Pancreatitis Cases

I am very worried about my Rottie Xena who is 6 years old.

Xena suffered with entropia as a pup and had surgery but her eyes have never fully recovered and they flare up every few weeks. She constantly rubs her eyes and when wearing a buster collar, she uses her hind leg which is less accurate and causes more damage to the eye area. I don’t use any candles or air fresheners in the house. 

She was raw fed and I made sure she avoided chicken, duck, turkey but it still constantly flared up and then calmed down again. She has spent most of her life on antibiotics, steroids, antihistamines, etc. but they don’t work. 

Unfortunately, last year she was very poorly with pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease and aspirational pneumonia. This resulted in her eyes flaring up badly again, perhaps because she was so run down. She is now being fed Chappie (vet’s advice due to pancreatitis) and her eyes are terrible. I wonder if this is because both flavours, including original, contain chicken. 

Xena also has heart disease - leaking valve, irregular heart rate and slightly enlarged heart. 

I have recently started to add hemp oil to her food. 

She also seems to have hot spots on her legs and is constantly trying to lick/bite them. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you

Dr. Steve's Advice - every condition your dog has - heart disease, pancreatitis, IBD, and pneumonia - is caused by a single Chinese medical problem, Shao Yang disharmony. That is good news, because it means that everything can potentially get better together, although you may need to cycle through a few herbal formulas to pick off all the problems.

For severe blepharitis like that, I would start with Halscion (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Halscion-85g-p647327436) by Gold Standard Herbs. It's my go-to for that condition and should help the other conditions, too.

As for the diet, I guess if she is not any worse off on that food compared to the others, it's okay to continue for a while. Add in a probiotic, though, like Lactobacillus. Eventually, if we get her feeling good, a real food diet with fruits, vegetables, and a probiotic added (to make up 1/6 to 1/10) of the food in the dish is advisable for maximum enduring wellness). But for now, just add in the probiotics and the herbs. 

Hope that helps! You're looking for an obvious improvement within the first two or three weeks

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I have a ten year old maltese and she has had pancreatitis before, her last flare being about seven months ago. She has been on the Hills ID low fat prescription wet food for quite some time now, even before the pancreatitis diagnosis. I’m currently slowly transitioning her to a fresh food diet- My Perfect Pet chicken formula. My concern is, ever since maybe October or November, she has a gurgling stomach after pretty much every meal. The gurgling begins anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half after eating and the length and loudness vary everyday. I know what the symptoms of pancreatitis are, but she doesn’t have any of them. She has good energy, good appetite, no vomiting or diarrhea, no lethargy, etc. All she has is a gurgling stomach. Her vet doesn’t really seem concerned as she doesn’t have any other symptoms. Is there something I could give her? She isn’t bothered by it and doesn’t show any signs of abdominal pain but it just seems a bit odd to me to have gurgling after every single meal. Is this concerning? Thank you so much!

Dr. Steve's Advice - I'm glad you're moving to a real food diet for your dog. If the low fat processed canned diet was being fed even attacks occurred, then it certainly can't be looked at as a solution to the problem. My experience is that refined starches, which would be abundant in that canned food, are what predispose most animals to pancreatic inflammation. 

The gurgling is associated with peristaltic activity, so herbs that regulate intestinal muscle contractions can help resolve them. Western herbal medicine calls these 'carminatives'. An example of something you could give would be ground up Chamomile tea mixed into the fresh food. It will essentially steep in the digestive tract, releasing it's anti-inflammatory and smooth muscle contracting compounds right as they are being needed.

A formula that contains carminatives that can also help prevent pancreatitis from recurring is Three Seeds Combination by Kan Essentials. You can often find that on Amazon if you're in the US. 

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Please help. I have a 5.5 year old boxer with what appears to be pancreatitis. 

Started with no appetite so I started making her chicken and rice. She probably had diarrhea but is a private pooper and we live on a farm so I had no idea. 

The no appetite continued for a few days and she was losing weight rapidly, so I brought her into the clinic. After 2 days of testing, IV fluids, meds, etc. we come to the conclusion that it is probably pancreatitis. However, her amylase wasn’t elevated. Her LFTs were, as were her lipase. 

She still has diarrhea but seems to have slowed down. She looks a tiny bit more perky but truly looks like a skeleton. I got her to eat finally last night some GI low fat wet food and today she had a small jar of baby food after some enticing. I had her getting IVF @ home however she’s not wanting to lay down much and so it’s been more challenging.

Her mom died of pancreatitis so I’m extremely concerned. Any tips/tricks/thoughts as to what I may be missing?

Dr. Steve's Advice - Adoptrex from Gold Standard Herbs was designed for exactly this situation - to resolve pancreatitis tendencies and strengthen the GI. You may want to give it a try. (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433)

Continuing your real food diet will likely prevent pancreatitis tendencies in the future. After all, if we use "boiled chicken and rice diets" to get sick animals better, doesn't that imply they are a healthier choice? Shouldn't we just feed them all the time? Makes sense to me...

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I have come to a cross roads and would really appreciate your input.

