Chronic pancreatitis, weight loss, thinning fur, dry skin

Jean Dodds has addressed this, Caro, and the reported inaccuracies. Honestly, given her reputation and body of work, I'd take her word over pretty much anyone else's.

I agree that elimination trials are the gold standard, but it's a lot to go through if you aren't sure you have a problem. My Trupanion insurance even covered the Jean Dodds test.
 
Hi everyone, Shelby has been on lean ground turkey (93% lean) and I have been swapping out her kibble. I just started adding in some white rice and she will probably be totally off kibble and on just turkey and white rice by tomorrow. She had one bad diarrhea 2 days after starting the turkey but she didn't seem upset or act ill and it has been 24hr since that. I will probably stick with just the turkey and white rice for a few days and then add in a vegetable. Thoughts? She likes pretty much all vegetables (carrots pumpkin green bean peas broccoli cauliflower etc etc).
 
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I would definitely add in some vegetables, a dog will not get nutritionally what it needs from just the turkey and white rice has almost no nutritional qualities. You'd probably be better off feeding potato rather than the rice as rice also has very little fibre.
I feed my dogs just about every veggie that a dog can eat (carrot, broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce, kale etc) and they love them all.
Have you by chance spoken to an animal nutritionalist? Most vets have very little knowledge as to what sort of diet a dog should eat aside from the kibble and you'll want to add some supplements to ensure she gets everything her body needs to function properly.
 
I'm glad to hear that Shelby is doing better! For veggies, I was told to stick with leafy green vegetables like kale, collard, and spinach. I add two of those every time I make food. I rotate with broccoli and califlower as well for variety. I add plain canned pumpkin to all my dogs' meals every day so that's good for her digestion too. Sweet potato is also good. For grains, I rotate between quinoa, barley and organic brown rice. Flurry does really well on this regimen.

Be sure to add a supplement for the missing nutrients too, such as Dogzymes KA-Cal and a good multi vitamin and a probiotic, so you're sure she's getting everything she needs for a balanced diet.
 
You also mentioned BalanceIT. I know a lot of the people doing home cooking with IBD dogs use BalanceIT. That will give you an an idea of the veg to add and you can order their supplement based on what else you food.

Just a suggestion. You may want to leave sweet potato and butternut pumpkin until later - they have fructan and in humans these can be hard to digest for people with gastro issues.
 
shelbysdaddy said:
Hi, my baby Shelby has had some weight loss (usually 22-23 lbs, now 19) and her fur continues to thin and be brittle around her rump, and her skin is very dry. She has also been VERY hungry and eating her poops so the vet suspects intestinal inflammation and malabsorption of her nutrition. We had diagnosed her with mild hypothyroid and have her on replacement levothyroxine but it hasn't helped. Yesterday we did labs and today they came back as thyroid is in range but she has pancreatitis. She is not vomiting and is always hungry. The vet is recommending an elimination, home-cooked diet using balanceIT.com and stay away from high fat. I was thinking ground turkey, brown rice, and carrot. She says try this first and then later will need to add in multivitamin. The other option would be cod and sweet potato? Thoughts?
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Has Shelby had an ultrasound to check out her liver, pancreas, and gallbladder, in addition to the blood work? Also I take it they have ruled out Cushings?
 
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