Raw Food Diet for Dogs With Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis in dogs is a growing problem. In this comprehensive guide you will learn how to help your dog with this all too common condition using a simple 8 step plan. Our experts cover what causes pancreatitis? What is happening when your dog has it? How can you help your dog manage its pancreatitis? We also explain why raw is the best dog food for pancreatitis.

Our healthy food can help

The pancreas and more specifically pancreatitis in dogs are the hot topic out there amongst pet parents. Sadly for all of the wrong reasons.

Pancreatitis in dogs is on the rise and despite this, it is still a condition that is difficult to diagnose. Unfortunately very little is known about the exact causes of pancreatitis. Because of this basic lack of understanding, there is some confusion over the best way to address it effectively.

An 8 step plan to help

Always seek the advice of an animal health professional that you trust. Hopefully, your vet fits this description. You can ask for a Blood PIL test to confirm if your dog has pancreatitis. Find a pro raw vet here.
Switch to a low inflammation, natural food for dogs with pancreatitis. The best dog food for pancreatitis is a highly non-processed, natural source of food, learn more in our raw dog food guide
Remove all grains from your dog's food – Why choose grain free dog food
Remove all starches, other than some vegetables and very few berries
Remove all processed or Omega 6 fats where possible
Include Omega 3 fats, it's less about how much fat you give your dog and more about the quality of the fat. We use only the highest quality omega 3 to ensure our food will help your dog thrive.
Include Digestive enzymes with Lipase
Start supplementing with Probiotics

Pancreatitis in dogs, a visual summary

What is the pancreas & what does it do?

The pancreas is an ingenious little organ. It packs a punch way above its size & plays an essential role in both the digestive system and the hormone (endocrine) system. It is "v shaped" and lies between the stomach and small intestine.

The pancreas does two jobs:

It produces hormones such as insulin
It creates pancreatic juice, which digests fats, carbs, and proteins.

In healthy dogs, the pancreas can secrete digestive enzymes directly into the small intestine (specifically the duodenum) to aid digestion of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. More importantly & this is a crucial part of our understanding of the process:

'The pancreas produces and stores inactive enzymes which should only be activated when they enter the small intestine.'

These enzymes include

Amylase – for carbohydrate digestion
Lipase – for emulsifying and digesting fats
Protease – for digesting protein, the most well-known element in a carnivorous diet,

If you are interested in some of the pancreas' other functions, one of the most well known hormones it produces is insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar. Or more accurately, lower blood sugar.

Did you know?

T here are 8 hormones in dogs that can raise blood sugar, but only one that can lower it.

Our natural food can help your dog

What is pancreatitis in dogs?

Like any other "itis", Pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition. Unfortunately, the pancreas is being regularly searched on the internet, not for all the benefits it brings but for the symptoms and problems that arise when it becomes inflamed. This is called pancreatitis.

With regard to the pancreas and pancreatitis in dogs, Dr Nick Thompson notes that there are two types of inflammation:

Acute (sudden onset and intensely painful)
Chronic (extended over a long period of time and bearable, pain-wise).

The suffix "-itis" means inflammation. If your appendix becomes inflamed, you get appendicitis. Likewise with your gingiva and gingivitis. Any itis denotes inflammation and pancreatitis is exactly that, inflammation within the pancreas.

The pancreas in your dog becomes inflamed and stops producing enough enzymes or starts attacking itself. Pancreatitis can be acute ( sudden onset, intense & severe), it can be chronic (persisting for a long time or recurring.) Or it can be both severe and long-lasting.

More on naturally reducing inflammation in your dog with diet

Did you know?

Some breeds of dog that are considered predisposed to developing pancreatitis include Miniature Schnauzers, Poodles, Yorkshire Terriers, Dachshunds and Cocker Spaniels

Dachshunds are considered predisposed to pancreatitis in dogs

What are the symptoms?

