Cat has fever, not eating, drinking and throwing up

[jennyr]

Unfortunately there is no quick fix to pancreatitis, but good vet and home care makes a huge difference. You are doing all the right things, your vet sounds very on the ball, and you are getting lots of good advice here. I attach the link to the story of my daughter's cat, Mina, who went through this exactly a year ago. She is an indoor cat, so the cause was not outdoor snacking. Since she got better she is on a grain free diet and has been fine. But it is a nasty disease. We here are all rooting for you.
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/252412/mina-is-very-sick

 

[mowglithecat]

UPDATE: Hope I'm not over-reacting again but Mowgli has been eating big meals since last Monday (3 days now). He has become active as well and is going round chasing his sissy! It's a greater pain to give him his medication (Baytril) now as he fights it and makes me chase him all around the house. Anyway, it still is a HUGE relief that his fever is gone and he feels good enough to eat and drink normally (a little more in fact, knock on wood!). Hope I don't jinx it again though… :-|

Question: Now, I wonder what the reason could have been for his illness. Typical pancreatitis takes 2 weeks to clear up, right? But Mowgli fasted (didn't eat normally) just for 1 week. Did he eat something poisonous when he was out in the backyard?

Any advice?

 

[mowglithecat]

 
Oh no! Poor Mowgli. 

  Here is a document by Idexx that really helped me to understand how pancreatitis is treated: http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresource...pec-fpl-treatment-for-feline-pancreatitis.pdf

My vet followed the Idexx recommendations to a T, so Sebastian was on fluid therapy, an antiemetic medication (Cerenia), an antacid (famotidine/Pepcid), an antibiotic (metronidazole/Flagyl), and pain medication (Fentanyl patch; lasts for three days). Is Mowgli being treated for pain? Pancreatitis is very painful. An appetite stimulant (mirtazapine) was needed when I got him home, and we added a steroid (prednisolone) and B12 injections later, but the pred is oftentimes given by the vet during a flare. You may want to talk to your vet about all the treatment options mentioned in the document I linked to above.

Sebastian wouldn't take the pills either and would immediately start foaming at the mouth and shaking his head everywhere. By the recommendations of the folks here on TCS, I purchased #4 and #3 gel caps on Amazon (made by the Empty Caps Company). Or does your vet sell empty gel caps? The lower the number, the bigger the gel cap is, so #4 is pretty small. Unfortunately, there was shipping time and I needed something ASAP, so I had some Cosequin for Cats on hand (comes in small gel caps), so I emptied those and used those gel caps until the ones I ordered arrived. Is there something in the house that comes in a small gel cap that would be safe to empty? Be sure any remnants of the contents wouldn't hurt the cat. Put the pill in the gel cap and coat it with a thin layer of butter.

Walking away from the food like you describe is a classic sign of nausea. If you can get the Cerenia in him, this will really help. How long has it been since Mowgli's last decent meal? Keep tabs on this because not eating can result in hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease), which is another problem in of itself. This should be avoided at all costs. Since Sebastian was still nauseous and not eating on his own, I syringe-fed him. Even when he was eating a little on his own, I would supplement the rest the calories he needed with syringe-feeding. I always used the Hill's A/D for syringe feeding, but I would give him something else when trying to get him to eat on his own. Once he started to feel better, we gave him the appetite stimulant (mirtazapine) to help him along. Sometimes the appetite stimulant is given sooner. You can talk to your vet about this.

I would say from the very first day of his pancreatitis flare, that it probably took 2 weeks for him to really start feeling better and eating on his own enough that I felt I didn't need to syringe feed him anymore.

Many, many vibes for Mowgli's recovery!!! 

    

    

Thank you so much to inform me about the gel-caps. It gonna make giving pills to my cats so much easier!! I wasn't aware of it.

Like you must have read on my update, Mowgli started eating normally in 6-7 days instead of two weeks. So, do you think the reason for his pancreatitis could have been something less severe? Like eating something little poisonous out in the backyard?

I would want to give you my heartfelt gratitude and appreciate for your support during this stressful phase I went through. I can't thank you enough!

