What causes dog pancreatitis? Can mold, cat poop, or diet contribute?

Pancreatitis in cats more commonly occurs due to concurrent diseases (such as inflammatory bowel disease, cholangitis, cholangiohepatitis, diabetes mellitus, etc.) than due to high fat diets. Dogs commonly develop pancreatitis after eating high fat diets, but this not been shown to be the case with cats. There are also many other cats that develop pancreatitis idiopathically (i.e. we never determine why it happens). One guess to try to associate Bella's pancreatitis with the diet change would be that she may have developed vomiting from a fairly rapid diet transition. The vomiting may have caused a back flow of bile into the common bile duct, which also empties into the pancreatic duct. When back flow of bile occurs, it can introduce bacteria through the shared duct to the pancreas. This may be a stretch of a theory, but is possible. Before changing Bella back to her old diet, I would recommend waiting for further test results to determine if other diseases are present and indicating the need for a different prescription based diet. Since she has been ill, I would also recommend discussing her diet with her vet and taking a full 5-7 days to slowly transition to any new diet. I hope that she does well!

Poor Robin! I can see that her stool has some frank good in it. This can be caused by inflammatory bowel disease, ulcers, chronic foreign bodies, as well as pancreatitis. Intestinal parasites and viruses such as parvovirus can cause this as well. A change in diet may help, but I recommend discussing ruling out the conditions above with your veterinarian. I hope all is well with Robin and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

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 in cats is relatively poorly understood, like your vet suggests allergy is thought to play a part in starting the inflammation process in neighbouring organs. IfMylo is allergic to peas etc then it is quite possible he is allergic to cranberries also. Sometimes berries upset the stomach which could lead to inflammation and aggravate the pancreas. You could try cutting the cranberries out and see if that helps. Apart from that all you can really do is try and avoid the allergic foods, and there is a school of thought that thinks non processed food is beneficial.

With pancreatitis, it is typically caused by them eating something that they were not supposed too. Usually from human food. I agree that changing Shadow's diet to a bland diet and keeping him on antibiotics (not long term) will be beneficial for him. Pancreatitis can be serious and is usually painful. Most dogs do very well on exactly what your vet is doing while more severe cases require intensive treatment and hospitalization. Here is some information on Pacreatitis. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/pancreatitis-in-dogs I hope Shadow feels better soon and thank you for using PetCoach.

Pancreatitis is typically caused by the ingestion of fatty foods such as bacon, pepperoni, greasy or buttery foods, or something rotten that they found outside or in the garbage, etc. I have never seen or heard of a case of pancreatitis being caused by any vaccinations, including Rabies. Labs and lab mixes are notorious for eating things that they shouldn't. Is there any possiblitiy that she may have gotten ahold of something that she shouldn't have either in the house or outside? Many "people foods" can cause pancreatitis in dogs. I hope she is on the road to recovery.

Oily/fatty foods can cause stimulation of the pancreas and increased pain and vomiting and would not be recommended in Bellas case. Given the history of vomiting I would not be overly concerned about the delay in stool production but she should pass feces within 72hours of regaining her appetite and food intake.