Please help! Cat with pancreatitis won't eat or drink

Please help! My 6 yo little boy SHD was officially diagnosed with pancreatitis and continues to not eat despite being on anti nausea, appetite stimulant, and reflux meds. This has been going on for 6 days. He has had several rounds of subq fluids and I have been force feeding him a little the past 2 days. What little hope I have left is going out the window. What should I do?! Thank you!!

I should add that other than no eating or drinking, his personality is there! And he's purring up a storm! Anybody have experience with this? How long did it last?

get in touch with your vet. he may need pain medication also. 

One step ahead of you! Husband is at Vet now grabbing pain meds. Thanks!

Anybody have experience with this?

very good. i hope that helps. 

Thank you! Me too, I'm so worried about him. It's just so weird because he's normal other than not eating or drinking.

Anyone else have pancreatitis experience? Any feedback would be appreciated...thank you!

Here is a link to a support group who can help you. They have lots of experience there

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Feline_Pancreatitis_Support/info

Oh my gosh thank you so much! Just requested to join

@BandZLee, how was your kitty diagnosed? Is he lethargic or acting normal? How is he reacting when you offer food? Is he sniffing the food and walking away or taking a bite and spitting it out? Pancreatitis is painful and makes them feel very nauseous. What anti-nausea you are giving him?

My cat Sebastian has had chronic pancreatitis for over 1.5 years now. His first acute attack was severe and he was hospitalized. I had to start assist feeding after four days of not eating. He would still only take one or two bites when food was offered (and I tried everything), so I ended up having to assist feed for two weeks or so until I was comfortable he was eating enough on his own. Our vet did offer a feeding tube, but Sebastian took the assist feedings relatively well, so we stuck it out. Keep trying different foods, stinky foods, warming up the food, toppers, etc. You have to keep enticing him. In the meantime, he has to get his full caloric intake via assist feeding or you run the risk of him developing hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease).

This was my go-to document that I referenced a lot when it comes to treating feline pancreatitis: http://www.idexx.es/pdf/es_es/small...pec-fpl-treatment-for-feline-pancreatitis.pdf

Fluids are important. Sebastian was on an IV while at the hospital, and we continued with sub-q fluids at home. He still gets sub-q fluids every other day.

Thank you, very helpful! He is sniffing the food, seemingly interested, and then walks away He is on Cerenia and Zantac to help his tummy and is getting sub-q fluids every 2 days. He is also on a narcotic and mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant that's not working. I'm honestly losing hope. His personality is great, loving, just not eating or drinking on his own. Knock on wood, he hasn't vomited in 24 hours. He's been throwing up clear fluid and bile. Poor guy, I don't know how much of this he can take. And he's so young

BandZLee said:

Thank you, very helpful! He is sniffing the food, seemingly interested, and then walks away

He is on Cerenia and Zantac to help his tummy and is getting sub-q fluids every 2 days. He is also on a narcotic and mirtazapine as an appetite stimulant that's not working. I'm honestly losing hope. His personality is great, loving, just not eating or drinking on his own. Knock on wood, he hasn't vomited in 24 hours. He's been throwing up clear fluid and bile. Poor guy, I don't know how much of this he can take. And he's so young

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how long as he been taking it? any other appetite stimulants tried, such as cyproheptadine?

BandZLee said:

He is sniffing the food, seemingly interested, and then walks away

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This is often a sign of nausea. I know this all too well, unfortunately.

Sometimes things just take time. In my experience, the inflammation can come on in a matter of hours, but it can take days or weeks for the inflammation to go down.

You can also ask your vet about Zofran. It's another anti-nausea/anti-emetic, although it's typically very expensive. We have used this in conjunction with Cerenia during a bad flare.

My cat was just diagnosed a couple of days ago. She got sick over a week ago and I was assist feeding on the weekend only to have her bounce back a bit and eat on her own, to having to assist feed again. She's on pain meds, an anti-emetic, and has been up and down. It's been a roller coaster, that's for sure. I really hope your kitty gets better soon!

Thank you all so much! We have only tried mirtazapine. Going to doc for more subq fluids tomorrow, they are really worried about him. His pancreas enzyme levels were borderline on Thursday, not sky high by any means so I think we are on the upswing but between the Cerenia and Zantac I was hoping it would make his tummy better! I hope he gets better too

Syringe fed him some wet food tonight, hasn't thrown it up (yet) we've added all of our vet bills and it's nearing the $1K and he's still not better. I'm losing hope...

Encouraging news!! Took him in today for more subq fluids and the doc gave him a Valium injection to help his appetite and he ate some Royal Canin Recovery food right away! On his own!!!!! Still have a long way to go, but at least my hope is coming back! thank you all for the encouragement!

BandZLee said:

Encouraging news!! Took him in today for more subq fluids and the doc gave him a Valium injection to help his appetite and he ate some Royal Canin Recovery food right away! On his own!!!!! Still have a long way to go, but at least my hope is coming back!

thank you all for the encouragement!

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That's great!   I hope he's on the upswing.

This actually reminds me...stress affects Sebastian and could absolutely bring on a pancreatitis flare or make one worse. I keep his environment quiet and low stress and routines pretty consistent. When he's flaring or when I can predict potential stress that I can't control (i.e., construction work outside), I will refill the Feliway diffusers.

One time when Harley (up there in the corner) refused to drink for a couple of days, we filled the bath tub with water and dunked him for literally 1 second, keeping his head above water. He came out soaking wet, of course, and proceeded to spend the next hour licking every inch of his furry little body. He couldn't help but re-hydrate himself, whether he wanted to or not. Later that night, his appetite returned, and he started drinking on his own.  We kinda used his own vanity against him-- or actually for him in this case.