Pancreatitis - home made food - brown rice?

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

My Bryan had a really bad pancreatitis attack about 4 months ago. Poor little guy was so sick. The boys were eating Purina Pro Plan and loving it, but he got sick and we think maybe that combined with a few treats too many when we had company staying with us is what did it. Anyway, the vet recommends he stay on a low-fat diet for life and gave us a recipe to follow from the book "Complete Balanced 101 Healthy Homemade Meals for Dogs". The recipe is as follows:
-1 tsp cod liver oil
-470g chicken breast raw - then cooked and cubed
-3 1/4 cup cooked brown rice
-1/2 tsp safflower oil
-2 scoops Hillary's blend supplement

He LOVES it, he's lost a little weight (a good thing) and his energy is through the roof! He's like a pup again! BUT ----------- he has soft stools now and then. In doing some further research I'm seeing that brown rice is NOT good for a dog with pancreatitis. Yet my vet recommended this book and their supplement and so on.

What is your opinion? Is brown rice a no-go for pancreatitis? The other option I've read about is cream of rice or boiled potato.

I have a vet appointment for him a week from tomorrow for a followup blood test so I will speak to them about this confusion.

 

[Caro]

Honestly doesn't look that balanced - there must be an awful lot of additives in the Hillary's blend to keep it balanced. The limited ingredients is more the sort of diet you would use in an elimination diet or for a dog with auto-immune IBD (although you wouldn't use chicken). For an otherwise healthy dog I would look at something a little more balanced (or there are plenty of low fat commercial brands).

Have a look at https://balance.it/. I was referrred to this by Tully's veterinary nutritionist and I still use their supplement shipped, it kept Tully going for years with her IBD. They have many balanced recipes on their website, or you can enter the ingredients you want to use and their database will give you a recipe.

 

[Sandy in CT]

I give my dogs a supplement called Bernie's Perfect Poop which I believe Margie had talked about and I tried and stuck with it. Disclaimer, I'm not a dog food expert.... but I do agree with Caro... no vegetables, no fruits.

This book suggested came from Lisa (Piper's Mom) and I have borrowed it out to a few. It's called The Forever Dog Life by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker and Rodney Habib. It covers pretty much everything - what stuff is good, what stuff is bad, what stuff is necessary, has recipes for all sorts of stuff... normal feeding, feeding for life stages, treats, remedies for certain issues; pancreatitis is not listed.

I feed Fromm Adult Gold... I stewed so long over dog food when I got Brodie because of the suggested for a lower protein diet... settled on Fromm. It does have a lower protein content than PPP, lower fat and higher fiber.

 

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

Honestly doesn't look that balanced - there must be an awful lot of additives in the Hillary's blend to keep it balanced. The limited ingredients is more the sort of diet you would use in an elimination diet or for a dog with auto-immune IBD (although you wouldn't use chicken). For an otherwise healthy dog I would look at something a little more balanced (or there are plenty of low fat commercial brands).

Have a look at https://balance.it/. I was referrred to this by Tully's veterinary nutritionist and I still use their supplement shipped, it kept Tully going for years with her IBD. They have many balanced recipes on their website, or you can enter the ingredients you want to use and their database will give you a recipe.

I agree, it really doesn't seem very balanced and Im thinking of moving back to Balance IT, which we used years ago when we first went home made for a couple of years. When Bryan got his pancreatitis attack the vet suggested the Hillary's. What gets me is the brown rice. I'm reading that fiber is not good for pancreatitis, especially brown rice. So this morning I'm making a new batch of food with white rice and see how it goes until I see the vet again.

 

[Piper's mom]

Do you have a copy of The Forever Dog Life by Dr.Karen Becker? There are several recipes of complete balanced diets that can be either fed raw or gently cooked that could possibly be adapted to his diet. Would also be worth it to show the recipe to your vet and see if he approves although in my opinion most vet’s (unless they’ve had additional training) really don’t have much schooling on nutritional needs.
I would suggest if possible to see a holistic vet or a vet that has had additional training in nutrition. They’d be better able to advise you on what to feed.

I’ve included a photo of one of the recipes from the book as an example of how easy it can be to make a home cooked balanced diets.
And as Sandy noted it is an excellent and very informative set of books.

 

[Sharon7]

I feed Meadow Fromm Weight Loss, not because she needs to lose weight, but because she needs lowfat due to losing her gallbladder. I have to feed her more volume to make up the calories but she does fine on it.

 

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

Do you have a copy of The Forever Dog Life by Dr.Karen Becker? There are several recipes of complete balanced diets that can be either fed raw or gently cooked that could possibly be adapted to his diet. Would also be worth it to show the recipe to your vet and see if he approves although in my opinion most vet’s (unless they’ve had additional training) really don’t have much schooling on nutritional needs.
I would suggest if possible to see a holistic vet or a vet that has had additional training in nutrition. They’d be better able to advise you on what to feed.

I’ve included a photo of one of the recipes from the book as an example of how easy it can be to make a home cooked balanced diets.
And as Sandy noted it is an excellent and very informative set of books.

I am definitely going to look this up. I agree, homemade meals are fabulous and I don't mind the time it takes to make them by any means. In fact my boys who are turning 7 this July, were on homemade from age 1-3yrs. They thrived! So this is a return to homemade for just one of them. I'm just a bit annoyed that the recipe I was referred to has brown rice in it and it is clearly not agreeing with him and this book I was told to use by the vet has a recipe with brown rice in it for pancreatitis. Today I am making a fresh batch of food and will use some white rice. Larry, the other dog, is fine but when HE had some of the brown rice recipe he also had the runs. So clearly the brown rice is a no-go. You're right, I think the vet is out of touch with nutritional needs and I'm going to hunt down another vet.

 

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

I feed Meadow Fromm Weight Loss, not because she needs to lose weight, but because she needs lowfat due to losing her gallbladder. I have to feed her more volume to make up the calories but she does fine on it.

Oh thank you! I see in our local smaller pet supplier that they have Fromm Weight Management. I'm going to talk to the vet about trying this. I'm happy to make homemade meals but if there was a kibble that is lowfat enough to be safe, I'd actually prefer that. Considering how lowfat diets are important for gallbladder issues like your girl has, this means a lot to hear that it is working well for you. Thank you for the recommendation!

 

[Piper's mom]

I am definitely going to look this up. I agree, homemade meals are fabulous and I don't mind the time it takes to make them by any means. In fact my boys who are turning 7 this July, were on homemade from age 1-3yrs. They thrived! So this is a return to homemade for just one of them. I'm just a bit annoyed that the recipe I was referred to has brown rice in it and it is clearly not agreeing with him and this book I was told to use by the vet has a recipe with brown rice in it for pancreatitis. Today I am making a fresh batch of food and will use some white rice. Larry, the other dog, is fine but when HE had some of the brown rice recipe he also had the runs. So clearly the brown rice is a no-go. You're right, I think the vet is out of touch with nutritional needs and I'm going to hunt down another vet.

I actually find rice in general provides very little nutritional value. I use steel cut oats or quinoa or even barley (all precooked of course) and white potatoes are good too. And the occasional sweet potato.

 

[BryanAndLarrysMama]

I actually find rice in general provides very little nutritional value. I use steel cut oats or quinoa or even barley (all precooked of course) and white potatoes are good too. And the occasional sweet potato.

I was actually wondering about baked white potato. I know he would love it and gosh, white potatoes are incredibly nutritious. The white rice is something I'm reluctant to do, but...potato I would happily do.