Acute Pancreatitis

[PollyJ]

My 10 year old male cat was just diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. We have him home now after being at the vet since Sunday. He is better but still having to feed and give water by syringe throughout the day. He has no interest in food or drink that we've seen. The vet is optimistic but guarded since the lab work etc is so much better than the first day.

Any info would be appreciated. One question I do have is how long can it take before eating and drinking on his own again?

 

[denice]

It really varies. Some cats begin eating on their own much quicker than others. Is your cat on pain medication? Pancreatitis is painful and that will affect appetite.

 

[tabbytom]

Hello P PollyJ , welcome to TCS

I've no idea on this but I hope he gets much better and soon be eating and drinking. There maybe some with the experience and answer may come along

As I was replying your post, your answer came

 

[PollyJ]

It really varies. Some cats begin eating on their own much quicker than others. Is your cat on pain medication? Pancreatitis is painful and that will affect appetite.

It really varies. Some cats begin eating on their own much quicker than others. Is your cat on pain medication? Pancreatitis is painful and that will affect appetite.

The only thing while at the Vets 3 nights was IV, nausea med, and an antibiotic. He appeared to have very little pain. Some of his labs were off the chart but that was much improved the next day. We were sent home with an antibiotic, recovery can food, and a tube of Nutri-cal. He gets lab work in the morning.

 

[PollyJ]

Hello P PollyJ , welcome to TCS

I've no idea on this but I hope he gets much better and soon be eating and drinking. There maybe some with the experience and answer may come along

As I was replying your post, your answer came

Thank you

 

[foxxycat]

How is he doing today? Some people have good luck with baby meat food- ham, chicken, beef etc...

They may want to see him if hes still not eating on his own in a day or two otherwise liver issues could be a problem. Syringe feeding is possible. I suspect he has nausea and they should treat the nausea in order for him to eat.

Call and ask about medication for nausea. Normally the things to treat pancreatitis is: pain meds/fluids/nausea meds/antibiotics/food.

 

[happilyretired]

Didn't the vet give you advice about food? I've had pancreatitis, and I know humans are different, but while I was in the hospital, it was NO food--just hydration. When I went home, the doctor told me to stay on liquids for a few more days.

My own experience with cats (limited) is that they will eat when they know it's 'safe' to do so.

 

[PollyJ]

How is he doing today? Some people have good luck with baby meat food- ham, chicken, beef etc...

They may want to see him if hes still not eating on his own in a day or two otherwise liver issues could be a problem. Syringe feeding is possible. I suspect he has nausea and they should treat the nausea in order for him to eat.

Call and ask about medication for nausea. Normally the things to treat pancreatitis is: pain meds/fluids/nausea meds/antibiotics/food.

He went back to the vet today and lab work now shows the liver is involved. He is already somewhat jaundice. So all we can do is continue the syringe feeding and pray that he starts eating on his own and can beat this.
We do have nausea medicine now.

 

[PollyJ]

Didn't the vet give you advice about food? I've had pancreatitis, and I know humans are different, but while I was in the hospital, it was NO food--just hydration. When I went home, the doctor told me to stay on liquids for a few more days.

My own experience with cats (limited) is that they will eat when they know it's 'safe' to do so.

The Vet has given us printouts of what we are dealing with and what to do. Thanks

 

[darkhorse321]

Having had extensive experience with this, here's what you need to ask your vet:
1. Pepcid AC---best stuff ever. I think this really helps the kitty recover, but that's just my feeling----ask your vet if you can start this---I gave it to my boy for 10 days, 1/4 tablet morning and nite. Get a pill cutter though--they are murder to cut into quarters
2. Cerenia/Bupe: See if you can have these on hand. Buperenorphine is a pain med and makes the pain way easier to manage. One thing I found, it MUST be put on the GUM of the cat, and I found the easiest way to do this was to put it on my fingertip, and then apply to the gums. It's done by weight of the kitty. Cerenia is an antinauseant and can help with appetite.
3. B12. I found that, for my guy, this helped his appetite. He was also have bowel issues and the vet said it couldn't hurt--though I did find that the dose suggested for him made him almost anxious, so I had them drop it a bit and it seemed to make him way happier.
4. Fancy Feast--anything with water/gravy in wet food is ideal--they get water and food at the same time.

Keep food and water close to kitty, and a litter box too. Lots of love and cuddle and , for my boy, it took him longer than my girl, who took about 4 days to be really out of the woods. Her lab report was 50 for pancreatic enzymes. Poor sweetie--but she fought hard and rebounded! And she was 16 and a half.

 

[denice]

Didn't the vet give you advice about food? I've had pancreatitis, and I know humans are different, but while I was in the hospital, it was NO food--just hydration. When I went home, the doctor told me to stay on liquids for a few more days.

My own experience with cats (limited) is that they will eat when they know it's 'safe' to do so.

