Case Study – Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Pancreatitis

We wanted to give you a real life example of the work we do with dog owners and their fury friends who are suffering from some distressing medical conditions. There’s often lots that can be done by adapting your pups diet to combat specific medical problems. Contact us today if you have any concerns about your dogs health. We’re here to help !

Name: Marlowe

Breed: Miniature Schnauzer

Age: 3 years

Medical Conditions: Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Pancreatitis

Marlowe’s mum contacted us for help as she wanted to find the best food for Marlowe as he was having flare-up’s regularly.

The first thing we needed to consider was finding a low fat food for Marlowe to help manage his pancreatitis. We wanted a food which was between 5% and 10% fat.

Secondly, we needed to consider the type of protein in the food.  We know that dogs who suffer flare-up’s can may be absorbing whole proteins across their  gut wall and their body mounts an allergic response them, leading to the flare up.  We looked for a food with what we call a ‘single source’ of protein – that is one type of fish or one type of meat.  We also wanted our meat or fish of choice to be a ‘novel protein’ in other words, a type of meat or fish that Marlowe had not been exposed to before. This would reduce the risk of a flare up because his immune system would be less likely to react to it.

This worked well for the first twelve months but then Marlowe seemed to be experiencing flare-up’s again so we moved him on to a hydrolysed dog food.  Proteins are made up long chains of amino acids so a hydrolysed food is one where the chains have been chopped up into short chains.  This means that the can be no chance of whole proteins getting across the wall of the intestine – so nothing for the body to launch an allergic response to and so much less chance of a flare up.

 He continues to do very well on this.  This type of diet can be a bit monotonous to say the least which is why we tried other options first.  

One thing we have found that works really well for Marlowe is to have our specially designed vegan treats.  We formulated these for dogs like Marlowe who cannot manage any animal proteins in their diet. 

His mum says they have been fantastic because they mean he can have a bit more variety in his diet – he loves to have them in his puzzle feeder or Kong. 

Even better, when he meets up with his doggie friends for walks, there is something he can have when all the other dogs have their treats.  So all in all, it’s all good – no flare up’s and he doesn’t need to miss out on all the fun anymore!