New member - Saying Hi introduction and asking for advise - Please help!!!!!...

[Rachel]

Hi I am Rachel and have 2 whippets Molly (10) and Fudge (8 1/2) are the lovelies in my life!
They have been eating a raw home prepared diet for all their lives (pretty much but with the odd treat here and there). Consisting of raw minces, home prepared vegetable paste and RMB - mainly Duck wings and raw sprats. I did long and extensive research to get the balance right when they were young.

However - Fudge has had a very serious bout of pancreatitis, developed a hepatic artery clot and glaucoma and luxated lense in 1 eye (the vet says her other eye doesn't look normal but no 'pathology' so it looks as though she has had eye problems that have remained undetected for who knows how long!) She is beginning to recover and we are following advise to keep her on low fat diet with a bit of added ground bone. (I have been cooking meals with veg and some salt/onion free/fat skimmed chicken stock) and trying to get her back on some low fat raw like white fish, venison, turkey but we are really struggling ....

a) To keep up with the workload
b) To know that she is getting all the nutrients she needs and
c) The cost of 2 different foods for her and Molly (Molly is still on her normal raw and very healthy).

We think there may be an element of genetics involved - Fudge has had quite a few problems over the years (I do wonder if this Pancreatitis has been simmering for a long time and been misdiagnosed as back pain/UTI's and various gastric/digestive disorders). The reason being that we are now seeing a different vet and he had her in straight away for an ultrasound and said she was a very sick dog! She is quiet, mostly calm and sleepy so sometimes it is hard to know if she is just feeling lazy or felling unwell.

I have taken up enough of your time, but thanks for persisting and reading so far..... just looking for some advise about low fat diet, including good nutrients (would prefer to be grain free and not lots refined carbs too - don't want to be juggling diabetes too!) and whether anyone with experience might be able to share their story and how they have coped with Pancreatitis in their Pals.


Many thanks
Rachel, Molly and Fudgeywudgeywhippetywoo ( )

[Dottie]

Hello and welcome to the forum.  It is sad that your dog is not doing so well at the moment.  Pancreatitis is a fairly common problem and we have a thread on it here.  David has written an article on the problem and that can be found here.

You don't say what type of food you are looking for and what percentage of fat the vet has suggested, but using the filters on the Dog Food Directory and setting the fat slider to between 6% and 12%, I obtained two pages of products (all dry completes).  Wet foods tend to have higher fat levels. I placed a tick in the no cereal box so all these are grain free.  The carbohydrate will be potato or sweet potato.  Unfortunately I cannot save the search but if you put those parameters in yourself, you should get the same result. 

If you wish to continue with home cooking, there is a section here which has quite a few links in it to obtain further information.  However, as you say it is time consuming and this type of diet requires supplementation, most notably calcium.  If you take a look at the thread on pre-mix veg you will see that Pure has one on the market and you might want to think about that, adding your own lean protein.  I would be inclined to contact the company first though in order to obtain more advice.  One of their air dried products came out in the aforementioned search - it was Pure Terrific Turkey and it has a dry weight fat level of 9.4%.

The only other thing I can think of right now is a new company called Butternut Box who specialize in home cooked food. I don't know if they would do bespoke meals but it might be worth asking.

Please would you update the thread as we are always interested in outcomes?  Also, there may be more replies with some other suggestions so do keep a watch on your thread.

[Tinyplanets]

I don't have anything to add to what Dottie said but just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forum.  I am sorry to hear that one of your whippets has been having such a tough time of it.

[Rachel]

Thanks so much for your comprehensive and very informative reply - I will get to work reading and researching all the suggestions you have made. I am very grateful .
Once I get things sorted out I will revisit this thread and give a full report back.

The vet seemed to be a bit unsure of the exact percentage fat - he said "less that 20% but some need less than that". I have found that this is very difficult to 'guestimate' when you are preparing at home. I have taken to checking fat percentage in every protein I use but basically fresh turkey, chicken white fish and venison some meals are cooked some raw as she seems to tolerate a combination better, raw breakfast and cooked dinner.  Supplementing with small amount of bone meal, Golden paste (turmeric), Hemp extract and various herbs,  Also giving some zero fat cottage cheese for snacking trying to get a bit of weight back on however we can but not too happy as it contains salt - am going to try and find a salt free alternative preferably made from goat milk.

Am going to go straight on to read the pancreatitis thread next - will report back and keep an eye on this thread incase of any further replies - particularly interested if anyone can share snack ideas suitable for pancreatitis.

Many thanks again for your help

Rachel

[Meg]

Welcome to the forum Rachel and what a tough time your Fudge has been experiencing..., and it is good to read she is beginning to recover.

 Her body has taken quite a 'knock' and she needs sufficient time to recover, as well as now adjusting to a different diet, albeit hopefully a temporary one. The helpful tome  "Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition" advises that fat is the "most potent stimulator for pancreatic secretion" and must be restricted during an episode of acute pancreatitis. Also mentioning a possibility of a "slow transition" back to the original diet if the trigger has been identified. (In chronic pancreatitis fat restriction is advised long term).  Also "very high levels of dietary protein should be avoided".

David's article, written to help with feeding dogs that have Pancreatitis, as mentioned by Dottie, is excellent, and advises fat is " between 5% and 10% dry matter", and protein is between 20% and 30% dry matter". Also the diet is "Highly digestible (good quality and free from any potentially problematic ingredients", "Not too starchy (avoid foods with large amounts of starchy ingredients like maize, white potato, white rice, tapioca, pea starch etc)" and has "No added sugars".

You may wish to avoid fattier products like Beef, Lamb, Rabbit, Goat, Cured meats, Sausage, Salmon (particularly farmed!), sardines, Cheese, Full-fat yogurt, and of course meaty treats(like sausage) and Dry meat treats (like jerky).

[DeclanjjWhelan]

Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to chatting some more