My 12 year old chubby cat has suddenly lost her appetite and is sleeping constantly

@catwoman707 -- how is your krissy doing?

Right about the same time that you posted this, I was thinking I really need to update what's going on lately.

So vet diagnosed her from her blood results with likely uti. But not the lower, probably an upper which involves kidney inflammation type uti because of her lack of symptoms as with typical uti's, straining to urinate, etc and her excessive drinking and peeing.

So she was put on clavamox but after 6 days began vomiting. I mean badly, she vomited anything that went into her tummy, including water.

15 times that first day....

No eating at all, and I had to take her beloved water away too for about 5 hours until she settled down a bit.

Gave her pepcid, skipped 2 doses of clav, and she seemed to be better.

Put her back on clav, with pepcid too, 3 doses later (yesterday) she woke me early in the am with the sound of vomiting again. Probably another 10-12 times yesterday. Ugh..

So now she is off of clav. Today she is so much better again, and we are not going back to clavamox.

I did get a second opinion by showing a vet her blood results from last Dec and this last one, as well as her symptoms.

He said it does look like it is likely a uti (upper) which is called silent pyelonephritis. The silent is due to lack of the standard type symptoms.

He also said she might be sensitive to clav because with her eos high, she might have eosinphilic gastritis. Remember last Dec how high her eos were?

Theyre high this time too but just not off the charts.

My concern is that these take longer for the antibiotics to cure and she didn't get it long enough, but clav is the med of choice for this so, now I don't know.

We will have to see after the wknd where from here.

Vet does think she should have an ultrasound, and I do too, but why are her ultrasounds $450.00!!!??! Wow, and I thought my other vet was pricey, but theirs is only $150.00 which is fairly cheap compared to most others.

So not so thrilled there.......so we will see soon.

I am always preoccupied with her though, I have been this entire time.

Thanks for asking!!

@catwoman707 -- oh, wow!!! that's a heck of a serious reaction, and a whole lot of vomiting.

i have no knowledge at all about eos at all. you're talking about eosinophils, right? my snick has IBD (so sensitive gastro system) and CKD, and she had what our vet diagnosed as an upper UTI last year. our vet prescribed zeniquin to treat it, because that medication is safe for CKD cats. for snick, the zeniquin was an effective treatment, and she hasn't had another UTI since. snick had no vomiting while taking the zeniquin. snick was on prednisone when she developed the UTI, and the prednisone left her immune system suppressed (so she was vulnerable to developing infections, etc). there may very well be a better medication to treat krissy's upper UTI with her eos being high. i would have done just like you did, stop giving the clavamox if there was that serious a reaction like your krissy had.

wow! vet costs must be higher where you live than in my area. i paid $250. for snick's ultrasound two years ago. that was some of the best money i've ever spent. we were able to see that snick had had pancreatitis before, that there was no significant thickening of her intestinal walls, and that snick's kidneys were very small (even for a cat her age, about 12 years old then). the ultrasound vet took a needle aspiration urine sample which i dropped off at our regular vet's office on the way home. from the ultrasound and the urine sample, our vet was able to diagnose the "beginnings of kidney issues". as a result, we started snick on sub-q's right away. so snick was being treated for CKD even before she got to the point where she was considered CKD. so, even though the ultrasound will be expensive, it can tell the vet really a lot about how krissy is doing inside.

So how was her upper uti diagnosed?

I'm feeling a bit uneasy about her diagnosis, and the vet can't confirm that this is what it is, but a couple things do point to this.

Was it urine/blood and what were her numbers, do you happen to know this?

Symptoms?

It might be me being hypersensitive to my cat who as I've mentioned is my love of all, but I have this feeling that there is something being missed with Krissy.

I agree that an ultrasound should likely be the next step, but what a pain, I would have to transfer her files to the vet that will do it for $150.00 then transfer them back to her current vet, and I'm not looking forward to that one.....don't want to insult anyone.

So you sub-q Snick daily? Even starting last year daily?

Line or pushing?

I can't imagine doing that everyday. I suppose Krissy would get used to it at some darn point! No chouice.

