COPING WITH CANINE PANCREATITIS

If your dog is suffering from marked loss of appetite, vomition, diarrhoea, fever, lethargy, dehydration and has a painful abdomen, it might be suffering from Pancreatitis. 

The pancreas is an inverted “V” shaped, pink colored glandular structure located just below the stomach adjacent to the duodenum. Duodenum is a part of the small intestine. The Pancreas has two functions. Firstly, it secretes insulin and glucagon – hormones that are responsible for sugar metabolism in the body. An abnormality in this function leads to Diabetes mellitus. Secondly, the pancreas also secretes digestive enzymes (amylase, protease, lipase) through an opening in the duodenum where in partially digested food coming down from the stomach is further digested with the help of these enzymes.

 (Image Courtesy : http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-        health/pancreatic-lipase-immunoreactivity-in-dogs/363)

                               

Simply put, an inflammation of the pancreas is referred to as Pancreatitis. In this condition, the pancreas greatly swells up and the mechanism by which these digestive enzymes normally get liberated in a calibrated way gets disturbed and these enzymes start destroying the pancreatic cells. This triggers a vicious cycle and the cascading effect goes on. In severe cases, the kidneys and liver may also get affected. Thus the disease progresses and if timely remedial measures are not instituted it may lead to shock and death.   

  

Causes

Trauma due to accidents, post – surgery, tumours, certain medicines (chemotherapy agents, antibiotics, anti- epileptics), high fat, low carb diet, sudden gorging on high fat diet, obesity etc are often attributed to Canine Pancreatitis. Breeds like Miniature Schnauzer, Miniature Poodle are more predisposed to the ailment.  

Miniature Poodle

(Image Courtesy :http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/miniaturepoodle.htm)

Miniature Schnauzer

(Image Courtesy :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_Schnauzer

Diagnosis

Traditionally, diagnosis is based on the clinical signs and by measuring the levels of two enzymes viz amylase and the lipase in the serum. Higher levels are suggestive of Pancreatitis. However, it is worth noting that the levels of these enzymes will also be found high in conditions other than Pancreatitis viz kidney diseases, prolonged use of corticosteroids etc.  

To circumvent this problem a new approach is to measure the level of pancreas specific lipase. Pancreas specific lipase, as the name suggests, is an enzyme that is only secreted by the pancreas and the detection of it in the serum or the blood confirms that that the pancreas specific lipase has been leaked by the pancreas. This test is referred to Specific Canine Pancreatitis Lipase Test and today is the most definitive diagnosis of Canine Pancreatitis. It is a rapid test and results can be obtained within 10 minutes.  However, other techniques like Ultrasound and X-rays are also employed with varying success.

(Image Courtesy : http://www.idexx.com.au/smallanimal/inhouse/snap/cpl.html) 

Treatment

The approach towards the treatment is primarily symptomatic. Generally, in cases where the vomition is very severe, feed and water are not offered to the dog for 24 -48 hours. Instead, the dog is administered intravenous fluid to negate dehydration, meet energy requirements, facilitate blood circulation. Anti vomition drug, appropriate pain killers are also administered intravenously / intra muscularly to make the dog comfortable and manage the vomition. The traditional approach towards withholding the feed and water orally is primarily aimed towards making the irritated digestive system settle down.

When the feeding eventually commences, care should be taken to offer a fat free or a low fat diet. As a matter of fact, it is actually advisable to manage the dog on a fat free diet for its life to prevent re-occurrence of the condition.