Hello, I'm a newbie here, mom to 3 kitties. I joined to see how others with cats with chronic pancreatitis were treating their babies. I'm afraid it's too late for my beautiful boy, Mr. B. He has stopped eating and can no longer take the cerenia that was such a huge part of controling this horrible disease. He was diagnosed 2 years ago this week. Initially they thought it was pancreatic cancer but ruled that out. However, he does have an abcess on his pancreas and there has always been a potential threat of it rupturing. At the time, the emergency vet said he should be euthanized if we chose not to do surgery to remove the abscess, even though the surgery had less than a 25% chance of success and would have cost a minimum $6000. We knew euthanasia was not an option until we had exhausted all other options. So we took him home and have been managing this painful disease for 2 years. Our standard treatment regimen has been Hills Science I/d dry, (he will not eat wet food at all!), 1/2 tablet of a digestive enzyme twice a day and 1/4 cerenia per day when he threw up. That worked fairly well for the first year. If he had a flare up, I would give him the cerenia for a day or two, and usually he would be back to normal eating habits in a few days. However, this last year he has had more frequent episodes that last longer and are harder to get over. Still he always managed to pull through. Giving the cerenia with a piller is always stressful. First of all, I'm giving it to a nauseous kitty - ok, he's 11, but aren't they always our babies? IF I managed to get it in him with out him immediately throwing it back up, I would sit with him for 50 minutes to make sure it stayed down. That's about the average time it would take to begin working. Our dose of cerenia is 1/4 tablet, smaller than a grain of rice. It often got stuck in the tip of the piller as I was trying to get it down his throat. Talk about upsetting us both!! If any of it got stuck in his mouth, he would immediately foam, drool and vomit. I tried wrapping it in a small ball of bread but that just takes even longer to get in his system. I tried crushing it and mixing with a bit of water then using a syringe, but he would choke and foam and immediately throw up. I have agonized for these 2 years trying to find a better way to get pills in. He won't eat treats so pill pockets, cheese or wet food, and even bits of meat are all no option. And of course he won't eat his food with powdered enzyme sprinkled on - that would be way too easy! He will only eat dry food. Now after reading all the previous posts in this thread, I see the suggestion of putting it into a small gel cap. BRILLIANT!! And so is the suggestion to coat with coconut oil. I wish I had learned that at the beginning of this journey. It would have saved me so many tears and both of us considerable heartache. Also I see that some of you are giving probiotics and omega 3. Those were never suggested and I hate to think they could have really helped my boy. And I feel like I should have been giving him a routine dose of antacid all along. I wonder if the Science I/D has been the best food? About 2 months ago, I had to go out of town for a few days for a family' emergency. I never leave because I have 2 special needs kitties, but this time I had to go. My boy was slowly recovering from a recent bout and I had been giving him the cerenia daily for a few days. To make sure he didn't relapse, I had my husband continue to give our boy the cerenia while I was gone. He probably had the cerenia for a total of 9 days in a row before we stopped. I was never told not to give it more than 5 consecutive days. What a mistake! Then a few weeks later when he had another episode, I gave him the cerenia as usual. This time, however, he hyper salivated for about 20 hours - the dose lasts 24. He was miserable and nauseous the whole time and hid in the closet. I took him to the vet the next day and he got a cerenia injection. Again, the hyper salivating for most of the 24 hours, and he was so sick and hid. He didn't throw up either time, but he felt terrible, and me, too! We've tried 3 other anti nausea medicines, but nothing works. The vet tried cerenia once again in a smaller dose -almost three weeks after the last dose -hoping it had been long enough and out of his system, but got similar results. Without being able to control the nausea, his condition has spiraled down hill. He has been feeling bad for over a week. He threw up so much for the first few days and nothing we tried really stopped it. Blood tests show everything else is good, only the pancreatitis. I've been to the vet's 5 times in the last 8 days. For 2 days they gave him IV fluids and meds. On the other visits he received sub q fluids. I've been keeping him on buprenex and that is keeping him pretty comfortable, but he won't eat. We've tried an appetite stimulator and valum - also an appetite stimulator for cats so I'm told- and nothing works. I know this cannot continue. I feel so lucky to have had him these last two years. As I said, it's been a journey and I so wish I had read this at the beginning. There seems to be so much more I could have done all along. My heart goes out to all you other parents of a kitty suffering with chronic pancreatitis. If anyone has a suggestion to help my boy eat or a way to control the nausea I would love to know!!
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