Cholangitus, cholecystitis and poss pancreatitis flaring up now and again!!

Hi there

It has taken me ages to get here again, but I have done it and now I am here.

My cockerpoo , girl, is 9 And on and off during most of her life, she has had bouts of what the vet has said is pancreatitus.
I have always fed her raw, first Natural Instinct and then I went with them to Nutriment. I have fed our dog low,fat, low,purine, etc raw food, always talking to the wonderful Nutriment team. But, vet has always maintained that it was the raw diet , bugs, ecoli etc, that our dog has from eating raw. But I researched very very carefully, spoke to Nutriment and am, was, very happy. 6 months ago pooch was very poorly and our vet referred her to a Dog hospital, where she went in Sept and bacterial cholangitus and cholecystitus was diagnosed … and when I was asked what I fed her , you can imagine what was said about the raw feeding …I was asked to stop immediately and to feed her Royal Canine low fat vet prescription dry food, with a little of the wet food, to the required weight if I wished So of course I stopped the raw, too scared to continue. ( have to say that the hospital took extremely good, if expensive care of our dog. They were brilliant.) anyway, she has been on the vet diet for nearly 6 months now, and has been on antibiotics and Destolit, because her bilirubin was v v high and so was her liver blood count. Happily is is now back to normal, more or less, and she has to come off the antibiotics for 3 weeks and then another blood test to see what is happening … but she has started “praying” again …sometimes … I have told the hospital , they said keep an eye on her, she has just had another scan, a few days ago … but I did not mention this praying when she was there, hubbie said “she was lying down on walks cos she didn’t want to go home!!!) and I was fussing !!!, hmmm. Anyway I have been told that she can now stop the royal canine, and to buy a good quality, lowish fat dried … but not , not to go back to raw. And much as I want to, I won’t. ISO …my question is, after this very long winded post, what should I feed her?? I have spent many a “happy” hour here, looking at different dog food and I must admit , after a visit to a Pet Shop, like the sound of Tribal For Seniors/light. It is the next best thing, they said, to Raw?? I was wondering if I am allowed to ask for advice please? She is actually happily munching her way through the Royal Canine, but I am not happy!! And when it has gone, I don’t want to buy again. She is very well I. Herself, loves walks, is a scavenger, very active, I give her various supplements from Dorwest Herbs (;can rec the Milk Thistle if the liver needs support) I have decided to stick with low fat if poss, which help with the pancreatic prob if she really has one, I know that the gall bladder, liver, pancreas are all very close and connected …so … if you stuck with this very long post a huge THANK YOU. Maggie. Ps this is a wonderful site. Thank you to all of you for it. X

Hello. If you have a look through the pancreatitis thread you will find lots of useful advice. It isn’t something I have had experience of myself.

Hello and welcome to the forum. As the vets have advised not to raw feed it seems advisable not to return to it at least for the time being. When a dog has ongoing health problems that lead to reduced immunity they may not be able to handle the bacteria.

I think your idea of Tribal Senior is a good one. The review is here. The fat percentage, dry weight is only 10.3 and the nutritional rating is good at 83%. Protein is on the low side so if you would like to increase that a little you could always add some low fat cooked meat, poultry or fish.

The other alternative and one which you might approve of is to home cook for your dog. It has to be done properly with balanced recipes and the addition of calcium/omega oils. If you want more information about that, please ask. Alternatively there are two companies who sell fresh cooked food - Butternut Box and Different Dog.