Pancreatitis in dogs and cats is becoming alarmingly common. Beyond the severe pain it causes, what’s truly disheartening is that much of the dietary advice commonly given—such as feeding high-carb, low-fat kibble—might be making the situation worse, not better.

Let’s explore what pancreatitis is, why it happens, and how diet plays a crucial role in its prevention and management.

What Is the Pancreas, and What Does It Do?

The pancreas is a small but vital organ located behind the stomach and small intestine. It has two main jobs:

1. Exocrine function – Producing digestive enzymes.

2. Endocrine function – Regulating blood sugar with insulin and glucagon.

When the pancreas becomes inflamed, this condition is called pancreatitis. However, the term itself doesn’t explain why it’s happening—it simply means inflammation is present.

Types of Pancreatitis

Acute Pancreatitis:

In this form, digestive enzymes activate prematurely while still inside the pancreas, essentially causing the organ to digest itself. This process can lead to necrotising pancreatitis, which damages not only the pancreas but also nearby organs like the liver and bile duct. This condition is excruciatingly painful, often compared to a gunshot wound. 

Symptoms include:

Abdominal pain.

A hunched posture.

Play bows or "prayer positions."

Chronic Pancreatitis:

This occurs when ongoing, low-grade inflammation prevents the pancreas from functioning correctly. It may no longer release enzymes as it should, leading to long-term digestive issues.

How Common Is Pancreatitis?

Shockingly common. In one study, 64% of dogs examined post-mortem showed signs of chronic pancreatitis, while similar studies in cats found evidence in over 67% of cases. What’s even more concerning is that many of these animals were considered healthy before the studies.

Dogs and cats are thought to develop pancreatitis 25–50 times more frequently than humans. This is not natural—and it’s certainly not acceptable.

What Causes Pancreatitis in Pets?

Several factors can lead to pancreatitis, including:

Chronic inflammation caused by infections, stress, or obesity.

Injury to the mid-back, particularly around the area where the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae meet. This region supplies nerves to both the stomach and pancreas, and injuries here are even linked to bloat.

Genetics – Certain breeds are more prone to the condition.

However, the most common cause of pancreatitis in pets might surprise you: diet.

The Role of Diet in Pancreatitis

At its core, pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition. Feeding foods that contribute to inflammation only makes things worse. And unfortunately, kibble—a staple for many pets—is often the main culprit.

Studies comparing the effects of dry food and raw diets reveal some startling differences:

Dogs on dry food have significantly higher levels of inflammatory markers like homocysteine and GlycA.

Switching from dry food to raw reduces these markers dramatically while switching from raw to kibble causes them to spike.

So, what is it about kibble that’s so inflammatory?

High carbohydrate content: Studies in humans show that high-carb diets can be inflammatory, and pets seem to follow the same pattern.

Low-quality fats: The lack of good fats in kibble deprives pets of essential nutrients.

Preservatives and mycotoxins: These additives can also contribute to inflammation.

The Case for Raw Feeding

Raw feeding offers a more natural, species-appropriate diet for pets, rich in high-quality proteins and fats with minimal carbohydrates. In studies, dogs on raw diets consistently showed lower inflammation levels, suggesting a direct link between diet quality and overall health. (READ the study here).

But of all dietary factors, high-dose carbohydrates are suspected to be the worst.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS TODAY!

Here is an extract from Dr Conor Brady’s Book - Feeding Dogs

“Hyperlipidaemia (excess fat in the blood) is one of the accepted causes of acute pancreatitis or recurring bouts of acute pancreatitis in humans. It is thought to account for 7% of cases, making it the most common cause of the disease after gallstones and alcohol. 

The presence of excess fat is how your vet typically diagnoses the condition in your dog. A pancreas in trouble does not digest fat very well. Hence, one way to detect the possible signs of pancreatitis is to simply measure the amount of triglycerides (fat) in the blood. Another way is to test for lipase, the enzyme secreted by the pancreas to digest fat. A stressed pancreas is assumed to produce much more of it, something a simple blood test in a fasted dog would reveal. Finally, as most pancreatic dog owners will testify to, the most obvious outward sign (asides from pain, as it really hurts) is a loose stool that is greasy with undigested fat. 

So concerned are our vets for fat, that when discussing a possible cause of the issue the line “it can be something as simple as that bit of fat off your steak” is often trotted out. Like when we thought eating fat made you fat (giving rise to low-fat and thus HIGH SUGAR diets, greatly exasperating the obesity epidemic), it made perfect sense. If there is too much fat in the blood, then surely you have been eating too much of it. 

Only that statement is not only entirely unsupported by the literature but, as we have since learned from the obesity epidemic, very likely to be absolutely false. Of course, dogs should be able to eat a big lump of fatty meat now and again, that’s what they are designed to do. As you will learn below, they are more adept at utilising fat than we are. 

To understand a little more about this we need to first discuss the three different energy pathways…the first is your already formed and stored energy, ATP (adenosine triphosphate, you might remember from school!). This energy system is ready to go. As such it is rapid but short lasting. In gym terms, it can produce lots of power but only for a very short duration, perhaps twelve seconds of maximal effort. Think of it as the favoured pathway of your 100m sprinter, for instance.

