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- Jan 14, 2015
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Hello, my name is Lee Ann. One of my cats has been sick, off and on, since the beginning of August. In August, he had extended blood work, x-rays, and they found nothing out of the ordinary. I was sent home with my cat getting a cerenia shot for nausea, and an appetite stimulant. He bounced back, but he never quite bounced back to before all of this. Before, he would eat any and everything you gave him, beg for food, he was a good eater. He then started to eat less and less......still eating, but not like he had. He would then go about 3 weeks, and be fine. Eat, play with the other cats, he seemed great, no medications needed, he was doing OK. So he has since had this pattern of 3 weeks being fine, and then a day or two where he would throw up, once or twice, pick at his food, barely eat any of it in the morning, but then by night he would eat enough to not have me running off to the vet with him. This has been his pattern since August.
This past weekend, he threw up again, and refused to eat. We were prepared to force feed him the next day, but he woke up and ate a little food, and drank, and did not throw up. We were at the vet first thing Monday morning. More blood work, and urinalysis. This time, the blood work showed his WBC to be way off, very high, like 38,000. There was another part of that test, that I cannot recall, that was also very high. Vet said his kidneys were fine, liver, all of the things in the super chem, 23 things that they check, all seemed normal. Just the WBC way high. He also has gone from 11 pounds to right under 9. We knew he had lost, I attributed it to him eating way less than he was, but I didn't realize it was that bad. He is a big fuzzy main coon, so hard to tell. My regular vet is out til Monday, I have seen two different vets with two different opinions. One believes that he may have cancer, but without ultrasound, possible endoscopy, we won't know for sure. He does feel like that it is probably some form of cancer. However, the vet today, who I tend to not agree as much with her, she thinks maybe we should go to a specialist, have the tests done, that it could be his diet, pancreatitis. My vet and I had discussed it possibly being pancreatitis or IBD, and discussed having the blood panel that is sent of to Texas A & M, but since he bounced back, we held off on it.
So my dilemma is this now. Should I have the test done and sent of to Texas, and can anyone here who has been through this give me any advice on the validity of the test? I think we are going to go ahead and do it. My cat is at the vet until 5:00, having IV fluids, buprenex for pain and another cerenia shot for nausea. I want him home with me tonight, they want him back tomorrow for more fluids. I am just wondering, does this sound like it could be pancreatitis? He has not had a single day of diarrhea, his urine was perfectly clear and fine, he has always been on a wet food diet of grain free, high quality foods. Since his ordeal in August, we started to feed him a lower fat food, thinking if it is pancreatitis, that a lower fat food would be better for him. He did seem to tolerate it better. But he has gradually eaten less and less. Also, since August, what little food he has in his bowl.....it can take him 20 minutes to eat it. For a while, I was pureeing it in the blender, making it like a slushy, and he did better with that consistency of food. Then he started to not like that. I have been trying different foods, and have managed to keep him interested in food, until this past weekend. He does not have hepatic lipidosis, I have been vigilant in making sure he does not go more than one day of not eating, and until now, he hasn't. But now, he barely picks at anything.
So, back to the dilemma. Can someone who has a cat with severe pancreatitis, can you tell me how it is managed? I have read so much, and I'm a little confused about what all is done for a cat that has this really bad. At this point, yes, it could be cancer, but I think we are going to get that blood test sent off to Texas just to see what they think. I want to rule that out before we come to our decision to let him go. I do not want to keep him alive if it is cancer. I don't want to just let him go if it is possibly pancreatitis or IBD. I am prepared to do those expensive tests to determine what it is, but part of me is not so sure that I want to put him through this. He is so stressed out, and he is failing pretty fast right now. I feel like I'm doing all of these things to him, and maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I should just let him go. But we are all are heartbroken, and not so sure what to do. I just thought I would ask someone who deals with severe pancreatitis, what do you do for a cat with that condition? How often do they need fluids, nausea meds, etc?
I know I am brand new to this particular forum. I'm just desperate for someone to tell me something about dealing with pancreatitis, if it ends up being that. He is only 7. He is so young. Thank you for reading this long post.
This past weekend, he threw up again, and refused to eat. We were prepared to force feed him the next day, but he woke up and ate a little food, and drank, and did not throw up. We were at the vet first thing Monday morning. More blood work, and urinalysis. This time, the blood work showed his WBC to be way off, very high, like 38,000. There was another part of that test, that I cannot recall, that was also very high. Vet said his kidneys were fine, liver, all of the things in the super chem, 23 things that they check, all seemed normal. Just the WBC way high. He also has gone from 11 pounds to right under 9. We knew he had lost, I attributed it to him eating way less than he was, but I didn't realize it was that bad. He is a big fuzzy main coon, so hard to tell. My regular vet is out til Monday, I have seen two different vets with two different opinions. One believes that he may have cancer, but without ultrasound, possible endoscopy, we won't know for sure. He does feel like that it is probably some form of cancer. However, the vet today, who I tend to not agree as much with her, she thinks maybe we should go to a specialist, have the tests done, that it could be his diet, pancreatitis. My vet and I had discussed it possibly being pancreatitis or IBD, and discussed having the blood panel that is sent of to Texas A & M, but since he bounced back, we held off on it.
So my dilemma is this now. Should I have the test done and sent of to Texas, and can anyone here who has been through this give me any advice on the validity of the test? I think we are going to go ahead and do it. My cat is at the vet until 5:00, having IV fluids, buprenex for pain and another cerenia shot for nausea. I want him home with me tonight, they want him back tomorrow for more fluids. I am just wondering, does this sound like it could be pancreatitis? He has not had a single day of diarrhea, his urine was perfectly clear and fine, he has always been on a wet food diet of grain free, high quality foods. Since his ordeal in August, we started to feed him a lower fat food, thinking if it is pancreatitis, that a lower fat food would be better for him. He did seem to tolerate it better. But he has gradually eaten less and less. Also, since August, what little food he has in his bowl.....it can take him 20 minutes to eat it. For a while, I was pureeing it in the blender, making it like a slushy, and he did better with that consistency of food. Then he started to not like that. I have been trying different foods, and have managed to keep him interested in food, until this past weekend. He does not have hepatic lipidosis, I have been vigilant in making sure he does not go more than one day of not eating, and until now, he hasn't. But now, he barely picks at anything.
So, back to the dilemma. Can someone who has a cat with severe pancreatitis, can you tell me how it is managed? I have read so much, and I'm a little confused about what all is done for a cat that has this really bad. At this point, yes, it could be cancer, but I think we are going to get that blood test sent off to Texas just to see what they think. I want to rule that out before we come to our decision to let him go. I do not want to keep him alive if it is cancer. I don't want to just let him go if it is possibly pancreatitis or IBD. I am prepared to do those expensive tests to determine what it is, but part of me is not so sure that I want to put him through this. He is so stressed out, and he is failing pretty fast right now. I feel like I'm doing all of these things to him, and maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I should just let him go. But we are all are heartbroken, and not so sure what to do. I just thought I would ask someone who deals with severe pancreatitis, what do you do for a cat with that condition? How often do they need fluids, nausea meds, etc?
I know I am brand new to this particular forum. I'm just desperate for someone to tell me something about dealing with pancreatitis, if it ends up being that. He is only 7. He is so young. Thank you for reading this long post.