I ask about that because the vet, despite Krissy's kidney values looking fine, did mention we may even be looking at very early kidney disease. Of course I asked what that meant, she said fluids daily and 3-5 year life expectancy.

Yuck...

@catwoman707 -- my snick was straining in her litter box, and visiting the litter box many times with little urine output. in my snick's case, since she was immuno supressed (from being on prednisone) i knew not to delay in getting her to the vet's. snick started showing the symptoms on a friday evening and i called the vet when they opened on saturday, and i brought snick in that morning. if i remember correctly, snick didn't have enough urine inside her for the vet to do a needle aspiration to get a sample. but the vet did give me the zeniquin for snick, and that took care of it.

snick's upper UTI happened between our every two months blood work. no blood work was done for the upper UTI.

i don't know -- i put a lot of value on "gut feelings" of cat parents.

i would hope that the vets would understand. i'd put it to them this way, that that $300. you'll be saving will be $300. more you'll have to put towards krissy's medical needs. that's the way i put it to my vet when i started buying fluids/needles/giving sets in bulk for lower prices (per item) than my vet's.

i started out giving snick sub-q's 100 cc twice each week. after about 1 year her bun and creatinine were high enough that the vet had me change to 100cc every other day. we just increased the amount to 150cc (still every other day) this july. it's just coming up on 2 1/2 years since snick started sub-q's. snick's next blood draw appointment is on september 20th, as well as her annual physical and rabies and distemper shots. i plan on discussing with the vet my preference for when we increase the fluids again. i feel that 200cc every other day will be more uncomfortable for snick, and also feel that snick (well, snick's kidneys) will benefit more if we do 100cc every day instead of 200cc every other day. snick doesn't mind getting her fluids, just sometimes gets a bit impatient to be finished. i use a line/giving set for snick's sub-q's.

snick got used to getting her sub-q's pretty quickly. i know snick would much rather that i give her the sub-q's, than have the vet or vet tech do it. snick gets very stressed/upset at the vet's. it's not the physical exam or shots or anything like that, it's the blood draws. i'm fortunate that our vet allows me to stay with snick while they're doing the blood draws. i try to help snick stay as calm as possible by talking to her soothingly and just by staying close -- that's my part of the blood draws.

that could be. but if it is very early kidney disease, you've caught it much earlier than it's many times caught. i know that i'm very grateful that snick's CKD was caught so early. she's had two and a half really very good years so far.

Thank you.

I'm not feeling too happy today, Krissy is on no meds, I don't feel anything is any different with her, no drama per se, but we are at square one now, she eats fine, etc but she is so obsessed with water intake, she does pee fine though too, but what's going on, I don't know and don't think the vet is so sure either. Which is why I think next will be her ultrasound, I just have a very hard time with it costing $450.00, as money is tight with me not working.

Too bad cat rescue work doesn't pay right?!! Well not in green paper at least, and my money tree in the backyard died!

I think part of the big cost difference is that my vet has a technician come in to do it rather than her doing it.

I hate this, I can't concentrate on things so well with constantly having the preoccupation of what is wrong with my Krissy.

@catwoman707 -- that your krissy is so obsessed with water intake sounds to me like a definite symptom. i understand -- money is very tight with me too (a combination of being low income, the costs of snick's medical needs, and home improvements costs). i'd be leaning towards the $150 ultrasound rather than the $450 ultrasound too.

yes, it really is too bad that cat rescue work doesn't earn income.

i understand...

Okay, got the results today from the ultrasound.

I will copy/paste the report then say what the vet said about it during our phone conversation tonight.

Problems/Diagnoses:

1. Diffuse GI mucosal infiltrative disease
2. Acute on chronic pancreatic inflammation with cyst
3. Prominent mesenteric lymphadenopathy
4. Chronic vomiting: see 1 and 2

OBJECTIVE FINDINGS AND EVALUATION:

Recheck abdominal ultrasound revealed a moderate sized, thin walled urinary bladder. No masses or calculi noted.

Kidneys: L: 3.4 cm, R: 3.7 cm in length. Mild blunting of calices. Small cortical infarcts bilaterally with decreased corticomedullary differentiation. No pelvic dilation. Static.

Spleen: within normal limits for architecture and echogenicity.

