Jessie has pancreatitis; no more tests

• 07-01-2009 10:16 AM

  In reply to willowchow

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140

  Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact willowchow: Janice, just wanted to say it could be the z/d doing that and not the Solaray.  The reason I have to mix the regular canned with the z/d is because she needs the fiber in the regular stuff to firm up.      Thanks Lori; Jessie has had soft stools on the z/d and sometimes she even has trouble passing stool. Giving her pumpkin has helped a lot.  I'll be glad when she gets retested next week and Monica can formulate her diet. Janice

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• 07-10-2009 2:35 PM

  In reply to jessies_mom

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140

  Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact   The results from the last test are back and Jessie tested in the " gray " area. The test is called Spec cPL; http://www.idexx.com/animalhealth/laboratory/speccpl/index.jsp. Normal is 200 or less; dogs with pancreatitis test 400 or higher. Jessie tested at 337, so it looks like she has low grade chronic pancreatitis. My vet wants her on a diet lower in fat ( she's on Z/D, 10% fat ). I e-mailed Monica to let her know the results so she can get started on Jessie's diet. My vet wants to retest her after she's been on the new diet a few weeks to see how she's doing.   This is actually good news; on all the other tests she definitely had pancreatitis, so her enzymes are improving and she should do even better on Monica's diet. Janice

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• 07-11-2009 9:19 AM

  In reply to jessies_mom

  willowchow Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 8,144 Points 445	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact That's great, Janice!!
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• 07-11-2009 10:06 AM

  In reply to willowchow

  kpwlee Joined on 06-17-2006 North Carolina Posts 6,429 Points 535	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact  Excellent news!  Keep on healing sweetie
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• 07-11-2009 10:43 AM

  In reply to kpwlee

  jennie_c_d Joined on 09-10-2007 Southeast Georgia Posts 11,083 Points 265	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact  That is great news! I will be interested to hear about her new diet. How will she get it low enough with enough protein for Jessie?
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• 07-11-2009 12:44 PM

  In reply to jennie_c_d

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140

  Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact jennie_c_d: I will be interested to hear about her new diet. How will she get it low enough with enough protein for Jessie?     Honeysuckle extra lean turkey would be a good choice; 4 ounces has 26 grams of protein and 3.5 grams of fat. Monica said she won't use fish. She's also considering lean beef. Jessie needs 39 grams of protein and I know she can work that into the diet, but I'm concerned about the omega 3's. I'll post the diet on here when it's completed.   Thanks to all of you for your wonderful support. I hope lurkers get a sense of the importance of bloodwork from this thread; I know Callie stresses it too. If my vet hadn't suggested bloodwork when this started 2 months ago we wouldn't have caught this. I took her in because she had urinated everywhere she lay Friday night and I thought she had a UTI. We were able to catch this before it became acute, and the fact that my vet rechecked the blood when I wanted to use Animax for her feet even though he felt she didn't have pancreatitis anymore prevented us from making a mistake that would have made it worse. He wants to run the same test after she's been on the cooked diet a month to make sure she does okay. Janice

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• 07-11-2009 2:54 PM

  In reply to jessies_mom

  calliecritturs Joined on 09-10-2007 Central Florida Posts 10,870 Points 3,330	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact Good!! and good for you that you 'caught' what could have gone undetected BEFORE it got really bad.  That's the thing with pancreatitis -- if it progresses before you catch it they get SO unbelievably sick.  You rock lady!!!!!! *hugs*
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• 07-11-2009 7:38 PM

  In reply to calliecritturs

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact  Awww Callie; thank you so much!!!! Of course, you must know I learned about the importance of bloodwork from you, as have many others, so when my vet suggested it I agreed. Janice
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• 07-17-2009 8:14 PM

  In reply to jennie_c_d

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140

  Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact jennie_c_d: I will be interested to hear about her new diet. How will she get it low enough with enough protein for Jessie?      I started changing Jessie to her new diet on Wednesday. Jennie, she's getting more protein than she did when she was on the SS21 last summer, and it was 21% protein. She's getting about 63 grams of protein a day on this diet; the recommended amount for a dog her size is 39 grams according to the NRC. I know that Monica believes dogs do best with 2 to 3 times the amount of protein recommended by the NRC, so this is still fairly low in protein for her diets but more than I was expecting. Jessie's getting 6 ounces of lean boiled turkey daily with rice. The turkey provides about 38 grams of protein and the rice provides the rest. She's only getting about 7 grams of fat a day; she was getting about 30 on the SS21 and also on the z/d, so that's quite a reduction. I'm supposed to take 7 days to replace the z/d with the cooked diet, then gradually add the supplements one at a time over 30 days to see if she reacts to any of them. Monica is being very careful because of her food allergies. The last thing she'll get is cod liver oil and wild salmon oil. I'll watch carefully for a reaction but she should be fine. I'm really hoping this diet will help bring her enzymes back to the normal range; she seems to like it so far. Janice

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• 07-17-2009 8:19 PM

  In reply to jessies_mom

  jennie_c_d Joined on 09-10-2007 Southeast Georgia Posts 11,083 Points 265	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact  That's fantastic! I hope that she does well on it. I'm sure the "high" protein and super low fat are going to be great for her.
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• 07-18-2009 3:10 PM

  In reply to jennie_c_d

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140

  Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact   Thanks Jennie. I'm sure you're aware of this but I want others to know that this is not the type of diet Monica would design for a normal dog. There's no veggies or fruit in this diet because they have fiber, and dogs with pancreatitis need a low fiber diet. I have her booklets and the diets for healthy dogs have ingredients like sweet potatoes, zuccinini, acorn squash, etc. Janice

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• 07-26-2009 7:21 PM

  In reply to jessies_mom

  dyan Joined on 09-10-2007 Ohio Posts 5,632 Points 105	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact Wow Janice...this is all so complicated. Be thankful that you are not feeding a growing Dane... Dyan and Gibson
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• 07-26-2009 10:54 PM

  In reply to dyan

  willowchow Joined on 09-10-2007 Posts 8,144 Points 445	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact I wonder what the fiber has to do with the pancreas?  You'd think it would be good for them to have fiber.
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• 07-27-2009 4:04 PM

  In reply to dyan

  jessies_mom Joined on 09-10-2007 Indiana Posts 4,972 Points 140

  Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact dyan: Wow Janice...this is all so complicated. Be thankful that you are not feeding a growing Dane...     I think the Dane would be easier;. She can only have one of the Rx diets because of her food allergies, and that's if the animal digest in it doesn't have chicken. She's been making a coughing or retching noise a few times a day for the past several weeks. It could be a collapsing trachea but she doesn't do it when walking or running. Sometimes she does it after drinking and sometimes she does it while resting. She's overdue for a dental because of the pancreatitis and really needs one; my vet thinks bacteria from her teeth may be irritating her trachea and prescribed Clavamox last week.  Clavamox can be hard on the stomach, which probably explains why she hasn't wanted to eat breakfast for several days. He wanted to prescribe Baytril but she's allergic to it.  She's still coughing but it's milder, so the Clavamox seems to be helping. If her Spec cPL is better on Wednesday we'll schedule a dental. If she's still coughing they're going to do an x-ray to see if she has a collapsing trachea.     Lori; Less fiber is supposed to make it easier for a dog with pancreatitis to digest the food. Janice

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• 07-27-2009 4:06 PM

  In reply to jessies_mom

  jennie_c_d Joined on 09-10-2007 Southeast Georgia Posts 11,083 Points 265	Re: Jessie has pancreatitis Reply Contact  Poor Jessie! I hope that you get good news on Wed.
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