Pancreatitis can be a pretty severe disease and can ultimately end a dog’s life, so now is not the time to experiment. A dog with panc needs to be restricted to a low-fat diet, at least until the pancreatitis has resolved. If Patchy doesn’t like canned food then try the dry versions of the low-fat diets (Hill’s I/D low-fat, GI low fat Royal Canin, Purina EN, etc). Pancreatitis can be the primary problem from dietary indiscretion (“garbage gut”, table scraps, bacon, etc) or secondary to another disease so if it’s not from her eating weird things then resolve the panc first then have her reassessed. Definitely avoid raw food, at least until her panc is taken care of- there are a plethora of pathogens in raw diets so don’t give her body anything else to fight off at this point in time. If you want to do raw in the future just make sure it is “AAFCO” approved on the label and sear the raw meat for a few secs before giving it (studies show it reduces the infectious bugs considerably). This certainly wouldn’t take care of toxo or parasites, just enteric bacteria. My friend’s dog got incredibly sick while eating raw food and when she was hospitalized they had to keep her in isolation (addtl $$$$$) until her antibiotic treatment was long enough for her to stop shedding salmonella. Cod liver oil in the future is a good source of omega-3s but is fatty so definitely not for a dog trying to overcome pancreatitis. Digestive enzymes are really only needed if they have a different pancreas-related disease (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) so if Patchy can make her own enzymes no need to feed her another animal’s. Sounds like your vet provided good advice and since they assessed Patchy’s overall condition I’m sure they’d be happy to give you guidance about how you want to manage her condition 🙂 hang in there Patchy! lay off the fatty foods