GI mucosa diffusely thickened with edema: 1.1-1.3 mm serosa, 1.8-2.5 mm mucosa. No distinct mass lesions.

Pancreas: enlarged R limb and body with hypoechoic cyst in R limb: 6.3 mm. Thickened, hyperechoic associated mesentery as well.

Liver: normal in size with sharp lobes. Diffusely hypoechoic, homogeneous parenchyma with mild biliary tract fibrosis. Normal sized gall bladder, no inspissation.

Prominent mesenteric lymph nodes: 1.2 x 0.6 cm and 1 cm diameter typical.

No ascites.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Ultrasound study documented diffuse GI mucosal infiltrative disease with hypoechoic layering and prominent mesenteric lymph nodes. These findings are most supportive of IBD with nodal reaction. Biopsies with histology required for definitive diagnosis and to rule out occult lymphoma.

Concurrent inflammation of the pancreas was documented as well with changes consistent with both acute as well as chronic scarring and cyst formation.

It cannot be determined on gross findings alone whether the pancreatic or GI disease or a combination of both is responsible for vomiting in this patient. However, based on the gross ultrasound findings, both diseases appear to be active at this time and contributing to the clinical signs.

1. Consider performing VDI-TK test to screen for lymphoma (www.vetdiag.com). This test is not very sensitive but IS very specific. If test is normal or negative then it is NOT helpful in differentiating neoplasia from normal. However, if the test is positive supporting neoplasia then there is a 90% chance in similar cases that this cat has lymphoma.
2. Try initially treating GI disease with dietary modification without immunosuppressive therapy. This approach will also address therapy for any pancreatic inflammation.

                  i. Recommend feeding 100% cooked turkey and turkey babyfood                           ad lib while clinically vomiting. This diet must be eaten well to be                             used even short-term. Continue to feed the exclusionary diet until                            there has been no vomiting for several weeks. At that time                                               gradually wean over to a complete purchased diet with a novel                          protein such as Blue Buffalo turkey and potato or Wellness canned                         turkey diets. Avoid mixing protein sources by feeding multiple                                     diets.

                  ii.  Chronic Pepcid therapy.

                  iii.  Chronic Baytril or Marbofloxacin therapy for 30 days. If doing                         well at that time then consider pulse therapy of 2 weeks ON/2                                  weeks OFF for several cycles.

                  iv.  Fortiflora or similar probiotic

                  v.  SQ fluids if significant vomiting noted.

  C. If vomiting continues despite above then pursue multiple GI           biopsies with endoscopy or exploratory laparotomy for definitive       diagnosis.

  D.  If biopsies are not elected then recommend:

i.Prednisone (5 mg): Give 1 tab, twice a day indefinitely. If doing very well for 14-30 days then try to slowly decrease the Prednisone every 30-60 days to lowest effective dose.

ii.Leukeran (2 mg): Give 1 tab, ONCE A WEEK for life. May be increased to twice a week if vomiting continues and the increase in dose is well tolerated.

iii.While on Leukeran check a CBC every 30 days.

iv.Continue feeding novel protein diet.

v.Continue Fortiflora

Now, the vet who performed the ultrasound is one of the best according to several who highly recommended her, so I went for the $450.00 one, although I'm going to make pmts.

She was not aware that Krissy doesn't vomit, so omit #4.

My vet said tonight that to summarize, Krissy has inflammation going on from pancreatitis, IBD possibly due to a food allergy/intolerance, which personally I think is why the pancreatitis too, and lymph nodes are inflammed, however the vet doing the ultrasound did not feel this was lymphoma, but an inflammatory reaction to something else, like allergic.

Remember, her last blood test revealed very high eosinophils, reacting to an allergy. Left untreated it created all this mess in her. My interpretation at least. AND my fault. I just had no idea what to feed her.

Now she wants to get Krissy on Blue Buffalo Basics, dry turkey and potato, and canned same.

Baytril for a month and fortiflora.

Oh lawdy....Krissy is NOT going to take o this well. But it is critical that she eats enough calories.

Just need to figure out how I can get her enticed.

I know zip about all this really.

Poor Krissy, my bunny girl. 

I must say, it could have been worse......

