digestion

our dog belle is 9 years old, and sufffers wuth her digestive system, her body does not produce enough enzymes so her food is not digested properly. she was digonnosed by the vet and given some powder (pancrex v) which we put on every feed to help her digest the food, but for the past few months she has become very skinny and seems to have trouble walking and moving about sometimes. we have taken her to the  vets but they just told us to put more powder on her food than normal and checked her limbs and said evreything was fine. we have done as the vet has told us but there doesnt seem to be any improvment if anyting she has lost even more weight, she seems to be very unactive and is off her food please help

[Jaybay]

Hello, and welcome to the Dogs Community.  :-)

You have a senior dog, and sadly, their organs start to malfunction.  The pancreas is one organ that often gives trouble to older dogs.  From what you write, your dog has chronic pancreatitis which your vet is trying to help with digestive enzyme supplements.  There are only so many things you can do to aid digestion when the pancreas fails.  Blood tests can verify how well (or not) the pancreas is still functioning.

It appears that your dog's pancreas has reached a point of no return.  There probably isn't any treatment left to help your dog's pancreas function normally.  Generally speaking, pancreatitis is a very painful condition, so your dog may be made more comfortable with pain medication in addition to the digestive enzymes.  I'm sorry to say that it's likely your dog has reached the end of her life.  It's only a matter of time before the pancreas fails entirely.  Since you know your dog better than anyone else, you are the one who will have to determine when it is time to ease her out of this life.  If she has no real quality of life left, then it's time to let her go.

God bless you and your beloved dog.  I know how awfully difficult these things are.  I lost a dog to acute pancreatitis and I'll never forget the experience.  :-(