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

[goholistic]

Yes, I agree.

Over the last year and a half, I can honestly say that I've tried everything with Sebastian - prescription foods, dry/canned combo, all canned, homemade cooked, cooked/canned combo, homemade raw, raw/canned combo, commercial raw (frozen and freeze-dried). What works best for him (or so it seems based on how he feels) is a cooked/canned combo or all canned. He does get "quality"/"premium" canned foods, like Nature's Variety and Lotus, for example. I've given up trying to understand it.

But, as Denice said, we do stick with limited ingredient, grain-free, low-carb, single protein foods. The idea is for the food to be easily digestible. I feed him one protein for 3-4 weeks and then move on to something else (transitioned slowly every time).

 

[puck]

Ensure the diet isn't too rich in variety or high in fat, of good quality ingredients. The most pancreatic insult occurs when they eat something we didn't intend, such as getting into the trash, the butter dish, unusual treat from a "friendly neighbor" or debris outdoors.

Stress is the other insult to pancreas. It affects metabolism, appetite, hormone release, etc.

Weruva, Instinct, Fromm, Blue Buffalo, Dave's Pet Food, Earthborn, Natural Balance, TikiCat and Wellness are what most of my GI patients are fed after trial and error by their people. Fat and protein aren't restricted at all. Just not fed in large volumes or 5 different meat sources at once, ie. fish, poultry, beef, rabbit, and pork all thrown into the bag/can. No sudden introductions of new treat or new diet. No high fat. All good things in moderation.

Initial recovery from the nausea and inflammation involves feeding meat only in ICU, usually as stage one baby food. Gerber or Beech Nut are widely available, stage 1 chicken, turkey, or beef. These are also highly palatable to cats, and come in handy when any gastroenteritis or colitis starts (any GI upset/abnormal function). Long term management involves consistency, not too much variety, not too much dietary carbohydrate or fat, and moderation.

 

[bandzlee]

Just wanted to give an update! Braxton is doing SO much better! He's eating and drinking again and has even had a BM! I have never been so happy to see cat crap in the box haha (docs originally thought he might have a blockage.) He is still on meds for the next few days and I switched his food to sensitive stomach food along with more wet food. Thank you all for the encouragement and amazing feedback! Here's our guy!

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• bandzlee
• Mar 19, 2015

 

[jano437]

So glad he is feeling a little better.

 

[puck]

Braxton is a sexy lil beastie! He looks so bright in the image! Congrats on some stellar pet care and home nursing!

 

[einseidle]

I am so sorry to hear that your boy has pancreatitis--and won't eat.  My cat, Izzy, about three years ago started throwing up all over the place and after vet exam, I was told that he had pancreatitis and diabetes.  Through trial and error, we found an anti-nausea med that has worked wonders for him.  It's called Cerenia.  Actually, it's supposed to be canine med, but out of desperation we tried it.  Gave him a big shot of it and throwing up stopped immediately.  Now, if I see him acting like he's going to start throwing up again, I take him in for another shot.  They seem to last from 3 to 6 months.  I know you said you had tried an anti-nausea med, but it didn't work.  This Cerenia is quite inexpensive, relative to other treatments.  If you decide to give it a try, I hope it will work  for you.  And, there don't seem to be any side-effects.   Has your vet said anything about diabetes?  It seems to go with pancreatitis.  Our thoughts--I, Izzy and Pinky's--are with you.  I would be interested to hear if this works for you.  You can email me at [email protected].  If you write, please put Cerenia in subject area.   

 

[puck]

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

 
I am so sorry to hear that your boy has pancreatitis--and won't eat.  My cat, Izzy, about three years ago started throwing up all over the place and after vet exam, I was told that he had pancreatitis and diabetes.  Through trial and error, we found an anti-nausea med that has worked wonders for him.  It's called Cerenia.  Actually, it's supposed to be canine med, but out of desperation we tried it.  Gave him a big shot of it and throwing up stopped immediately.  Now, if I see him acting like he's going to start throwing up again, I take him in for another shot.  They seem to last from 3 to 6 months.  I know you said you had tried an anti-nausea med, but it didn't work.  This Cerenia is quite inexpensive, relative to other treatments.  If you decide to give it a try, I hope it will work  for you.  And, there don't seem to be any side-effects.   Has your vet said anything about diabetes?  It seems to go with pancreatitis.  Our thoughts--I, Izzy and Pinky's--are with you.  I would be interested to hear if this works for you.  You can email me at [email protected].  If you write, please put Cerenia in subject area.   

