Pancreatitis Management: Let’s look at the numbers in a theoretical case example.
Jack: 9 year old male castrated Miniature Schnauzer,
Nutrition assessment: Body weight = 10 kg or 22 pounds. Jack is in ideal body condition with a body condition score of 5/9.
Problems: Chronic Pancreatitis and Arthritis
Maintenance Therapy: Jack is eating a very low fat diet with 17 grams of fat per 1000 kcal of kibble. Low fat veterinary prescription diets have between 17 to 26 g of fat on a per 1000kcal.
Jack’s estimated caloric intake is 550 kcal/day.1
Given Jack likes treats so he receives 500 calories from his kibble and 50 kcal from unsweetened non-fat applesauce in order to maintain his ideal body condition.1
On this nutritional program Jack’s fat intake is approximately 8.5 grams per day.
A hot dog can have 17 grams of fat! Even half a hot dog or a tablespoon of peanut butter is essentially half of Jack’s total daily fat intake. Watch out!
So the question is can Jack be prescribed Antinol for his arthritis?
He is only allowed non-fat treats. Can he take a supplement that would add fat to his diet?
If Jack were prescribed an marine based omega 3 supplement for arthritis, the dose for a 10 kg dog is upwards of 1500 mg or more. 1500 mg is the combined dose of EPA and DHA.2 A typical fish oil supplement provides about 1,000 mg fish oil, containing 180 mg EPA and 120 mg DHA, but doses vary widely.3 If using typical fish oil capsules one needs to give up to 5 capsules. This would add 5 grams of fat to Jack’s diet and result in an daily fat increase of over 50%. In a sensitive patient this may or may not be tolerated and would push Jack’s daily fat intake out of the typical “very low” fat prescription diet range into the high end of the low fat diet range.
Alternatively, each 260 mg AntinolÒ capsule provides 50 mg of green lipped mussel fatty acid extract plus 100 mg of olive oil to enhance bioavailability. The initial loading dose of two capsules for a dog under 40 pounds would be 300 mg of added fat or ≈ 1/3 gram of fat and about 3 calories.
Jack’s daily fat intake would increase from 8.5 to 8.80 grams of fat per day while on the loading dose of Antinol and would still be within the daily range of a “very-low” fat prescription diet.
Note! Do not give pets with pancreatitis AntinolÒ in peanut butter, ham or cheese or any other high fat foods. One can use a very low fat prescription veterinary diet canned food to make a little meatball if needed or another very low fat food item as per the direction of your veterinarian. An alternative is to pierce the capsule and express the contents of the capsule directly onto the food.
Remember each case is unique and the technical team at AntinolÒ is always available for consultation.
Dr. Julie Armstrong DVM, MVSc
Diplomate ACVIM (Small Animal Internal Medicine)
References:
- Pet Alliance Diet Calculator -https://petnutritionalliance.org/dog.php
- Bauer JE. Therapeutic use of fish oils in companion animals. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2011 Dec 1;239(11):1441-51. doi: 10.2460/javma.239.11.1441. PMID: 22087720.
- Typical Fish Oil Capsule - https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-HealthProfessional/
