Pancreatitis (long)

D

debskats

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
219
Purraise
2
Location
Iowa
Katy's story is king of a long and complex one, so I'll just hit the highlights here. A couple of years ago she was diagnosed with HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and has been on medications for that since then. Right after that, she was also found to be hyperthyroid so had I131 and then just a couple of months later had an endoscopy and was found to have IBD. So, 2005 was not a good year for Katy . . . or me.

In addition to her heart meds, she's been on prednisolone for her IBD. We've tried to taper her off, but it just hasn't worked so she's stayed on 5 mg a day for the last year-and-a-half. Last year she also had a bout of pancreatitis but improved pretty quickly, but the first of this year, she started getting sick again, mainly not eating well and just acting depressed. It turned out that she had pretty severe pancreatitis again, but this time she just isn't getting better except for a day or two here and a week there. We're trying to wean her off of her pred so she's been on alternating days of pred and Leukeran for nearly 2 months now, and I've been giving her fluids here at home, or at least trying too. I'm not very good at it.

I guess my question is . . . has anyone else ever dealt with pancreatitis? Has your experience been like this with waxing and waning symptoms? Never really getting better for any length of time?

I just want her to feel better! 2005 was an awful year for her . . . she was sick for most of it, then 2006 was great, and now we're back to feeling bad. I realize that with all of her health problems, there will probably be a lot of days when she doesn't feel good, but I'm so tired of seeing her like this. I take her back to the vet on Saturday for blood work to check her red count since she's been on Leukeran, so I'll talk to the vet . . . again . . . then.
 
denice

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,888
Purraise
13,227
Location
Columbus OH
One of my cats was thought to have chronic pancreatits at one time, turned out he didn't, but I had him to different vet's including a feline specialist and did a lot of research on it. In cats unfortunately it does often take the chronic form. Has she had the specific blood test for it? I know at least up until 2 years ago it was only done at Texas A&M. It has only been fairly recently that vets even realized that cats got pancreatitis. The only thing that really can be done is to try to control it with diet. The best treatment for it in other animals is a period of fasting to give the pancreas a chance to rest and recover, but in cats that isn't a good option because thier liver isn't very good at metabolizing fat and they can develop a potentially fatal problem with the liver.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
D

debskats

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
219
Purraise
2
Location
Iowa
Thanks, Denice. Yes, Katy had the PLI/TLI back in January I think. Texas A&M is still the only place they do it and it's an expensive test. When I take Katy in on Saturday, I'm going to mention maybe doing a repeat PLI since she's still not doing that well.

Katy is so picky about her food! I've had her for 12 years and in all that time she's only eaten 2 different kinds of food, both dry. She's on Eukanuba Low Residue which the vets say is supposed to be good for her IBD, but I don't necessarily agree with that. But, the problem is, I can't get her to eat anything else, and she'd starve before she'd touch canned food.
 
denice

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,888
Purraise
13,227
Location
Columbus OH
I fed the Eukanuba Low Residue for a while. I fed it to both of my cats and they did like it but it was expensive. It was expensive when I started with it and there was a big price jump while I was feeding it. The last bag I bought, I think it was a 14 lb bag, was $54.00.
 
M

midnightbride

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
95
Purraise
2
Location
Farmingdale, New York
Hi. One of my cats supposedly had Pancreatitis several years ago. He stopped eating and was throwing up white foamy stuff. He looked like he was dying! I say supposedly because after running every test they could think of, they said it was a mild case of Pancreatitis. He had soreness in his abdomen and even though the sonogram was not conclusive, that was the diagnosis they settled on. They had him at the vet for 3 days on an IV. He's been fine ever since.
 