Patient - Bellzie Mae 8 year old 52 lbs English Setter spayed at 6 months, vax'd for everything until 2017 when diagnosed with Anaplasmosis. Currently asymptomatic but she does flare typically twice a year. She was fed Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice all her life and nothing else or it would result is very watery diarrhea. She is an active girl and bird hunts with me annually during the hunting season.

Feb 2022 she had a routine procedure done to remove a large lipoma that was under her front left leg. Pre surgical blood work confirmed Pancreatitis - see image. Prior to surgery she only displayed signs of discomfort once or twice a year beginning in 2020. She would curl up in a ball and her tummy would rumble loud, get up and dart to curl up again in another corner, and repeat. I found steeping ginger slices, allowing that to cool, and giving her 1 TBSP would resolve all symptoms. She did have two episodes of bloody gelatin like poo, once in late Jan 2022 after I caught her eating a black walnut shell and again in May 2022. Otherwise her stools are normal and formed. I never thought at the time it was something serious like pancreatitis.

After surgery we were instructed to "reduce her fat to 10% or less" so I started making my own DIY Raw diet for her. I boiled 93/7 organic grass fed burger to remove additional fat and mixed that with veggies and fruit as well as Small Batch Dehydrated Raw food. Our holistic vet gave us digestive enzymes and a multivitamin to add. Bell responded very well to that diet.

We continued to do monthly cPL enzyme testing until June 2022 when her numbers came down to 140. At our annual wellness exam September 2, 2022 I told our holistic vet I was no longer giving her digestive enzymes since she was showing no more symptoms. At that time he did not object or insist she needed to continue the digestive enzymes.

Six months after surgery, I submitted a hair test to look for nutritional deficiencies - results attached - which showed low Iron. After emailing back and forth Dr. Peter Dobias's team advised me to quickly sear her food in a cast iron pan. I'm not so sure high heat is a great idea and would rather cook her meat grind low and slow, but what do I know? Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Knowing I was missing things in my DIY Raw diet I bit the bullet and purchased a month's worth of fine grinds from Hare-Today which arrived this past Tuesday. Since beef was her norm we started with the beef grind. I added 1 tsp of Green Juju veggie mix to her food. Wed, Thurs, and Friday I woke up to her tummy grumbling and she was reluctant to eat breakfast each day but ate dinner with no problems. This morning (Friday) she was arching her back and coming to me needy like before. I added a bit of warm bone both and heated up her breakfast so that she would eat. I probably should have let her go without but I also had to go to work so I couldn't supervise her all day.

In reading through other's posts about pancreatitis I see you recommend Gold Standard Herbs Adoptrex often and Dr. Ian Billinghurst recommends Allegheny Nutrition Digestive Enzymes HP270V.  Would you please be kind enough to share if I could or should use both, how much to offer and for how long? I have both in my shopping cart but if I need more than 1 bottle I need to update that before checking out.

Besides adding raw goats milk, which I'm picking up today, and the above two supplements are there any other diet adjustments I should make or are there other supplements I should be adding to help her? I feel so bad for her but I honestly don't know what else I can do. Don't feed her for days and then go back to eating...what?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this and offer your help. 

Dr. Steve's Advice - There is a lot to unpack there, so let me open by saying that it's no problem to use the Adoptrex      (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433) with the digestive enzymes. Once you're through this illness episode, I'd go back to the last thing she seemed to feel great on. You might want to lightly cook it until she is fully recovered, then gradually transition back to raw, just to take the burden off her pancreas for now. The rest of this post is about why is your dog getting pancreatitis and why certain diets help for her and some don't, at least from my perspective.

A dog who has had a blood borne pathogen like Anaplasmosis and who was prone to twice yearly digestive upset (like pancreatitis and colitis) is prone to Shao Yang disharmony, from a Chinese medical perspective. I won't bore you by getting too into the weeds of what that is. Just know that it seems to correlate with a shift of the microbiome in response to seasonal weather changes, and the resultant impact of that shift on systemic immune and inflammatory responses. That might seem weird - to have the microbiome shift all by itself as the weather warms and cools - but it has been observed in huge studies on animal microbiomes and those shifts correlated with temperature and precipitation.

Anyway, the species that are the most involved in normalizing immune function are carbohydrate fermenters like Lactobacilli. The kibble you were using from Diamond happened to have added probiotics (including Lactobacilli), a high carb content, and a low fat content. All of these are perfect for a dog with pancreatitis occurring due to a fragile microbiome. Now if your dog had the "Damp Heat" type of pancreatitis, they would have done very poorly on that diet, so truly one size does not fit all when we are talking about dog food.

The other diet you fed with success was a raw diet. Normally, those diets starve out microbes that require carbs to survive, but then you added a bunch back in, so Lactobacilli and such could still successfully modulate your dog's immune system and prevent pancreatitis.

Ironically, you made that change to raw because you were trying to lower fat content, but your previous diet was already low in fat. For your dog, fat is likely less important than just the changing of the seasons in precipitating pancreatitis. The last supplement you added probably didn't aggravate things as much as you think. Your dog was already primed to have its seasonal attack, and shifting the diet just pushed the microbiome over the edge.