Anyone want to chime in here with experiences feel free please!

@catwoman707 -- poor krissy!

my snick is a very picky eater, and i've found ways to entice her to eat well. a couple of snick's favorites are to have a few pieces of dry food placed on top of her wet food, and/or to have some freeze dried chicken (or turkey) protein treats crumbled and sprinkled over her wet food. the freeze dried protein treats are just meat, nothing added to them at all.

mickNsnicks2mom said:

 
@catwoman707 -- poor krissy!

my snick is a very picky eater, and i've found ways to entice her to eat well. a couple of snick's favorites are to have a few pieces of dry food placed on top of her wet food, and/or to have some freeze dried chicken (or turkey) protein treats crumbled and sprinkled over her wet food. the freeze dried protein treats are just meat, nothing added to them at all.

Click to expand...

Does Snick have pancreatitis and/or ibd/ibs?

I went and bought Blue Buffalo Basics for sensitive stomach, it is also limited ingredient, HOWEVER, dummy me didn't notice it is not grain free, which I believe is important in getting the inflammation down again.

I don't know, I'm lost and haven't heard from anyone regarding these issues and how to care for her.

catwoman707 said:

 
Does Snick have pancreatitis and/or ibd/ibs?

I went and bought Blue Buffalo Basics for sensitive stomach, it is also limited ingredient, HOWEVER, dummy me didn't notice it is not grain free, which I believe is important in getting the inflammation down again.

I don't know, I'm lost and haven't heard from anyone regarding these issues and how to care for her.

Click to expand...

yes, snick has IBD, and has had pancreatitis in the past.

when my two, mickey and snick (litter mates), were both diagnosed with IBD i fed them natural balance LID (limited ingredient diet) wet and dry foods (and nothing else) for over a month (maybe more like 3 months). i chose the salmon & green pea flavor, because my two always loved fish. but it comes in chicken, salmon, duck, and venison flavors too -- in the limited ingredient diet, both wet/canned and dry. my two had diarrhea as the main symptom, sometimes explosive diarrhea. it took almost exactly one month for the diarrhea to taper down and completely stop. natural balance LID is a pate type canned food. it does have pea flour as an ingredient, but that's not a grain.

i've seen the natural balance LID cat food suggested to quite a few people whose cat has been suspected of having either allergic reactions/sensitivities to foods or IBD/IBS. after the initial symptoms have settled down and stayed settled down for maybe 2 1/2 or 3 months or so, some people have carefully tried other canned or dry cat foods -- to give a little variety for the cat. but with IBD/IBS cats it's very important to slowly transition over to new wet or dry foods. i think we do this partly because we are very cautious and careful to avoid any flare-ups whenever possible.

something i do too is to always have several jars of meat stage 1 baby food on hand, just in case/so i'm prepared should a flare up happen.

@catwoman707 -- also, for IBD/IBS cats it's many/most times suggested to try a "novel" protein -- like duck or venison. if i'm not mistaken, this is because cats can sometimes develop sensitivities over time to proteins and the duck or venison are proteins that many times are new to the cat -- so they wouldn't have developed a sensitivity to them.

when introducing a new protein it may take mixing it into a protein (cat food) that the cat is familiar with and likes, because cats may not recognize the new protein as a (safe) food source.

i've gotten my snick through several flare-ups in the over 5 years she's had the IBD, some of them more severe. i've learned some things to do to calm her flare up, and some ways that have been effective in enticing snick to eat what she needs to to get her past the flare up. however, i wasn't able to entice snick to eat much of her renal canned food or even get her to eat it very often. snick is an extremely picky eater.

there's a website that has very good videos, particularly their video on gastrointestinal diseases in cats, that was very helpful for me when my two cats were diagnosed with IBD -- http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/ the link to the video on the webpage is in the bottom right section "medical conditions". the video covers everything from changes of diet and related diarrhea/vomiting, to food allergies/sensitivities, to ibd/ibs and is designed for pet owners -- so it's easier to understand than technical veterinarian info. i've recommended this video many times. it may be helpful to you.

I'm sorry that the results of the ultrasound are pointing towards IBD and pancreatitis.    Food allergies can wreck havoc on their little bodies.

