[Charisma M]

Well about a week and a half before his tail started dropping. He would wake around with a droopy tail which never happens unless he’s extremely sick. So I had a feeling something was coming. Then he woke up vomiting one Friday morning, took cernia (vets order) and was back to normal, never lost his appetite. Then exactly one week later on a Friday he woke up vomiting again, once every two hours. He couldn’t hold down any food what so ever but he still had the appetite for it. We took him in to the vet because he couldn’t hold down the cernia either and his medication was going to be due and there was no way I could skip it. They did some blood work, and a little snap test. Snap test said positive for pancreatitis and his ALT, cholesterol, triglycerides, PSL were all high. I mean the Psl was 6216 and apparently that’s the one thing that really stands out with pancreatitis. Well we took him home with pain meds, fluids and he got cernia. He would do the downward yoga position I believe is what the vet called it over and over cause he was in so much pain. He couldn’t get comfortable. He couldn’t sleep he would pace. He was fine with the eating though till that afternoon he stopped. He wouldnt even take boiled chicken which is his absolute favorite thing in the world! You know he’s really sick when he turns that down. They had said if stopped eating (especially since he needed to take meds) to take him in to the emergency vet and from there he ended up staying there over night. He came home feeling much better but still really sad it took about 9 days for him to go back to normal. And no my parents don’t mind, they keep telling us to go but I just hate not being here if anything were to happen. ☹️

[Charisma M]

Hey Anne and Susan! Sorry my response might be mixed up. Something was up with my email, it’s not even showing Susan’s reply till I came on here. Lots of confusion! But anyway, so do you guys know how to spot the pancreatitis before it happens? I know I had seen that one of you girls mention about it taking you to the emergency vet a few times a year. My husband and I canceled our honeymoon last summer cause baby needed to go into surgery for the exploratory since we didn’t know what was wrong (which by the way, I thought it was normal and everyone did it. Now I know and regret doing it cause I’m sure we could’ve figured out his diagnosis differently but our vets made it feel like it was life or death and only option😭) anyway we wanted to make up for our lost honeymoon this summer but now my husband can’t take time off so our only option is this month. But I’m deathly afraid of leaving baby. He would stay with my parents but honestly no one knows him like I do and if he got sick I would feel like it abandon him. He can have such good days then it all changes and goes downhill. It honestly feels like everytime we want to take a vacation is when he gets sick so we end up not going anywhere. But he’s been doing little groans everytime he lays down and idk if it’s his belly or his “back pain”. A few weeks back he had some trembling and didn’t want to jump on our bed for a whole day even with his steps. The vet said it was a back issue and he was doing crate rest but even then baby was acting normal, he wanted to do his normal activities so they always wondered wether it was a back issue or not. We even did acupuncture and they kept telling us maybe it was just a strained muscle cause he wasn’t acting painful just had a lot of heat in the center of his back and would flinch during the spine exam but he is normally really sensitive so idk if it was from not wanting to be touched or actual pain. After crate rest he was still doing good but it still worries me cause he still runs and jumps which is risky for him in case he does have a disc issue but honestly how do you tell him not to run and jump? He’s such an active boy. The issue is ive seen him hesitate a little and it’s a little hard for him to get comfortable so idk if that’s his back again flaring up? Or pancreatitis sneaking up, his ibd.. I don’t know which is why it’s so scary to take a vacation 😩

[Charisma M]

d to ask at the vets office about helping me come up with a medication schedule but it wasn’t help so I had to do it myself. At one point when he was on the h pylori treatment and sulcrafate as well I was giving meds every single hour! I was going nuts cause even with alarms I would start to question wether I gave it or not cause there was just so many meds! He takes phenobarbital and levothyroxine at 9am and pm now but he eats every two hours so even in the middle of the morning. Do you think I should give omeprazole at night before or after his meds?

[Charisma M]

Hey Susan! What symptoms did patch have that showed the h pylori wasn’t gone or had came back? Cause I’m not sure my vet will want to re prescribe the meds since he’s already done it and might say it’s cured?

And yes girl I need a break too!!!! He has a million health issues, he’s kept me so busy all these years! I’m dying for a vacation but I get so worried about leaving him with anyone. I think about what could happen, if he gets a flare up, what if they don’t see the changes in him etc. I’m with him 24/7 so I KNOW when something is coming I can read him very well. Does anyone else on this thread feel guilty taking a vacation or even leaving for an hour for dinner when their dog has his many issues? lol sometimes I think I might be the only one. Oh and he’s a Pomeranian, today is actually his birthday he’s 9! 🎉

[Charisma M]

Hey Ann! We haven’t worked with anyone because originally we were going to go through balance it but it fell through and his vet said if pork diet (royal Canin low fat) was working that maybe that was his match. I could try talking to them again but I’m not sure she’s going to be open about changing his diet cause she always would say if it’s working let’s not mess with it in case it ends up causing a flare up. ☹️ Ideally I would like him to be on fresh ingredients but I don’t know what protein would keep his pancreatitis at ease but not flare up the ibd. And then his stones make it hard for example he can’t have sweet potatoes. Another thing is I had seen all the packages of ground turkey have rosemary extract in the ingredients section and rosemary is bad for dogs with epilepsy so I didn’t know what to make of that.