Given the apparent importance of the microbiome in your dog's pancreatitis, Adoptrex is a perfect fit for your pet, as that is a big part of how it works - fixing the microbiome and helping to smooth out seasonal fluctuations so that you don't get big sudden shifts that create GI signs. Meanwhile, the enzymes reduce some of the burden the pancreas has to shoulder.

Lastly, as for iron testing, blood counts are going to be the most meaningful indicators. Hair levels change slowly, because hair grows slowly. Blood counts change quickly. Thus, hair samples could show your dog as normal even as they suddenly acquired iron deficiency anemia, pointing out the flaw in using hair analysis to keep tabs on iron. Always monitor the thing that changes quickly if you want to be able to take meaningful action.

So, do you need to check red blood cell counts all the time? The chances of iron being low and anemia arising on a raw diet are next to non-existent, as long as the kidneys and bone marrow are functioning fine. The low iron was probably induced by the Diamond diet from six months or more before, showing how slowly the hair levels of iron were changing.

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My dog Wizard is a 17-year-old beagle mix. She has had a pretty unremarkable health history until August of 2021 when she started having infrequent myoclonus seizures. In March of 2022 she was diagnosed with Kidney disease. On top of those two things she also has suspected chronic pancreatitis (which was likely never diagnosed properly) and a grade 3 heart murmur. She’s currently Stage 3 with the Kidney Disease. 

The biggest issue for me is keeping the pancreas happy. Here’s what we are currently doing. Despite this we’re still a very picky eater with flares about 1X a month. Would love any suggestions you might have.

Pancreatitis: Bland diet, Cerenia 1X Daily, Pepcid 5mg 2X Daily, Gastro Elm 2X a day

Seizures: Stasis in Mansion of Mind 3X a day, Tian Ma Plus II 3X a day

Kidney: Rehimmana 11 2X a day, Azodyl Probiotic 1X Daily, 200ml fluids every day, 1ml b12 2X a week

Heart: Vetmedin 5mg 2X Daily

Dr. Steve's Advice - the central tenet of holistic medicine is that all things going on in the body are related, we can use what is going on in one organ to understand the other. To figure out the pancreas, we need to understand the kidneys. The easiest and fastest way I have found of doing that is to check the a urine protein:creatinine ratio. If it is less than 3, then a tonic approach is needed. If it is over 5, then a Shao Yang harmonizing approach is needed. The two strategies have somewhat opposite effects on the pancreas, so we really do need to do the test, so we don't make the pancreas worse.The seizures that began in the fall of 2021 are likely due to some combination of Yang rising due to Yin deficiency. Neither of your seizure formulas really addresses that, so a change may be needed there, too. The Kidney formula you're using is okay if the UPC is below 3. If it is above 5, then it may be deleterious.These are all just my impressions. I'm sure your holistic veterinarian would strongly disagree with them given the approach they are taking. They also have had the benefit of having examined your dog when I have not, so take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. But if you're not satisfied that your dog's conditions are stable or improving despite these efforts, a change does seem called for. In my experience, the UPC ratio can tell us in what direction that should be. Hope that helps (and doesn't annoy anyone)!

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Back in November of 2021 my dog became very ill with Pancreatitis, Hepatitis, and Gastritis. We are not sure what caused all of this, other than she got into something very bad. I almost lost her, but thankfully the vet I had taken her to caught the issue with a last minute decision to run her bloodwork after she had stopped eating entirely. After an alarming amount of antibiotics and steroids for almost a year she mostly recovered. However, with all of this she developed a persistent cough (very early in), that we have been chasing ever since she got sick. It started as a small persistent cough with occasional mucus, and frequent sneezing with a lot of mucus discharge. 

Thinking this could be allergy related, I have had to put her on a strict diet of homemade food that has been a lot of experimentations. It seems to have helped get her on a more healthy track, but I still can't get her to kick this cough. It is now just a dry hacking cough that mostly occurs when she is laying down trying to sleep or gets worked up and excited. Toward the end of her cough fits she gags like she is trying to clear her throat. It has been many visits to the vet, and they have basically said that they have exhausted their resources with x-rays, blood work, etc. and that I can either just make her as comfortable and happy as I can, or to search out a vet or program that could do more diagnostics than they could. 

She is in good spirits and for the most part living well for nearly 13 years old. She still runs and plays, or tries before occasionally going into a coughing fit. Just wondering what might be out there for options, or if you have any idea what direction I can go from here?

Dr. Steve's Advice - if you're lucky, this could be resolved fairly quickly. From a Chinese medical perspective, we always have one constitutional tendency, and it just changes how it manifests. To successfully treat an animal in the present is also to treat both its past and its future. In other words, the cause of the pancreatitis and hepatitis two autumns ago is also the cause of the cough right now. 

Fall onset of severe pancreatitis and hepatitis is usually caused by Shao Yang disharmony. The treatment for that is Minor Bupleurum, which also is a major formula for chronic cough, including from collapsing trachea, laryngeal paralysis, pneumonia, pneumonitis, viral infections and a host of other causes. I think it will help here.

The formula comes in many forms. I would suggest Adoptrex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433) by Gold Standard Herbs. It has a Minor Bupleurum core to soothe that irritated trachea, but also anti-Dampness herbs. The cough on lying down and also when she starts to get excited suggests phlegm accumulation (i.e., Dampness) is an aggravating factor.