K

kittycorner

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
470
Purraise
1
Location
Colorado
Melody is alot like Katie-she has chronic pancreatits and also had to have her left kidney removed 2 yrs ago due to a bad spay job. Anyway, she does have her flare ups of pancreatitis and I just treat her with fluids-usually sub-cutaneously and then Buprenex to treat the pain. I have found that keeping her on the same food is best and not to try and switch. Unfortunatly, in the last few days I have had to switch dry foods, due to food allergies in Uno (he is allergic to chicken and the brand of food I was feeding all of a sudden added chicken as their main ingredient). I am trying to do it slowly so she won't have any flare ups, but we will have to see.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7
D

debskats

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
219
Purraise
2
Location
Iowa
Originally Posted by kittycorner

Melody is alot like Katie-she has chronic pancreatits and also had to have her left kidney removed 2 yrs ago due to a bad spay job. Anyway, she does have her flare ups of pancreatitis and I just treat her with fluids-usually sub-cutaneously and then Buprenex to treat the pain. I have found that keeping her on the same food is best and not to try and switch. Unfortunatly, in the last few days I have had to switch dry foods, due to food allergies in Uno (he is allergic to chicken and the brand of food I was feeding all of a sudden added chicken as their main ingredient). I am trying to do it slowly so she won't have any flare ups, but we will have to see.
Click to expand...
How often does Melody have flare-ups? How long do they usually last?

Katy started getting sick in November (I thought it was in January, but just checked my records). It took us awhile to figure out that it was pancreatitis. She's been getting subcu fluids since February. She'd been getting better, so after talking to the vet I decreased them to every other day and then stopped about a week ago, but she got worse again, so I've been giving them every day for the last 3 days. I have some Buprenex here at home, but haven't had to use it because once I started her fluids, her abdominal pain seemed to improve pretty quickly.

I'm wondering if it's not the Leukeran that makes her feel bad. Ack! She's got so many things going on, I don't know what's causing what any more.

The vet at Iowa State thought that her pancreatitis had probably been smoldering for quite awhile and then got really bad . . . I wonder if that's why it's taking so long for her to feel better.
 
K

kittycorner

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
470
Purraise
1
Location
Colorado
DebsKats;1653389 said:
How often does Melody have flare-ups? How long do they usually last?

Melody has had flare ups for the last 2 years-they were much more frequent when it first started maybe every month or every other month. They can last anywhere from a few days to a week or more-in really bad cases I have had to board her at the vet and keep her on IV fluids, but her nickname is "Monster" and that is what she turns into when messed with at the vets office, only the vet can touch her-she will only allow the doctor to come in her cage, she bites all the techs and assistants. Now she is calming down and has been great for over a year but had 1 flare up back in December-early January when we moved to our new house. For her I think that stress brings hers on-whenever we would add a new animal or a big change to her world is when she would flare up. It could be stress for your kitty too or maybe all the meds she is on. Melody also has herpes along with only 1 kidney so she is a mess all together like Katie. I find that a few days of SQ fluids mixed with some vitamin B1 and the Buprenex get her back on track, but then again she is much younger than Katie-she is only 4 1/2 yrs old. Now that we have settled into our new house and have stopped adding kitties I think she will do fine untill June when I am expecting our 1st baby to arrive-that will really destroy her world I have a feeling. Who knows what stresses her out-she seems to be a little more standoffish since I have been pregnant.

I wish the best of luck to you and poor Katie-she is a sweet looking girl and I feel her pain with all her problems. Hang in there Katie!!!!
Click to expand...
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9
D

debskats

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
219
Purraise
2
Location
Iowa
Originally Posted by kittycorner

I wish the best of luck to you and poor Katie-she is a sweet looking girl and I feel her pain with all her problems. Hang in there Katie!!!!
Click to expand...
I hope the arrival of your baby doesn't throw Melody into a relapse. Our poor little girls . . . they have it kind of rough, don't they? Thank you so much for all the info.
 
K

kittycorner

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
470
Purraise
1
Location
Colorado
Anything I can do to help-that is why I became a vet tech-to help our 4-legged friends out. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help ease poor Katies troubles. Melody and I send healing vibes your way!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top