Question:
What are the symptoms of pancreatitis in dogs and is there a change in
vital signs ie; temp, blood pressure etc. What tests determine if dog
has pancreatitis?
I brought my dog in for possible bloat. Vet thought she had pancreatitis
after bloat was ruled out and all vital signs were normal. Blood work
came back negative but vet said ultrasound was only way to be sure.
Ultrasound was negative.
Answer:
Signs of pancreatitis include vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia/inappetance,
abdominal pain, bloody stools, depression, shock, and death, although of
course not all of them are always exhibited. The temperature, in my
experience, is usually normal to below normal but could theoretically be
elevated due to colonic inflammation I suppose. Blood pressure could be
normal or low (shock) or high (due to pain, prior to shock).
Tests for pancreatitis include physical exam, radiographs, abdominal
ultrasound, serum amylase and lipase, trypsin-like immunoreactivity, and,
um - well, that's all I think of off the top of my head.
I am trying to determine if my vet did the appropriate tests and what
was really wrong with her. After the blood work came back negative
(bloodwork did not include lipase) they were still insistant that she
be hospitalised and have an ultrasound the next day. The whole time all
her vitals were normal. Brought her in because she had dry heaves and
was pacing. Thought she had bloat. Exam and x-rays were negative for
bloat but vet thought she may have pancreatitis because they saw air in
her small intestine in the x-rays. Vet never determined cause of
distress and dog has been fine ever since (last 2 months).
The problem is I didn't have a puking dog painful dog. I had a gagging
pacing dog. I had a dog that vomited a little water, saliva and grass (a
very small amount) that she had eaten earlier. Right after that she
started gagging without producing any vomit and pacing. Which is why,
after the bloat was ruled out, I suspected she may have a blade of grass
caught in her throat. She never vomited after that initial foam and
grass. The whole time she was in the vets office and during her
hospitalization, she never gagged or retched or vomited. She had no
diarriah, only soft stools from a dog food sample. The vet refused to
check if she had somthing caught in her thoat because he said she would
be coughing, not retching. So her basic symptoms were gagging/retching
without producing vomit after vomiting a very small amount of water and
saliva with grass in it and pacing. Soft stools brought on by being
given a dog food sample a couple of days earlier. Her vital signs were
all normal. The vet said her abdoman was not painfull to her. Her blood
panel values were all within normal range (lipase was not included in
panel). Except for not wanting to eat her morning meal three days
earlier and the 2 days of soft stools, She was completely healthy up to
when she threw up the grass blades. She did have a stressfull day by
going to the groomer to have her nails cliped and being on a long car
ride which is stressfull to her. So do those symptoms still add up to
pancreatitis?
I can't answer your question but I do know that dogs (or people for that
matter) don't always present with textbook symptoms and the vet (dr) would
be remiss if they didn't rule out a possibly serious condition. My dog
recently had a blade of grass in her throat and she did just cough.