According to Dr Nick Thompson & our friends over at Dogs Naturally Magazine (we have also included a link to the DNM approach to pancreatitis in dogs in the references at the bottom of this article):

The most common symptoms of pancreatitis in dogs are:

Loss of appetite – If your dog isn't eating, try these methods
Diarrhoea
Vomiting
Dehydration
Lethargy, your dog is generally reluctant to do anything.
Abdominal pain (Look out for the "downward dog" position)
Arched back
Breathing difficulties
Back pain
Restlessness (due to the pain the dog is in, trying to get comfortable)

What are the causes of pancreatitis in dogs?

Our understanding of the causes of pancreatitis in dogs is that there are multiple causes, which can work together to create inflammation. The causes of pancreatitis in dogs include:

Processed dog food
Rancid and oxidised fats
Grains in dog food (find out why you should choose a grain free dog food)
Leaky gut
Poor gene expression
Obesity (Our simple 4 step strategy to help your dog lose weight)
Bacteria or viruses in and around your dog's pancreas.

The whole process can be summarised as a Diet-Stress-Inflammation-Feedback-Loop . Let's look at some of the potential causes of pancreatitis in dogs in more detail

What foods can cause pancreatitis in dogs?

Processed foods Dogs are extremely ill-adapted to eat processed dog food and specifically carbohydrates. These carbohydrates put an unnatural stressful load on the pancreas to produce both amylase to digest the starches as well as insulin to lower the blood sugar spike created by these carbohydrates.

An avergae dog's daily quota of kibble is comparative to over 7 doughnuts

Rancid and oxidised fats also prevalent in ultra processed foods lead to more inflammation whilst also requiring the pancreas to produce lipase.
- This is already a huge workload on your dog's pancreas.
The grains often contained within these carbohydrate-rich processed foods create even more inflammation themselves and start a "chemical cascade" called zonulin release which leads to leaky gut. We have a more in depth article about grain free dog food here
Leaky gut then allows bacteria normally inside the dog's intestines, covered in LPS (Lipopolysaccharides), to enter into the dog's bloodstream and nearby organs, one of the closest being the pancreas. These LPS have been associated with high levels of inflammation and stress on the dog and its organs. (they are also associated with heart damage)
This inflammation may contribute to blockages in the pancreatic duct (a very narrow pathway connecting the two), preventing the free flow of enzymes from the pancreas into the small intestine which leads to a "delayed arrival" of the enzymes at their intended destination.
Because of this delay the enzymes are activated before they reach the small intestine and start digesting the dogs organs instead, starting with the nearest tissue found, the pancreas and pancreatic duct itself.

Other factors that may be contributing to this cycle include :

Poor gene expression promoted by inflammation (linked to carbohydrates, sugars, grains, denatured proteins and oxidised fats) More about reducing inflammation in your dog here
The epidemic of obesity amongst our dog population may be both a symptom and a contributor to the pancreatitis issue – How to help your dog fight obesity
Bacteria or virus Potential bacterial or viral infection of and around the pancreas

Approaches to help your dog

Pancreatitis in dogs has so far been notoriously difficult to treat because there is so much confusion as to the real underlying causes. This also includes confusion about the exact mechanism that creates the inflammation.

The fact that the pancreas plays so many roles within the body is in part one of the reasons why there are many conflicting theories .

Is it the excess fat the dog consumes?
Or the type of fat ? Rancid, oxidised
Is it the excess carbohydrates?
Is it genetic or a combination of all of the above.
Or is it a new school view that we explore below?

But firstly, let's quickly understand the mechanism of this inflammation.

The mechanism of inflammation

What actually happens to create Pancreatitis in dogs? It is now widely believed that the enzymes the pancreas stores and releases into the small intestine, become activated earlier than is intended by nature and start to digest, attack and inflame the pancreas itself, rather than the food in the small intestine it was supposed to.

If left undiagnosed and unattended this problem can widen to the surrounding organs such as the kidneys, liver and stomach lining, creating inflammation and tissue damage there also.

