Pancreatitis! 😟 Is anyone with experience able to tell me if there's any hope?

[ycbm]

Sorry to hear about Blomma FL, these animals are such a worry and even more so when they're getting old and creaky. She certainly doesn't lack for a dedicated owner, sleeping in a vet surgery! Look after yourself.
.

 

[scats]

My elderly dog suffers from pancreatitis flare ups, they are very scary. Fortunately her last couple have been mild.
Sending lots of good vibes to your doggy xx

 

[splashgirl45]

Sorry about Blomma, sending healing vibes for her xx

 

[fankino04]

Fingers and toes crossed for continued improvement xx

 

[Kunoichi73]

Sending more healing vibes your way.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Only just seen this . I’m glad Blomma is showing signs of improvement. Sending loads of healing vibes to her and hugs to you .

 

[Boulty]

Pancreatitis is one of those conditions that can vary massively in severity.

A really mild case they can start feeling better in a few days and be back to normal maybe within a week.

Some of them feel poorly for a more prolonged period of time eg maybe a week or so, possibly end up needing things like feeding tubes to support them until they’re well enough to eat again but get there in the end.

Some of them get a really bad version where the pancreas basically starts eating itself / becoming necrotic which is VERY painful and these ones tend to develop other issues and not have a good outcome. (I’d say the majority of these are ones with pre existing issues)

I’d say the vast majority of dogs fall into one of the first two camps.

Unless there’s a known cause (eg over indulged on lots of fatty foods, usually post bin raiding!) then once they’ve had one bout they may be more prone to flare ups (esp if their breed is genetically pre-disposed) and may need a special low fat diet to help with this.

From what you’ve posted she’s responded really well to what they’re doing so hopefully if she keeps eating and doing well you can have her home again for Xmas

 

[PurBee]

So pleased to hear there’s been some progress and she’s toileting. Blomma evidently wasnt going to risk the nurse stealing her cod!
Healing vibes still flowing from here, and i hope you also manage to sneak in some day naps to catch-up with rest.

 

[Shady]

Just seen this FL and am obviously sending heaps of love and healing vibes
I don't have experience with this in dogs, but it's reasonably common in the Gremkitty cat breeds, and there are some really excellent FB support groups who offer all sorts of tips and advice on how to manage it. Might be worth seeing if that exists in the dog world. Thinking of you both and keeping all crossed for beautiful Blomma xx

 

[FinnishLapphund]

...
Unless there’s a known cause (eg over indulged on lots of fatty foods, usually post bin raiding!) then once they’ve had one bout they may be more prone to flare ups (esp if their breed is genetically pre-disposed) and may need a special low fat diet to help with this.

From what you’ve posted she’s responded really well to what they’re doing so hopefully if she keeps eating and doing well you can have her home again for Xmas

I'm not aware about any hereditary Pancreatitis in the breed, so I am just going to assume that after working for 15½ years, her pancreas simply decided that it didn't want to work as much anymore.

BLOMMA UPDATE:
They've called from the vet hospital, and she's sitting up all by herself! And she have continued to eat! Also, at least now during daytime when it's more busy with staff moving around, she haven't shown any signs of being stressed by me having abandoned her there alone, but they have strict instructions to call at any time if that changes later during the night.
As long as she's doing well, I won't hear anything until tomorrow.

 

[misst]

Just caught up with this FL. I'm so sorry you must be worn out. I'm glad Blomma is improved and keeping everything crossed for a happy christmas for you and her. Thinking of you x

 

[AmyMay]

I’ve been checking in for updates. All sounds really positive xxxx

 

[poiuytrewq]

I meant to do a care not a love emoji but they often don’t work on my phone sorry!
I don’t personally but a friend, I’m fa t two friends do. One of which has an older girl. Both did really well with slight diet changes. Hopefully that is a bit reassuring. X

 

[Kunoichi73]

So glad to hear a positive update. Still sending positive vibes etc for continued improvement.

