Pancreatitis is a disease process we see often in the hospital primarily with mini schnauzers, however any breed can be affected.
The dog pancreas has two main jobs: secretion of digestive enzymes to help break down the food we eat and the secretion of the enzymes insulin and glucagon to regulate our sugar metabolism.
In pancreatitis, the pancreas becomes inflamed and the enzymes that are normally safely released are now digesting the pancreas itself instead of food. This occurrence results in a metabolic catastrophe that can be life threatening. Secondarily pancreatitis can also lead to diabetes, DIC (bleeding disorder), pancreatic encephalopathy (brain damage), and lung or liver damage.
The classic signs of pancreatitis are appetite loss, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and pain in the abdomen.
Treatment of pancreatitis includes hydration with electrolyte supplementation, pain management, medication to control vomiting and diarrhea, and antibiotics.
In most cases of pancreatitis we never find out what caused it. Some known causes of pancreatitis are: reflux of intestinal contents into the pancreatic duct, trauma, concurrent hormonal imbalances like diabetes, hypothyroidism, and hypercalcemia (high calcium levels), drugs like sulfas and certain chemotherapy agents, and cancer.
Once dogs have recovered from pancreatitis we keep them maintained on a low fat diet and reevaluate them on a regular basis to make sure that diabetes has not developed.
Dr. Kim Simons
West Boca Veterinary Center
www.westbocavet.com
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