In regards to treats I looked for low fat, eg dried chicken treats, anything like that, there’s treats made out of carrot etc. . I also gave them chicken/turkey/raw carrot. Slices of beef. Gradually I just learned what they could tolerate. Best of luck for your lovely dog

My elderly schnauzer (11) has had this two big flare ups since she was 8 yrs and lots of little ones. Still has occasional flare ups but we catch it when it starts and it’s straight to the vets. She’s on Royal canin low fat gastric too. She has three small portions a day. I put them in a timer dish and she loves this. She can even tell when it’s nearly time for the dish to turn!she has fresh white fish mixed in the kibble for breakfast and the low fat wet food mixed in the other two. I also give carrots and low fat educ treats by Royal canin.
we were told recently by a vet that hypoallergenic food is the way to go . I’m sure she would much prefer anything else but this food but honestly after seeing her in so much pain with pancreatitis I’m wary to change what works for her.

Thanks everyone,

We have put her onto 3 small meals a day - which is going down well!

She seems a lot happier now and even barked at the postman this morning!

Can I ask if there is any other reason people would not keep feeding the Royal Canin Prescription diet food other than the ridiculous expense? I told my husband it was like us only eating Lobster and Fillet Steak going forwards 😂