Blue Buffalo Basics does have a grain-free version (http://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat-food/limited-ingredient-blue-basics/basics-adult-grain-free-turkey-and-potato-canned-cat-food/), but I will say that none of my cats like any Blue Buffalo food.     There's also Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Diets. Nutro Natural Choice Soft Loaf Turkey is pretty limited, too. Sebastian did well on Royal Canin Selected Protein PR (pea and rabbit) and I still offer it in rotation. It's also the food that seems to settle his stomach when he doesn't feel well. He is my pancreatitis kitty, but he is a good eater when he feels well. I couldn't even imagine if he was fussy on top of his issues.

Boo, however, IS fussy and has food allergies, and it's a struggle every day to get him to eat non-offending foods. A novel protein topper is usually needed. I'm currently exploring some of the freeze-dried raw foods since he did eat some when I did some experimental offerings.

I know it's frustrating, but you have to start somewhere. If turkey is what they recommend, then stick with turkey-based foods with no other proteins and as limited ingredient as possible. You may have to go through several brands before finding something she'll eat. You probably won't have as much of an issue with dry food as the wet. I did eventually stopped giving Sebastian dry food because it was difficult for him to digest, and he does much better on wet and home-cooked.

Here are some [relatively] limited ingredient canned turkey foods that I can think of off hand:

Blue Buffalo Wilderness Turkey (http://bluebuffalo.com/natural-cat-...ess/wilderness-turkey-recipe-canned-cat-food/)

Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey (http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/can/LIDTurkey)

Nutro Natural Choice Soft Loaf Turkey (http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-food/natural-choice-cat-food/canned/soft-turkey.aspx)

By Nature 95% Turkey & Turkey Liver (http://www.bynaturepetfoods.com/cat-food/grain-free/95-percent-turkey-turkey-liver.php)

Natural Planet Organics Turkey (http://naturalplanetorganics.com/in...lanet-organics/canned-recipes/canned-for-cats)

Thanks so much @mickNsnicks2mom  and @GoHolistic  !! This is good info

I feel so confused about the whole thing, I mean, I can't help but believe all this inflammation is linked into an allergic reaction to food. But what food?  Is IBD and Pancreatitis treated the same?

How will I know when she has her insides settled down since she doesn't have any issues now with eating or diarrhea/vomiting?

How will I know when she has a flare up if she doesn't show signs?

I read that the pancreatitis causes scar tissue and the pancreas to not work the way it should. 

Can anyone please tell me, just how bad is what she has? I mean future? Is it difficult to manage? Go on to create other health issues? Shorten her life?

As for the turkey her vet recommends, I am worried about it being so close to chicken, what if it's chicken in her current diet that is the problem? Then she will continue to be inflammed and .......okay I just realized I am starting to sound neurotic................

Sorry, but it seems to me that while it is not as awful as cancer, it's not all that lightweight either, or am I thinking too much ahead of it?

Ideally I want her on canned only, but she might not agree, because I already know I am not going to get her to eat grain free limited ingredient turkey canned anything.........she's a very picky girl.

That's why I have been feeding her fancy feast classics. The chicken split in the am with my 2 girls, and usually a fish variety at dinner, then 1/4 cup of dry during the day. (canyon creek)

I think it won't be hard finding a decent tasting dry limited turkey but the canned is going to be tough.

So is it basically finding a grain free good quality turkey based protein food?  What would be the diff between say Wellness Turkey (which she will not eat) and Turkey classics fancy feast?

Sounds like a dumb question but really, I don't know what I'm looking for particularly. I mean are there other ingredients I want to avoid? Is it a matter of the more natural, grain free, turkey food or what?

Thanks, I know, what a crazy person! I just don't get all of this. My vet has a way of talking to me like someone who already knows all of this she tells me. No, I'm a kitten expert, not a senior cat expert.

Never dealt with pancreatitis or IBD personally.

