Cyclical eating habits with CKD/H-T and/or pancreatitis??

FeebysOwner

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Feeby seems to be cycling between days of eating great and days that are not so great, rebounding and then relapsing...repeat, repeat. Is this common for cats that have fairly stable numbers for both H-T and early CKD?

So far, none of the vets have seemed to think she needs 'extra' help just yet and are waiting on her next blood tests and another ultrasound to see if anything has changed. The ultrasound showed her spleen and one adrenal gland to be enlarged. Her kidneys show a possible chronic issue unrelated to CKD. She had her last blood tests in July and the abdominal ultrasound in August. Both follow up tests are due within the next month. None of the vets have even mentioned pancreatitis, but some of the folks on the CKD forum are wondering about it.

Just trying to find out if this up and down in eating is common in any or all of her possible conditions. Thanks.
 

Jem

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My boy with CKD had issues with eating, but I have not had experience with the other mentioned issues.
With CKD, they tend to become nauseous, but with regular sub-Q fluids to keep him hydrated and his kidneys "flushed" he would eat fine.
Does she seem hydrated enough?
 

fionasmom

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Another worry about Feeby....I am sorry about this. Not that I have a lot to say; Fiona did not have much of an appetite variance although she was only HT. Older cats I have had with CKD did have up and down appetites. My dog, who has chronic pancreatitis, always manifests a lack of appetite as the first sign. However, pancreatitis can be different in dogs and cats, so that may not be helpful.
 
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FeebysOwner

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Does she seem hydrated enough?
I do the 'tent test' and she seems fine, it bounces back right away. The thing is her eating is good for two days, then bad for two days, and on and on and on. If she is dehydrated or experiencing pancreatitis, I wouldn't expect the 'up and down' to be in such short increments, especially with no intervention on my part. That is why I was asking if any of these conditions could cause such short bouts.
 
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FeebysOwner

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Older cats I have had with CKD did have up and down appetites. My dog, who has chronic pancreatitis, always manifests a lack of appetite as the first sign. However, pancreatitis can be different in dogs and cats, so that may not be helpful.
But, did you do anything to affect the up and downs, or did they just 'occur' on their own without intervention from you? If so, could they be ups and downs as quick as a couple of days - back and forth?

Feeby's amylase/Precision PSL numbers have bounced up and down over the past several blood tests - but, I have yet to correlate it to specific ups and downs in her eating. I will take a closer look at this. But, I guess the question here is if pancreatitis flare ups can resolve themselves enough to allow for eating good for a couple of days and then bad for a couple of days. It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me.
 

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I do the 'tent test' and she seems fine, it bounces back right away. The thing is her eating is good for two days, then bad for two days, and on and on and on. If she is dehydrated or experiencing pancreatitis, I wouldn't expect the 'up and down' to be in such short increments, especially with no intervention on my part. That is why I was asking if any of these conditions could cause such short bouts.
I'm sorry, I should have been more specific with my post, I'm really tired and forgot to write the rest of it....

Before we started him on the fluids which kept his appetite up, he would have up and down days.
The vet explained to me that cats will often associate the smell of their food to why they were nauseous so will refuse to eat it the next time it is offered. If she's not feeling well for feeding 1, she then might refuse it for feeding 2, but by then she might be feeling better, so for feeding 3 she'll take, and so on and so on...It's almost like litter box avoidance due to UTI. Sometimes they will use it but it's not consistent if the time they used it prior they had pain or discomfort.

One thing that helped was to never offer the same flavor/smell in a row...

I hope I'm explaining myself....:ohwell::sleep2:
 
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FeebysOwner

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One thing that helped was to never offer the same flavor/smell in a row...
Thanks! That is what I wondered about - along with just getting tired of the 'same old' food. So, she now has no less than a 7-10 day rotation of foods because of that. I also have 5-6 different lickable treats I interchange when feeding her the PM H-T meds (she will eat the AM meds with a small amount of whatever food I feed her that morning).
 

fionasmom

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The rotation of food is a good idea because it does become like the UTI and the litterbox. Jamie, with his early kidney issues, makes that association so I have lots of different flavors of food.

The CDK cats seemed to fluctuate according to how their overall condition was and did not seem to be controlled by me. In the dog's case, the pancreatitis has always "arrived", responded to treatment, gone away, then returned much later. But I have to treat it and the vet allows me to keep all the meds, anti inflammatories, etc at home so that I can start them right away as he loses his appetite.
 

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Echo has H-T and stage 2 CKD and her appetite is definitely up and down. She seems to eat well for 3-4 days and then not so well for 1-2 days. If she goes more than 36 hours of low appetite, I give her Mirataz which I hate because she becomes so restless and loud. The vet told me it’s not uncommon, especially in geriatric cats like Echo (she will be 17 at the end of the month). I just get concerned because she is thin and has drastic muscle wasting of the thought of her losing more weight scares me.
 
