Dog Pancreatitis - Low Fat Home cooked meals

I've had two dogs who have had pancreatitis -- literally at the opposite ends of the spectrum.  One dog was deathly ill and spent 2 weeks at the vet hospital and I cooked a low fat diet for her for another 18 years (she lived to be just shy of 21).  The other dog had a really light case of pancreatitis at the same time he had a bacterial liver infection -- antibiotics and a careful diet for a few weeks was completely cureative.

Jessies_Mom (Janice) on here is the resident pancreatitis expert -- she knows more about pnacreatitis in dogs than I'll ever know.  However, both of us use Doggie Dietician (Monica Segal) for diet help -- http://www.monicasegal.com.  Monica is in Canada, but her diets are incredibly good and very specific.  For her fee (which isn't bad at all) she gives you 2-3 months of solid back up if you need help tweeking your diet and she will work with your vet as well. 

Others on here have used Sabine Contreras (a/k/a "Mordanna" online) -- her diets are a bit simpler but I like Monica's approach better (in fact I've known Monica for many years -- she's taught me most of what I know about cooking for my dogs).  Monica also has a Yahoo group about food which may also give you some ideas.

Pancreatitis falls in to a few categories.  It can be purely genetic and can require lifelong diet/nutritional care.  Or it can be the result of an infection (my second dog had IMHA and the pancreatitis was a result of the immune-suppressive drugs and the fact that IMHA is very hard on the pancreas anyway).  Some dogs, like Janice's "Jessie" can have a really tough time with it their whole lives and require repeated diet adjustments and care.  Somewhere in that whole spectrum is where your dog lies -- so what I'm saying is beware of "one size fits all" diets -- pancreatitis can be pretty darned complex so what works for one may not work for another.

And sometimes cooking is something you "learn as you go" -- when I first started doing Prissy's diet it was ... 39 years ago (why did I figure THAT out?  Now I feel **REALLY** old LOL) -- and all it was (and this was given to me by the vet) included pretty lean hamburger (mince) plus rice/water and a bit of garlic powder for flavor.  I stirred in one egg as I took it off the heat (which cooked well in the volume of food).  No veggies, nothing fancy but she lived on that for almost 20 years.  In this day I add veggies and use little grain. 

What you start on while she's still healing may not be what you ultimately wind up with.  I'll email Janice and ask her to take a look at this.  GOOD LUCK and welcome to the forum.

NOTE:  American cooking (and probably to a lesser degree Canadian) is more by volume -- measure by cups rather than weight.  My husband is a Scot and when he drags out Delia's cookbook I am LOST . 

  Hello and welcome to the forum; I'm very sorry that Charlie was sick and glad he's back home now. Like Callie said, sometimes the dog has a bout of pancreatitis, recovers, and can go back to a regular diet, and other times they have to stay on a low fat diet permanently. Jessie has had chronic pancreatitis for three years and cannot have a commercial food that's more than 10% fat. Has your vet done a Spec cPl: 

Spec cPL Test

  It's the best way to confirm pancreatitis and monitor its progress. Callie gave you the link to Monica Segal; she is qualified to formulate a balanced diet for dogs with many diseases and will work with your vet if you want her to. I wouldn't do anything to change your dogs diet until he's been stable for at least a month though; dogs with pancreatitis need to be handled with kid gloves. If you just want to add a little fresh food to his diet instead of replacing the Royal Canin with a new diet, you still need to wait until he's been stable for awhile, and proceed with any new addition very slowly. Dogs with pancreatitis need a low fiber diet and often don't tolerate vegetables. Once I added a tablespoon of cooked squash to Jessie's food and it gave her the runs. I add baked boneless, skinless, turkey breast to her kibble but will not add any meat with more fat than that. If you want to try beef, get the 96% lean ground beef and boil it to remove the fat. Boneless skinless chicken breast also works well. I hope Charlie continues to feel better; Jessie sends belly rubs.

Janice -- you're good -- it's been a busy morning and I hadn't been able to send this to you yet!!!   Like I said -- this lady knows TONS about pancreatitis!!

calliecritturs

this lady knows TONS about pancreatitis!!

   Jessie's been a good teacher...  Actually, we've done pretty good except for the flare up in February that was caused by trying to change her diet. Most of what I've learned has come from this forum;     dogpancreatitis : dog and pancreatitis

  The members there are very knowledgeable and joining this group may help Charlies' mom. My vet taught me about the importance of using the Spec cPL test for pancreatitis.

Firstly, sorry for the reply in responding back, but I've been experiencing problems replying from my ipad - I did type a lengthy reply the other night & it wouldn't let me post it back & then deleted it all . . .  grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Thank you all for your feedback to me.  An update on Charlie for you:-

I took him back to vets on Monday for more blood tests & these have come back all clear!  Vet is awaiting confirmation of cpl tests, bbut she is amazed at how fast (its only been a week) he has responded to treatment.  He has more antibiotics to complete, after which she wants to see him again.

He has a slight limp on his front left paw, but I believe this is done to where they told me they had problems with his drip (kept coming out etc & was swollen).

I'm sticking to the Royal Canin Vets Gastro-Intestinal dry food the vets gave me for now, all-be-it I'm boiling a chicken breast in rice water & then blending to death in order to mash up into this dry food, as without it Charlie just won't touch it (I've been trying it on its own, but we've been having a Mexican stand-off!).  Instead of his normal 1 meal per day (at 6pm), he's getting the same portion size he would on his 1 meal, but spread across 2 x servings, so he is getting a lunch time feed & also his 6pm feed.

The vet recommended I do this, so that there is not too much pressure of a large meal going down in one go.

I'm also mixing in some plain boiled rice (of which I'm then boiling the chicken breast in) - & mixing the dry vets food, chicken & rice all intogether, so that he has to eat the vets dry food, as its coated with chicken & rice! . . . I'm now winning the Mexican stand-off!!! ;)

My vets has told me that he will take a good 2-3 months to fully recover from this & that he will more than likely be prone to future outbreaks, so will need to keep him on this special vet food - or a low fat commercial alternative, as long as fat content is 10% or less - nothing higher.

I'm taking him for little walks - as far as he wants to go & then back home, as vet has recommended that he dictates his walk lengths, particularly in these early stages of recovery.

I've read on other websites that to reduce fibre & give raw veggies (e.g. raw carrotts) - although I've seen on here that dogs who have had or are suffering / recovering from pancreatitis has issues handling veggies.

I think I will stick to the diet outlined above for at least the next 2-3 months whilst he is recovering & then contact other diets / etc mentioned on here.  I don't want to do anything at this stage that will harm his recovery.

Thank you all so much, its really good to have this feedback as I was scared stiff when he very quickly fell so ill last week (it was so out of the blue & so fast), & my husband is currently working away in the Falklands, so its just me and Charlie here! He's my little man!

If any of you would like to follow Charlie further, he is on FB "Charlie Case" & he's also on Twitter @priorsleehound . . . I'm sure he'd love to hear from you! ;)

I think you are doing great thing. Low fat home made foods are good for dog's health.

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