Well, on a positive note, its been a really long time since I've posted a question in the health forum. On a negative note, it looks like my 3 year old cat may have pancreatitis.
Has anyone dealt with this before? I searched the forums and there don't seem to be a lot of recent threads about it, and I've noticed that experiences seem to really vary per cat, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Maybe someone who wasn't around for the older threads has had some experience with it.
About 3 weeks ago Moe was vomiting a lot. He gets hairballs somewhat often so the first 2 or 3 times he vomited foam I just ignored it, thinking he had a hairball. By the 4th time, I started counting, and by the 6th time he vomited I knew something wasn't normal so I took him to the vet. The vet thought he might have had an intestional obstruction. He has had a history of eating plastic bags (yes we try to keep plastic away from him, but he always seems like he can manage to find some.) He had x-rays done and I was told that plastic doesn't typically show up in x-rays but if there was a blockage, you could see the actual blockage. His x-rays were clear though. The vet mentioned pancreatitis as a possibility but Moe was still eating well at this point, and he was lethargic, but alert. So he gave him an anti-nausea shot and sent him home with some cans of Hill's I/D food. The shot seemed to work because the vomiting stopped. He was more active the next day, and by about 3 days he was actually completely normal again.
Then fast forward to today - about 3 weeks later. Last night he refused to eat and was acting really mellow - which is NOT normal for him. This morning he refused to eat again and was more lethargic than mellow so off to the vet we went. This time the vet wanted to check for pancreatitis immediately. He said it would be normal for a cat with pancreatitis to "recover" on his own without ever knowing what was wrong and then relapse a few weeks later.They don't have an in-office test so they took blood and sent it off to the lab. Another anti-nausea shot was given and I was sent home with cans of I/D again. I gave him some food about an hour after the shot and he ate some of it eagerly. I thought he was beginning to act normal again, but I just tried to feed him about an hour ago and I was unsuccessful this time. I put him by himself in a bathroom, and he sniffed the food (which he seemed to love the last time he had it) and then sat on a shelf and curled up. He's just been curled up on the shelf for the past hour or so now and the food hasn't been touched.
I won't get lab results for 2 days, but for now I'm wondering if I need to bring him back to the vet now. I know cats need to eat, and they can't go long without eating, but he did have a little bit of food earlier. I don't know if its a problem that he hasn't touched his dinner yet. He's alert, but very lethargic. He's responding to his name and he's purring when I pet him, but he's just sitting there. I'm keeping an eye on him, but I guess the question is, do I rush him to the emergency vet now? or just wait it out until morning. I feel like I'd be able to make a better decision if I knew what was actually wrong with him. I don't want to overreact, but I also don't want to ignore a problem either.
Also, I'd love to hear any experiences of dealing with pancreatitis .
Has anyone dealt with this before? I searched the forums and there don't seem to be a lot of recent threads about it, and I've noticed that experiences seem to really vary per cat, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Maybe someone who wasn't around for the older threads has had some experience with it.
About 3 weeks ago Moe was vomiting a lot. He gets hairballs somewhat often so the first 2 or 3 times he vomited foam I just ignored it, thinking he had a hairball. By the 4th time, I started counting, and by the 6th time he vomited I knew something wasn't normal so I took him to the vet. The vet thought he might have had an intestional obstruction. He has had a history of eating plastic bags (yes we try to keep plastic away from him, but he always seems like he can manage to find some.) He had x-rays done and I was told that plastic doesn't typically show up in x-rays but if there was a blockage, you could see the actual blockage. His x-rays were clear though. The vet mentioned pancreatitis as a possibility but Moe was still eating well at this point, and he was lethargic, but alert. So he gave him an anti-nausea shot and sent him home with some cans of Hill's I/D food. The shot seemed to work because the vomiting stopped. He was more active the next day, and by about 3 days he was actually completely normal again.
Then fast forward to today - about 3 weeks later. Last night he refused to eat and was acting really mellow - which is NOT normal for him. This morning he refused to eat again and was more lethargic than mellow so off to the vet we went. This time the vet wanted to check for pancreatitis immediately. He said it would be normal for a cat with pancreatitis to "recover" on his own without ever knowing what was wrong and then relapse a few weeks later.They don't have an in-office test so they took blood and sent it off to the lab. Another anti-nausea shot was given and I was sent home with cans of I/D again. I gave him some food about an hour after the shot and he ate some of it eagerly. I thought he was beginning to act normal again, but I just tried to feed him about an hour ago and I was unsuccessful this time. I put him by himself in a bathroom, and he sniffed the food (which he seemed to love the last time he had it) and then sat on a shelf and curled up. He's just been curled up on the shelf for the past hour or so now and the food hasn't been touched.
I won't get lab results for 2 days, but for now I'm wondering if I need to bring him back to the vet now. I know cats need to eat, and they can't go long without eating, but he did have a little bit of food earlier. I don't know if its a problem that he hasn't touched his dinner yet. He's alert, but very lethargic. He's responding to his name and he's purring when I pet him, but he's just sitting there. I'm keeping an eye on him, but I guess the question is, do I rush him to the emergency vet now? or just wait it out until morning. I feel like I'd be able to make a better decision if I knew what was actually wrong with him. I don't want to overreact, but I also don't want to ignore a problem either.
Also, I'd love to hear any experiences of dealing with pancreatitis .