Disease Description: When the pancreas becomes inflamed, the condition is called pancreatitis. Pancreatitis occurs commonly in the dog. There is no age, sex, or breed predisposition.

Inherit Mode: Inheritance has not been established, although certain breeds are clearly predisposed to this disorder.

Disease Symptom: Pancreatitis is generally seen in dogs older than 6 years of age. There is usually depression, loss of appetite, vomiting, and sometimes diarrhea. This may occur off and on over several weeks or it may develop very suddenly and dramatically, with severe abdominal pain, vomiting, shock and collapse. The onset of pancreatitis sometimes follows a high-fat meal, if your dog finds an opportunity to feast on garbage for example.

Disease Cause: -

Disease Diagnose: There are many disorders that cause these clinical signs. Your veterinarian will do x-rays and blood tests that will lead to the diagnosis, and also to look for other contributing causes.

Treat Method: Treatment is aimed at maintaining your dog's fluid and electrolyte balance, to treat or prevent shock while the pancreas is "rested" by withholding food, to allow it to recover. Antibiotics and medication to relieve pain are also given. Any contributing factors that can be identified are treated as well, which may require surgery (for example bile duct obstruction or pancreatic abscess). With treatment, mild cases of pancreatitis usually recover after a few days. Many of these will be fine over the long term, as long as high fat meals are avoided. Other dogs may develop recurring pancreatitis. Severely affected dogs will require several days of intense therapy, and there may be complications such as bleeding disorders or acute renal failure. Some of these dogs will die despite good supportive care.

Breeder Advice: Although inheritance has not been proved, it is best not to breed dogs from families where pancreatitis is prevalent. This can be difficult because most cases occur in dogs older than 6 or 7 years of age, who may have been used in breeding programmes already.

Disease Description Source: Link