@catwoman707 -- i think that there may be similarities between the treatments for IBD/IBS and pancreatitis, how they're treated.

my understanding is that cats gastro systems take a while to fully settle down again. while the symptoms of a flare up may have subsided, their gastro system can still be "tender" or sensitive for a while longer. so i think one goal for us is to keep kitty's gastro system calm and do what we can to try to prevent another flare up. something else to work on in these early days of krissy's condition is to learn to recognize krissy's particular signs/symptoms of when she's starting to experience gastro upset/the beginnings of upset that could lead to a flare up. part of doing this will be relying on your gut instinct, because you know krissy the best and you'll just know/sense when she's not quite feeling her best or that something is "off". i understand your concern, i had very similar concerns when my two were diagnosed with IBD. the beginnings of gastro upset can be kind of subtle, but my snick will sometimes want food and then not eat much or do little nibblings here and there and still act hungry, will want to eat less than her normal amount of food, will have some vomiting or diarrhea (starts out being just a little/not too concerning but can gradually increase in severity). for my snick the vomiting may start out as vomiting some food but as the gastro upset increases it can progress to vomiting clear fluid, to vomiting yellowish colored fluid, then yellow bile vomit, then yellow bile or clearish colored with tinges of blood in it and the frequency of the vomiting can increase. with snick the beginnings of gastro upset can be diarrhea, which can gradually increase in severity. i feel the key thing is to treat as soon as you start seeing any symptoms/signs. be aware every day and just keep an eye on litter box output and how well krissy is eating, and if you see signs that concern you or you get the gut feeling that something is "off" or just not quite right have pepcid ac and stage 1 jar baby food ready. i have a very good relationship with my vet, and am able to call and discuss symptoms or ask questions as they come up or as needed. i'm very careful to only call when i really need to.

this is a hard time for people whose cat(s) have just been diagnosed with either food allergies/sensitivities or IBD/IBS. it's the period of time where i felt overwhelmed and worried that i wouldn't catch the signs of a gastro upset brewing in my cats, and that i may not know what to do to be able to calm the gastro upset myself.

my understanding is that this is a condition that needs to be managed. IBD/IBS can be progressive. with my mickey, his IBD never progressed to the next stage during the 3+ years he had it before he crossed the bridge. but for my snick, her IBD has progressed/moved to the next stage twice. snick had occasional flare ups until mickey died, at which point she had an extremely severe flare up which at that time i thought i might lose her. i was considering giving her "the final kindness" at one point, but with the help of our vet did pull snick through that flare up. that was one point where snick's IBD moved on to the next stage, and i started giving snick a maintenance dose of pepcid ac.

i think how difficult to manage the condition is, is very individual (depends on the individual cat, and how their version of the condition presents itself and progresses). once you've got krissy's gastro upset settled down, the goal would be to keep it settled down. treat flare ups as soon/early as possible. and it's very important to work closely with your vet on this, and with a vet you trust.

going on to cause other health issues and possibly shortening their life. i think it's possible, but you're treating early and are willing to do the things your vet recommends and learn to care for krissy's condition. you're doing everything right for treating krissy's condition to get good or very good results. but, as with all medical conditions, there's no certainty. my snick was diagnosed 5+ years ago and while her IBD has progressed it's still being managed effectively.

i would suggest discussing your concerns about turkey for your krissy with your vet. food allergies can be complicated to figure out, but trying a "novel" protein might not be a bad idea. it's very important that krissy likes/will eat it though. as @GoHolistic said, it might take trying different brands (of either turkey or a novel protein) to find a food that krissy likes and will eat. maybe that's part of the reason your vet suggested turkey for krissy...? because it's close to/similar to chicken, which krissy does like?

in regards to possibly having krissy on a wet food only diet. i switched my snick's dry food, she had been on a mostly wet food diet anyway, over to almost all freeze dried protein treats. i made this switch for reasons unrelated to snick's IBD -- she was starting to develop diabetes as a side effect of long term prednisone. now snick only gets about 8-10 kibble per day, and many times doesn't eat all of those offered. i serve her pieces of freeze dried chicken or turkey treats in her dry food dish. but there are beef freeze dried protein treats, and they may make other proteins in freeze dried treats form too. these treats are just real meat, freeze dried, no additives or preservatives. i buy mine at calvet supply dot com -- the best prices that i've been able to find. these freeze dried protein treats can be crumbled and used as toppers for wet food too, to entice kitty to eat better the foods we want them/they need to eat. each morning i take the leftover protein treats in snick's dry food dish and crumble them up to use as wet food topper for her.

