7 Year Old Male With Pancreatitis

[Beyond Confused]

Hello all,

I am hoping someone can help me find and understand the best food for my 7-year-old male cat with possible pancreatitis.

Quick back story: He's always been my vomiter. Every six months like clockwork, I have to take him to the vet to get a shot to stop vomiting because he would vomit 13, 14, 15 times in one day. About 2 months ago, I had to take him to an emergency vet on the weekend for the very same reason. $500 later, I walked out, vowing to change their food to something better than what I'd fed their whole lives (Nature Balance Chicken & Green Pea dry). After several taste tests and TONS of research, I settled on Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Wet and Dry foods. Part of my goal was to get them eating wet food. They love the turkey, so I feed them a can a night (they don't eat a whole lot, so this was big time progress). The rest of the time, I have a mix of Natural Balance dry and Nature's Variety Turkey (L.I.) dry. The Natural Balance is just sprinkled on the top, so it's not a true mix.

This time, it took 2 months, and we were straight back to the vet with vomiting. Now, to be fair, he made a liar out of me, only threw up twice and home and was done. It was Friday, though, and I didn't want to take any chances for the weekend. Given his hx, the vet wanted to run a test on his pancreas. She called Saturday and told me his levels were elevated, and she believed he has pancreatitis. She recommended 1 of 3 foods - Royal Canin, Hill's, and Blue. I've looked at the ingredients, and I just can't, for the life of me, believe that the crap ingredients in those is somehow better than what I'm feeding them in Nature's Variety.

Is there anyone who sees the benefit in changing and can explain why one of those is better (or have any other options?)
Making their food isn't an option. I don't even cook for myself, and buying kidneys, livers, etc is just not going to happen. I adore them, and their food budget is now larger than my own, but I'm drawing the line at making a raw diet for them.

Any thoughts are much appreciated. (Sorry for the novel!)
Jen

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If your Vet wasn't talking about PRESCRIPTION food, than I cannot explain why those foods either. Prescriptions foods do have a place, and perform well, even though their ingredients aren't all that pleasing to those of us who have studied cat nutrition to some degree.

What you are looking for in food is easily digestible, low fat food, preferably an all wet diet. It's the "easily digestible" that's the tricky part, because just how do we know what that is. That's where the prescription foods come into play, IMHO.

 

[Beyond Confused]

Thank you for replying, MrsGreenJeens. She was referring to a prescription food, mostly Royal Canin, which only comes in a dry formula.
I've been trying to feed them more wet food the last couple of days, and I have a call in to the vet to ask about putting him on Pepcid. A couple months ago, an emergency vet recommended it, but I hate meds if they aren't totally necessary. I'm wondering if we're to that point, though.
So, you're thinking that the soy based RX foods would be easily digestible for him? Is this something he will always be on, or is it typically temporary?

 

[valentine319]

Here's some info.
Pancreatitis In Your Cat

It'll give you info on the disease. Many cats with pancreatitis are also suffering from some degree of liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease, so the food we pick must also be appropriate for those conditions. Inflammation is a huge deal. Dry I personally think is horrible. So you need to pull the inflammation down and novel proteins for easy
digestion. Canned is always better than dry.

• easily digestible
  
• moderate levels of protein that come from novel sources or are altered to be hypoallergenic
  
• moderate fat levels
  
• canned, unless the cat will only eat dry

I'm familiar with science diet (of course other brands are options) and if overweight they usual start with w/d, another option is food sensitivities/sensitive stomach food think it's z/d or d/d or hydrolyzed protein food (d/d- venison isn't always a hit ), if glucose issues are included m/d. Talk to your vet to determine what's best stressing you want canned food or go for a second opinion if you don't care for your vet. If there are more issues I do recommend take kitty to see an internal medicine vet which you could use as your second opinion. Pancreatitis can affect other organs.

As far as food Buy a few cans because no matter how good for their condition it's supposed to be it doesn't matter if they don't eat it. They must eat. Do not fast the cat (they fast dogs but not safe in cats). I would avoid high carb food.

After you try cans of food and find something that works you can get a script and order whatever food that works best usually cheaper through chewy.com if your vet is more expensive.

A quick note, avoid and pull all treats and table food.

Usually it's a permanent food change.

