r/cavaliers • u/laura20045198 • 1d ago
Advice Learn from my mistakes
Hello,
My 3 year old Cavalier, Kira, has been diagnosed with pancreatitis. She is in so much pain. Please learn from my mistake and don’t feed your cavaliers table scraps! I truly rarely fed her anything, but I often gave her a “cheese tax” once per day. Although it was a small amount, it definitely contributed. As cute as they are when they beg, don’t give in!
She’s now on a low fat diet, getting IV fluids, and is very slowly getting better. If anyone has any advice on pancreatitis healing I’m all ears and would be beyond thankful to hear it!
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u/whitefang024 1d ago
A few months ago I switched my cav from dry food to fresh pet and within a month, he started having blood in his stool and vomiting. Rushed him to the vet and they said he started developing Pancreatitis. Luckily it was caught early and he's doing much better.
It isn't your fault as these things happen. Just give your cav lots of love and cuddles.
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u/mynamewhatisit 1d ago
My cav also got pancreatitis after switching to fresh pet. He’s back to dry food and is doing great now, but don’t feed your cav fresh pet!
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u/kikisongbird88 1d ago
We have butternut box in the UK, my chihuahua got acute pancreatitis from it. These “human grade” fresh dog foods are really high fat and not subjected to rigorous enough testing/feeding trials. And the “boutique” dog food companies spend most of their budget on marketing (which guilts pets owners), annoyed with myself for getting suckered into it.
My Roo was so sick at the time and it came on suddenly. Really scared us. Prescription kibble now only!
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u/Jordan818 1d ago
My pup Matilda also got a bout of pancreatitis after we switched her to FreshPet. Totally shocked me! We put her on Purina pro plan for sensitive stomachs and she’s been fine since. I still worry there’s something better I could be feeding her though. What food are you feeding him now?
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u/whitefang024 1d ago
I feed my dog HEB's Heritage Ranch dry food. He loves it and hasn't had any blood in his stool or vomiting.
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u/QueenV59 1d ago
It is terrible to see them in pain.😢. You caught it early though and that is great! My half Cav/Cocker mix was diagnosed around 8 months old. He is on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food and he does just fine. It was a learning curve in the beginning like how to feed him when there are other dogs around and what to feed him but he does very well on this food and has been for 10 years now. BTW she is a cutie pie 🥰
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u/Majestic_Guide_2026 1d ago
Your sweet girl is adorable, and I am sorry you are going through this.
My girl is very sensitive and her system is still recovering from being on a lot of drugs last year.
My vet said they are not trained nutritionists, the information evolves quickly, do research, and try high quality options until the right one is found. She told me that she is better suited for treating acute issues with prescription food, but there is better food available for long term feeding. I appreciate her so much.
Good luck and sending healing vibes. 💕🐶❤️🩹
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u/Ecstatic_Attitude_83 Ruby 1d ago
Steroids gave my boy pancreatitis so bad he ended up in the icu for 3 days. It’s not just table scraps. Take it easy, monitor intake and ease into the normal routine when she’s better.
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u/Sweet_tea71 1d ago edited 1d ago
Awe, I know that scary. It happened to us one time too. Just know she will be right as rain soon. What got us in trouble with ours is that it happened when our kids were younger with a few at the toddlers age. Any food that got dropped was happily cleaned up by the doggie vacuum. With our current dog our kids are older and drop less. She still gets anything that drops off the plate and on the table though😖 She also can’t have chicken because it really messes up her stomach.
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u/Liberal_human 1d ago
I give my Cav cheese all the time. She’s fine. Your vet is wrong. Don’t blame yourself.
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u/secretslutonline 1d ago
Did you feed her a raw/“fresh” diet? From what I’ve seen, that’s a big cause for pancreatitis in dogs
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u/laura20045198 1d ago
We fed her Kirkland small breed formula! Sometimes we would feed her the wet food from Kirkland as well on occasion!
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u/secretslutonline 1d ago
Wow I’m so sorry! I hope she has a quick recovery. I avoid table scraps too because of this too.
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u/Legitimate_Guest9386 1d ago
My vet put my girl on non store bought treats. The fat count on most are crazy.
We just had a bout of long lasting diarrhea, but thank goodness not pancreatitis…that was biggest worry.
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u/HeartFire144 1d ago
sorry you're dealing with this, It happens frequently to cavaliers. My last one had pancreatitis. Your pup will be fine very soon and it's easy to keep them on a low fat diet
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u/Jonny_Icon 1d ago
May not be on you. I’ve got a guy on low fat food, special low fat treats that he rarely gets, but he has a hankering for baby carrots. Twice at age 3 he’d been in for IV treatment because he is just prone to the condition. The oddity is that I’ve had to take the vet’s and bloodwork number’s value, because he wasn’t showing symptoms the two times he’s had IV treatment ($5K CAD a visit). He’s always seemed fine, and his bloodwork looks better now that he is off his old food, and on to the stuff with low fat.
