Pancreas (pancreas) what is that organ?

Pancreatitis is a Pancreas

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is an organ which consists of glandular tissue needed in animal digestion and hormone metabolism. The pancreas (pancreas) lies just behind the stomach and against the small intestine. The pancreas is connected to the bloodstream and also has a connection to the small intestine to deliver digestive enzymes to it.

What does a pancreas do?

The pancreas is a special organ and consists of two different types of cells, each with its own function. One type of cells is for the production of hormones such as insulin and glucagon and are located in the so-called endocrine cells. These cells, by producing insulin among other things, help regulate blood sugar levels. The other part of the pancreas is called the exocrine part and it is there that the pancreatic juice containing the digestive enzymes is produced and delivered to the small intestine. In the small intestine, the digestive enzymes such as lipase, amylase and protease ensure that nutrients are processed in such a way that they can actually be absorbed through the wall of the small intestine.

What if your endocrine or exocrine pancreas is no longer functioning properly?

Thus, when part of the pancreas stops functioning properly, different problems arise in animals, depending on its location in the pancreas. When the endocrine part really functions less, too little insulin will be released. This lack of insulin causes the cells in the body to not be able to absorb enough sugar and excess sugar remains in the blood. When too little insulin is formed this is called sugar disease.
The exocrine part produces the digestive enzymes that must go to the intestines to digest the ingested food so that the required nutrients can be absorbed. Sometimes, however, it happens that these enzymes do not become active only in the intestine but already in the pancreas itself. Unfortunately, the cells of the pancreas and surrounding tissues (such as the liver, stomach and outside of the small intestine) are just as sensitive to being digested as ingested feed. The disruption of the process of digestive enzymes ( i.e. that they do not become active only in the small intestine) is called pancreatitis or pancreatitis.

What causes pancreatitis?

Because of the name pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas, many people think it must then be caused by bacteria, viruses or other parasites. Nothing could be further from the truth, these usually do not cause pancreatitis in the first place. What does cause it is often not entirely clear. Inflammation of the pancreas is more common in cases of abdominal trauma (after surgery, a car accident or a fall from a tree), after eating very fatty or abnormal foods, obesity (extreme overweight), liver disease, hormone changes such as Cushing's disease, tumour (cancer) in the pancreas, certain medicines. In addition, certain breeds also seem to have an increased risk (e.g. Miniature Schnauzers) of developing pancreatitis.

Animal with pancreatitis, how serious are the symptoms?

Dogs and cats with pancreatitis show a very different course of disease, with symptoms ranging from vague and mild to very severe. There are dogs and cats with acute severe inflammation that become very ill within a short time and also even die from the complications of the resulting damage. Fortunately, with symptomatic treatment (there is no drug that stops the inflammation of the pancreas), complete recovery can occur in the less severe patients. These animals recover and have no complaints afterwards. Unfortunately, there are also animals in which the symptoms are initially mild but recurrent. These are dogs and cats with chronic pancreatitis who often recover well with proper treatment and appropriate low-fat diet.

-This is an automated translation-