Food for pancreatitis prone dog

[Clodagh]

Mum's collie has been on the Hills food for pancreatitis since she was really ill. She looks great on it, and is much happier. Mum doesn't like the food much, mainly because it is made in the US and I told her you lot say it is rubbish.
Is there an English alternative? She is looking at the MWH low fat but nowhere can she find out actually what percentage of fat is in the Hills food. I am hopeless but have had a look and I can't find it listed either. Help, please?

 

[Clodagh]

Found it - 14.8%. Still, any suggestions for an alternativbe? Both wet and dry as mum likes to feed both.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

If the dog looks good and appears to feel well on the Hills, surely it is best to leave well alone. I happen to know that one of the vets involved in designing (if that's the right word?) the Hills Science diet is British, in fact he was born in Liverpool. Will that make Mum feel better about it?

ETA, devising is probably a better word

 

[Clodagh]

I agree with you, and said as much to mum, but she would prefer a local one. The Hills does have corn and beet pulp, so isn't great, but the dog looks far better than she did on Lily's kitchen.
Looking at the millies low fat stuff, that has half the fat of the Hills and no fillers. Is fat not the be all and end all, are other things likely to cause digestive upsets, do you know?

 

[satinbaze]

Good old chappie tinned original is low fat. Smells horrid but a lot of dogs with digestive issues do well on it.

 

[Clodagh]

Good old chappie tinned original is low fat. Smells horrid but a lot of dogs with digestive issues do well on it.

MIL feed her terriers chappie and terrier meal and they look awful - poor coats and dull appearance. And I agree about the smell!

I suspect with mum's collie it is the cutting down on buttered toast and lumps of spam and tinned corned beef that are making a difference, more so than the food really.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

MIL feed her terriers chappie and terrier meal and they look awful - poor coats and dull appearance. And I agree about the smell!

I suspect with mum's collie it is the cutting down on buttered toast and lumps of spam and tinned corned beef that are making a difference, more so than the food really.

Lol!

In that case it probably won't matter what proprietary brand of food she feeds her on. It will be an improvement on the previous diet.

 

[Red-1]

Hector is on the Purina Pancreatitis friendly food, he looks really well on it. We are on the dry ne, but I think they also do wet. Don't know where they make it though!

 

[Clodagh]

Hector is on the Purina Pancreatitis friendly food, he looks really well on it. We are on the dry ne, but I think they also do wet. Don't know where they make it though!

Thank you - will look it up.

 

[Penny Less]

My dog was on the Hills wet stuff and it didn't seem to do any good. He is on white fish, or chicken, or Butchers lean and tasty which gives a fat content of 2.5% which may not mean much as I know there are different ways of estimating fat content. he has been fine on this diet for about 2 years with only one or two episodes whereas before it was every 5 or 6 days.

 

[Clodagh]

My dog was on the Hills wet stuff and it didn't seem to do any good. He is on white fish, or chicken, or Butchers lean and tasty which gives a fat content of 2.5% which may not mean much as I know there are different ways of estimating fat content. he has been fine on this diet for about 2 years with only one or two episodes whereas before it was every 5 or 6 days.

Thank you for that.

 

[Lucyad]

My old GDS was prone to pancreatitis and could eat chicken with rice, raw defrosted frozen trip mince, Chappie (occasionally), and ad-lib GSD royal canine dry food (which is not well rated, but she seemed to do OK on it in conjunction with the rest). She could NOT have any dairy (shame as she loved cheese as a treat), bread, processed human things, sausages or any other fatty left overs that people kept trying to give her! A small (stolen) cheese sandwich was enough to give her a terrible flare up.

 

[Clodagh]

My old GDS was prone to pancreatitis and could eat chicken with rice, raw defrosted frozen trip mince, Chappie (occasionally), and ad-lib GSD royal canine dry food (which is not well rated, but she seemed to do OK on it in conjunction with the rest). She could NOT have any dairy (shame as she loved cheese as a treat), bread, processed human things, sausages or any other fatty left overs that people kept trying to give her! A small (stolen) cheese sandwich was enough to give her a terrible flare up.

I do think Mum's dog has far too many treats, but they have cut down and she seems well enough.

 

[Penny Less]

Well the treats thing is bang on. Mine has been staying with a friend for 3 days with his own feed and told he musnt have anything fatty.
He is back with me with a dicky tum and not eating and been sick, in passing has been mentioned, Oh he has had a pigs ear, and some ham .
Needless to say he will have to go into kennels next time.

