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- Feb 14, 2014
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I'm going to *try* to not get long-winded here.
My 14 1/2 year old cat Edwin was losing weight. He's normally a big boy- in weight and stature- was 18 pounds at his heaviest. He's now down to 10. He had a full blood panel done, all was normal. He began vomiting, wouldn't eat, went back to the vet, had an ultrasound and pancreas snap test done. All organs looked fine, thyroid was fine, but his stomach looked strange, and he has mild pancreatitis. The vet said she could do a surgical biopsy of his stomach, but that in 85-90% of the cases, it's stomach cancer.
Brought him home, put him on strictly wet food, dosed him with Cypro and Cerenia, and things started looking up- I honestly thought he only had a couple of weeks left in him- the vet thought maybe two months. I tried several different foods, and he really liked Wellness Core kitten wet. All was great until he seemed to develop a urinary issue, which he has a history of. He normally eats Blue Buffalo Wilderness wet and dry, and has done great on it for several years with no urinary problems. I think the kitten food threw a monkey wrench into the works. I gave him a dose of Metacam, and miraculously he came out of it, but no more kitten food for him. Put him back on BB wet strictly, and he will barely touch dry food anymore. As a side note, he gets 1/8 tsp. Miralax in his food for constipation issues, but I quit giving him that when he was on strictly wet food because I didn't think he needed it anymore. After a few days of soft stool, everything leveled out, and he was pooping like a champ.
He really started perking up- started playing again, bathing himself, picking on other cats, etc. We had a few nice days here in NE, so I took him into the backyard on a harness, and that seemed to have worked miracles on him- I mean that seriously. I was starting to wonder if he actually doesn't have stomach cancer (holding onto that 10-15% ), and that his symptoms are more the pancreatitis. He's been vomiting a lot of hair lately- A LOT. I thought maybe it's because he's bathing more now that he's feeling better. I can barely walk to the kitchen without him flying off his perch wanting fed. On his best days he goes through three 5.5oz cans of food, and seems to be gaining weight.
Then this morning I found about a 2" poop on his blanket. It was light beige, and looked like it'd been there for a week (which it hadn't). Threw it away, washed his bedding. Later I found a small piece in the litter box with mucous-y blood on it, but the feces looked really old, so I picked it up and pressed it between my fingers, and it was like barely compressed sawdust. It was dry as a bone, and just crumbled. He had a bad day of vomiting today as well. I need to add that he drinks a lot of water, and I add water to his wet food as well, so as far as I can tell, he's not dehydrated. His blood sugar levels were fine when he had his panel.
I did a bunch of reading on the internet, and found out that when a dog/cat is fed a high protein diet, and especially a raw diet, this is typically what their feces looks like. I later found another large BM in the litter box that I know was his because his are GIGANTIC (side note- we have several cats, lots of cat boxes around the house, so trying to catch someone using one is difficult without following them all day). I picked it up and again examined it. It was closer to normal in color, still on the dry side, but not like the other I referred to.
I should also add that the timeline between him being diagnosed and today is exactly three weeks.
My questions are as follows:
-Has anyone had a cat with pancreatitis that also had urinary issues and couldn't eat regular food, and if so, what did you feed to mix it up?
-Has anyone on strictly high-protein wet food diets experienced this type of sawdust feces?
-Has anyone had a combination of stomach cancer and pancreatitis?
-Is there anything I'm missing here? Any help/advice?
I feel like I have more questions I want to ask, but it's late and my brain is fuzzy. I have an almost 20-year-old cat that's trying to check out on me, and between the two of these guys, I'm emotionally exhausted. Thank you in advance to all that reply- I welcome all of your experience.
My 14 1/2 year old cat Edwin was losing weight. He's normally a big boy- in weight and stature- was 18 pounds at his heaviest. He's now down to 10. He had a full blood panel done, all was normal. He began vomiting, wouldn't eat, went back to the vet, had an ultrasound and pancreas snap test done. All organs looked fine, thyroid was fine, but his stomach looked strange, and he has mild pancreatitis. The vet said she could do a surgical biopsy of his stomach, but that in 85-90% of the cases, it's stomach cancer.
Brought him home, put him on strictly wet food, dosed him with Cypro and Cerenia, and things started looking up- I honestly thought he only had a couple of weeks left in him- the vet thought maybe two months. I tried several different foods, and he really liked Wellness Core kitten wet. All was great until he seemed to develop a urinary issue, which he has a history of. He normally eats Blue Buffalo Wilderness wet and dry, and has done great on it for several years with no urinary problems. I think the kitten food threw a monkey wrench into the works. I gave him a dose of Metacam, and miraculously he came out of it, but no more kitten food for him. Put him back on BB wet strictly, and he will barely touch dry food anymore. As a side note, he gets 1/8 tsp. Miralax in his food for constipation issues, but I quit giving him that when he was on strictly wet food because I didn't think he needed it anymore. After a few days of soft stool, everything leveled out, and he was pooping like a champ.
He really started perking up- started playing again, bathing himself, picking on other cats, etc. We had a few nice days here in NE, so I took him into the backyard on a harness, and that seemed to have worked miracles on him- I mean that seriously. I was starting to wonder if he actually doesn't have stomach cancer (holding onto that 10-15% ), and that his symptoms are more the pancreatitis. He's been vomiting a lot of hair lately- A LOT. I thought maybe it's because he's bathing more now that he's feeling better. I can barely walk to the kitchen without him flying off his perch wanting fed. On his best days he goes through three 5.5oz cans of food, and seems to be gaining weight.
Then this morning I found about a 2" poop on his blanket. It was light beige, and looked like it'd been there for a week (which it hadn't). Threw it away, washed his bedding. Later I found a small piece in the litter box with mucous-y blood on it, but the feces looked really old, so I picked it up and pressed it between my fingers, and it was like barely compressed sawdust. It was dry as a bone, and just crumbled. He had a bad day of vomiting today as well. I need to add that he drinks a lot of water, and I add water to his wet food as well, so as far as I can tell, he's not dehydrated. His blood sugar levels were fine when he had his panel.
I did a bunch of reading on the internet, and found out that when a dog/cat is fed a high protein diet, and especially a raw diet, this is typically what their feces looks like. I later found another large BM in the litter box that I know was his because his are GIGANTIC (side note- we have several cats, lots of cat boxes around the house, so trying to catch someone using one is difficult without following them all day). I picked it up and again examined it. It was closer to normal in color, still on the dry side, but not like the other I referred to.
I should also add that the timeline between him being diagnosed and today is exactly three weeks.
My questions are as follows:
-Has anyone had a cat with pancreatitis that also had urinary issues and couldn't eat regular food, and if so, what did you feed to mix it up?
-Has anyone on strictly high-protein wet food diets experienced this type of sawdust feces?
-Has anyone had a combination of stomach cancer and pancreatitis?
-Is there anything I'm missing here? Any help/advice?
I feel like I have more questions I want to ask, but it's late and my brain is fuzzy. I have an almost 20-year-old cat that's trying to check out on me, and between the two of these guys, I'm emotionally exhausted. Thank you in advance to all that reply- I welcome all of your experience.