My diabetic dog has soft stools, gas, and nighttime urgency. Pancreatitis?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor guy! Pancreatitis can cause vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia and belly pain. It is a cause of vomiting and diarrhea but it isn't the only cause. Other causes are: intestinal parasites, viral or bacterial infections, toxin ingestion, IBD, food allergy/intolerance or reaction to eating something outside or a new treat/food/people food. Since he has been low grade vomiting now for 2 days it is best to have him seen soon if it continues. It is encouraging that he is eating. I would be sure you fasted him for 12-24 hours then resume feeding with a very bland diet of boiled chicken or hamburger with rice. Make the meals very small. Only offer small amounts of water. If he is lethargic, won't eat and the vomiting continues even on a low grade scale he should be seen before the weekend. I hope this helps and I wish you all the best!

Pancreatitis can cause loose bloody stool, but should not affect a pets ability to urinate at all, as that is a completely different body system. If Eevee cannot urinate and is seen straining to urinate then I would suspect a urinary obstruction may be present which can be cause by urinary stones. He should be taken back to the vet right away for radiographs to determine if a stone is truly present and appropriate treatment for this. However, if he is not straining to urinate, he may just be dehydrated. Offer him plenty of water and perhaps even Pedialyte diluted 50:50 with water to see if this helps hydrate him enough where he can urinate regularly. Hopefully he will go soon and start to recover from his illness. Also pancreatitis can easily be diagnosed with blood snap test (cPL test) done at the vet. A proper diagnosis will make it a bit easier to treat him and also determine what symptoms to be most concerned about during his recovery. Best wishes with Eevee and I hope he feels better soon.

I’m glad to hear you got Grace in for care so quick. It sounds like she is on the right track and recovering. The soft bowel movements may or may not be a problem. If they are soft, but formed and she doesn’t have an increased urgency to get outside to go, then it may just be the high fiber that is in some prescription diets we might give for pancreatitis. I’m not clear on which of the Hills diets she was prescribed, but the changes to her stool could simply be food related. That being said - if her stool is not formed and is more like a cow pie, or if she does have to go out frequently then she should be rechecked sooner than later. Sometimes there is a trial and error to find the “right” food for a patient, and we have to try different prescription diets to find what they do best eating. Either way, her stool should be formed, and if it continues, a visit to your veterinarian is warranted.

Hi and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Diarrhea can be a common occurrence with pancreatitis patients. Metronidazole can help but there are also other medications and supplements that can be of benefit as well. The addition of probiotics are very helpful at reestablishing the good gut bacteria- usually this is given as a powder or capsule you can break open and place on the food daily. A couple great ones are Fortiflora and Proviable. Changing the diet to one that is more easily digestible can help to prevent diarrhea and firm up the stool. Foods I'd recommend would be Hill's I/D or Royal Canin's Low Fat Gastrointestinal diet. A B-vitamin complex is usually essential as this vitamin is typically deficient in patients that have problems with their pancreas. Medications such as Famotidine or Omeprazole which are gastric acid reducers an also help. You may want to ask your veterinarian about the above medications and supplements to see if any of these would be of benefit for Ricky.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Winnie! The diarrhea is likely part of the pancreatitis. Be sure that she is on medication for diarrhea (metronidazole or tylosin). If she isn't on medication for diarrhea because this is a new symptom, call your Vet when they open to see if you can pick up medication for the diarrhea. I hope this helps and I wish Winnie a speedy recovery!

I wouldn't expect to see greasy stool with pancreatitis or the low fat diet. If the stool is truly greasy it is usually due to undigested fat, which can be a sign of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. This disease is usually unrelated to chronic pancreatitis. I would recommend taking a sample to your veterinarian for analysis - if there is truly undigested fat present they may recommend sending out a blood test for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. If the stool just looks soft they might recommend trying a different low fat therapeutic diet.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The soft stools are not normal. Also, the most important thing is to feed a low fat highly digestible diet. My own dog has a long history of pancreatitis so I have been through this for a long time. The best diet out there for dogs with pancreatitis is the Royal canin gastrointestinal low fat diet. I would recommend that you consider switching to a more balanced prescription diet like that one. There is no known benefit in feeding a grain free diet. Good luck and have a great day!