Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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Pancreatitis in Dogs Posted: 09 Jul 2009 08:53 AM PDT We had a good question from a reader about pancreatitis. I don't think we've ever done a post specifically on this subject before and since I'm sitting in a motel in White Sulfur Springs Montana with a good internet connection there is no time like the present. By the way, White Sulfur is a current version of what Montana used to be; unpretentious, uncrowded and no Latte carts in sight. It's not Bozeman and that's a good thing. Pooooor Bobcats. As the name states, pancreatitis  refers to inflammation of the pancreas, an important organ attached to the small intestine. The pancreas produces the hormone insulin that is essential for glucose metabolism and important digestive enzymes that are needed to digest dietary fat and carbohydrate. This disease can be either acute or chronic. Both forms can be very painful and dogs with pancreatitis will usually vomit, lose appetite and have a hunched up appearance due to the pain. They may run a fever too.   There are a variety of causes including infection, drug interactions, certain metabolic disorders, chronic obesity and even trauma. In many dogs pancreatitis gets started after a bout of garbageitis. Garbageitis is the highly technical term for getting into the trash and eating what is left of the Thanksgiving turkey or some other high fat human food.   Treatment involves resting the pancreas by withholding food, fluid therapy to deal with the dehydration and electrolyte imbalances that invariably accompany pancreatitis and dietary intervention. High fat diets are to be avoided and pancreatitis dogs may need special diets that are highly digestible and low in fat.   Usually dogs are not fed anything for a few days and then the special diet is gradually introduced over a few days. The reason for this is that the presence of food, even the smell of food stimulates pancreatic enzyme production and that helps relieve the inflammation. In severe cases an inflamed pancreas can produce so much digestive enzyme that the organs surrounding the pancreas will actually be digested leading to permanent damage.   Many dogs will recover after a bout of acute pancreatitis but some may progress to the chronic form. These dogs may need treatment for life. They will surely have to avoid high fat diets and may need dietary therapy for life. They may also experience complications like diabetes from the damage to the insulin producing cells in the pancreas and dietary problems related to the lack of digestive enzymes.   These complications can be managed with insulin and digestive enzyme replacement. Obviously this is a serious management problem and digestive enzyme replacement can be very expensive.   Dogs without digestive enzymes will obviously lose weight even though they are eating more than normal and they will most likely develop diarrhea. And as our reader experienced they may have gas too. The presence of undigested carbohydrate in the large intestine is a perfect recipe for gas or flatus as we like to call it in vet speak. It's so much more professional to proclaim that one has had an attack of flatulence than er.. gas. Enzyme replacement can help with that.

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