calliecritturs
Posted : 1/6/2013 11:23:16 PM
Kim --
Jessies_mom knows MORE about pancreatitis in dogs than anyone else I've ever known!!! And I've had two dogs in *my* lifetime who have had it.
You will likely want to investigate homecooking -- I know Janice did for Jessie for years. I've done it in both cases. Both of the dogs I've had were at opposite ends of the spectrum -- my very first dog (coincidentally named Prissy!! *smile*) was a pom/peke mix and she developed major pancreatitis when she was 2 1/2. Her onset was violent (she had both bloody diarreah and bloody vomit and literally was at death's door for weeks and this was like 37 years ago!).
I did the same thing -- I sprinkled an enzymatic powder on her food, watched her fat intake (and they didn't give B12 back then). The day I picked her up at the vet after her first onset he said to me "If you love this little gal, you will NOT feed her commercial dog food - it's too fatty" and he handed me a recipe for dogfood -- easy - it was just rice and ground beef pretty much. But he had me add the powder to her food (I had to wait a few minutes before she got it - it literally helps pre-digest the food a bit)
The good news is -- Pris's onset was when she was 2 1/2. She lived to be nearly 21 !!!!! I am serious. Now she had ... maybe 3 problems over her life that were severe. Two of them she snagged a nutmeat when my mother was baking -- and those would spin her into pancreatitis any time. So I had to monitor her carefully (she LOVED those darned nuts!!)
My other dog got pancreatitis after a long illness where he'd been on immune suppressive drugs and pancreatitis was often a side effect of the drugs. His was a MUCH MUCH lighter problem -- and once we initially got the inflammation under control he was fine.
If you have identified this before she was deathly ill -- GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR VET
There isa product called "Sublingual B Total" that is really high in B-12. You may want to talk to your vet about it. It's a human supplement, so you want to talk to the vet but it might give her sufficient B12 for this purpose. If the injections are going to be a monetary problem for you I'm just saying this is a potential avenue to explore. In humans you can take it frequently, but you'd want to verify with a vet that the proportions are ok -- but it might be helpful. I have used the product on me, but never on a dog (altho I use a lot of human supps on a dog -- but I've never had the occasion to talk to my holistic vet about this one -- I'm just throwing it out as an option to explore).
Good luck -- as chronic "scarey" conditions go -- this one is manageable. The fact that you've caught this before she was deathly ill is HUGE. Kudos to you and your vet!!