Together with the healthy diet you're using, the herbs should hopefully make short work of the problem. Let us know how it goes!

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Hi Dr.Steve,
I have a 2 dog question about Voltrex. Our 9 year old Lucky most likely had a small ligament tear in right hind leg 6 weeks ago. X-rays did not show any major inflammation or shift, drawer test still showed good joint stability. They also x-rayed  the hips to exclude hip dysplaisia. We are doing conservative management with restricted activities and dasuquin, fish oil and green lipped mussel supplements. Lucky also has some digestive issues his whole life and is now on home cooked meals (plus calcium, standard process canine whole  bod support and Liver Happy Chinese Herbs) I was thinking about adding Voltrex to support the ligaments in his good leg and help healing in his right leg.
Would Voltrex interfere with the Liver Happy or other supplements? 

Our other dog, 12 year old Hudson (the black fluffy one) has chronic pancreatitis and arthritis. He is a very picky eater and is on lightly cooked protein, certain easily digestible cooked veggies, calcium, B12 and whole canine body support plus some canned Royal Canine low fat prescription food (I call it his junk food) He does not eat any fruit, cannot tolerate green lipped mussel, will not eat any dasuquin. He sometimes eats a skinless, boneless sardine in water but not every day. He is stable on his weight and is very in tune with his body. I almost think he takes a bite of his food , waits, repeats this and if he thinks he can tolerate it, he cleans up his plate
I am not sure if he would eat Voltrex but I would like to try.  From what I read, it should not interfere with his pancreatitis. Is that right?
Thank you in advance for your advice!

Dr. Steve's Advice -your dogs are very cute!

Regarding the dog with the presumed tear, if the lameness is still present, see if you can find a veterinary chiropractor in your area. Sacro-iliac fixations commonly are mistaken for partial cruciate tears. Voltrex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Voltrex-85g-p647327438)    helps relieve the inflammation in the sacro-iliac joint that attends such fixations, so it's worth trying whenever a dog exhibits a three legged-hind end lameness that is not attributable to trauma.

As for it's effect on liver enzymes:
1. If they have not been completely normalized by Liver Happy, Voltrex may take them the rest of the way
2. If, instead, enzymes go up on Voltrex, use more Liver Happy and reduce the Voltrex dose by half. Once the pain has resolved, discontinue the Voltrex

Regarding your 'fluffy' dog, you're correct that Voltrex can help pancreatitis. Adoptrex from Gold Standard Herbs even more so. Either can help with arthritis, but Voltrex is, of course, stronger, since it's designed to treat joint inflammation. If Voltrex seems to aggravate his finicky appetite, but help his joint pain, team it with Glehnia and Rehmannia from Kan Essentials. You can now buy Kan Essentials from a trusted source, Aleksandra Topic

Hopefully this helps you out!

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Hi I’m new to this group. I’m really hoping for some help with my 8yr old Yorkshire/Jack Russell Terrier mix. He has chronic pancreatitis and we are also dealing with a recurring skin issue. I believe it’s an allergy to his food (which is limiting due to his pancreatitis) however this is uncomfirmed. 

Photos posted, I would appreciate any help you can give. Currently treating with medicated antiseptic/antibiotic shampoo and mousse but it doesn’t cure 100%

Dr. Steve's Advice - the resolution of both pancreatitis and chronic skin disease should begin with a move to a real food diet. Depending on their response to that, it tells us what is wrong. You can read about the logic behind that move in these posts on skin disease (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1158575954706282/search/...) and in this group of lectures I did on pancreatitis (https://www.drjudyu.com/offers/NZL4A6oy/checkout) for Judy Dr. Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets. You can also search for pancreatitis posts on this page. There are many.

If your dog responds well, with both conditions improving, they are "Damp" and would benefit from other anti-Dampness formulas. Given the photo supplied, I'd suggest Kan Essentials Dispel Damp and Nourish the Skin (which should improve both).

If your dog doesn't respond, the next thing to try is a Shao Yang based formula. If the pancreatitis was worse than the skin, then Adoptrex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433) should be your first choice, from Gold Standard Herbs. If skin is the top concern, try Cessorex from that line. With both formulas you'd want to add in a Lactobacillus probiotic and make sure the diet is 1/3 plant material.

If that didn't work, then your dog might be Blood deficient, in which case you'd try Glehnia and Rehmannia from Kan Essentials.

Both Kan products mentioned here can be purchased from Aleksandra Topic using the instructions she provides here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1158575954706282/posts/1420037418560133/

Hope that helps!!

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Hi Dr Steve,

My yorkie is 14 and has dry eye and pancreatitis. She is on tacrolimus for her eyes and meds for pancreatitis as needed when she has a flare. My question is that when she is on anti inflammatory and antibiotic meds she does so well. Her eyes clear up, stomach issues resolve and she actually plays with her toys again however, off the pancreatitis meds she flares quickly no matter what we do with her diet. Is there a long term med I can give her to keep her stable? I feel she has some type of infection that won’t go away but her vet is not a fan of long term antibiotics. 

Picture inserted so you can see how adorable she is.

Thank you!

