Jessie has pancreatitis; no more tests

sandra_slayton

It is great that no masses were found and things look good for your girl.

  Thanks so much Sandra. You are right about how much we worry about our dogs. I was thinking about that yesterday; it's not as bad as it would be if this happened to one of our kids, but it's pretty close. And I'm sure you've felt this too; the longer you have a dog, the stronger the bond. I'll be praying for Honey and checking for updates on her surgery.

brookcove

Janice, that was heart-stopping to read. I think I'd be right there with Callie if I were you - rice and whatever proteins are ok for the rest of her life!!!

   I purchased a consultation with Monica; Jessie will stay on the fish and rice diet in her book until then. I told DH it would be $250 and he said that's fine and wanted me to schedule it; what a guy. No wonder we'll be married for 40 years this month.

Wow Janice, what I've gone thru with Sassy can't even compare but reading your story certainly brought back memories and not the good kind. Can you imagine what it would be like for an uninformed owner with a dog going thru all of this? I can't even imagine. Jessie is very lucky to have you and it sounds like you've got a good team of vets on your side too. I hope that you can get the diet changes worked out and Jessie starts feeling better real soon.

cakana

what I've gone thru with Sassy can't even compare

  Actually, Jessie never acted sick except for Friday night, when she was restless and wet several places. If it wasn't for the vet wanting to do a blood test to check her kidneys, we wouldn't have known about this until she was sick enough to vomit. The vet said that the wetting may have been caused from her pancreas being painful, but we'll never know if it was that or a UTI. Her enzymes were higher Monday and she acted fine. I remember the horrible foot infections Sassy had, and the skin infection on her stomach; that seems much worse to me. Now that they've ruled out cancer or an abcess, I feel confident that her pancreas will heal as long as we stay with the right diet. She loves her cooked diet and dances and spins around while I'm putting it in her bowl.

Yeah, in a way it was worse with the infections Sassy had in that we could never figure out what brought them on nor did any of the antibiotics work. That was frustrating and scary for sure. I can remember thinking that I wouldn't mind cooking whatever it was she needed for the rest of her life if it helped, but even the elimination diet didn't give us any answers. I'm sure Jessie is thrilled with her new diet and I know you don't mind preparing it for her when you see her dancing around in anticipation. I hope she continues to do well.

  Jessie's test results were much better than last week; her amylase is normal. Her lipase is still elevated (3000) but it's less than half of what it was; last week it was too high for the machine to read, and the machine goes up to 6000. She won't need anymore blood tests for several weeks unless she acts sick, and I know that makes her very happy. The last 2 weeks, she's had 4 blood tests, urine aspirated from her baldder, and had her stomach shaved for an ultra sound to check her pancreas. She is very active and feeling good. Last week she woke us up three nights in a row to be let outside, but not for what you think. As soon as we opened the door, she took off like a rocket after a critter; I couldn't tell what it was in the dark, but it kind of looked like a weasel.

  My vet knows about the consultation with Monica Segal. He was fine with the idea and shared my confidence that she would formulate the kind of diet Jessie needs.

  I asked him about doing a thyroid test ( I was going to have it sent to Hemopet). He said a low T4 is common with an illness and since the cTSH was normal, she shouldn't need the test. Hemopet's website also said not to have a dog tested when they're under stress, and I assume that also means dogs recovering from an illness.

  These last few weeks have been rough on my nerves, knowing how serious this disease can be, and having the support of everyone here has meant so much. Thanks again for all the prayers and good thoughts.

Whew - I'm so glad to hear that the test results were better. I know that had to have been a huge relief to you. I hope it continues in this direction and you and Jessie can just get back to enjoying life and chasing weasels ;)

I'm glad she's getting better.  Give her some belly rubs from me and my pack. 

