This is the story of Levi and his family, and how he accidentally nearly lost his life.
Levi is a gorgeous 1 year old Cavoodle who presented to our emergency clinic after hours with symptoms of vomiting and bloody diarrhoea.
As you can imagine, his family were terribly worried, especially as he no longer wanted to eat and definitely wasn’t doing his usual zoomies around the house.
They did not hesitate to bring him to North Coast Emergency Vets to be looked at by our vets.
We admitted Levi to run a few tests, put him on fluids, and give him medications (and a Teddy) to help treat his symptoms.
BUT WHAT CAUSED HIM TO BE SO SICK?
Without knowing it, Levi’s family accidentally made him sick by feeding cheese as a treat! Cheese is high in fats that our domestic pets cannot digest.
Levi was diagnosed with pancreatitis.
WHAT IS PANCREATITIS?
Pancreatitis is a very painful disease that, not only takes a long time to recover from, but can also be fatal. It is caused by fatty foods, and as the name suggests, it affects their little pancreas.
The pancreas gets inflamed which causes an enzyme to be released that essentially causes the pancreas to digest itself. This causes vomiting, diarrhoea, severe abdominal pain, and, very scarily, can lead to death.
His parents are super embarrassed that they didn’t know the consequences that high fatty human foods have on animals. They thought that feeding him cheese as treats would do no harm. They just wanted to make little Levi happy and feel loved.
Levi’s parents, although embarrassed for making their fur baby sick, wanted to help spread the awareness by allowing us to tell Levi’s story.
WHAT ELSE CAN’T CATS AND DOGS EAT?
– sausages
– cheese
– the fat off steak
– ice cream/cream
– burgers
– chips
– onions
– garlic
– leeks
– grapes, raisins and sultanas
– xylitol- the artificial sweetener in chewing gum, some peanut butters and other foods
– any other foods high in fat
Levi has made a full recovery after being in and out of hospital for almost a week. He is back home with his family and loving life.
Thank you to Levi’s family for sharing their story to help raise awareness about Pancreatitis.