Dr. Steve's Advice -  

there are no drugs for pancreatitis per se. An anti-inflammatory herbal formula for the GI that can resolve pancreatitis is Adoptrex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433)    from Gold Standard Herbs.

If that seems to help, by eliminating reliance on whatever drug your vet has given you, then adding in Cessorex from Gold Standard Herbs should resolve the KCS and reduce the need for Tacrolimus. Those are just two suggestions for you. There may be others, depending what drug is in use.

It's also important to feed a real food low fat meat-and-vegetable diet (not canned or kibble) to completely eliminate the prospect of pancreatitis.

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Hi Dr. Steve

I’m hoping for some answers

My two and half yo CKCS Louis, was rushed to emergency vet just over two weeks ego. Acute pancreatitis. Today, he woke up not himself. Didn’t eat all day until around 5pm. Just after 6pm he started being sick. He has been sick 8 times so we rushed to emergency vet again. They run blood test, give him anti sickness injection and we took him home for observation. I never seen him so sick. He was 10.4kg week ego, now 9.8kg

I have noticed, on blood results, his MPV is elevated and I Google it and now I’m really worried… why vet wasn’t bothered by it?

Dr. Steve's Advice - a high MPV just means his platelets are a larger size than normal. It doesn't really have any negative connotations. When platelet numbers are low, it can suggest that by being larger, the few platelets remaining can potentially act as 'super platelets'. Other than that, you can ignore it.

I've just completed my first course for Judy Dr. Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets and their DrJudyU. It's on pancreatitis. If you're interested, take a look. It should launch in the next week or so, I hope!

Meanwhile, some suggestions:

- if you feed your dog 'real food' already, then this is likely a Shao Yang disharmony that has landed your dog in hospital. Harmonize the Qi by Kan Essentials should help a lot. You can get the tincture version to make dosing easy when your dog is not well. Give two or three times the amount on the label two to three times daily. It can take a week or two to fully recover.

- if you don't yet feed your dog real food, what's most likely to help once your dog shows an appetite is boiled chicken and rice. Try to stay away from canned or kibble. Meanwhile, the quell the acute inflammation, try Four Marvels from Kan Essentials

You can obtain both of these products from Aleksandra Topic, via the instructions she provides here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1158575954706282/posts/1420037418560133/

The course will provide details about how and why these approaches work, and what can be done going forward to prevent it from happening again!

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Hi Dr. Steve, I have two dogs with pancreatitis. My Lionel's Legacy failure, Jackson the Chihuahua, has a mild case. My other fella, Calvin, is more in the moderate category. I've been using a recipe very similar to the one you developed for some of our other LL dogs, and I make them treats with oatmeal, apple sauce, bananas, and eggs. They generally do well. All the cooking is time consuming. I'd like to supplement their meals or treats with some kibble. I'm struggling to find an organic/natural food that's low in fat. The lowest I've found was 13%. I think that's still hi, right? What do you suggest? 

Dr. Steve's Advice - it's usually the processed carbs in kibble that predispose to pancreatitis. They act as the tinder, and then fat exposure just becomes the match that sets the pancreas alight. Without processed carbs, pancreatitis becomes mild if it happens at all.

If you must find a convenience food, about as processed as you can get without jeopardizing your dogs is freeze-dried. Any foods that are cooked in a factory like dried foods and especially canned food and kibble have pro-inflammatory AGEs that likely predispose to the pancreatitis outbreaks.

One other thought is to touch base with Lionel's Legacy. I know they are seeing if they can make my recipe (or something very similar) in bulk in an industrial kitchen and then get it out to the LL community. Maybe connect with Laura Oliver to see if they are still doing that and to see if you can participate.

Lastly, note that Gold Standard Herbs' Adoptrex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433)  is designed to resolve pancreatitis and then prevent it from happening in the future. Keep that in mind especially if you can't use one of the approaches mentioned above.

Hope that helps!

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Hi Dr. Steve. Presenting my 12 year old mini schnauzer, Lexi. My friend posted for me a while back. I got a 2nd opinion from another vet who did the ultrasound and confirmed there are now stones in her gallbladder. You mentioned sludge rarely becomes a problem and stones are not that common.. but unfortunately, we are now there. I take it once there are stones, surgery is really the next step to prevent blockage of the bile duct?

Unfortunately, we face a new problem. The other day, Lexi was rushed to the vet for vomitting and was confirmed to have Pancreatitis. She has been fasted and on IV fluids and so far, she is doing ok. I told the vet she was on a real food diet but they wanted to start her on Royal Canin gastrointestinal low fat.

The vet brought up surgery again. I’m hoping we can get her stable with the pancreatitis first.

History:

Mitral valve disease as of 2021. Taking Vetmedin, Furosemide, CoQ10 - but no cough yet. Heart murmur discovered on routine check. (Today’s confinement update said her heart and lungs sound clear)

Gallbladder sludge now with stones as of October 2023. Taking Ursodiol, Shilintong, Rowachol. Recently added Dandelion per your advice (dandelion powder as I could not find the tincture).

Diet: low fat real food, meat (turkey or carabao) and veg

Hoping for more of your insight on her gallstones (and support for post-surgery) and pancreatitis. I’ve already ordered Adoptrex based on previous pancreatitis posts.

