jessies_mom
Posted : 9/21/2013 2:23:31 PM
Metronidazole isn't a pain medication. My vet gave Jessie something specifically for pain when she was on IV fluids, and I gave her Tramadol when she came home. But if Brandy is eating well, she probably isn't in pain. I'm so glad she's stablizing.
Whatever diet you feed needs to be low fat. Raw diets are not any more digestible than cooked food and are usually too high in fat for a dog with pancreatitis. For example, dogs on raw diets are often fed bones for calcium, but the marrow in bones has a lot of fat. Please do not believe what you read on the internet on how to feed dogs, whether they're sick or healthy. There's so much misinformation from "experts". Raw meat often has salmonella or e-coli and I personally do not think a dog with a compromised immune system (like a dog with pancreatitis) should be exposed to pathogens in their food. You always read about the terrible ingredients in prescription diets. Jessie was on a low fat food with very good ingredients ( Blue Buffalo Basics Healthy Weight Turkey and Potato) for several months. Her stools were good and her energy level seemed okay (she's going to be 15 next month) but she had occasional mild flare ups of her pancreatitis where she didn't want to eat. I had blood work done several times which didn't show any specific reasons for her not eating. Finally I had a gastro-intestinal workup done last month at Purdue Veterinary Small Animal Hospital which didn't show anything other than perhaps mild intestinal inflammation. I kept trying to get her to eat the Blue Buffalo but she would refuse it or only eat part of her meals. Finally, I began slowly changing her to Hill's i/d. She eats all of the i/d and has more energy that she ever had on the Blue Buffalo; it's like she's a younger dog. Prescription foods are regulated by the FDA and the companies must show proof that the food is effective in treating the condition it's formulated for before the food can be sold. If you're going to change Brandy's food again, please do it very slowly and after she's been stable for several weeks or she may relapse. These dogs must be handled with kid gloves. You need to ensure a raw or cooked diet is balanced. UC Davis has nutritionists that can formulate a balanced diet for Brandy. I had Monica Segal formulate more than one cooked diet for Jessie over the years;
http://www.monicasegal.com/
She will formulate raw diets for dogs with pancreatitis but prefers cooked diets for the reason I mentioned above. She will work with your vet if you want her to. The forward to her book Optimal Nutrition was written by Dr. Anna Hill, who is a professor of small animal nutrition at Ohio State University.
Joining this forum may be helpful to you;
dogpancreatitis - Yahoo! Groups
I learned a lot just by reading the threads without posting anything.