 

[silv]

My little elderly dog had an attack, it was totally my fault I gave him some fatty lamb as a treat and it was just too much for him. Felt absolutely awful about it.
My two big dogs were not effected at all.
He was put on pain medication and a low fat diet. He hated the Hills one so I cooked up fish and chicken for him. Once he made a full recovery I put him back on his normal food but avoided anything fatty.
He was 13 at the time and lived another couple of years after that.

 

[Chucho]

That sounds positive! We have had two with it, it is excruciatingly painful when they have a flare up but usually manageable and you learn quickly what their fat tolerance is and how to manage them to keep them comfortable and prevent it re-occuring. Hopefully Blomma is on the up and up now.

 

[Squeak]

So glad to read a positive update. Crossing everything she continues to improve.

 

[PurBee]

That’s great news FL …prayers and vibes here she continues to improve and heal so you can spend xmas together. I agree with the nurse, she looks younger than 15! I hope youve been rested, well-fed and watered too

 

[Aru]

Glad to hear your girl is feeling a little better.
Age isn't a disease it just predisposes you to having more issues from wear and tear is how I'd judge the age v treatment issue.
If she's otherwise in very good condition, the condition is treatable in most cases and no other underling problems were found then it's worth treatment for a condition like pancreatitis in my mind even in the elderly. It's rarely fatal though it can be very severe sudden illness. But if pain and complications -nausea secondary infection etc is well managed and the body is given time to heal the majority do survive, especially those who become willing to est again quickly.

My oldest lappie(5) had a run in with severe pancreatitis earlier this year(after she made some unwise diet choices-rotten eggs and possible a carcass of somesort) that triggered severe gastro and acute pancreatitis.
She spend 4 days on fluids 24/7, heavy duty pain relief, nausea meds, antibiotics(as she also had gastroenteritis)and multiple gi meds and was pretty touch and go for the first 48 hours.
She has ended up some ongoing complications-diabetes due to the level of damage to the pancreas(vet staff curse striking hard-its an incredibly rare complication) so we had an interesting few months post her intial illness but is back to her happy go lucky self just on a carefully managed diet and unfortunately insulin. Despite her severity and diabetes making more attacks likely she's been fine on just dietary management since and can tolerate up to around 10/11 percent fat. Though some need much lower percentages ongoing.
Being willing to eat in the first 3 days is defiantely half the battle in pancreatitis.

Fingers crossed she continues to improve

It's not a common breed issue thankfully. Just horrible bad luck most of the time.. there's only a handful of predisposed breeds and most like the mini schnauzers have issues with controlling their fat levels

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that she (and you) had such maximum bad luck @Aru . But at least you were lucky in what matters most, that she survived it. All that because she thought she'd found herself some special "yummy" treats to eat, poor little girl.
And to think that I've heard about e.g. a Labrador that got into a pantry, and ate huge amounts of all sorts of things, including dark chocolate, and didn't even need to go to the vet, and years ago, one of my now late bitches ate a few rotten eggs, and she also didn't need to go to the vet. But then I've also heard about another Labrador who ate some chocolate, who nearly died, and had to spend days in intensive care, or like your girl, who maybe added something extra to the rotten eggs, and got so sick. There really seems to be a bit of luck, or no luck, involved with what they can get away with.

ETA: The vet just called, and I accidentally pressed Post in the middle of writing the reply while rushing to my old landline phone. I'll post the update in another reply.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

So the vet have called, and while I was writing this reply, she called back again. Blomma isn't coming home today, but there's a possibility she might come home tomorrow, or the day after that.

After I left her yesterday morning, they directly put her on an increased morphine dose since she was still a bit sore when they examined her. Even though she at first was better, and started to sit up by herself, today's vet said that they now think that Blomma responded badly to the increased morphine dose. Because later she became sluggish, increased nauseousness, refused to eat, and started to not be able to walk straight.

The thing is, I clearly told them that she have a history of responding strongly to medications, especially if she gets them several times per day, and/or several days in a row, and that she usually/often ends up having to have a lower than normal dose for a dog her size, individually adapted to what she can tolerate. I said it has happened with painkillers like e.g. Gabapentin, and also her Diabetes Insipidus medication is on a special individually adapted low dose which have taken us quite a bit of trial and error to find out exactly what suits her.