The second system is known as the Glycolytic System. This system runs on glycogen (blood sugar) stored in the muscles and liver, which you create after consuming carbohydrates and, to a lesser degree, protein. In gym terms, this pathway provides for you moderate power of moderate duration, perhaps thirty seconds. 

The third system is known as the fatty acid Oxidation System. This is essentially three systems (of which the Krebs cycle is part of it…I know you remember….!). For now, all we need to note is that instead of blood glycogen it uses stored fat (lipolysis) to fuel the ATP conversion. In gym terms, it offers the least power but the greatest duration. It is why top long-distance runners (and all long-pursuit animals such as dogs and wolves) all do it on fat (and why they are all bordering-skeletal).

It happens that the more carbohydrates you consume, the less likely you are to use the fatty acid Oxidation System. In humans, the ingestion of high-carbohydrate diets for a long period of time decreases fatty acid oxidation by decreasing the rate of fatty acid entry into the mitochondria.  This means, rather paradoxically, the more carbohydrates you consume, the less fat is consumed by the mitochondria and the net result is an elevation of blood fat. In other words, it is a high-carb diet that raises your blood fat. Authors note, that when the content of dietary carbohydrates is elevated above 55% of ME, blood triglycerides rise.  It even has a catchy name too – carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia. 

Studies show this is very much what’s happening in dry-fed dogs. Raw-meat-and-bone-fed dogs (very low carb diet) exhibited reduced blood fat than dogs fed a dry, cereal-based diet. Dr Mark Roberts is a leading authority on the role of dietary fat in dogs, particularly in relation to sporting dogs. His latest work dispels the mythological role of dietary fat in pancreatitis in dogs. They found that their dogs’ pancreas was not working harder on high-fat diets by any measure available to them. Using twenty dogs that were fed regular diets and then alternatively fed high-carb or high-fat diets, then blood fat, lipase and stool quality were measured. Roberts found blood triglycerides were not higher in the high-fat diets, as expected by conventional veterinary medicine, but actually lower than those on high-carb diets. The pancreas does not produce more lipase under a high-fat challenge but the same as a high-carb diet. Even stool quality is better in high-fat-fed dogs. Thus, by all measures, increasing dietary fat failed to induce the parameters linked to pancreatitis in dogs that conventional veterinary medicine says it does.

In short, if blood fat is an accepted cause of pancreatitis and we know high-carb diets increase blood fat, perhaps they should ease off the carbohydrates in dogs. 

It gets worse for dry-fed dogs suffering pancreatitis from their high-carb meals. Once it sets in, pancreatitis will result in a Vitamin E deficiency.  Vitamin E’s primary role is as an antioxidant, mopping up excess fats in the system. As the failing organ struggles to break down fat in the diet, more Vitamin E is required to clean up the excess fat. But Vitamin E is notoriously unstable. And in dry pet foods, after just six months’ storage, it is proven to reduce by 30%.  It is, therefore, expected to be in short supply in most dry foods. And as this is what dry-fed dogs receive in the way of fresh nutrients, thus begins a vicious circle.

As fat builds in the blood of dogs consuming high-carb diets, the body screams for more lipase to get the fat out of the blood and the pancreas complies. Measure the dog for lipase at this point and the values will be worryingly high. What do conventional vets recommend now? Low-fat (and thus higher carb) diets. It is at this near-breaking point that, one more load of fat might push the system over the pancreatic cliff. In a perfect straw-camel’s-back scenario, it’s not the final piece of straw but the heavy load already in place. Of course, the carnivore’s pancreas should have been able for that bit of fat, as meat-eaters dogs are better at digesting this than we are (later). Sadly, it is at this low moment that modern vets tend to blame the owner for a dietary indiscretion when it was far more likely that the vets’ own poor dietary advice put the dog on the table in the first place.”

We have known this for TEN YEARS and yet still, the information coming from the veterinary industry is to feed HIGH CARB LOW FAT dry food.

This is as wrong as the current suggestion that ultra processed diets high in rapidly digested carbohydrates might play a role in fixing the pet obesity or cancer crisis. Of course, they don’t. Any more than they do in our diet.

When we speak to the researchers above, most notably Dr Mark Roberts, and ask them what we should feed our little meat eaters suffering pancreatitis, their answer (and I’m paraphrasing) is always the same - we don’t have the exact data, but until then, the data suggests, as ever, that a more biologically appropriate, fresh diet of meat, organ and bone, free of refined carbohydrates, is most certainly the sensible way forward. 

Final Thoughts

Pancreatitis is a serious, painful condition that’s affecting pets at an alarming rate. While there are many contributing factors, diet plays an undeniable role in both causing and alleviating inflammation. Switching to a high-quality raw diet could make a world of difference for pets prone to this condition.

It’s time to rethink what we’re putting in our pets’ bowls. By feeding them the way nature intended, we can help prevent unnecessary suffering and give them the vibrant, healthy lives they deserve.

By Dr. Conor Brady

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO BUY THE BOOK