[Charisma M]

Hey Susan! He was given metronidazole and amoxicillin for 3 weeks they actually didn’t even tell me about doing an acid reducer but then when the course was over they thought he had been on it. I guess they just forgot to mention it so technically he didn’t do the triple therapy. I did put him on omeprazole a while back and i couldn’t tell a difference on him. Maybe I can try again! It’s also so hard because you have to give in the am on empty stomach right? But he eats every 2 hours so it’s so hard to get him on empty and then him not eat cause 1 he will cry non stop till he gets food and 2 I’m afraid of a bellyache if he goes too long with food. Also when he did two the metronidazole and amoxicillin course I didn’t tell a difference either. Like you said, im not sure if h pylori being in his biopsy was from it just being there cause most dogs do or if it was large amounts. At first I was convinced he didn’t have ibd and it’s just really bad h pylori but then when we did the treatment, all the pains and issues were still there so idk what to do anymore! 😩 I’m drained mentally and physically. It’s been a long 10 months.

Oh and I wouldn’t mind cooking for him especially if it’s going to make him feel better but they balance it people and my vet never came to terms about what we’re doing and that all fell through. My vet ended up saying that he was doing fine on the pork diet which is the RC low fat that maybe that was finally his match.

[Charisma M]

Hey Ann! Yeah he’s still on that diet, we don’t give treats or anything else! Just ice as a treat since we live in Texas and it’s super hot! We use bottled water so no tap water. His last test for pancreatitis was the only one they did when we first took him in at the end of march.

My boy has so many issues idk what else it could be. He has epilepsy, hypothyroidism, calcium oxalate stones, an adrenal gland tumor, ibd and now pancreatitis. 😩

[Charisma M]

Hey Susan! He’s on royal Canin gastrointestinal low fat canned food cause he also gets stones but hates water. He is on meds for epilepsy and hypothyroidism. When he got his biopsy done it did say he had h pylori as well. He also used to be on royal Canin rabbit and potato when he got diagnosed with pancreatitis. He just switched over to the low fat on march 31st. And yes girl baby is pacing all the time, he doesn’t sleep through the night anymore. He’s up every two hours asking for food crying and pacing not being able to get comfortable. If he goes more than 4hours without eating he gets a bad belly ache. They’ve never been able to tell me why, so we feed him when he asks which is every 2 hours on the dot. I stay home with him since he requires so much care. He also does wake up in the middle of the night for grass, he use to wake up vomiting yellow bile too around 3am when he was first diagnosed with ibd. I’m definitely at the point where I feel helpless cause we’ve been to so many vets, specialist, Emergency Vet and never any answers. I’m beyond stressed because I want him to get better and I don’t know what else to try. It’s so overwhelming sometimes. ☹️

[Charisma M]

Hey Anne! He was diagnosed with pancreatitis. He started with vomiting one morning, took him to the vet and they said it was probably just a belly ache from ibd. Well then exactly one week later he was vomiting again except this time it was 3 times within a few hours and couldn’t hold down food. He wanted food but just could hold it down. he was extremely sad, tail down(tail is only down when he DOWN) so I knew something was up a week before it all started. Well a few days after his second vomiting incident he stopped eating so we let him stay overnight to get fluids but it never got to diarrhea. With his ibd he did have the exploratory surgery but they never told us what kind he had. The first specialist we saw wasn’t very nice. Our issue now is that he’s ok still, not himself. Hes up every two hours at night. Sometimes pacing in our room. He wants to eat every two hours too. He’s just not himself. About two weeks ago he had about 5 days where he was perfect! It was my old baby boy! We didn’t change anything so idk what helped vs what could’ve changed in him. Then he went right back to the new ways of being sad and desperate for food all the time.

[Charisma M]

Hey Anne! Thank you so much for replying! I’m desperate! Since last July 2016 it’s been nuts! Stressed doesn’t even begin to explain how I’ve felt. We’re in and out of the vet every two weeks since then. We’ve seen 5 vets and 2 specialists. I’m not sure how to know if his diet is working or not because his only symptom since the beginning has only been tummy gurgles 24/7 (which have gotten a little better) and nausea/grass eating which that he does about once or twice a week. Other than that his stool is fine, the vomiting had gone away till late march when he got the pancreatitis. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. We’ve spent over 10k in less than a year with no true improvement. 🙁 we haven’t tried prednisone because I’m afraid of the side effects but When he started vomiting in march we decided it was time. Then we found out it was actually pancreatitis and not his ibd. Then I got pretty hesitant about it cause I read that steroids can make the pancreatitis flare up. What has been your experience with the steroids?

[Charisma M]

Debbie, my dog was also recommended Ultamino, what was your experience with it?

Anne f, are you able to email me so we can talk more about the diet you have your fur baby on? My boy has chronic pancreatitis and ibd so trying to figure out a diet has been hard. I’m having issues finding him the perfect diet. We were thinking about working with balance it but they do turkey as the main protein in the recipe and his internist had said turkey is like chicken or in the same “poultry” family so she was hesitate to put him on it. Right now he’s on RC gastro low fat but it’s pork and he’s still having days when he rushes out desperate for the grass. Tummy is always gurgling and he’s hungry every 2 hours on the dot. Anyone struggle with their furbaby wanting to eat that often? He even wakes up in the middle of the night, literally every 2 hours.

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