# Diet after Gallbladder Removal



## Echolicious (Feb 22, 2011)

I am not sure if I should be posting this question here or in the general health, but I am hoping someone can help me.

My very active 10 year old GSD had been experiencing a lot of different health issues over the past few months. Recently she had what was thought to be acute pancreatitis, and prior to that she suffered from a bout of HGE and several UTI (E. Coli) infections. All within a six month time frame.

This past week I woke up in the middle of the night to her bloating. I took her to the ER and they did decompression. A day later they discovered there was still a significant amount of gas and during the gastropexy it was determined her gallbladder was extremely enlarged. They did emergency removal of that and sent for biopsy/culture. Results, mucoceles. It is possible this was the cause of all of the other issues prior, and I hope that removal of her gallbladder will halt future GI issues.

My question is, what do I do about diet? She is currently on I/D and I feed 4Health, but I'm not sure I want to put her back on that long term. Also, should I give digestive enzymes or probiotics? She is on antibiotics for several weeks. Would plain fat free yogurt be good for her?

I am not really interested in raw feeding, so what dry kibble would you recommend? I am thinking Wellness Core Reduced Fat, but I don't know if it's good or necessary. Thoughts? 

I appreciate anyone's insight. Thanks.


----------



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Stupid questions - does the gall bladder in a dog work the same as in people? 

I would definitely do probiotics to build her good bacteria back up. 

With people, fatty foods will generally cause diarrhea but dogs get their energy from fats, not carbs like people. So do they digest fats differently?

I think I would have a further discussion with your vet on fats in her diet. To many questions in my head to answer this comfortably.


----------



## jnealy (May 4, 2011)

My GSD just had to have her gall bladder removed last week also. Now I am scrambling to figure out what to do about her diet going forward. The vet recommended SD i/d, but I can't give that to her because she is allergic to chicken! So I am now searching for a low-fat/low-protein dry dog food that does NOT contain chicken. She was previously on Kirkland Salmon and Sweet Potato, but now I am hesitant to put her back on that. If anyone has any recommendations for low-fat, low-protein brands that do not contain chicken, I'd love to hear them.

Also, Echolicious, I'd love to hear what dog food you went with going forward.

Thanks.


----------



## Echolicious (Feb 22, 2011)

I ended up going to Wellness Core Reduced Fat, but it has a higher protein content which I wanted and chicken. She was on the ID diet and I had to feed so much of it (over 5 cups) and she was steadily losing weight. She's finally at a good weight on this food and seems to be doing well, but what's helped the most for her is metoclopramide. After her surgery she bloated for a second time, so they figured it was all due to slowed gi motility. She's been doing so well since then. Why did your dog need the gallbladder removed?


----------



## jnealy (May 4, 2011)

Thanks for the info. Our was perfectly healthy up until this episode. On Sunday afternoon, she threw up all her food. Given her history of food allergies and a sensitive stomach, I didn't think much of it at first. The next day she still wouldn't eat, but otherwise seemed to be feeling okay. However Tuesday morning she was very lethargic so I rushed her to the vet. She had a fever or 105.5! They ran her blood, and the vet diagnosed her with pancreatitis. (We are traveling right now so this is not her regular vet.) This vet said she would be fine after 24 hours of fluids and so I left her there for the day. When I picked her up at the end of the day, her fever had only gone down 0.5 degrees. The vet gave me the choice of taking her home for the night and returning in the morning, or taking her to the emergency vet for overnight fluids, which I chose to do, and thank goodness I did. When I got her to the emergency vet, she reviewed the blood work from earlier in the day, and immediately recogized that it was more serious than pancreatitis. She told me to bring her to Jacksonville FL (we were in Brunswick GA) to a specialist for a diagnostic ultrasound, and she stressed the urgency. I talked to my regular vet, and he agreed with her. So off to Jacksonville we went. They did the ultrasound, and diagnosed her with a gall bladder mucocele. She had surgery the next day. She came home Saturday and fed her baby food for 24 hours, and now she's eating lean ground beef with rice. But I need to figure out what to do for her long term. 

And I'm really not too happy with the first vet, needless to say.

The surgeon that did the surgery didn't think it was necessarily her diet that caused the issue - he said it's somewhat unknown what causes the mucocele. My other two dogs are doing fine, but I would just prefer to get them all on something a little higher quality than the Kirkland food at this point.

I am looking at the Wellness Core Ocean right now so glad to hear that is working well for your dog.


----------



## Echolicious (Feb 22, 2011)

Sounds very similar. Glad you got her in time. Lucy had random ailments all back to back. HGE, next day acute pancreatitis. Soon after, bloating. During that they noticed the gallbladder mucocule, then bloated again! I am so glad you caught it in time! My vet and the surgeon said the same thing - not necessarily dietary related. I just changed her diet as a precaution as well. I read a lot of good things about wellness core. If you go that route, make sure you order from Chewy. Best prices, fast and free shipping! Oh and I believe in this food, Lucy has always had wiry, rough hair and now she is soft. She has NEVER had a soft coat!


----------



## jnealy (May 4, 2011)

Thank you so much for the info - bought a bag of it a couple of hours ago!


----------

