Ollie & pancreatitis - 3 times a day feeding?

[Ollie's mom]

Hi All, Ollie usually has a great recovery every time I post & get advice, so I'm looking to you all again because I am lost! Ollie was discharged from hospital after a bout of pancreatitis about two weeks ago. He has gall stones & a bladder stone that he has probably had for a while without big issues. He is 12 yrs old & has beat every illness thrown at him - but regulation and recurrent pancreatitis is our struggle! He has lipidemia and must eat low to no fat. Prior to illness, he was on Zeal & brown rice & 7.5 units of Humulin NPH 2xday. He was somewhat regulated. They switched him to science diet low-fat gastro in the hospital - 1 can a day. His blood sugar was still off on discharge - but because stress sends his number reeling - I had him steady @150 within 12 hours of being home. He started to go low within a couple days - so I cut back on insulin to 7 units. My regular vet wanted me to increase his food intake as he was 15 lbs at hospital checkout. 24 lbs prior to diabetes and 18 prior to this bout. So she wants to increase his food to 2 cans a day - double the dose he was running low on. I increased his food & his insulin slowly over the past ten days - feeding him many small meals on top of his regular 2. But, as I get back to a regular work schedule - I've had to increase his amounts at each meal & decrease the number of meals and his numbers are really climbing. 400, 500 @ 7.5 units
The issue is I can't feed him the whole can at once or it sets off his stomach. His insulin usually wears out at 10 hours into curve - so he could be a candidate for 3 x day. We are leaving town in 6 weeks and I'm starting to panic about my inability to find a routine that is working with his BG numbers & his stomach. Last night I gave him the whole can & 8 units to see if we could get back to 2xday. I checked his number at 3 am and it is 400 and he also has bad gas which for Ollie us his first pancreatitis issue. Ugh.
Yesterday his feeding schedule was my transition day to new feeding 2xday I hoped.
The day before I had given him 1 unit at lunch because he his numbers were super high. His lows are usually about 2-3 hours after feeding. I think it helped me get a decent (325) upon waking.
5:00 am 325 & 7.5 & 1.5 cans
8:00 am 509
10:30am 317 couple bites of can food
2:17pm 283 couple bites of can food
6:15pm 433 8 units - whole can
7:30pm 384
9:03pm 320
1:00am 407
5:00am 582
My other dog just had surgery & no - I don't sleep

My husband usually feeds them breakfast at 5:15am
I could run home at 1pm to feed
We feed them dinner between 5:30 & 6:30 depending on work.
Ollie has an insane appetite. He has never not eaten. I could try shot prior to meal.
I have considered doing the 1 unit at lunch with light snack or cutting back to 1.5 cans @ 7.5???? I'm afraid to screw it up even more!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Julie

[Ollie's mom]

Oops - I meant yesterday 4/5 can at breakfast

[Ollie's mom]

I cut back on Ollie's food this am & am getting decent numbers. I was losing sight of the big picture of keeping his blood sugar steady vs getting some weight back on him. I'll do a curve Monday to see how it's going.

[jesse girl]

Re: Ollie & pancreatitis - 3 times a day feeding?

hi and welcome

i was going to suggest the same thing about the amount of food. with these prescription diets they have so much fiber and you need so much food to get the calories needed that it makes controlling blood sugar a bit difficult .

i have a different perspective on pancreatitis . my jesse had a sever episode of it . i think a food extremely nutritious so the volume of food can be reduced . i understand the fat issue but if you have to give such a large quantity of food to get enough calories it still puts allot of pressure on the digestive system .

thats why i went to a partially raw home made diet . her calorie count is at the low end . her food is pulverized . what we look for is easy digestion smallest meal i can give without her loosing weight

she was thin for awhile after the attack but she maintained .she had some flare ups early on but we stayed the coarse . we were not worried about her gaining weight for now just so she maintained what she has.

treatment for pancreatitis is for the long hall and just like diabetes its very dog individualistic . one thing may work for one dog and may not for another . catching it early and understanding the symptoms can be helpful and keep them out of hospital .

[amydunn19]

Re: Ollie & pancreatitis - 3 times a day feeding?

Maggie's pancreatitis seemed to flare up with certain things in her diet. She just cannot eat rice or potatoes. The food I went with is higher in fat but there is nothing too fatty or bad in it. But, I can feed less of it. I think less volume of food at one time works for her and spreading her food out. She eats four meals a day - 2 bigger and 2 mini meals. You have to find what works for your dog.