 

[Lucyad]

Mine would get sick even from a well-meaning relative giving her one of those awful Pedigree chum treat sticks.

 

[Clodagh]

Well the treats thing is bang on. Mine has been staying with a friend for 3 days with his own feed and told he musnt have anything fatty.
He is back with me with a dicky tum and not eating and been sick, in passing has been mentioned, Oh he has had a pigs ear, and some ham .
Needless to say he will have to go into kennels next time.

Some people are so stupid! Mum's partner is a dick, and the day after the dog came out of the vets, having been on a drip and costing about £400 he fed her a spam sandwich with half a tonnes of butter just because I said he shouldn't.

 

[Penny Less]

Trouble is, some people with long experience of dogs seem to know better than you or your vet!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Are SPAM sandwiches still a thing?? Or was it made especially for the dog!!

 

[blackcob]

he fed her a spam sandwich with half a tonnes of butter

May he one day be afflicted with the excruciating pain of having his digestive enzymes eating away his insides, and on that day may someone force feed him a bloody spam and butter sandwich and make the pain ten times worse. What a tit!

My pancreatic dog has only had one episode and we never did identify the trigger but he's maintained now on the lower fat varieties of Nutriment (senior and low purine) and Natures Menu (senior, beef and tripey varieties) with Pooch and Mutt if I need kibble for any reason.

 

[Clodagh]

Are SPAM sandwiches still a thing?? Or was it made especially for the dog!!

Mum and him still voluntrarily eat it. Always makes me go all Monty Python.

 

[Clodagh]

May he one day be afflicted with the excruciating pain of having his digestive enzymes eating away his insides, and on that day may someone force feed him a bloody spam and butter sandwich and make the pain ten times worse. What a tit!

My pancreatic dog has only had one episode and we never did identify the trigger but he's maintained now on the lower fat varieties of Nutriment (senior and low purine) and Natures Menu (senior, beef and tripey varieties) with Pooch and Mutt if I need kibble for any reason.

Rox has only had one minor twinge since. Her body shape has improved, she is still a bit round but hasn't got the dropped belly she did have.

 

[Blazingsaddles]

Good old chappie tinned original is low fat. Smells horrid but a lot of dogs with digestive issues do well on it.

Crappie is vile - but you’re right, it seems to work wonders on dogs with gut & skin issues.

*chappie - a genuine Freudian slip, hahaha...

 

[Penny Less]

Dog just been to emergency vet suspected pancreatitis, but vet thinks it may be haemorragic (sp) enteritis.If it is I should be able to claim on the insurance, as hes now excluded for pancreatitis. Its been such a wonderful day I cant tell you

 

[{97702}]

Ahem - I am a big Chappie fan, it is at least honestly presented which that Hills, Royal Canin and Eukanuba **** certainly isn't It sorted out Hoover, and for that I will be forever grateful - thought I'd be bankrupted by feeding him cooked chicken and rice

 

[Clodagh]

Dog just been to emergency vet suspected pancreatitis, but vet thinks it may be haemorragic (sp) enteritis.If it is I should be able to claim on the insurance, as hes now excluded for pancreatitis. Its been such a wonderful day I cant tell you

I do hope he is OK.

 

[Penny Less]

He is back at the emergency vets getting hydrated, I have just spoken to them and he has eaten a very small amount of food, but that's the first in 2 days !

 

[Translationsneeded]

Having dealt with a dog who had it severely we had him on a low fat, gluten free food from trophy pet food. He had numerous allergies and this was the only food that kept him stable. You’d need to call them for advice but I found them good to deal with.
So important to have no treats (except the odd carrot or icecube etc!)
He nearly died once because he found an errant peanut on the pub floor!!!

 

[Clodagh]

He is back at the emergency vets getting hydrated, I have just spoken to them and he has eaten a very small amount of food, but that's the first in 2 days !

I hope that means he has turned the corner.

 

[Aru]

Chappie tins are sometimes subbed in for the prescription Gastro foods if your looking for a cheaper option its a possibility....but don't feed the dry its pretty rubbish....but as a general rule if the dog is doing well on the Hill's food I wouldn't be in any rush to change it.
If it works for the dog, she's looking well on it and hasn't had another pancreatitis attack then why fix whats not broken especially when theres a chance of setting off the pancreas' inflammation again. Personally I'd at least give it a few months for everything to settle down again. Also if at all possible get any excess weight off the dog asap and hope you get to skip the diabetes that can follow pancreatitis. Then when at a normal weight and if stable gi wise think about changing the food to something local.

 

[Clodagh]

Thank you Aru. Will pass that on.