New Remedies for Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is NOT something you ever want your dog to get, it can be VERY painful.
Such as when there is an upcoming holiday, when people indulge in too much fatty food, guess what they can get?
Yes… Pancreatitis
Same thing for your dog. Aside from prevention and NOT feeding your dogs excessively fatty unhealthy foods (i.e. think hot dogs!), one of the key treatments is managing pain.
Typically in practice we would give a narcotic for pain, but nothing for inflammation… but now there is something that can help to decrease inflammation and provide natural pain relief.
And it may help prevent this from recurring, as well as making your dog/cat feel better 🙂
A Natural, Whole Plant Extract CBD tincture for Dogs and Cats:
Dr Jones’ ULTIMATE CBD for Dogs and Cats
Pancreatitis in Dogs
Research shows that pancreatitis in dogs is one of the most common illnesses owners face.
Pancreatitis is a painful, potentially deadly inflammation and swelling of a dog’s pancreas.
A healthy pancreas produces insulin for a dog’s body, as well as unique enzymes that aid in the digestion and absorption of fats and proteins. These enzymes would be dangerous to the pancreas, but the organ has internal defenses that protect it.
These defenses start to collapse when the pancreas is inflamed and swollen, which can make it start to be broken down by its own enzymes.
The pancreas is very easily damaged and is also slow to heal.
Although rare, dogs that recover from acute pancreatitis may have recurrent bouts of this diseases and even develop chronic pancreatitis.
Naturally, you don’t want this to happen to your dog. Fortunately, studies haven shown that there are plenty of ways to diagnose and treat pancreatitis in dogs before it becomes a major health issue, and sometimes, prevention is also possible
How to Prevent Pancreatitis in Dogs?
There is no absolute preventative measure for acute pancreatitis in dogs
However, a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise, feeding good dog food and doing it the right way, and keeping the dog hydrated is the best way to go about this.
Staying away from junk foods and all the medications that may cause pancreatitis is advisable. Steroids such as prednisone can be triggers.
If your Fido displays any symptoms of pain or persistent nausea, it is important to get him to the vet.
Diagnosed early, dog pancreatitis and its associated diseases are much easier to treat than late developments of the disease. Dogs who receive good treatment often achieve fast and full recoveries.
Dog supplements
Certain supplements for dogs exist that may help with either preventing acute pancreatitis in dogs, or assisting in controlling the effects of chronic pancreatitis.
Digestive enzymes
Giving digestive enzymes to dogs may be one of the ways to treat and possibly prevent pancreatitis in dogs. Studies have shown certain pancreatic enzyme supplements to be very effective in treatment of pancreatitis in dogs while others were not at all effective.
Ezyme supplements for dogs that have demonstrated the best results include:
* Festal
* Panteric Granules
* Cotazym
* Converzyme
Supplements with pancreatin may help with ensuring that a dog’s pancrease doesn’t get overloaded. There is some evidence showing that pancreatin may work best on dogs with pancreatitis.
As the research shows, pancreatic enzyme supplements for dogs are highly individualistic. Your dog may or may not respond to supplement treatment. If there’s no response, then another enzyme supplement may be used instead as long as there are no adverse effects.
Omega-3s
Originally in practice I told clients to NEVER uses Essential Fatty Acids for a dog with pancreatitis.
It turns out that I was WRONG!
Fish oil supplements may also help dogs with acute pancreatitis.
Although efficacy on chronic pancreatitis is unknown, research has shown that fish oil given to dogs can help with lowering blood lipids and assisting with pancreatitis.
Choosing dog food with added enzymes and a healthy balance of Omega-3s and -6s is a good idea, but adding additional fish/krill oil supplements to a dog’s diet may increase the chance of faster recovery or prevention. The healthy omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory, and actually normalize fat metabolism.
Go here for our Omega 3 supplement, Dr. Jones’ Ultimate Omega 3 Krill oil
Vitamins
Studies suggest that antioxidants for dogs may assist with canine pancreatitis, and vitamins work well alongside other pancreatitis treatments.
A growing body of research shows positive effects of Vitamin B12. It seems that giving Colabamin helps with pancreatitis recovery.
Antioxidants such as Vitamin E and Vitamin A have also shown positive signs in dogs with pancreatitis, but further research is required.
Probiotics
There’s some evidence that gut flora may have an impact on inflammation of the dog’s pancreas. Improving your dog’s ratio of good bacteria through canine probiotics supplementation may assist with treating or preventing canine pancreatitis.
Best Wishes,
Dr Andrew
P.S. Think prevention, and as much as your Labrador like Pippi (who you see in many of my videos) LOVES hot dogs, keep her away. I always saw dogs coming into the clinic with vomiting/diarrhea after holidays, and many were diagnosed with pancreatitis.
P.P.S. One last supplement that may help… If you have an arthritic pet, a dog with cognitive dysfunction, or a dog with recurring pancreatitis, I encourage you to try my CBD for dogs and cats.
It is a whole plant extract meaning it has all the potentially helping cannabinoids that interact with each other to be beneficial, as well as using hemp seed oil as the carrier oil (often this can make it more effective)