Tired of playing "guess" and looking for help

[iPappy]

Why didn't I think about adding a pinch of liver to Darko's food to help him with the issues he has with the excess bone . He's 13 and most definitely has constipation issues worse than ever. Adding in extra muscle meat isn't working, so liver it will be from now on. Just a pinch

I'd try it! I have one who won't touch liver so I have to get creative and wrap this tiny sliver up in a meatball. Chicken hearts are kind of rich too, if you can find them.
I bought chicken livers by the pound and portioned them out into tiny little containers. I can't believe how long a pound of them lasts.

 

[lisahe]

How have I missed all these years that liver can help with constipation?! We have plenty of freeze-dried chicken and turkey liver that I use in the cats' homemade food. Egg yolk seems to work well for our cats but it's always good to have something else on hand, too.

 

[iPappy]

How have I missed all these years that liver can help with constipation?! We have plenty of freeze-dried chicken and turkey liver that I use in the cats' homemade food. Egg yolk seems to work well for our cats but it's always good to have something else on hand, too.

After dealing with dogs and cats (some mine, but many not mine) with chronic bowel issues and IBD problems, I can safely say I'm very educated in poop
I have noticed in the past that using these things once the cat is already experiencing constipation to the point of not having "gone" for a few days doesn't always do the trick. I've used miralax and other things for this problem, with good (and smelly) results.
If you have a dog or cat with the opposite problem (diarrhea) but need the nutritional content of liver or heart for a balanced diet, I have had really good luck using the powdered-in-capsules form of the freeze dried organs. I have thrown these in the barn cats food and there seems to be no taste or smell. It doesn't seem to have as much as a laxative effect as the actual food source does, but YMMV so proceed with caution!

 

[lisahe]

After dealing with dogs and cats (some mine, but many not mine) with chronic bowel issues and IBD problems, I can safely say I'm very educated in poop
I have noticed in the past that using these things once the cat is already experiencing constipation to the point of not having "gone" for a few days doesn't always do the trick. I've used miralax and other things for this problem, with good (and smelly) results.
If you have a dog or cat with the opposite problem (diarrhea) but need the nutritional content of liver or heart for a balanced diet, I have had really good luck using the powdered-in-capsules form of the freeze dried organs. I have thrown these in the barn cats food and there seems to be no taste or smell. It doesn't seem to have as much as a laxative effect as the actual food source does, but YMMV so proceed with caution!

This is very interesting, thank you! I'd never heard of these capsules but will keep them in mind, for just in case. Our cats' main problems seem to be vomiting for one and mild constipation for the other but one never knows what will happen with them!

 

[iPappy]

This is very interesting, thank you! I'd never heard of these capsules but will keep them in mind, for just in case. Our cats' main problems seem to be vomiting for one and mild constipation for the other but one never knows what will happen with them!

They're always full of surprises, aren't they?

 

[lisahe]

They're always full of surprises, aren't they?

Ha ha, yes they are!

 

[crowen]

Kitty is eating and almost done her antibiotics. Still needing to take her pain medicine but I am starting to wonder if it is her teeth bugging her more now than the pancreatitis. On the plus side, she is doing much better.

That's awesome to know about liver and eggs. Will have to keep that in mind. I also didn't know that about liver.

The local shop here told me they had samples of Big Country Raw: Fare Game Archives | Big Country Raw
Unfortunately they were mistaken and they sent a bison/beef from Nature's Premium (luckily I know she likes these already): Products – Nature's Premium
Along with some Red Dog Blue Kat (lamb/venison): https://www.reddogbluekat.com/cat-products

Big Country Raw lists their bone content as 10%. Instead I sent them a mail asking if they suggested their rabbit or kangaroo based on some comments. They mentioned to me that poultry proteins and rabbit are more likely to cause constipation and that red meats like kangaroo make a softer stool. They also mentioned their Fare Game formulas are made to help reduce the chances of constipation by being under 10% fat -- not sure if that adds up with the rabbit comment. Finally they pointed towards their Thrive Bovine Pancreatic Enzyme product. None of the vets mentioned EPI to me but it might be something I will consider--Last month I bought the Thrive Bladder support following the UTI and I suspect using too much powder on her very little amount of food she's currently eating would not go over well!

