Pancreatitis dog with anemia and chicken allergies

believer4892

New member
My lovely dog M is a 11(?) y/o former street dog with a lot of soul and history. She LIVES for food. Now I'm trying to find her stuff that she can enjoy and will give her proper nutrition.

In 2018, M was diagnosed with an unknown autoimmune blood disease which at periods may put her in an anemic state. Steroid treatment courses has saved her twice now and works excellent. At some point during her second steroid treatment she started pooping blood after having chicken, and drinking lake water where ducks swim, and thus has also been diagnosed with allergy to bird protein.

During spring 2020 she had her first pancreatitis episode and after that she could no longer eat her ground down, frozen offal food which she loved and worked very well for her. The vet recommended a diet with a fat percentage below 7.5%. Since then, my mom has been making her a porridge of steamed buckwheat, human-grade cooked beef and raw ground carrots with added vitamins, minerals and fish oil. So far so good.

Two weeks ago M got very sick - pyometra. She had surgery last week and it went well for the first few days. But yesterday she acted anemic and today we took her to the vet where blood work showed medium anemia. With all that's been happening, she also no longer wants her porridge food. Absolute disgust is on her face when she tries to force it down. In stark contrast, she wolfs down low-fat kibble and meatballs with an amazing speed and appetite.
For us, it is clear that something is not right with the food situation and we worry that she doesn't get adequate nutrition.

I'm at a loss. I'd love to find a solution for her where she can get the best of both worlds: bone-free raw food, but low fat (< 7.5%). No bird stuff. I found kibble that fits her requirements, but I'm very reluctant to give her kibble with 64% Rice, 15% salmon. That's a LOT of carbs. Even though she loves this food, I want to find something better for her in the long run.

All the few vet food options for pancreatitis doggos we tried gave her bad poops. It's a constant gamble.

Hope you have any advice and tips. She may be old but when she is in a healthy period she moves and has the energy of a much younger dog. She definitely has 2-3 quality years ahead of her if she stays healthy.
 
@believer4892 I’ve had a couple dogs really love Country Naturals Low Fat Grain Free Pork based kibble food for issues like these. Look into that food and it might be something to try.
 
@savedwretch We live in a Nordic country and unfortunately they don't seem to have the Country Naturals brand.

Since I wrote my post she has had a second round of hospital stay, this time once again with anemia. She now absolutely refuses to eat anything but mom's meatballs (basically balls of cooked ground beef) and now has a lot of very runny diarrhea. She still has energy, interest in the meatballs (but literally NOTHING else), sends one bark at her usual dog haters, but she seems depressed. I'm trying to understand if the food situation is physical or metal... but maybe it's both.
 
@believer4892 awe, I wish you and your pup the best. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with that all, I know how hard it is. I wish I had more advice to offer. I’ll keep you all in my thoughts
 
Revisiting this post. I hope it helps someone. My dog recovered that time. Since then, she has been eating a home-cooked diet of sweet potatoes, carrots, buckwheat and steamed cod together with sprinkles of mincemeat. It worked for a while but we always felt that it was not nutritious enough since she is quite active for her age. This last half year she gradually became very slow and tired, we thought it was natural aging. Now recently, she had a bout with some GI issue for which she stayed at a hospital for. After this episode, we got recommended a type of kibble that suits dogs that are pancreatic AND allergic to bird proteins (chicken). This food turned her from a tired, undernutritioned senior back to her happy self. She transformed in front of our eyes in one day, it was incredible. The vet was pretty amazed.

The kibble is from the brand SPECIFIC, the "Digestive Support Low Fat". This did not exist one year ago when we needed it the most, or maybe not in the EU. She had no problem whatsoever adapting immediately to the kibble from the other food, we just gave it to her cold turkey and hoped for the best.
 

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