Pancreatitis in Dogs

Hey guys, Dr. Lehrer here today. I'm here with Brady. Brady is a 10 and a half year old male neutered cabochon that's a King Charles Cavalier mixed with a Bichon. And so Brady, we're talking, this video is going to be, the topic is going to be pancreatitis. So pancreatitis is a condition which is not something that typically is going to be fatal. The pancreas is an organ which does a lot of different things. Amongst them, it produces insulin to go ahead and manage the sugar in our blood. It also produces some enzymes to help digest our food and help us to be able to better absorb the nutrients from it. Now, when the pancreas gets inflamed, the most common reason that we know that the pancreas will get inflamed is because the pets or dogs in particular will be eating something that is very fatty, something that they're not used to, and, or if the pets get something that is not sitting well with their system in general. And so, for example, Brady received a medication, an injectable medication, oddly enough, that we think may have set off his pancreatitis. And so that's something that's very, very uncommon. Now, when pets have pancreatitis, the most common and most important thing for recovery from treatment is, is hydration. So a lot of times I will talk to the owners. If the patients are not feeling well, that's vomiting, having soft stool, blood in the stool, not wanting to eat, being lethargic, all that kind of stuff, those are different things that could let us know that they are experiencing pancreatitis. And so the hydration is going to be the most important thing. So I usually like to place patients fluids in their vein over at least 24 to 48 hours. That way we can make sure that they're getting the right amount of fluids. If they're vomiting, if they're having diarrhea, we can go ahead and we can keep an eye on how much is actually coming out, whether it's from the front end or the back end. And also replace those fluids quickly and efficiently to make sure that we maintain the hydration status. Now, the other thing that's a possibility is that they may be experiencing some pain. So it's important that they go ahead and get. We usually will just send something called buprenorphine. It is a narcotic and it is something that does help manage your pain. The other thing that we will typically do is we want to manage their nauseousness and their Diarrhea. So we'll give them some anti nausea, we'll give them some acid reducers if they are not eating and then we'll give them the appropriate medications to go ahead and manage the soft stool. So we like to use metronidazole proviable which is a probiotic which is made by Nutrimax Laboratories. And then we'll also use something called sacralfate, which is something that will go ahead and not only bind up his stool but will also go ahead and protect the upper GI tract. Okay, the last thing that I want you guys to know is we will usually if the patients are responding well to treatment, we'll just look at the treatment. Usually we are going to do some blood work to make sure that everything is okay. So the way that it is diagnosed is on something called a CPLI SNAP test. Almost looks like a pregnancy test. And so we will go ahead and get an idea if that test is coming back indicative of them having pancreatitis. They do. Depending on how the patients are doing, we will or will not do some X rays and or we may actually do an ultrasound if the patients are getting worse or if the values are very, very high. The other thing that I want you to know is that when patients have pancreatitis once they're usually we find more prone to developing it in the future. And so it is something that I do want you to be aware of. Brady right now is in a having a episode of pancreatitis that does seem to be taking maybe a little bit longer than normal for him to recover from. But that's something that isn't surprising. So we're just gonna go ahead and do some blood work, make sure everything is okay. We did some X rays on him today. Today and that's pretty much it. If you guys have any questions about this particular topic, leave it in the comment section. If you found this video helpful, give us a thumbs up. Subscribe and share. One of the other things I just wanted to let you know. P.S. cold laser therapy is good for helping to resolve pancreatitis. Just want a little extra piece of information for you guys. Have a great day and thanks for watching.