 

[mowglithecat]

Unfortunately there is no quick fix to pancreatitis, but good vet and home care makes a huge difference. You are doing all the right things, your vet sounds very on the ball, and you are getting lots of good advice here. I attach the link to the story of my daughter's cat, Mina, who went through this exactly a year ago. She is an indoor cat, so the cause was not outdoor snacking. Since she got better she is on a grain free diet and has been fine. But it is a nasty disease. We here are all rooting for you.
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/252412/mina-is-very-sick

Thank you so very much for your support! It really helped! Thankfully Mowgli recovered faster than I expected. (Knock on wood). Hopefully he will stay like that… I'm still giving him his antibiotics! Really really appreciate your advice!

 

[maewkaew]

 Hi,  I just wanted to  give my moral support to Mowgli and you.

  My wonderful cat Louis had chronic pancreatitis for about the last 5 years of his life.     But I don't mean he was constantly ill.   He had occasional flare ups maybe a couple times a year.  and most of the time we were able to manage it at home.   And most of the time he was happy and enjoyed life.   He did have to be hospitalized a few times with it....  but he also had IBD and diabetes ,  and his first major pancreatitis episode, he ended up in DKA ( a dangerous complication of diabetes) ,   so his various health problems made him a very complicated patient. 

The Sebastian threads are indeed full of information.    and GoHolistic has given you some great info in this thread.      Pain management is very important in pancreatitis and should be included even if the cat does not show obvious signs of pain.  It can still help recovery. I also agree about the fluid therapy being helpful not just for dehydration but to sort of help flush out the inflammation.

Sometimes the liver was also involved in Louis's pancreatitis flare -ups.    The vets gave him Denamarin to help his liver recover and that seemed to be quite good.

The cause of pancreatitis is often never known.   In dogs there is a connection with a high fat diet,  but in cats this seems much less clear.  and I think for most cats it may not make a difference.  however I have heard a few people say they did think switching to a lower fat food helped.

 With Louis it really did not seem to make a diff.  He did well on Natures Variety Instinct venison canned and raw.  which is pretty high in fat .   but low carb.

 DEFINITELY avoid anything  high carb.  With the pancreas already distressed,  you don't want to make the endocrine pancreas work harder by giving it a lot more carbs/ sugar to deal with than a cat's pancreas is meant to,  and end up increasing the risk of diabetes.   ( believe me,  managing diabetes and chronic pancreatitis is not fun.)

There is a food chart here with nutrient data for many kinds of canned and raw commercial cat foods.  http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

Have you tried using one of those pill-giving devices that shoots the pill down their throat?   Or try putting the Cerenia in the middle of a blob of cheese or meat and shove that back as far as you can in his mouth?

 Best wishes to you and Mowgli!   I hope he will stay feeling well! 

 

[mowglithecat]

 
 Hi,  I just wanted to  give my moral support to Mowgli and you.

  My wonderful cat Louis had chronic pancreatitis for about the last 5 years of his life.     But I don't mean he was constantly ill.   He had occasional flare ups maybe a couple times a year.  and most of the time we were able to manage it at home.   And most of the time he was happy and enjoyed life.   He did have to be hospitalized a few times with it....  but he also had IBD and diabetes ,  and his first major pancreatitis episode, he ended up in DKA ( a dangerous complication of diabetes) ,   so his various health problems made him a very complicated patient. 

The Sebastian threads are indeed full of information.    and GoHolistic has given you some great info in this thread.      Pain management is very important in pancreatitis and should be included even if the cat does not show obvious signs of pain.  It can still help recovery. I also agree about the fluid therapy being helpful not just for dehydration but to sort of help flush out the inflammation.

Sometimes the liver was also involved in Louis's pancreatitis flare -ups.    The vets gave him Denamarin to help his liver recover and that seemed to be quite good.

The cause of pancreatitis is often never known.   In dogs there is a connection with a high fat diet,  but in cats this seems much less clear.  and I think for most cats it may not make a difference.  however I have heard a few people say they did think switching to a lower fat food helped.

 With Louis it really did not seem to make a diff.  He did well on Natures Variety Instinct venison canned and raw.  which is pretty high in fat .   but low carb.

 DEFINITELY avoid anything  high carb.  With the pancreas already distressed,  you don't want to make the endocrine pancreas work harder by giving it a lot more carbs/ sugar to deal with than a cat's pancreas is meant to,  and end up increasing the risk of diabetes.   ( believe me,  managing diabetes and chronic pancreatitis is not fun.)

There is a food chart here with nutrient data for many kinds of canned and raw commercial cat foods.  http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

Have you tried using one of those pill-giving devices that shoots the pill down their throat?   Or try putting the Cerenia in the middle of a blob of cheese or meat and shove that back as far as you can in his mouth?