  Thanks Cathy and Jackie; the diet for panceatitis in Monica's book has really helped. Jessie's allergic to some of the ingredients in all of the Rx diets for pancreatitis. My vet suggested a 50/50 mix of lowfat cottage cheese and rice, but I don't think she would have done as well on that. Even though Monica's diet is only 7% fat, it has 1230 mg of omega 3 a day. There's only 3 ingredients, but I don't have to supplement any vitamins. I have to supplement some minerals but after learning to prepare Mordanna's diet, that's easy. The reason she can't stay on this diet permanently is that although it has enough calories and I can tweek the minerals to her requirements, it doesn't provide enough protein for a dog her weight. It's hard to add more protein without adding more fat and that's why I need Monica's help.

  About the weasel chasing; when we realized that was why she was waking us up, normally we would close the door and ignore her, but DH insisted on letting her do it. She's queen of the house right now.

Janice, I've been following this even though I haven't posted.  I think you're awesome in helping out Jessie and I'm glad you've seen some decent results so far.  I know she is one lucky dog!  Stay strong ((Hugs)).

 been running around so much forgot to check back in!  I am sooooooooo glad she is on the mend! Jessie you have an awesome family taking care of you!  Keep on getting better sweetie!

Janice - Will there ever be a time that Jessie will be able to handle a "normal" amount of protein or will you always have to be concerned?

I think Monica is amazing and I'd have turned to her immediately too. It's a blessing to have resources like her at times like this. I have a couple of her booklets and get her newsletter and I appreciate how she speaks in terms that anyone can understand.

cakana

Janice - Will there ever be a time that Jessie will be able to handle a "normal" amount of protein or will you always have to be concerned?

   I'm not sure Cathy, but she will be able to have enough to meet her NRC requirement. The diet that I'm using in Monica's book is for a 40 pound dog. I chose it because it's 730 calories, which is only about 50 calories less than the amount she was getting in her dry food. The NRC tables have 2 amounts for each nutrient; the minimum and the recommended amount. The 31 grams this diet provides is the recommended amount. So, even though the diet is 18% protein, it provides more than enough to meet the dog's needs. I've had to feed Jessie a little extra to maintain her weight, so she's getting about 34 grams; she needs about 41.

  My vet thinks she'll probably be able to go back to her dry food, which is 28/12, after a few more weeks, but I won't attempt to put her on her old food if she does well on the cooked diet. We're still not sure what caused this but her enzymes were normal when she had a senior panel last September. I am going to ask Monica about this during the consultation.

  Sharismom; thanks for the hugs. Jessie is our first dog and we got very lucky when we chose her, especially since we knew so little about dogs. She's always been very willing to please; for example, when she sees me with the flashlight to check her feet, she lays down and rolls on her side for me; how awesome is that!!!!

  Karen; Jessie says looking at Bugsy's pic makes her feel better; it's almost as good as the other pic

This is improvement is much faster than I expected to see.  I am so happy for you.

*usually* it's not so much the protein as the fats that pancreatitis dogs have trouble dealing with.  But pancreas stuff and endocrine stuff always go hand in hand with kidney stuff (diabetes, etc.) so that's another reason they lower the protein.

It's kinda two pronged -- once they've HAD pancreatitis they are more prone to getting it -- some dogs MORE than others.  With my Prissy all it took was ONE HALF OF ONE PECAN *sheesh* to rebound her.  Billy seems to have sailed thru it pretty unscathed.  Much depends on how sick they were as well.

Just remember -- pancreatitis in it's most basic terms is an *infection* of the pancreas -- hence the antibiotics.  BUT there can be damage to the pancreas and then it sometimes needs "help" breaking down the food ... sometimes forever.  (Prissy had pre-digestive enzymes put in her food for the rest of her life. -- very similar to ProZyme)

Monica's diets are SO good and so balanced.  And she IS just a regular, nice person.  I told Jessies_mom in an email Monica and I have been friends for years (we used to do free lancing for the same website).  She is just genuinely the nicest person. 

She has such a good "gut feeling" for each animal she does a diet for.  She really LISTENS to what you tell her and it makes her really good at devising a diet that will work for YOU and your animal. 

And she has taught ME so much about herbs -- she really knows her stuff and she's not a food nazi -- she will support your desire to feed homecooked, raw, or kibble -- she just has kept herself knowledgeable about all of it.