pancreatitis in dogs

So we had a scary few days in the Dawkins household this past weekend. Quincy became very ill in the wee hours of Saturday morning... vomiting, losing control of his bladder, chills, lethargy, etc. The sweet guy wasn't able to even keep water down, and I was really worried that he would become dehydrated. Then around 6am I realized that he felt cold... looked at his gums and they were completely white - and I knew this was more than just eating something he shouldn't have.

I piled him into the car (he was too weak to jump by this point) and raced to the vet. They immediately started running tests, and so I sat and waited for what felt like the longest 30 minutes of my life. But the tests finally revealed a diagnosis - acute pancreatitis. With an acute version of pancreatitis, the pancreas becomes severely inflamed, causing leakage of the digestive enzymes whereby the pancreas literally starts to "digest itself". And according to his bloodwork, it was now compromising other internal organs like his kidneys.

The vet at Shandon-Wood Animal Clinic, Dr. Maloney, immediately took him back and started him on an IV to combat his dehydration and to flush his system. I had to leave him there for the weekend (talk about ripping your heart out) so that he could remain on an IV and be monitored by the staff there. We had never seen Dr. Maloney before, but she was great... quick diagnosis, great bedside manner and I received phone call updates twice a day.

Quincy came home yesterday after making a remarkable turnaround over the weekend. He is not 100% yet, but he's back to his old self, and I'm incredibly relieved. We're not sure at this point what caused this... he's relatively young to have been diagnosed with pancreatitis. But at least he's now on the road to recovery. With a few more days rest and special food, he should be as good as new.

You can find more information on pancreatitis here...