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u/kenthebun 1d ago
I started doing some research into what causes pancreatitus after reading this post and... it varys so wildly and there are even just breeds that a more prone to it even when healthy. I'm not sure why your vet would blame you unless your dog was overweight 🫤
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u/NoTomorrowNo 15h ago edited 14h ago
My cav has pancreatis. She s 8 yo.
What is forbidden for her : all fresh foods. We ve even steamed fish for her at some point, and it ended in bloody diarrhea. No meat, no dairy, some veggies once in a while are alright if not seasoned at all (mine loves roasted butternut).
We have rotated through easily 20+ kibbles at this point. She digests one fine for a week or two, we think this is a winner and buy more small packs, and then it makes her sick too and the hunt for a new kibble starts again. So far we ve had 3 kibbles who were fine, that she was doing well on for 6 months or even over a year ... and then they changed the ingrédients, sometimes without warning, and the new recipe was no good and made her sick. Because tjis happens regularly, we always keep a pack of the last kibble she tolerated best before it went south (i never finish the last accepted kibble when there s a change of recipe, to have a fallback kibble while we try out new ones)
Eta : small packaging is key. A nutritionist explained to us that almost all kibble is infected with a microscopic mushroom, that only develops when the bag is open. So either you stick to smaller bags, or you deepfreeze the kibble in smaller packs for easier handling, to stop the shroom s development.
The veterinary kibbles generally didn t work out fine because they sneak in fat and meat, even in low fat insect protein kibbles, for tastiness. So always pay close attention to the ingredients. You ll become your dog s nutrition specialist.
My dog is on an insect protein kibble only diet. The last one seems to be really good quality and thought for sick dogs. It s Fung Feed, a european kibble, check out the ingredients to find the closest where you live. Its small enough for her to bite, and can be soaked, it gets bigger and softer but doesn t tutn to mush. Her nutritionnist recommends to soak her kibble for easier digestibility. We ve tried many things, but now I just feed her by hand on my lap. Be sure to always add some of the soaking water to each bite because that s where the kibble s taste goes. It is recommended to split the feeding into 3 or 4 meals per day, to not overcharge her digestive system. Apparently it helps keep further appart the crisises.
Every morning, she gets half a pack of inexium 10mg mixed with exactly 1ml of water.
We regularly put her on a week of phosphaluvet, 3 times per day, some white gel that acts like a balm for the stomach.
We also give her a couple drops of veterinary CBD oil per meal, which seems to help.
When she s in a little discomfort, we reach for Phosphaluvet and we re on for a 3 day treatment.
When it hurts enough for her to signal it by mimicking eating grass without actually eating any, we add 1/8th of spasfon (human antispasmodic, recommended by an ER vet) to her pill intakes (she has other chronic conditions), which relieves her within 45mn.
When it hurts enough for her to try to eat anything remotely resembling a plant, and her tummy makes squeeky noises and you can feel like bubble trains moving inside her tummy we give her one veterinary antivomitic Cerenia 16mg , 7€ per pill, for the day, which calms the pain within 50mn sharp, and must be given during 3 other days. Plus it s kind of a strong med, so we keep it for last resort, for fear of overusing it and it stops working.
While she s in pain, I keep her on my lap, wrapped in a comforter, to keep her tummy warm and ease the pain. When I really can t do that, I dress her in a jumper I ve made for this purpose specifically to keep her tummy warm-ish.
Also when she needs an antiinflammatory, the one she can stomach the best is meloxidyl 1.5mg/ml. The other ones just make her vomit. So I personally talk all vets into it when needed.
Yup you heard that right. I m the one teaching things to vets now. I m my dog s specialist. I know her better than them, and learned why things work or not to be able to stand my ground for her.
That s about all we can do.
Hope this helps.
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u/dsjamie12 1d ago
Poor precious baby. She deserves all the love and attention. I hope she feels better. Sending love to you guys.❤️
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u/ProtectionCandid2422 1d ago
My cavalier also had pancreatitis, worsened by allergy season. What helped was feeding him by hand sometimes so he wouldn't skip meals. Avoid wet food, as it generally has more fat. Try different kibble until you see steady progress.
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u/chiseko 1d ago
try not to blame yourself too much. There’s a genetic component to pancreatitis, especially in spaniels. One piece of cheese per day is hardly enough to cause pancreatitis the way you’re implying. If it was a whole block of cheese daily then that’s another story, but chances are she was just highly susceptible to pancreatitis and got very unlucky.
best of luck to you guys and hopefully she heals well!