My little almost 12 mutt has had several mild cases of pancreatitis in the past month. I’ve been following his vet’s instructions about feeding. Boiled chicken and rice with some yogurt, pumpkin, green beans and cooked egg whites. He currently has no digestive issues.
However, this isn’t adequate nutrition for him long-term. I have tried to figure out several homemade food mixes, but frankly I don’t cook at that level of complexity even for myself.
I have found a very low-fat, grain-free, small-bite kibble by Annamaet. My vet hasn’t heard of it, but it gets 5 stars from Whole Dog Journal and Dog Food Advisor. The customer comments are mostly favorable; a few dogs don’t like it but nothing that indicates it has caused health problems.
It isn’t a cheap food; but his Fromm’s grain-free wasn’t, either.
I’d like to get to a mix of commercial kibble/homemade mix, and I’m wondering how y’all handle feeding your dogs a really low-fat meal.
Have you considered one of the low fat prescription diets specifically formulated for dogs with these sorts of issues? They’re more expensive than boiling rice with chicken broth at home, but a hell of a lot easier than what you’re trying to do at home.
I make my dog’s food and it does not have to be that much trouble. Use chicken or turkey breast, fish, or even pork loin (with the fat trimmed off it is very lean). Add fresh or frozen vegetables like broccoli, spinach, peas, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, beets, kale, cabbage, parsley, squash, sweet potatoes, etc. Don’t use any onion or garlic, as these supposedly are toxic. Potatoes for carbs. By pre-cooking volume, the meat is maybe like a fifth of the total. Simmer it all in a big pot for a few hours, stirring occasionally, mix in some powdered plain gelatin, let it cool, and put it in small containers and freeze it.
My dog is nearly 16 and high fat levels may have been contributing to some seizures he had in the past. Now he seems to be in perfect health.
Blackjack has it. He’s on a bland diet now, and trust me he’s never going to be happy about that. When I have time later I’ll post the recipe for the food I make him.
I had a dog with pancreatitis in the 90’s. She’d eat and get massive diarrhea minutes later. Vet put her on a low fat dog food that he sold. Solved the problem for a few years.
Then she started throwing up after eating. The vet had no solutions. She lost a lot of weight and eventually I had no choice but end the suffering.
the dog just never was healthy. I’d guess it was a genetic thing.
3 lbs lean ground turkey
3 lbs lean ground beef
4 quarts water
1 28 oz. pkg minute rice
1 14 oz. instant brown rice
4 16 oz. packages of frozen peas and carrots
2 20 oz. packages of frozen butternut squash chunks
Spread ground meats in a large baking pan like a thin meat loaf. Leave room around the sides for fat to drain.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes, drain grease, then return to oven for 15 more minutes and drain again. If there was a lot of grease the second time, return to the oven for 15 more minutes and drain again.
While meat is baking take frozen vegetables out to warm up
Bring the water to a boil in a large pot
Add the instant brown rice, lower heat
While rice begins cooking break up the meat into small chunks
Increase heat again, stir in the meat and the white rice
Stir in the frozen vegetables
Turn off heat and let sit until all water absorbed
We pack the food into 16 oz. disposable coffee cups and freeze it. Blackjack has been on 2 containers a day, but he’s lost a lot of weight now so we’re increasing that to 2 1/2 containers and splitting it up into 3 meals a day now. More smaller meals has been recommended for this condition. We put the food in his bowl and add a lot of warm water, he seems to like it that way.
I bake the fat out of the meat instead of boiling to try to leave some flavor in there. No matter what percentage of fat the meat is labeled as you just don’t know how much fat will be in there, so bake and drain until it’s dry.
CrazyCatLady, this may come across as snobby, but I find the ingredients in the prescription diets to be of inferior quality to the food I was feeding him before he got sick. I am hoping the low-fat kibble will work so that he’ll have portable food in case of an emergency bug-out or if I have to board him. And, as noted, it’d be a lot easier to feed him. Thanks for taking time to reply.
AnaMen, thanks for the tips. I’m worrying too much about everything being in perfect balance when I should be paying really close attention to what makes him feel good. I’ve given up on egg whites. How he manages to spit out the mashed up white and eat the rice … He immediately barfed up the spoonful of cottage cheese. Won’t touch the pumpkin after a couple of tries.
aceplace57 I’m sorry about your dog. So hard to watch them decline.
TriPolar thanks so much for the recipe. Ounces of this and that I can work with. Percentages of this and that, converting whatever to dry matter – made my head hurt.
I need to remember the plus side of cooking for my mutt – I can eat what he does!
Seriously, I don’t ever want to see him in pain again. And I don’t even want to think of having to leave him at the vet, sedated and on iv’s.
My relationship with him is unlike what I had with my other dogs, all of whom came to me as puppies. This little guy’s life before last February is a mystery. I so want to make sure he has a better than best quality of life for the few years I’ll have him.
Thanks for all your help, everyone, and for listening.
After Buddy the beagle was treated to the tune of $1200 for the canine ER, the vet told me that if it happened again I could try to treat him with Immodium* on my own. She wrote down the specific product and dosage, but I’ve lost it in the 5 years since it happened.
*I’m not 100% sure that’s what it was, so please don’t take my free internet advice. Ask your dog’s vet if there’s anything OTC you can give your dog to help.
I did give him some Pepto Bismol when he had his first attack. The only thing I could notice was a grumbly tummy. With my other dogs, I used Immodium. The Irish terrier was especially prone to sudden intestinal upsets. I think Immodium was a bit more palatable than the pink stuff. Thanks for the reminder. I want a healthy dog but not those big vet bills. Not that I won’t take him to the vet if he needs it. That’s why we have plastic money, right?
He loves plain yogurt. And yesterday I gave him a dental chew bone (1%) fat, and today he is fine. He doesn’t have great teeth, $400 for the last cleaning, and without his daily bone his breath is pretty bad.