References
Evidence surrounding feeding the canine pancreatitis patient
Abstract
There are many scenarios in practice where animals present with acute, chronic, and acute on chronic bouts of pancreatitis. By investigating the risk of pancreatitis in association with high fat diets in a clinical setting, dietary manipulation could be instigated to reduce the risk of pancreatitis or the risk of recurrence.
Many animals are placed on low fat diets when diagnosed with pancreatitis, but there are no evidence-based fat levels suggested for these animals. Nutritional recommendations for adult dogs are a minimum of 5.5 g per 100 g dry matter of the food consumed, based on an energy requirement of 95 kcal/kg bwt0.75; there is no recommendation on the type of fats, but that the essential fatty acids are provided.
A review of evidence concerning fat levels indicates that hyperlipidaemia will predispose to pancreatitis, but no defined levels have been published.
Reviews of pancreatitis (whether acute bouts or chronic disease) often refer to high fat diets as a predisposing factor, and suggest that the treatment regimen should include feeding a low-fat diet. Discussion in clinical practice had suggested that high fat diets lead to persistent hyperlipidaemia (whether high cholesterol, lipids or triglycerides), that predispose to pancreatitis. Many texts refer to hyperlipidaemia as a predisposition to the clinical signs associated with pancreatitis, but examination of many of these texts indicates they have been misquoted, with hyperlipidaemia not being a proven predisposing factor. In two commonly cited research papers, Haig (1970) and Yago et al (1997), for example, high fat diets were fed and there was an association with an increase in pancreatic secretion and the enzymes within the secretions, but no correlation with clinical signs.
In first opinion veterinary practice veterinary professionals are often told not to feed high fat diets to dogs with, or predisposed to, pancreatitis. This includes those with hyperlipidaemia, even without clinical signs of pancreatitis, as feeding high fats diets can induce bouts of acute pancreatitis.
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