Anyhow, back to the phonecall. The vet said that she decided to stop/severely decrease the morphine dose this morning, and she would call me back again after that the nurses taking the dogs out for a toilet break had reported back to her about if there was any improvement. She also mentioned that Blomma is now getting medication for the nausea, which I thought they had started giving her already when I was still with her, but I don't know, maybe I misunderstood something.

As I understood it from the second call, Blomma is a bit more alert again. But she isn't eating by herself, without only if a nurse feed her by hand. On the other hand, she isn't refusing to eat or spitting it out when they do hand-feed her. I saw that she looked towards the food bowls with a tiny bit of interest just before I left her yesterday, but there was no cod left in the room, so she didn't eat. I can't help wondering if she maybe would eat by herself if I was there today, if she's not too affected by the morphine, and/or nausea anymore, but it is what it is.

Not the words the vet used, but basically, unless she's dying I won't hear anything from them until tomorrow. She said they'll probably call anywhere from in the morning, to about noon.

 

[oldandgold]

Keeping everything crossed for Blomma and for you.

 

[Kunoichi73]

Come on Blomma, you've got the whole of HHO routing for you!

 

[meleeka]

I’m no expert, but the lack of eating is very understandable. I don’t think I’d want to eat either! Good news that she’s improved back to where she was. Hopefully she can come home soon where she’ll be able to rest properly and get back to normal.

 

[alibali]

I hope Blomma gives you the best possible Christmas present by coming home today xx

 

[Red-1]

Heck did a week without eating but had an IV drip for fluids. He looked pathetic and I thought we were losing him. It took a long time but he did recover.

Keep strong.

 

[SilverLinings]

I haven't read all the replies, I just saw on the HHOSS opened thread that Blomma had pancreatitis so thought I would post my positive story of a dog who had it.

My last dog was diagnosed with pancreatitis at about 10 and a half years old; like Blomma she suddenly became quite ill and was diagnosed when hospitalised by the vets. She improved quickly and was back home in a few days (I think it was three or four, definitely less than a week). I had to carefully manage her diet for the rest of her life (she lived to 14 and a half, and the pancreatitis didn't end her life), particularly with regards to treats, and food that relatives would pass her when we visited (they knew she liked cheese, which obviously she wasn't allowed). Apparently her breed - cocker spaniel - is prone to pancreatitis, which I hadn't realised before her diagnosis. She didn't have another relapse and was otherwise healthy until just before the end of her life.

I hope that Blomma recovers and is back with you soon @FinnishLapphund, she sounds like a lovely and very special dog

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Thank you for taking the time on Christmas Day to share your reassuring experience with your late dog @SilverLinings .

The vet have called, and Blomma still needs to be hand-fed, though today she has taken at least one bite of food on her own initiative out of the hand. They've either changed or added another anti-nausea medication, and hopes that will make her start to want to eat by herself again. When I left her she had started to pay a bit of attention to things around her again, then that progress disappeared when she couldn't tolerate the increased morphine dose, but it seems to have started to come back again.

For an old body like hers it's presumably a lot to first try to recover from the pancreatitis, only to get almost as sick from a reaction to the increased morphine, and now have to try to recover from that as well, but the vet said that they've started to try to find a combination of painkiller pills which will both work for her, and that we will be able to give her at home. So, she's not allowed to come home yet.
It's hard to be patient, and just wait, on the other hand, I'm so very grateful that she didn't die just days before Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to think of Blomma, and me, between all your own Christmas stuff.

 

[COldNag]

I have just popped in to see how Blomma is. It sounds like she is making progress.

Come on Blomma, Mum needs you to come home xxx

 

[Squeak]

Glad things are still looking positive. Hoping she will be home with you soon, I so know that feeling when your elderly best friend is ill and separated from you. I'm glad you've been able to celebrate christmas albeit not in the same way as if she was there with you.