[Erin R]

So i think my choices are as follows: Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance® Fat Dogs® or Wellness Small Breed Healthy Weight. The NB food has 26% Protein and 7.5% fat and Wellness has 28% protein and 9% fat. I’m leaning towards the Wellness, even though it has rice, only because i don’t think i NEED to go down to 7.5% fat at this point…. that seems like such a drop. Any thoughts?

She’s doing great in the mean time! Everything seems to be back to normal (and I mean EVERYTHING – my mom and i just disgusted my dad out by talking about her poops lol.) I know i’ve got a way to go to get her back on regular kibble and monitoring her diet and stomach, but it’s a start. Thanks everyone for the advice!

[Erin R]

So we just got back from our follow up and the vet and i decided that since she hasn’t pooped since she came home we’re going to put her on Hills i/d low fat GI restore to try and get her stomach back to normal digestion. No worrying about the corn or grains, unless she gets very itchy or worse when i start feeding. But corn is far down on the list so who knows, she might be fine on it!

As far as kibble diet, i did find Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance® Fat Dogs® low calorie dry formula. 26% protein, 7.5% fat – minimums – and no corn or rice. That might be the way to go for us. A lot of the Natural Balance foods seem to have around 10% minimum fat and their protein isn’t in the 30% range, so i think that’ll be the brand i wind up going with.

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions!

[Erin R]

Her current food protein level is i think 25% so 30%+ seems to be a big leap to me. Maybe that’s not such a good idea? Hmm. The only low fat grain free foods i can find seem to have high protein levels.

I did find Innova Weight Management with 22% Protein and 10% fat, and Blue Buffalo Small Breed Health Weight with 25% Protein and 9% Fat. They both have meats as the first two ingredients but Innova has Whole Grain Barley, Whole Grain Brown Rice, and Whole Grain Oats as the 3-5 ingredients. And Blue has Whole Ground Barley, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Oatmeal, and Rice Bran as the 3-6 ingredients.

Blue seems to have more grain, but it’s ground if that makes a difference? I just don’t know. I guess i’ll discuss it with the vet and see what they say.

[Erin R]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far! I’m going to be discussing diet with the vet when we go in on friday, as well. I’m hoping to stick to kibble because every time we tried wet food with her it did give her the runs (well, it made her poo really soft and more frequent) – would moistening the kibble work the same?

She’s already not allowed most human foods – i’ve never given her table scraps, they’re too unhealthy. Boiled chicken/beef, boiled egg, and until now some cheese have been it. Now i guess no more cheese and strict monitoring of the egg!

I also found two foods at my local Petco – Merrick Grain Free Healthy Weight (min 8% fat) and Wellness Core Reduced Fat Grain Free (max 10% fat). Would either of those work? Her current food is min 15% according to Petco site. So maybe too high?

[Erin R]

We haven’t introduced anything new to her, food wise, and i don’t give her pig ears or bones or rawhide or anything edible like that. The only thing she OCCASIONALLY gets with her kibble is chicken, beef, boiled egg, etc. I’ve never given her wet food. I have been sprinkling shredded cheese on her breakfast (i’ve been doing that for a while now) so she would eat before i go into work… but i guess cheese isn’t good for pancreatitis so she won’t be getting that any more!

But she was in to the vet about two weeks ago for a mild back sprain. Then when she recovered from that, her annual vaccinations. So i guess that was pretty stressful and could have upset her stomach? Thats the only thing we can think of, anyway, plus maybe the cheese and her being part Schnauzer.

Her current food is 15% fat, should i try to find a lower fat kibble? I am hesitant to talk to the vet about food/diet because i’ve only ever been suggested things like Science Diet, Royal Canin, and foods with grains/corn despite telling them of grain/corn allergy. She does have a follow up appointment on Friday so i guess i can ask, then, but i want other opinions and maybe some suggestions on foods to look into.

Thanks!

PS – i never knew that Schnauzers where prone to pancreatitis. Now i do.

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