 

[Beyond Confused]

Thank you, Valentine.
I have taken the time to read through the link you sent. I guess the good news is that he doesn't seem to have the majority of the symptoms I've read about relating to pancreatitis. His problem is vomiting. Every six months or so, he'll vomit continuously throughout the day, until I can get him to the vet to get a shot. I'm sure there's probably some discomfort inside that I'm aware of, but his bowel movements are regular and look normal, he has a normal appetite for food and water (plus he gets canned food once a day), he doesn't pant or have a fever, etc. At this point, I think my vet is simply suspecting this to be the case, so she's recommending a change in his diet.

I've been reading reviews of the various hydrolyzed protein foods that are available. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there are too many options. I would like to continue the mix of wet and dry. Neither cat eats a whole lot (They're 7 & 8), so I put wet food out once a night, but that seems to be all they want of that. In fact, I still end up wasting some in the end. It's expensive, so I don't want to push the canned food any more than I already do. The vet said it's OK to still leave dry food out the rest of the time. They've never been kitties that overate, and their weights have been steady their whole lives.

Do you have thoughts on salmon? I believe that's one of the canned options out there. I'd read before that fish (even canned cat food) isn't good for cats, so a while ago, I stopped giving it to them. Also, you said the venison isn't really popular, and Admiral is a super picky kitty. Duncan will eat anything, but he's not my sick boy.

Thank you, again, for all of your help. It is most appreciated.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Hee's an article about fish in cat food. I actually feed one of my boys quite a bit of fish because he's turning into a picky guy Can I Feed My Cat A Fish-based Or Fish-flavored Diet?

 

[Beyond Confused]

Thanks, MrsGreenJeans. I guess it's not bad in small doses of the good stuff. Maybe I'll start adding a little here and there.

 

[valentine319]

Well it sounds intermittent which is the easier kind. Wet and dry would work. I had my girl on fish and she's now allergic to it, but there are some issues with constant fish (some deficiency, and heavy metals). Venison is really lean and usually dry. Most don't care for it. You could do a novel protein like rabbit. I use natures instinct LID. I started with turkey and then moved to rabbit. I'm now moving to raw rabbit. Her stomach isn't getting settled is the reason. Duck some like, it's got a little more fat. Your local pet store should carry the natures instinct LID (silver medallion) turkey at least. I think i was able to get turkey and duck at the store.

If you order cases later and want to try something that is expensive and you aren't sure they will like. Assuming the local store doesn't have individual cans, chewy.com will take back food that won't eat. I got tired of her hating something new i bought a case of (venison).

I went with novel protein before i go hydrolyzed. The idea is if i can't get a protein to work well hydrolyzed is the end of the road.

With any of this it gets expensive. I believe orange&white feeds some fish. I can't feed fish so I'm no help there.

 

[Beyond Confused]

It's funny you mentioned that food, Valentine. I feed my boys Nature's Variety Instinct LID, and tonight, they are having rabbit. Their favorite is the turkey (least favorite chicken and duck,) but I've been trying to introduce other flavors as well. I haven't tried the lamb or fish yet. This was the brand that I was hoping to keep them on because I really felt good about the ingredients, and that's why I've been hesitant about the hydrolyzed protein meals. They don't look to be very healthy. I did check out the Science Diet canned food today, and the ingredients seem OK, I guess.

I'm not sure of the difference between novel protein and hydrolyzed. I'm guessing that the NV Instinct food is novel protein? Are you saying that you would keep your cat on this before changing to, say, Science Diet?

 

[valentine319]

OK novel is the idea of meats a cat hasn't been fed. So chicken and fish are the top two always fed.

I kinda consider science diet end of the line.

Here's what hydrolyzed is. It's pretty gross. A hydrolyzed protein diet contains a single regular protein, let's say chicken, which is a common allergenic food. Hydrolysis breaks down the chicken into particles so small that, according to the research, the protein is no longer recognized by the immune system as an allergen. The benefit, it would seem, is you can still feed your pet food she's allergic to, but the protein molecules have been processed in such a way that they trick the immune system.

How to Heal Your Pet's Food Allergy

 

[Beyond Confused]

Got it. I didn't understand the novel part, but I'd read about the hydrolyzed part, which is what was keeping me back from changing foods. I'm really considering sticking with their current food.

 

[valentine319]

Novel equals a food your pet probably hasn't had so less chance of allergy. All it really means is rare. Fish and chicken are common in most foods. Quail your cat probably hasn't had. The idea is to calm their immune system down.

 

[Beyond Confused]

Oops, I apologize. I meant that I didn't know what it was until you explained it to me. Thank you for that. I might try sticking this one out a little longer, since the hydrolyzed food has few options for canned. Plus, the ingredients look dreadful.
Thank you for all of your help. If you have any other thoughts on the topic, I'm all ears.