It is officially pancreatitis

[rangie32]

So I got the call on Saturday. Levi officially has pancreatitis. His levels weren't too high, but were elevated. So the vet feels he has chronic pancreatitis. As of right now, I am giving him Pepcid AC every day. She wants to rerun blood work in a month. Anyone with experience with this please feel free to share your experiences. She believes he had this back in 2010. At that time he was clearly in pain, and had a lot of blood sugar in his urine. She feels pancreatitis is why he was throwing sugar into his urine at that time. This is no longer going on so that is good.

 

[scarlett 001]

I would join the yahoo group on pancreatitis. It has good documents on file to read about this disease, loads of very experienced people on there who know about this disease. Because it is focused only on pancreatitis, you can get very detailed feedback.

This is a good document that covers the range of treatment people will talk about on the yahoo group. My cat is on fluid therapy, Vitamin B12 shots and an anti-nausea drug.

http://www.idexx.ca/pubwebresources...ng-pancreatitis-and-concurrent-conditions.pdf

 

[goholistic]

I'm so sorry to hear about the diagnosis. Chronic pancreatitis is a bugger. My Sebastian has it. It can be extremely painful and Pepcid alone will not help treat symptoms, IMO. Sebastian is on a steroid, low-dose antibiotic, anti-emetic, antacid, sub-q fluids, omega-3s, probiotics, s. boulardii, B12 injections, and RO water. He gets an appetite stimulant and pain meds when needed.

Levi should be on a grain-free, low-carb, easily digestible canned food diet. You want to take any strain off his system.

Here's the newer version of Idexx's treatment recommendations: http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresource...pec-fpl-treatment-for-feline-pancreatitis.pdf   (It might be the same or very similar to the one @Scarlett 001 provided.)

Sebastian's chronic pancreatitis wavers in severity. We've experienced all levels. At his worst, he was hospitalized on an IV and needed to be syringe-fed for two weeks. At his best, he's eating like a champ and doing all the things he loves. His appetite changes a lot and sometimes overnight. Sometimes the meds have to be adjusted to help him through a rough patch. Here's his thread (it's really long): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264363/...suspected-pancreatitis-again/540#post_3507317. I'll be posting an update soon.

Just be sure to keep tabs on how much Levi is eating. Sometimes it's not so noticeable when they're not eating as much as they should, and a drastic reduction in caloric intake over a few days can throw them into fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). You want to avoid this at all costs.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[rangie32]

I will have to look into more information on pancreatitis but I suspect that because Levi's only symptom is weight loss from not eating as much is why my vet isn't too concerned. I weighed him last night and he was back up to 12 pounds which is good. He was 11.8 at home last week. It isn't much but at least he didn't loose any more.

 

[goholistic]

 
I will have to look into more information on pancreatitis but I suspect that because Levi's only symptom is weight loss from not eating as much is why my vet isn't too concerned. I weighed him last night and he was back up to 12 pounds which is good. He was 11.8 at home last week. It isn't much but at least he didn't loose any more.

Generally speaking, weight loss from not eating should absolutely be a concern. Since you say it hasn't been much, then he's probably eating enough to maintain his weight, but you should keep an eye on this. If a cat goes a few days without eating at least half of his daily caloric intake, it can throw them into fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). You want to avoid this at all costs.

Definitely look more into pancreatitis. Googling "feline pancreatitis" yields a lot of resources and helpful articles. Searching "pancreatitis" here on TCS will give you related threads. It is condition that causes much discomfort and can vary in severity from time to time. If Levi should ever get really bad at some point, you and your vet should be prepared with what you'll need to do to nurse him back to health and control the inflammation.

 

[rangie32]

Levi lost over 2 pounds in 6 months. All of his normal blood work was fine except for one thing and now I cant remember what that was but it led to the pancreatic enzyme test. The normal high is 3.5 his level was somewhere between 4 - 4.5 (again I cant remember exactly where it was. I am watching him carefully and monitoring his weight at home. He will have blood work run again in a month to check his organ function and his pancreatic enzyme levels.





Levi is eating better, and I am monitoring him. I am working out how to feed him so I can know exactly how much he ate. I have a multi cat house hold and at first I thought his weight loss was him being pushed away from the food bowl so I started giving him his own bowl and monitoring his weight. I have special needs fosters also so my spare rooms are taken up with those cats. I do wonder if putting him in the dogs crate while he eats would help (Obviously the dog would not be in the crate at the time.)