pancreatits and swollen belly

[moirafatbrownolddog]

My 6 year old lab was diagnosed with pancreatitis 10 days ago.  Her symptoms came on suddenly.  Because she was not throwing up and still drinking water, the vet sent her home with antibiotics and pain meds. The decision to not hospitalize her was also based on cost.  Initially she seemed to get better.  However, her belly is swollen again and she is not eating well at all.  Her swollen belly is my biggest concern.  Why would it do that again even though she just finished her medication.  Could she be having a relapse?  Unfortunately, we are a humble family and cannot afford $400 vet bills.  I am concerned and sad and any advice or information would be appreciated!  Thank you!

[Ghilly]

Abdominal swelling is a common symptom of pancreatitis in dogs.  The fact that your vet did not keep her concerns me a bit, because the normal treatment for pancreatitis is for them to eat NOTHING AT ALL for the first five days to give the pancreas a chance to heal.  Food (a special diet containing almost no fat) can then slowly be reintroduced.  I am not trying to make you feel bad, but if you feed her people food while she has pancreatitis you COULD kill her!  Dogs are not made to digest human food as we prepare it for ourselves, and the fats in the foods that we eat are horribly bad for even healthy dogs, but they are a death sentence for a dog with pancreatitis.  Please contact your vet as soon as you can and tell them what happened and let them take it from there.  More medication may be in order to get her back to where she should be at this point.  Please let us know how things go.

Ghilly

[moirafatbrownolddog]

Thank you for your response!  When we took her to the vet 10 days ago, he ran several tests. I am uncertain if that was one of them.  He told me she needed to lose weight and I agree but she has been so sick that exercise didn't seem like a good idea.  And I have given her some people food to trick her into taking her meds.  I am guessing that her pancrease is just sensitive right now and the people food was a bad idea.  I made her take a short walk last night and today she is not as lethargic or bloated.  I am going to ease her back into exercise and no more people food.  If she is not better in a couple days I will take her back to vet.

[amielynn24]

Has your doctor checked for Cushing's disease?  One symptom is the swollen belly.