New school thinking

At a recent roundtable podcast Bella & Duke attended we were surrounded by several like-minded raw feeding vets. This is what they all reported as successful approaches being employed in their own practices to tackle pancreatitis in dogs. See below on their methodology:

(One note on this is that there was a combined experience present at this discussion of over a hundred years of treating animals with pancreatitis. Everyone participating agreed that in the overwhelming vast majority of cases, the dogs suffering from pancreatitis were kibble rather than raw fed.)

The top 10 points we learnt about the New School Approach to pancreatitis in dogs –

Professional advice is essential. Seek the advice of an experienced friendly progressive Vet. Pancreatitis in dogs is a serious condition.
Fasting Fast a dog suffering from pancreatitis. This take digestive stress load off the dog, lowers its exposure to potentially inflammatory foods, the requirements for the enzymes to be released and helps stabilise blood sugar. More about fasting your dog here
Avoid, if possible, antibiotics unless it is clear that your dog's pancreatitis is driven by bacterial infection (unusual). Antibiotics treat bacteria, not inflammation created by food or enzymes attacking their surrounding tissues.
Only look to restrict fats if the dog is in an acute phase. Owners are often recommended low fat dog food for pancreatitis. Fats are rarely the root cause but excess fats may be problematic in the short term until the animal starts to recover
Reintroduce your dog to food slowly with small, regular amounts of bone broth. (If your dog is in an acute phase then drain off the liquor leaving most of the fat behind)
Introduce a quality digestive enzyme supplement specifically for dogs
Consider organotherapy and introduce some pancreas sourced from a reputable butcher (feed after freezing).
Introducing thymus extract may also help
Try introducing some gently flash-fried white meats or raw chicken wings after approximately 5 days of bone broth
If your dog has "triaditis" (IBS, Pancreatitis and Liver issues) then also adding in some bentonite clay and slippery elm will help lower the IBS component and help the dog recover quicker.

As ever, none of this is intended as medical advice, it is intended to help you make informed, empowered decisions to improve the health and wellbeing of your much-loved pooch, always seek the opinion of a medical professional.

Pancreatitis & the role of diet

I am convinced that Kibble, higher sugar diets and poor quality (omega 6 & oxidised) fats are the main culprits for this condition.

Why pancreatitis in dogs & diet might be connected

A high carb diet is demanding on both the insulin requirement AND the digestive enzymes that a dog needs to break down the food. This can tax the pancreas with a huge workload, which I believe leads to fatigue and failure.

This occurs especially because dogs produce very little amylase, which is needed to break down carbohydrate (starches). We believe they should be on a raw protein and fats diet only, accompanied by a percentage of vegetables.

Cooked food, Kibble notably, is highly processed and therefore totally devoid of enzymes, requiring more enzymes to digest, from the dog's pancreas. This results in more fatigue.

High sugar is associated with high inflammation.

There is an inflammation 'loop' between the gut and the pancreas which prevents the pancreas producing enough enzymes when the gut is inflamed. In turn, this makes the inflammation in the gut worse, which shuts down more enzyme production and continued in a never ending circle.

High grain is associated with high inflammation –See more on inflammation here

High grain is also associated with leaky gut, which can allow the bacteria in the gut to leak into the bloodstream and create more inflammation in the pancreas, as well as elsewhere. Inflammation from all causes and (proven by extensive research), especially grains, is now linked to leaky gut. Learn more about Leaky Gut

Poor quality, higher Omega 6 and oxidised fats are associated with inflammation. Back to the feedback loop.

What is the best dog food for pancreatitis in dogs?

Dr Nick Thompson explains why raw dog food is the best dog food for pancreatitis

Looking for the best dog food for pancreatitis?

A Bella & Duke pancreatitis success story

All of our food ranges can help with your dog's pancreatitis

References:

Animal Biome Dr Holly Ganz
https://www.animalbiome.com/blog/the-truth-about-digestive-enzyme-supplements-for-your-dog

Dogs Naturally Magazine
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/dog-pancreatitis-11-steps-for-natural-healing/

VCA Hospitals
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/pancreatitis-in-dogs

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Raw Food Diet for Dogs With Pancreatitis

Source: https://www.bellaandduke.com/learn/dog-health/pancreatitis-in-dogs/