It is true that fasting is the usual treatment for humans with pancreatitis to rest the pancreas. A cat's liver works differently from ours. Their liver isn't efficient at metabolizing fat. If the body breaks down fat too quickly it will create fat deposits on the liver which is called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver. This is true for the big cats as well. Big cats in the wild live very lean, they are often just one unsuccessful hunt from starvation. They don't have the fat deposits in their body that can cause fatty liver, I think it could be a problem for big cats in captivity though.

If a cat is unwell and doesn't want to eat then they won't. They can go into fatty liver and that makes them less likely to eat. We humans will go ahead and eat because we know we need to even though we don't feel like it. A cat won't do that.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Thirteen, my two-year-old DSH female tuxedo, has had several bouts of pancreatitis over the last year, and I really would encourage you talk to your vet about proper pain control. Pancreatitis is very painful and if your cat is in that kind of pain there's no way he'll eat. With proper pain control Thirteen and I have managed to make it through her illnesses without having to have feeding tubs sewn in. Darkhorse is right about the pepcid and B vitamins.

 

[PollyJ]

10 year old male cat: Condition: Acute Pancreatitis diagnosed July 2 - Hepatic Lipidiosis (secondary) diagnosed July 7

Summary:At vet clinic from July 2 - July 5, on IV, nausea injection, preventive antibiotic, syringe fed. Kidneys working, all labs except liver are good. Came home July 5th.
Home Care: Syringe feeding, but now using food on finger without much fuss and getting it all in, water in syringe, nausea injection, antibiotic.

Update, today: Using litter box (still only pp), took food and water well, AND took a very small lick at water and at milk. Nothing to amount to anything but it's a start. Cleaned his own neck some and threw out his leg for a lick or two. Baby steps

Questions for who posted about Pepcid and Vitamin B, or anyone: We will be purchasing over counter. What brand do you use and what is the dose you use for Vitamin B? He weighs a little over 13 lbs. What about bowel movements, after he starts eating o his own?
Thanks to all who have replied!

 

[artiemom]

Vitamin B 12 has to be an injection, a prescription from the Vet. The dose is different for cats..

Pepcid is the plain Pepcid AC.. not time released; the lower dose of 10mg. Split it in 1/4's...

You really do need to have your Vet involved in this. Do not do it on your own.

 

[PollyJ]

Thank you. We will check with our vet. He ordered some Sam-e and potassium supplements he wanted us to use but won't get them until Monday.

 

[PollyJ]

Update: He is drinking water from his bowl, cleaned himself, walked around to his favorite places in the house and now laying in one of his favorite spots. Appears more interested in the food we have out for him but still hasn't eaten. So we fed him and and he ate it with very little fuss. Eyes not as yellow.

Questions:
1 - From someone's experience dealing with this, when is it possible he may eat on his own?
2 - What about a bowel movement, when will that possibly happen? Anything you did or your vet suggested?

 

[mewcatmew]

Keep feeding him, he will eventually eat on his own. Less jaundice is good. When this happened to my cat it took somewhere around 2-3 weeks for him to fully start eating on his own. The first thing he ate was some cat treats. If you feed him soft food, try mixing some warm water in it, it makes it smellier and more appealing. The hepatic lipidosis is from your cat not eating. The body is breaking down fat for energy too quickly for the liver to process it and the liver is now "congested" with fat.

Keep feeding him until he eats.

 

[PollyJ]

Keep feeding him, he will eventually eat on his own. Less jaundice is good. When this happened to my cat it took somewhere around 2-3 weeks for him to fully start eating on his own. The first thing he ate was some cat treats. If you feed him soft food, try mixing some warm water in it, it makes it smellier and more appealing. The hepatic lipidosis is from your cat not eating. The body is breaking down fat for energy too quickly for the liver to process it and the liver is now "congested" with fat.

Keep feeding him until he eats.

Thanks for the reply. How long before your cat had a bowel movement?

 

[zed xyzed]

Midi had it and I only found out because he didn't poop for 5 days. I took him in for an enema and they also did blood work that showed pancreatitis. He had to go for 2 enemas. He was on Cerenia and buprenorphine. I had to mix a lot of water for with his canned food to get him to eat initially. I hope you can get it under control soon. To help with the bowel movements the vet suggested Miralax.

 

[foxxycat]

all the advice is spot on. Ask vet about Pepcid ac. get a pill popper and empty capsules. Pepcid is very bitter and will cause foaming at the mouth. don't mix in food. coat pill with butter-insert into pill popper. follow with syringe of water. feed 30 minutes later once it's kicked in. some cats need it every 12 hours. some 24. let the vet decide.


This is the best way to give meds-get some empty #3 or #2 capsules on amazon. put meds in-coat the larger section of pill with butter-this is the end sticking out of popper...have cat on a soft chair facing you-open mouth with one hand with finger and thumb on each side of jaw-as you bend your hand backwards-the head should fall backwards and mouth open-you can use the pinky of same hand to get mouth open enough to stick popper in back of tongue-push plunger-follow with water and treats.