Either way, a shipment of food arrived for us the other day. In it was a box of Red Dog Blue Kat's kangaroo complete for cats: Kangaroo Complete | Red Dog Blue Kat
She loves this. It's great seeing her interested in food again. I'm still worried it might be too bone heavy for her but I suppose this is an opportunity to see how the litter box goes. If the kangaroo does indeed make a softer stool, then maybe this is the answer for her. It's also readily available here.

If not, there is a small chance I can get a prescription canned version of kangaroo without bone content: KANGAROO-MAINT FELINE CANS — Rayne Canada

 

[lisahe]

Kitty is eating and almost done her antibiotics. Still needing to take her pain medicine but I am starting to wonder if it is her teeth bugging her more now than the pancreatitis. On the plus side, she is doing much better.

This is great to hear, I'm glad you're seeing improvement! (Even if her teeth might still be hurting...)

Here's hoping the new foods continue to work for her. It sounds like you have a lot of interesting food choices, a big plus.

 

[crowen]

Long time no see. Giving a little bump and an update.

Q has been back in the emergency vet for a number of days now.
She stopped eating well a few months ago, so we started feeding her whatever she would eat - even if it was fancy feast gravy.
Eventually, she was refusing that too, until it culminated into very bad diarrhea on the 28th of March. She then went to the local vet, who took a blood test and gave her a shot of cerenia plus 2 weeks worth of metronidazole.
Essentially, something like this kind of diarrhea: Intestinal Protein Loss in Cats | PetMD

Sadly, metronidazole is a very bitter medicine, and I think that was mostly 2 weeks of pure torture for the poor thing. She spat or foamed most of it out. Before it was completely done I booked her in to the nearest 24h emergency vet that was recommended by our local vet. Her diarrhea still hadn't resolved and more importantly she was hardly eating and losing vitality. Plus, her blood tests came back and had a spec fPL of 10.4 with the lab notes saying "consistent with pancreatitis."

She was booked in for an estimate of $2k, including another set of blood tests and xrays. But several hours later they called back. They said they were not equipped to help her, and that she needed to go to a different, even MORE emergency vet! The very same one she was at last year for her pancreatitis. Had I known that I would have taken her there to begin with. Apparently, she had a lot of fluid in her abdomen and chest which they felt was very critical and not what they could do anything for.
So after a very unfun adventure for her, we transferred her to the other emergency hospital.

This other hospital booked her in for an estimate of $6k low end, 9.8k high end. Already way more than her vet bill last year. This confused me a lot, because didn't they already have all her medical records to know she has a history of pancreatitis? Didn't they see the first blood test from our first vet at the start of all this?
Well - turns out they thought they needed to check her heart and look for cancer. I get it, due diligence and all that, but it just seems crazy to me. Nobody else I know would ever pay a $10k+ vet bill for their cat, especially if the words "cancer" were said to them. I wonder how many cats have needlessly died over these things.

Long story short, several expensive tests later, her heart is fine and she does not have cancer. She of course had pleural effusion and rather severe intestinal protein loss. Each vet seemed to think there was no way it was pancreatitis, because you rarely see thickened intestinal walls and swollen lymph nodes with pancreatitis. To me, I think it's a matter of having taken too long to treat the pancreatitis... That she had a bought of it in March that went untreated while she choked out the metronidazole, which likely led to an infection. She has been doing well at the clinic on IV and steroids. She's expected to be able to come home, but this is where me coming back to post comes into play...

I'm not sure how to help her out when she comes home. My fear is she will start deteriorating again once she's off the IV. Anyone with experience with pancreatitis, intestinal protein loss, or EPI? Or, have insight as to what else it might be, if not for the pancreatitis flare up? She was in very rough shape. But it got worse because she was unable to eat and properly absorb nutrition from the food.

I ordered some of this because it seemed to help other cats a great deal, but it won't be here for another week or so: REBOUND® Recuperation Formula for Cats

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

You should probably start a new thread with a title something like "anyone have experience with Pancreatitis, Intestinal Protein Loss or EPI?. Then you can refer to this thread for history. Otherwise I'm afraid not too many people will see your question here in post #29 of a thread that's several months old . Or you could do a search for EPI,or pancreatitis (you'll get a LOT under this one). There is nothing under "intestinal protein loss".

 

[crowen]

True. Thanks for the search tips, that's a good idea versus the protein loss. I'll see what I can find first