Thank you!

Dr. Steve's Advice -  

the Adoptrex will likely help a lot with both the pancreatitis and the sludge (now gallstones). You will need to keep it up as well as the dandelion for a protracted period of time (many months) to slowly dissolve the gall stones and thin the bile. Another western herb called Fringe Tree bark will help with all three objectives, so you should probably source that, too.

Surgery would seem like the easy answer, but unless they plan on removing the whole gall bladder, what is their plan for preventing stones in the future? If there isn't one, then you're better off trying to find an albeit slower medical solution. In over 35 years of practice, I can't think of a patient that had an obstructed bile duct because of a gall stone, so it is a rare event in dogs.

If you do opt for the surgery, and they are guaranteeing it to be curative, at least wait until the pancreatitis settles down and blood work normalizes before going in there. Otherwise, the surgery itself could aggravate the pancreatitis.

If you've been feeding a low fat real food for a very long time, and the pancreatitis happened, then I guess you can try their canned low fat diet. It won't be particularly helpful to her heart, though, since highly processed foods are the main cause of endothelial dysfunction, which aggravates heart disease in both humans and dogs, and was found in a 2012 JAVMA study to be found in every dog with congestive heart failure. So, to use that diet instead of a real food diet, you might be prioritizing the pancreas over the heart, which is a questionable decision.

Bottom line: the Adoptrex may be a game-changer for you, and counters endothelial dysfunction as well. I personally would give it a try before opting for surgery and canned food in my own pet. For whatever that is worth....

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Greetings Dr. Steve my dog was just diagnosed with pancreatitis and put on Royal canine dog food gastroent/fat free

Do have any suggestions what else I can do for her please

Dr. Steve's Advice -  

I recently created a short course on pancreatitis for dog owners so they could understand why their dog is prone to it, and how to cure them of it. You can access the course and learn a bit more about it here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/J-HS-Fhnbqw

The first step to resolving pancreatitis, as you'll see in that video, is to move to a real food meat-and-vegetable diet that is not too high in fat. Veterinarians zero in on fat as the main issue, but most dogs get pancreatitis because they are eating processed starches. Low fat processed diets merely make the pancreatitis subclinical, but as soon as one of those dogs eats anything different, it flares right back up. So the real problem is the smouldering fire in the pancreas fueled by processed starches. In the video I talk about where that comes from and how to put it out so your dog can eat a variety of foods and not get sick.

In the videos, I mention Adoptrex (https://goldstandardherbs.com/products/Original-Adoptrex-85g-p647327433) as a simple thing you can use to help ensure the change to a real food diet goes smoothly, and to help heal the pancreatitis flare up. If you decide to go this route, maybe add that in, too.

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Hello, I just found you. This is Ellie May, 3-year-old toy australian shepherd. We got Ellie at about 4 months and about a day after we had her she came down with kennel cough and had it for about a month or two. So needless to say she had all kinds of antibiotics put in her. She was always having a loose stools or diarrhea off and on. This summer she started throwing up blood and I took her to a vet and they said she had pancreatitis. I have since found a holistic vet. She had put her on a probiotic and a digestive enzyme. Her stomach gargles and squeals. It helped a little bit with her stomach hurting. Now she just regurgitates at random I don't know when she's going to do it, it just comes out. The vet has her on turkey and pumpkin, but now Ellie has lost so much weight and she's skinny. She had me feeding her small amounts throughout the day to try to keep her food down and gave her okra pepcidin. and then in September she started scratching with environmental allergies and got so bad I got her a  cytopoint shot. She is still scratching, not like she was, and now starting to kind of shake her head with her ears. I don't feel like she's getting any better, and I'm worried that she's so thin, and I'm worried about feeding her the same thing over and over from what I hear, that feeding her the same thing everyday can make it her more food sensitive? I don't know. I started to give her like one nugget of that Primal dog food that I pictured on the page. And I can't tell if that's too much for her or not, sometimes she does well with it and sometimes she don't. And I give her a half of boiled egg, mostly the white in the morning. Needless to say I'm just at my Wit's End I don't know what to do for her anymore. It's hard to see her have a stomach ache, and I do give her slippery elm when her stomach hurting with her acid reflux. Now I'm starting to feed her by hand and when she gets done eating I kind of stand her up and pound her back kind of like you would a baby and she'll burp. Any suggestions I would be so grateful for, I feel like she might have some disease and I just don't know what to do for her anymore. Also right before she goes to bed I've been giving her little tiny pieces of white bread a little bit of turkey a little bit of pumpkin and I mix that up and moisten it with water and put a little slippery elm and the okra in, for the last three nights and it's been getting her through without waking me up cuz she's hurting. Bread always seems to help her stomach. Thank you for your time. I do have another appointment with the vet in a week or so. Any tests that I should ask her about running, or anything about her diet? This picture of her stool was last week, it was just so weird looking I had to take a picture of it to show the vet. Her poop sometimes has mucus in it sometimes it looks normal sometimes it's just soft. It's just all over the place. Thank you.

