Pancreatitis- Keno Ostrofski

Name: Keno Ostrofski (aka Col or Colin)

Star sign: Sagittarius – general all round nice guy with an adventurous spirit who loves the feel of the wind in his fur. (ie a ride in the car)

Age: 8 years young

Interests: Keno has a (semi) full time job meeting and greeting the customers at Rons Fruit & Veg, he also likes to help Ron with jobs around the farm, with the occasional snooze and plenty of pats from Cath to keep the work/life balance as it should be

Best features: His friendly smile and wag as he greets you, and his easy going nature

Worst features: Seriously food orientated (everything is food until proven otherwise!) but when it comes to tasty left overs we can relate to that a little.

Keno couldn't believe his luck a couple of Friday’s nights ago when his beloved owner Ron came home with a big tray of left over spit-roasted party pork. After polishing off more than his fair share Keno put himself to bed to enjoy a peaceful slumber of pork filled dreams.

Late the following day it was obvious that Keno was not himself and feeling more than a little unwell, after contacting the clinic Keno was diagnosed as having Acute pancreatitis.

Acute Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas' job is to make digestive enzymes which digest proteins and fats. When the pancreas becomes inflamed enzymes 'leak' out of their normal ducts into the body of the pancreas. These leaking enzymes within the pancreas essentially cause the pancreas to start digesting itself. As you can imagine, this will make an animal feel really sick. Symptoms generally include vomiting, lethargy or collapse, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, it can even cause profound shock & death.

There are lots of causes of pancreatits, but by the far the most common is due to an overload of high fat foods – which was the case with Keno, so keep this one in mind with the christmas ham offcuts!

As we have mentioned in previous critter chats its really important to feed your pet the correct diet. A good diet contains all the essential nutrients in the right balance – which unfortunately does not include a big tray of left over party pork!! Bad boy Ron!

Treatment for Keno involved a lengthy hospital stay where he was administered fluids, frozen plasma, pain relief, antibiotics, and lots of love and care by our lovely vet nurses.

Keno is very happy to be back on duty with the welcoming comittee at Ron's Vegies. I'd like to say he has also learned his lesson, but unfortunately his appetite is unchanged and given the chance, I'm sure greedy Keno would do it all over again!