yes, a big part of changing krissy's food is going to be finding a food that is the protein you/your vet want for her/her condition and that is as grain free as possible, while still being a food that krissy likes and will eat well. i would say the biggest and most important difference between the wellness turkey (which krissy will not eat) and the fancy feast classics turkey (which she will eat) is krissy's individual taste preferences -- she doesn't like one and she likes the other. personally, i try to avoid carageenan. my understanding is that there is a line of thought that carageenan can cause gastro upset and possibly IBD, however there is no proof of this. i'd say, start out with a limited ingredient diet which has basic ingredients you're (and your vet is) comfortable with. one thing that the vet who diagnosed my mickey and snick's IBD said to me is to "pick a food and stick with it". switching foods from one to another brand or protein at this point could cause continued gastro upset, so we pick the best food we can that is what the vet recommends or ok's and that our cat will eat well.

and too, your vet is "feeling her way" through treating krissy's newly diagnosed condition just like you are.

I can't even begin to describe the number of hours (months!) I spent researching Sebastian's pancreatitis and possible treatments. And it would be quite a project for me to summarize in one post.    @mickNsnicks2mom has some good advice. I'll try to add on.

It might take quite a bit of trial and error to pinpoint Krissy's allergies while simultaneously trying to find something she will eat. Among the diet trial with Sebastian, I accidentally found out he's allergic to guar gum, which may or may not have contributed to his GI issues. Now, I say accidentally because I wasn't looking for it, and it did take some investigation, back-tracking, and referring to notes. Take notes! I can't tell you how many times going back and being able to look at his chart has helped me pinpoint what was a problem for him. Doing so helped me to realize that the majority of his pancreatitis flares have a trigger, and therefore I am able to avoid or eliminate those triggers to the best of my ability.

At the beginning of Sebastian's diagnosis, I went about treatment for both IBD and pancreatitis, even though only pancreatitis was confirmed. I do think treatment is similar. Having been doing this for over a year, I now primarily focus on anti-inflammatory treatments and pancreatic health since pancreatitis is the dominant ailment.

You will need to be in tune with Krissy to understand how she's feeling. What's normal and not normal for her. Sebastian has "sick spots" where he only lays when he doesn't feel well. If he's grooming and picking his toenails with his teeth, he feels pretty good. If he greets me at the door when I come home from work, he's doing okay. If he's not there, something's wrong. If he's under the bed, that's really bad. These kind of things, and often it's the little things that will clue you in.

Pancreatitis can cause scar tissue with recurring inflammation that is not controlled. It depends on the severity I think. Sebastian's pancreatitis could be pretty active if we allowed it, which is why we're so aggressive with treatment. Our first and foremost goal is to keep the inflammation down.

I agree that a novel protein diet, like rabbit or venison, is usually the course of action. But, again, it's all dependent on her willingness to eat it. You can only play tough for so long. You'll need to learn to read ingredient labels. Both Wellness Turkey and Fancy Feast Turkey contain other proteins.

Here's a good [long] post from @LDG on the subject of IBD. It's going to seem overwhelming, but I encourage you to try to read through it slowly and carefully.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/278273/the-well-known-problem-of-ibd-or-lymphoma/90#post_3576295

@mickNsnicks2mom  and @GoHolistic  your posts and information are so valuable to me, so thanks so very much to you both!

It actually makes me feel a bit less lost, or alone in this....

One worry I'm def having is I believe this has been going on for nearly a year now, and only recently progressed to show signs that she has something really going on. Which tells me her pancreas is already being a bit compromised. I don't know, her blood results looked pretty good to me as far as pancreatic activity and levels, do you agree?

The other 2 biggies here are that she doesn't clearly show signs, no diarrhea ever, and the vomiting was only for a few days about 6 weeks ago when I knew something was terribly wrong.

Her daily behavior is that she does seem a bit off, not her norm, and her water drinking obsession, which btw is beginning to slow down a bit I notice, despite that nothing has changed in her diet just yet.

Okay so I stopped giving her temptation treats before bed and now give her z-gees, grain free turkey treats, which she likes.