Dr. Steve's Advice - you may want to start finding a holistic vet to help you with her, as there are several different things that can help. Someone seeing her in person would reduce the trial and error involved in solving this problem, which I'm certain you can.

The itching is likely due to an imbalanced microbiome that is triggering the immune system, so just getting her stomach right should resolve the itch.

Because she feels better if she eats something late at night, has a prior history of pancreatitis (that we would like to prevent in the future), has trouble maintaining weight, and has lots of GI noise going on (signifying some motility issues), I would start with Glehnia and Rehmannia by Kan Essentials. You can often find it online on Amazon or you can perhaps source it through Diana Hermann, a friend of our page. She has instructions for doing so in Featured posts, above. Dose according to the guidelines at https://nphc.ca/using/dosage

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Thank you Dr. Steve for allowing me to join the group.

I have a 13 year old Sheltie.  Not neutered, has been raw fed grinds his whole life, puppy shots, one rabies and no other chemicals except antibiotics for UTI.  I recently found out he has elevated liver enzymes and pancreatitis.  His raw grinds were 6% fat and I had to put him on Primal freeze dried food for about a month (31% fat as fed) while traveling cross country (USA).  He was vomiting and diarrhea for several weeks (not eating much) until I got him to a vet and learned from blood results.  He is skin and bones but now eating a balanced homemade diet.  

Abdominal ultrasound showed slight gallbladder sludge, plus chest x-ray showed enlarged heart with #4 murmur.  

He was put on Vetmedin Pimobendan for the heart, Denamarin for the liver, and Ursodiol for the gallbladder sludge.

My question(s) is can I also put him on two products from Dr. Mercola?  (1) Heart Health, (2) Liver & Kidney support. Could there be an interaction or interference with the prescriptions and the herbs.  Or where can I find this information? 

The first list of ingredients is Heart Health by Dr. Mercola
The second is Liver & Kidney Detox by Dr. Mercola (Dr. Becker)

I thank you in advance for your help.  Rio is my emotional support dog expecially after loosing my husband this past July.

Dr. Steve's Advice -  

Hi there! I'm not an expert on Mercola's or Dr. Becker's supplements. You should check with them to be sure, but I don't personally see any reason to not use them in a dog on Pimonbendan.

I would also add in Harmonize the Qi and Blood's Palace, both by Kan Essentials, to help normalize heart function. You can often find them online at Amazon in the US. Dose according to the tables at https://nphc.ca/using/dosage. Give that amount twice daily

Good luck!!

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Hello Dr. Steve,

I apologize in advance for the long post. My dog is 10.5 years old and she has had pancreatitis flare ups in the past. I brought her in because she wasn’t eating unless it was from my hand, vomited bile, and just seemed a bit more lethargic in general. They were able to run bloodwork and an ultrasound and I have posted the results below. We sadly live in an area where there are practically no holistic vets within an hour of us, other than house call acupuncture vets. Her traditional vet stated that Pinkie had stones in her kidneys but not in her bladder and that it is not a concern, which I have since learned otherwise. She also diagnosed Pinkie with kidney disease with only the ultrasound before the bloodwork even came back. She does not have symptoms of kidney issues- no excess drinking, no excess urinating, etc. which is why it was a complete shock when her vet mentioned kidney disease. She did not give me a protocol to follow but after doing some research, I’m wondering if you approve of what I came up with- I read about lysimachia-3, Dang Gui and Peony Support Formula, milk thistle, calcium citrate, rhemannia-8 and I’m wondering which ones you think are appropriate in this case. She will be on a real food diet, although I’m having trouble finding the right one. I’m looking at one that has a phosphorous content of 0.43 DMB- is that okay? I am also planning on geting her acupuncture as I have read the various benefits of it. I read a lot of previous posts from this group and I’m also wondering if the calcium oxalate stones can be dissolved and if kidney disease can be reversed as I know traditional vets believe neither is possible. But I read about Leslie Bean’s success with her dogs and their calcium oxalate stones. Her blood work shows an increase in BUN and BUN/creatinine ratio but with normal creatinine levels. Her SDMA levels are also in normal range and I’m wondering if her ultrasound and blood work are indicative of kidney disease like her vet stated. Thank you for everything!

Dr. Steve's Advice - the kidney issues are very early, so there is not much to panic about. Also, the report is unclear whether they saw mineralization in the kidneys, which indicates a blood flow issue, or stones. The description suggests mineralization, and the assessment suggests stones. The ultrasounds are too small for me to tell myself. Please get clarification from your vet and/or ultrasonographer.

Meanwhile, to support kidney blood flow to lower BUN, and to help prevent pancreatitis, I would suggest you get Glehnia and Rehmannia from Kan Essentials (often available on Amazon in the US). It should help settle the stomach, too.

I applaud your decision to feed real food. I don't see the need to worry at all about phosphorus levels yet. Increased phosphorus is really only a concern in some dogs, and at much later stages of the disease. Any meat-and-vegetable diet will probably work for now to correct the vascular issues that are compromising renal blood flow. 

