Rory Vomiting - Food Sensitivity/Pancreatitis?

[TikkaBeer]

Our cat Rory has been having issues with periodic vomiting since last summer. On October 22, he had a high Spec fPL value (4.0, range: 0.0-3.5), though ultrasound did not show signs of pancreatitis. On the recommendation of our vet, this winter we placed him on a food sensitivity diet (Hill’s z/d wet diet + Rayne’s Kangaroo novel protein) and Cerenia/Pepcid. That got him down to only about one vomit a week at most. Since he was doing well, we phased out the meds in mid feb, and then gradually phased in regular food, with z/d diet removed on March 6.

He was adapting well to the transition, without any major episodes of throwing up, until today. This morning, he threw up at about 4am, then again at 10:30am and 11:30am. These were all soon after eating. At 12:30pm, he began wheezing and bobbing his head and swallowing, like he was going to throw up again (see video: Rory bobbing head/swallowing). This is the worst it’s been in a really long time.

We’re a bit surprised his food sensitivity would be so bad. We did also recently add unflavored Metamucil for our other cats bowel issues (they share food). We are currently researching new food to potentially get him off potential irritants.

Here are the foods he’s eaten recently, along with potential problem ingredients:
Tiny Tiger Pate Chicken, Pate Turkey - meat byproducts, guar gum, fish (We were planning to stop giving this when we used up our current inventory because we heard about some quality control issues for their turkey pate)
Weruva Paw Lickin’ Chicken - chicken, xanthan gum
Weruva Wx Phos Focused Chicken Formula in a Hydrating Puree - chicken, egg, Agar agar
Hill’s I/D Chicken diet - chicken, guar gum, rice
Dry Food (Given as treat): Hill’s D/D Duck and Green Pea and Fussie Cat Chicken and Turkey - peas

He also had a more serious pancreatitis episode in Jan 2020 when he was vomiting regularly and had to be taken to the emergency vet. Between that and the most recent positive test, he didn’t have any issues.

Right now we are giving him just a novel protein food from Rayne, which they were on during the food sensitivity diet. We will also give a dose of Pepcid/Cerenia, and will ask the vet for some more z/d diet tomorrow. At this point, should we get him checked for pancreatitis, or is it better to wait a little longer? Is there anything else we should check or ask our vet?

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I am confused. If you are doing ( to the best of my knowledge) a novel protein diet for a suspected GI upset/IBD to see if there is an allergic reaction to one of the protiens normally found in cat food, you must eliminate everything in their diet except the new novel protein. But you have been mixing, following you vets orders, and also feeding Z/D.
It looks like so far he has had chicken, fish, kangaroo, and duck. (poultry and fish are often the culprit). So that leaves rabbit, and venison. So don’t feed him anything with those protiens unless you only feed that.

I may have misunderstood what I read. With the ultrasound, did they mention what his intestines looked like?

 

[TikkaBeer]

They were previously on the z/d + novel protein diet, but then we transitioned off of it since Rory was doing well. We also don’t know what specific irritant it was that the special diet helped with, or if it was something unrelated to the food entirely (ie pancreatitis). Does that clarify things?

The vet didn’t mention anything from the ultrasound other than seeing no signs of pancreatitis.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, when my angel Poppycat had pancreas/liver/ gallbladder issues (this wasn't a true triaditis ), which I realize isn't pancreatitis exactly, he didn't throw up but rather he stopped eating.

At this point, should we get him checked for pancreatitis, or is it better to wait a little longer? Is there anything else we should check or ask our vet?

Since this came out of the blue, tests might be worthwhile. Is your vet a cat-only vet?

 

[TikkaBeer]

We have two vets, our local one for regular visits, and an internist who did the ultrasound. We are leaning towards calling our local vet tmrw to see what they think, since they were closed today. He hasn’t thrown up or displayed symptoms since the head bobbing, but that might be because we gave the cerenia/Pepcid.