I bought the wrong Blue Buffalo Basics, so today I returned that, but they didn't carry the grain free.

Tmrw it's off to petco to see what I can find.

THANKFULLY Petco will take food back if she won't eat it. I discovered this back when I switched her to all canned, grain free. What a joke, she didn't like anything but ff classics........ugh.

I saw what you meant too about ff having other proteins, I read the label and it has fish too.

What is progressing to stage 2 of pancreatitis?

So bottom line with the food here, one single protein, in a canned and a dry that she will eat?

Oh and grain free correct?

Regarding avoiding another flare up, how do I do that? Or is it a matter of getting her on the right food and sticking with that and only that?

@catwoman707 -- my understanding is that IBD/IBS is not easily/quickly diagnosed many times. there is no specific test for IBD/IBS, it many times/usually becomes the diagnosis when other medical conditions have been ruled out. you've done the right things all through this. you got your krissy to the vet's when you noticed symptoms, when she wasn't feeling well. tests were done, started. and as your vet ruled out other possible causes/medical conditions, the diagnosis was gradually brought down to pancreatitis and IBD.

i don't have much experience or knowledge about pancreatitis -- my snick has had it and we treated it, but weren't aware at that time that it was pancreatitis, so i'll leave your questions and info on that subject to @GoHolistic. i'm more experienced and knowledgeable about IBD/IBS.

ok, so it looks like you've identified that seeming a bit "off", not her norm is a symptom. and i think maybe excessive water drinking could be a symptom too. especially since now that krissy's gastro upset/flare up seems to be calming down she's drinking less water.

that's so great that you found a grain free turkey treat that krissy likes!!!

"So bottom line with the food here, one single protein, in a canned and a dry that she will eat?

Oh and grain free correct?"     yes. a grain free turkey limited ingredient diet food (in wet and dry) would be great -- but that's only if krissy will eat it/enjoys it. you might consider buying a can or two in several brands, so you can see which (if any) krissy likes.

"Regarding avoiding another flare up, how do I do that? Or is it a matter of getting her on the right food and sticking with that and only that?"      getting krissy on the right food and sticking with that and only that is a big part of avoiding another flare up. i believe that maintaining a home environment that is as stress free, calm as possible for krissy can also help. and keeping an eye on krissy, her behavior (if she starts hiding, sitting in the "loaf" or "hen" position), her appetite, her litter box output, and if she starts drinking more water again (starts being obsessed with drinking water) -- these signs might give you a heads up that your girl isn't feeling well and she might be heading towards a flare up. if you start seeing signs that could mean she's heading for a flare up, watch her even more closely. and again, you know your krissy best. so trust your "gut feelings". since krissy doesn't show definite signs like vomiting or diarrhea until she's having an actual (full on, full blown) flare up, when you notice that she's looking like she's feeling "off" or worse i'd call the vet and discuss possibly giving krissy some pepcid ac. as you become more experienced with this new condition with your girl, you'll learn/know the things that help prevent flare ups for krissy and the signs of how her gastro upset progresses (towards a flare up). for now, i'd rely on the guidance of your vet more. but sometimes no matter how watchful we are, no matter that krissy sticks to only the foods she should eat, a flare up can happen. sometimes it's not something we can prevent, but just make sure we start treating it as soon as we catch the signs and get krissy through the flare up.

Thanks again @mickNsnicks2mom  .

Well I seem to have both issues to deal with for Krissy, so any info that might be helpful on IBD is appreciated!

So a question, what determines whether it is IBD or IBS? Do you know?

Some kittie's IBD has no connection with diet.  That is the way Patches is.  I never did figure out a diet connection.  His first flare was at 18 months old, I went through every protein and food option, there simply was no rhyme or reason to his flares.  The only thing I found was an intolerance for beef.  The only thing I have been able to control his IBD with is a steroid.  He has been on one for almost 4 years now.  I remember Carolina said there was evidence that weather changes, specifically pressure changes caused flares in some kitties.  The only definitive way to diagnose IBD is with a biopsy and there can be a false negative with that.  A biopsy can't be done with reliable results while a kitty is on a steroid.