It is understandable to be upset when you discover that your best four-legged friend has been diagnosed with pancreatitis. This frightening disease is nothing more than an inflammation of the pancreas, an organ that produces a number of important body hormones and substances for the digestion of food. In fact, the condition is very common and the good news is that most dogs recover fully after special treatment from the veterinarian. In case of severe gastrointestinal symptoms, in addition to intensive treatment, it is important to discuss with your veterinarian the corresponding dietary options. This is because the pancreas is the organ that releases the enzymes that break down food during digestion, so careful nutritional management of patients is extremely important, because if you are not careful, pancreatitis can return many times during your dog's life. Thus, to avoid any recurrences of the disease in the future, we should lay the nutritional foundations of a balanced and pancreas-friendly diet. Below are some nutritional tips from petchef for the best nutritional management of animals that have suffered from pancreatitis.
Nutritious low-fat meals
A high-fat diet can be aggravating to an already sensitive pancreas and is one of the main causes of relapse of the disease, so to reduce the chances of recurrence, proper nutrition is one of the first issues to pay attention to. With a visit to the pet shop you can find over 20 different commercial diets, with most containing more fat than is usually recommended for dogs with a history of pancreatitis. However, if you are determined to change your old food, it is best to ask your veterinarian to recommend an appropriate clinical diet. Even under these new dietary conditions, your four-legged delicacy may be able to enjoy the delicious meals of petchef , choosing our two low-fat recipes such as Fish with rice and turmeric (with less than 4.9% fat) and Veggie (with less than 5.7% fat). Given that these meals are usually aimed at asymptomatic dogs and since the veterinarian's instructions recommend a strict mono-diet, due to their excellent composition, our recipes may be able to be combined with the treatment for pancreatitis as appetite stimulants. In any case, we encourage you to have the consent of the treating veterinarian before making any change in diet.
Friendly to the stomach and hostile to inflammation
Since pancreatitis is mainly associated with digestive problems, it almost goes without saying that you should choose a food that is easy to digest and friendly to the stomach. Some dogs are sensitive to ingredients such as wheat and corn, which is why you will not find them in any of our meals. On the contrary, our meals consist of fresh vegetables and legumes, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, lentils, beans, broccoli, peas, spinach, etc. Often, sick dogs suffer from selective appetite or anorexia, and the result is usually a loss of body weight and muscle mass, which leads to weakening of the animal and often to the difficulty of administering special oral treatment. To stay healthy and fit, dogs with pancreatitis need adequate protein of high biological value, which is why our meals - including our low-fat options - have a much higher meat content than typical packaged, premium commercial diets.
Without preservatives, colorings or ingredients that we wouldn't consume ourselves
We believe that while they are recovering, they should be fed foods that are as close to their natural form as possible, which is why we encourage you to choose foods that do not contain highly processed ingredients, dyes or flavors that can cause frequent gastrointestinal disorders. At petchef, we use freshly cooked ingredients, so that our meals are exactly as you would make them at home. In our recipes, we do not use anything beyond what you could easily find in a supermarket or your neighborhood grocery store. The philosophy of adopting a nutritional program that is based on the use of mainly unprocessed raw materials in our recipes is not just a diet, but a way of life and comes to give health and well-being to man's best friend, the dog.
Varvara Pyrounaki
Athens Vet Modern Veterinary Clinics