# high lipase levels, but not pancreatitis



## Stacey

Hi, I'm not sure if there are any vets on this forum, but I'm hoping to get some opinions. My JRT, who is 3.5 yrs old, was suppost to be going in to get spayed this week, had some blood tests done. When she was about 8 months old, she bit a large toad, and she almost died from it, which the vets have never heard of that happening before! Long story short, she had liver and kidney damage from it, and that is why I wanted the blood test done before she had surgery. Her kidneys and liver are fine, but her Lipase level was through the roof. The vet told me, normal was between 200-1800, and hers was 5600! We took her in for another sample a week later, this time she had fasted, and it was 5300, still crazy high. He asked if she was eating people food, or got into any pork fat/grease, or if she is a 'garbage dog', no to all of those. He couldn't understand how she wasn't sick (vomiting, diarrhea, different color stool). He sent her blood away to check for whatever ( I can't remember what it was called) it is that they check for pancreatitis, and it came back normal. So, the next step is changing her diet. When she was younger, she always had ear problems, which I thought could be an allergy to grains, and the vet didn't agree because she didn't have skin problems. Go figure, I put her on a grain free food, and the ear problems stopped! lol Both of my dogs are on Blue Wilderness Salmon, they are both doing great on it, healthy weights ( and the other one is 13 yrs old), good coat, seem to be feeling great. When I switch her, I have to switch the other one, because they always eat out of each others dish(they eat through out the day, not all at once). I told the vet about the Blue Buffalo, low fat food, which is still grain free, it has 30% protein, and 10% fat (her current food is 15% fat), and he told me that is too much protein. He wants her on Medi Cal gastrointestinal low fat, or a vegetarian diet, which have grains in them. When I told him that the Royal Canin (thats who makes Medi cal), website said the low fat food had 63% protein, and 18.6% fat, which is ridiculously high, and he said thats not the right info. Does anyone feed this food to their dogs, and know the nutritional info? Any opinions on what I should do? Any suggestions on types of good low fat food, and if there is any good grain free low fat food, I have heard that vet dog food is crap, and vets don't know much about dog nutrition, but I don't know what to do. My other concern, is that she is so young, skinny, and a high energy breed, will low fat food be enough for her? I guess her health comes first, but I want her to be her normal energetic self too. It's great that she doesn't have pancreatitis, but it would be nice if they would figure out why the Lipase level is so high!
Any suggestions would be great, thank you


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## 1605

A few months back my sister's dog was diagnosed with pancreatitis. Here's an excerpt of the email I sent her about possible foods, etc.:

 Another good article about pancreatitis: The Best Dog Foods for Dogs With Pancreatitis | eHow.com

Possible food choices:

Innova Low Fat Adult Dry Dog Food
Innova Senior Dry Dog food
Acana Light & Fit
Blue Buffalo Blue Longevity for Senior Dogs
Blue Buffalo Healthy Weight Chicken & Brown Rice
Wellness Core Reduced Fat
Wellness Super5Mix Healthy Weight

I tried to make sure that the fat content was 10% or lower. I wasn’t sure exactly what protein range you were looking for, however. So take a look better look at each & see which one meets your requirements the best & that you can get near where you live..... 

I’d still try to get the one with the best analysis (named meats first, then some good carbs, not necc from grains, but from potatoes… the least amount of corn, etc.). 

Granted, your dog doesn't have pancreatitis, but at least these foods have the right protein level.

Bonne chance,


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