 Best wishes to you and Mowgli!   I hope he will stay feeling well! 

Dear Maewkaew,

Thank you so very much for your message. Mowgli seems to have recovered from his condition. It lasted for about a week. I'm so sorry to hear about Louis. Hope he is resting peacefully in Kitty heaven.

I had a few questions about his pancreatitis attacks.

1) How long did his episodes use to last? 1 week or more? What about his very first attack?

2) How old was he when he had his first attack? Did he live for 5 more years after that?

3) Mowgli is kind of medium-thin (about 11-12 pounds). How about Louis? I am wondering if the built has something to do with it.

I really appreciate your support and suggestions. The link you sent me is gonna be very useful for Mowgli. I feed him mostly wet food but he is a very picky eater so I keep trying different varieties hoping he would like one. He likes dry food too (which I usually leave out for him throughout the day) but I know those are higher in fat compared to wet food. He doesn't like raw food.

Warm regards and hugs to you!

 

[goholistic]

 
Thank you so much to inform me about the gel-caps. It gonna make giving pills to my cats so much easier!! I wasn't aware of it.

Like you must have read on my update, Mowgli started eating normally in 6-7 days instead of two weeks. So, do you think the reason for his pancreatitis could have been something less severe? Like eating something little poisonous out in the backyard?

I would want to give you my heartfelt gratitude and appreciate for your support during this stressful phase I went through. I can't thank you enough!

I agree with others. The cause of pancreatitis is often unknown. In my research, I found that it can be "caused" by many things that are virtually impossible to confirm, so it is safe for vets to say they don't know what caused it.

Anyway, I'm so glad to hear Mowgli is eating on his own and feeling better! 

As I always like to say, you know you're cat better than anyone. So just be aware and in tune with your cat enough to decipher the difference between pickiness and nausea/not feeling well.  

 

[nikkilyon]

My cat has a really high fever as well. Took him to the vet and now the fewer s down to 103.8 but it's still bothersome. Nothing showed in blood or X rays... And advice?!? The cat is only 3 years old and I'm panicking...

 

[mowglithecat]

Dear Nikkilyon,

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat having a high fever. It is the most stressful thing that ever happened to me I would say. So, we know how miserable this time can be. Sending prayers and blessings for you and your cat.

How long has your cat had fever? Is he/she not eating anything at all? My cat stopped eating for 1 whole day before I realized that he was not doing well and then took him to the vet and that is when I found out that he had super high fever. He started eating by himself after his second trip to the vet when he was given more intracutaneous fluid and an ultrasoung was done which showed pancreatitis. They also gave him antibiotics, vitamins and anti-throw up medication.

The doctor said that having fever means the body is fighting some sort of infection somewhere in the body. If your cat is not eating, it is because of nausea. My cat even after he started eating (after 4 whole days), he was barely having a few bites. That was due to the nausea from his condition. It took 1 whole week for him to start eating a normal meal. We stopped letting him go out for that period but he used to keep trying to go out.by clawing on the doors and windows. However, he wasn't too insistent as he was sick. After exactly 2 weeks though, his nausea was totally gone and he became active again and back to his normal incessant meowing and desperation to go out!

Does your cat go out? Hope he/she feels better. Good luck and let us know how he feels again.

 

[mowglithecat]

Dear Nikkilyon,

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat having a high fever. It is the most stressful thing that ever happened to me I would say. So, we know how miserable this time can be. Sending prayers and blessings for you and your cat.

How long has your cat had fever? Is he/she not eating anything at all? My cat stopped eating for 1 whole day before I realized that he was not doing well and then took him to the vet and that is when I found out that he had super high fever. He started eating by himself after his second trip to the vet when he was given more intracutaneous fluid and an ultrasoung was done which showed pancreatitis. They also gave him antibiotics, vitamins and anti-throw up medication.

The doctor said that having fever means the body is fighting some sort of infection somewhere in the body. If your cat is not eating, it is because of nausea. My cat even after he started eating (after 4 whole days), he was barely having a few bites. That was due to the nausea from his condition. It took 1 whole week for him to start eating a normal meal. We stopped letting him go out for that period but he used to keep trying to go out.by clawing on the doors and windows. However, he wasn't too insistent as he was sick. After exactly 2 weeks though, his nausea was totally gone and he became active again and back to his normal incessant meowing and desperation to go out!

Does your cat go out? Hope he/she feels better. Good luck and let us know how he feels again.