Hello everyone!

This is my first time on here, and I would like to pass this on to everyone I can so no other dogs would have to suffer through what ours did.
I have two Beagles who are both going on 14 years old. One was our pet, and the other one was always like ours as well, but we inherited him when my Mom and Dad passed away, who were his owners. With that said, he really missed them both, and still searches for them. While my Dad moved in with us before he passed away, his pet began to get sick from time to time. We thought that it was the change of home, town, backyard and so forth, and hopefully he would adapt. He would always eat well, then a while later throw everything up, and then would want to drink tons of water. We noticed that he would also start to "stretch" into a praying mantis position like he was trying to stretch out his stomach. He slowly was having the life sucked right out of him, and looked horrible and lethargic from so many bouts of vomiting, becoming okay, then eating, vomiting again, wanting to drink tons of water after that, and continuing this cycle constantly. He was also having skin problems that were unrelated to the stomach problems and was given steroids to solve the skin problems (we found out later that this would worsen the problem with the stomach). To make a very long story short, after many tests to rule out other conditions and about $7,000.00 later, he was sent to a specialist as a last resort. They did an ultrasound, and other lower stomach tests and decided that what he indeed had was pancreas problems, or "pancreatitis."
The specialist told us that he should be put on a special diet and this would be the ONLY thing he could eat forever on out. No treats, not a morsel of any other food, or doggie bones, NOTHING. We were to only give him this food, and also offer it as a treat as well. There would be no topical steroid creams to be given, no steroid shots ever again, and so on, his skin problem and all the itching would just have to be lived with.
The miracle food??? Hill's Prescription Diet Z/D ultra allergen free. You can only get this from a vet. After placing him on this food he was like a new dog within the week. If you have ever seen a dog go through a pancreatitis attack, and that is what they are, attacks, it is horrible to watch, and hard to diagnose because so many of these symptoms could be other things. That was in 2002, and he is doing wonderful!!! There has been a time or two that one of our friends has slipped him some food before, and he goes into a small attack, so now we have to let everyone know first hand that he is not allowed to have ANYTHING except his own food as treats. As far as the skin situation goes we have found a shampoo that is great since he can't have steroid treatment for his skin problem due to the pancreatitis. The shampoo is called KetoChlor by Virbac animal health. As for our other beagle, we asked if he could eat the same food out of convienence for us, they said that this food is wonderful for any dog, especially those that are older because it is allergen free. It is a little expensive but we buy it in the big bag and it sure is less expensive than vet bills!!!
If this can help one dog out there, it would be wonderful. No dog should have to go through the pain of pancreatitis when it can be avoided through diet...... if you ask any adult human that has it, they will tell you how horrible the pain is.
Thank you all for your time, please pass this on!

I try to tell everyone to skip the normal vet thing and seek a specialist from the get go, it will save time, money and pain. I seek spealists for myself and I would suggest no less for your pet. My family practitioner can not advise me on the details of a particular surgery, inner ear problem etc, neither can the local vet. Seek a specialist and it will save you alot of $ and trouble!