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FeebysOwner

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Echo has H-T and stage 2 CKD and her appetite is definitely up and down. She seems to eat well for 3-4 days and then not so well for 1-2 days. If she goes more than 36 hours of low appetite, I give her Mirataz which I hate because she becomes so restless and loud. The vet told me it’s not uncommon, especially in geriatric cats like Echo (she will be 17 at the end of the month). I just get concerned because she is thin and has drastic muscle wasting of the thought of her losing more weight scares me.
Sounds very similar. Feeby is ~17 yo, and the pattern in eating is similar. But, I have heard the worse thing you can do a cat is give them an appetite stimulant if they are nauseous without treating the nausea first (if that is in fact the issue).
 

Dos Gatos

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Sounds very similar. Feeby is ~17 yo, and the pattern in eating is similar. But, I have heard the worse thing you can do a cat is give them an appetite stimulant if they are nauseous without treating the nausea first (if that is in fact the issue).
Definitely not good to give an appetite stimulant with nausea. We found that when Echo is nauseated, the appetite stimulant makes her beg for food but she still won’t eat. I have started keeping Cerenia on hand for the times that happens (usually when her suspected IBD is flaring up.)
 

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Definitely not good to give an appetite stimulant with nausea. We found that when Echo is nauseated, the appetite stimulant makes her beg for food but she still won’t eat. I have started keeping Cerenia on hand for the times that happens (usually when her suspected IBD is flaring up.)
So true about the appetite stimulant. Luckily she has not had any more episodes in a week so far,I I am going through the same thing. I have cerinia when needed. It was just diagnosed so the vet is not totally sure what's going on til her recheck in 3 months. She did have ultrasound and cbc. My vet was clear to only have her eat kidney food but mornings only she has to have extra flavoring so he gave me that to try instead of a topper
 
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maggie101

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Thanks! That is what I wondered about - along with just getting tired of the 'same old' food. So, she now has no less than a 7-10 day rotation of foods because of that. I also have 5-6 different lickable treats I interchange when feeding her the PM H-T meds (she will eat the AM meds with a small amount of whatever food I feed her that morning).
What do you feed her? One day she may not want to eat her prescription food anymore. What she eats now is for kidney disease among other things so I will continue with it until she decides to eat something else
 
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FeebysOwner

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Feeby gets fed what Feeby will eat - Fancy Feast, Tiki After Dark, Merrick, and a few Purina ones - all pate as she won't eat any other texture; and, no fish because she doesn't like fish flavors. She occasionally gets Sheba & Nutro perfect portions, but there are so few options that she gets tired of them very easily, All in all, at least 14 different brands/flavors.

I do not worry about whether they have high phosphorus; I can't be that picky in my choices for her. Prescription food was never on the table for a couple of reasons - 1.) she won't eat them, and 2.) I believe she should have more protein than what is generally offered in the script foods for CKD cats. However, I would have been willing to give her those in rotation with her other foods, had she been willing.
 

maggie101

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I have been giving her orijen cat treats,soft freeze dried chicken, turkey, chicken hearts, turkey hearts, chicken gizzards,, turkey gizzard, only way she will eat her food. I used to feed her wide variety til she stopped eating
 
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Update: I want to show you all something about this cycle I am talking about - see below, listing dates and daily calories for the past 3 weeks. I will tell you I am NOT doing anything different between Feeby's good and bad eating days. She is NOT on sub-Q fluids or any appetite stimulants, so those types of things are NOT impacting her intake. She is eating so many different foods/brands/flavors now, there is NO correlation between the food and the intake. Her water drinking and peeing remain consistent. I gave up on slippery elm as it made absolutely no difference. She is also not a fan of FortiFlora, so that has been abandoned too. Below are the dates and daily calorie intake per each. There is clearly a cycle going on, for reasons above and beyond my comprehension level.
Feeby Calories .jpg
 

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That is awesome she's eating so well Maggie is still on Prescription for kd and supposedly helps her struitive crystals. I realize the last bad episode of constantly crying out loud and not eating was when I was feeding her high protein and moisture. The orijen treats do add some protein and she is fed 4x a day. She is still active
 
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FeebysOwner

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I hear you. I have been there with older animals as well, apparently never having figured it out.
That is awesome she's eating so well
I guess I should have mentioned that despite the 'good eating' days, she has still managed to lose another pound since 2 months ago. She weighed 11.9 on 8/24 and now weighs 10.9 as of 10/18. The last time she weighed under 11 pounds was 2007, when she was 2-ish yo. I don't find Feeby's eating to be 'awesome'. I find the pattern to be confusing, and additional weight loss to be troublesome.
 
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