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Hi Dr. Steve I hope you are well. I need your help. Is there anything I can do to help my little chihuahua Bandi? Detailed summary follows below:

Age: 13

Weight: 1.6 kg

Breed: Chihuahua

Sex: Female/Spayed

Diet:

• up to 2020 dry kibble

• from 07/2020 home-cooked diet

• from 12/2022 home-cooked high fat diet

• from 11/2023 home-cooked low fat diet

Details of cancer diagnosis:

• 2020 we found a small lump in the middle of the abdomen.

• 07/2021 surgery, the vet took the lump out but did not neuter her. Ultrasound of the abdomen clean. X-ray clean.

Details of histopatholgy result: Parenchyma of a fertile mamma with captured infiltration by NST invasive carcinoma structures, predominantly in a tubular / ductal arrangement, with marked cell pleomorphism and accentuated mitotic activity (22 mf / 10 HPF). Angioin invasion not detected. The excision appears complete. Conclusion: Invasive breast cancer NST, G2. - angioinvasion not detected. - the extent of excision appears in sano

AFTER FEW MONTHS THE LUMP SHOWED UP ON THE SAME PLACE.

• 11/2022 teeth cleaning. The vet did not také the tiny lump out.

• 04/2022 spayed because of pyometra. The vet left the tumor in even if a asked to remove it!

• 07/2022 tumor starts slowly gorwing and another lump showed up on the chest

• 04/2023 x-ray clean, ultrasound clean, blood good (just low glucose, higher potassium and high lipase)

SHE HAS SEVRAL LUMPS NOW SLOWLY GROWING. One vet is for surgery (partial mastektomy or just take out the lumps beacuse of the heart, another vet is against surgery). I dont know what to do. I'm really desperate

Other conditions to consider according to echo/sono/blood from 10/2023:

• Mitral valve disease stage B2 (heart a bit enlarged on the xray)

• Probably chronic pancreatitis (high lipasis and cPL blood result; ulrasound ok; no symptomes)

• Gallbladder with stagnant sludge (treatment with urseocholic acid advised to avoid progression to gallbladder mucocele)

• Small cyst in the cortex of right kidney

• Dental disease (tartar). She only has half of his lower jaw. Removal of the remaining lower teeth was not recommended due to the very fragile bone. She could then be left completely without a lower jaw.

• Cataract

Daily medications in use:

Vetmedin 1,25 mg (Pimobendan) (1/4-0-1/4) from 2022

Deursil 150 mg (1/8-0-0-) for 1 month

Other supplements she takes for last 2 years with breaks: Medicinal Mushroom (Turkey Tail, Reishi), Milk Thistle, Dandelion Root, IP6 with vitamin C, selen and calcium; Astralagus, Drags Imune (dragon´s blood); Probiotics with Chlorella, CBD, Curcumin, vitamin D, fish oil.

It was recommended to me to try also ANONA GRAVIOLA, PINE BARK (Pycnogenol), OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT (20% oleopeurin) and homeopathicum WEI QI BOOSTER for pets (contains: Astragalus huang qi, Angelica dang gui, Codonopsis dang shen, Lindera wu yao, Citrus chen pi, Scutellaria ban zhi lian, Scrophularia xuan shen, Oldenlandia bai hua she she cao).

What do you think? What supplements should I continue / take out or add to stop tumor growht (the best to shrink) and prevent metastases and keep her alive as long as possible?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Dr. Steve's Advice - I personally would have the various lumps taken out assuming your dog still presents as a low anesthetic risk. I would then feed a real food meat-and-vegetable diet with just a normal amount of fat (i.e., none added, but no excessively fatty meats used). For herbs, I personally prefer Kan Essentials Sublime Joint Formula, teamed with Four Marvels, also from Kan Essentials. The two together should help combat the tumor tendency as well as the pancreatitis and gall bladder sludge.

I don't personally ever use Wei Qi Booster, preferring formulas that target the whole dog and not just the tumor (while ignoring everything else that is going on). That being said, if you have a holistic vet at hand who is going to be monitoring her closely who has had success consistently with that formula, then that's a different story. If, instead, it was just an offhand suggestion, I'd personally do what I suggested in the first paragraph.

Note as well that treatment with Sublime Joint Formula (or it's Natural Path equivalent: Xian Fang Huo Ming Yin) will likely need to be lifelong to slow or prevent recurrence, and that you'll need to use robust doses, maybe three times what the label recommends.

You can source the Kan products from Aleksandra Topic, a friend of our page, using the instructions she provides here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1158575954706282/posts/1420037418560133/

Hopefully this helps you out!

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I am following all recommendations you have provided. I will get a recheck on the pancreas levels. When tested on 11/16 they were off the charts at SPEC cPL 1297  HIGH. 0-200 ug/L normal 

   Serum Spec cPL concentration is significantly increased which occurs with pancreatic inflammation. He now has behavioral issues. Growling and barking at me always at night, restless, volunterily goes into his crate and boxer talks. They make weird noises. He’s very anxious. Shaking his body multiple times a day as if wet. Breathe is still brutal. I am waiting on the adoptrex still hasn’t arrived.  He just looks miserable and behaves like a senior dog

Dr. Steve's Advice - Adoptrex still seems the place to start, especially given the miserable mood (amenable to Minor Bupleurum in the formula) and the pancreatitis (amenable to the whole formula). Hopefully it will arrive soon 

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