My Welsh terrier has pancreatitis. Are they prone to this disease?

Schnauzers as a breed can have trouble with pancreatitis. Some times this is linked to hyperlipidemia (elevated fat in the blood). This disease can be diagnosed typically on a blood panel. If so, a different diet may be recommended for this disease along with medications. Options for diet otherwise would typically be a low fat prescription diet or seeing a nutritionist or holistic vet for diet planning. Home cooked diets can be great, you just need to make sure someone plans a balanced diet and a diet that is targeted for that disease process. Otherwise the diet may not be balanced and could cause issues with nutritional deficiencies. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Aiko. I recommend having a blood value known as SDMA tested as it is more sensitive in detecting kidney disease that BUN and Creatinine. This value can be combined with a first morning urine sample to check the kidney's concentrating ability. With this information, it can be decided if he has kidney disease and if so, which stage. If his kidneys are functioning well, then I would suggest a prescription low fat diet to be fed to him exclusively to help prevent recurrence of pancreatitis. Royal Canin Veterinary Diets LF or Purina ProPlan Veterinary Diets EN would be appropriate choices. I hope this information helps!

Regarding probiotics, Purina's Forti Flora is very good. Pets with pancreatitis also benefit from a special low fat diet. The brand Royal Canin makes a food for pets with pancreatitis called Low Fat and it's only 7% fat (for comparison, a normal fat content for normal food is about 25% though this varies brand to brand). I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Poor Henry-pancreatitis is no fun. I don’t usually recommend adding something like this to the diet for animals who suffer these types of severe/chronic conditions. We never know what may cause a flair up. However, if Henry is using a prescription kibble you could check with your vet to see if a canned formulation is available as well. If so you can cut the canned product into little cubes and bake/dehydrate then in the oven to make your own treats! Another option is that most of the companies that manufacture prescription foods also have a range of treats which are labelled for use with various of their prescription diets. Good luck!

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.

No, the Metacam would not have been a cause of the pancreatitis; in fact, it can be given as an anti-inflammatory in pancreatitis cases. Multiple factors can contribute to developing pancreatitis, such as diets high in fat, being overweight, metabolic disorders such as high amounts of lipids in the blood, genetics (Yorkies are more prone to it), and hormonal diseases such as Cushing's disease.

It is unlikely that the pancreatitis is caused by antibiotics, but we can give you more specific informations if you tell us the name of the antibiotic. Reglan is a an anti-emetic drug which will prevent any further vomiting episode and possibly promote gastrointestinal (first tract) motility. This is a common medication to give. It would be best to keep him on low fat diet (Chappie would be a good commercial diet for this purpose) for a but longer (at least two weeks after all the signs are resolved). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.