BandZLee has been giving Cerenia orally, in addition to other motility meds/antacids, as part of home nursing treatment since discharge, einseidle. Cerenia helps with nausea, vomiting, and visceral abdominal pain. Common and ideal treatment for any vomiting in both dogs and cats after obstruction is ruled out as a cause, in addition to GI motility med, antacid, and sometimes proton-pump inhibitors for gastritis/ulcer patients, or those at risk for such GI upset while treating pancreatitis, renal insult, pain, etc. Injectable Cerenia dose lasts 24 hours. Whopping doses 4x the antinausea dose prevent motion sickness for 24 hours. The injections don't last months, but your Izzy may have cycles of abnormal blood glucose that lead to his pattern of nausea or vomit every 3 to 6 months.

Diabetes was ruled for Braxton with initial labwork; with more pain management he's responding to owner's nursing and no longer nauseated. Diabetics are at greater risk for pancreatitis whenever their BG isn't regulated, since the pancreas, even though it's insufficient for these diabetics, releases insulin. Then a feedback loop worsens, pancreatitis contributing to low or high blood glucose, which makes the pancreas more inflamed, and increases risk for ketoacidosis (DKA), big time emergency for a diabetic. A blood glucometer at home is very beneficial for regulating diabetes and catching abnormal BG before GI upset or DKA happens.

 

[btrflygrl24]

My 16 yo torti cat Moanha (pictured in the corner) was just diagnosed with acute pancreatitis a few days ago. She was at the vet for 3 days getting IV fluids and meds (anti-nausea, pain, and antibiotic) and is back home and doing some better but like your cat, she won't eat!! The appetite stimulant didn't work so they gave her a B-12 shot yesterday. She ate 2 bites of tuna last night and 1-2 bites of wet food this morning but that's it.  :-( I haven't seen her drink either but she has gotten a TON of IV and sq fluids these last few days. It is progress so I can't complain but I know she needs to eat a lot more than that and force feeding doesn't work for her. She is a very violent kitty when you get anywhere near her mouth unfortunately where even the vet has a very hard time with her. I'm going to try the baby food and tuna flakes and see how that goes. Other than her appetite, she's up moving around, is in very good spirits, seems almost back to her normal self otherwise. I just don't want her to regress from her lack of eating and getting nutrients. We are tasked with giving her sq fluids from home starting today which honestly freaks me out a little still but I know it'll help her. Fingers crossed that goes well! She is on pain meds at home but she gets them only at night. Being on the pain med during the day made her very lethargic and definitely didn't help her appetite so they backed off on it. She hasn't vomited in the last 2 days or so thankfully, so I'm hoping another day or two any inflammation in her tummy area will start to subside and her appetite will come back.

We're seeing how she does today and tomorrow and then reevaluate if she needs to go back to the vet (also dependent if we're successful in the at home sq fluids lol). Her bloodwork and urine were good, nothing too worrisome...enzymes were slightly elevated but they said that could happen just from the vomiting and not eating.  They said they could do an ultrasound ($$$$$) but it's expensive and not alway conclusive plus it wouldn't change their method of treating her at this point anyways.  Vets here in Virginia by law have to close by 6pm so they don't do overnight hospitalization and ER vets are crazy expensive. So today is her first day at home without anti-nausea meds or IV fluids so we'll see how she does. My other cat Nala (14 yo orange tabby)  just finished Radiocat treatment for hyperthyroidism (but she's doing very well!!) so my pockets are about empty between the two of their treatments. 

This is a huge learning curve for me so I'm curious to see what methods and foods do or don't work for your kitty. Hopefully he starts eating soon :-) 

 

[goholistic]

 
My 16 yo torti cat Moanha (pictured in the corner) was just diagnosed with acute pancreatitis a few days ago. She was at the vet for 3 days getting IV fluids and meds (anti-nausea, pain, and antibiotic) and is back home and doing some better but like your cat, she won't eat!! The appetite stimulant didn't work so they gave her a B-12 shot yesterday. She ate 2 bites of tuna last night and 1-2 bites of wet food this morning but that's it.  :-( I haven't seen her drink either but she has gotten a TON of IV and sq fluids these last few days. It is progress so I can't complain but I know she needs to eat a lot more than that and force feeding doesn't work for her. She is a very violent kitty when you get anywhere near her mouth unfortunately where even the vet has a very hard time with her. I'm going to try the baby food and tuna flakes and see how that goes. Other than her appetite, she's up moving around, is in very good spirits, seems almost back to her normal self otherwise. I just don't want her to regress from her lack of eating and getting nutrients. We are tasked with giving her sq fluids from home starting today which honestly freaks me out a little still but I know it'll help her. Fingers crossed that goes well! She is on pain meds at home but she gets them only at night. Being on the pain med during the day made her very lethargic and definitely didn't help her appetite so they backed off on it. She hasn't vomited in the last 2 days or so thankfully, so I'm hoping another day or two any inflammation in her tummy area will start to subside and her appetite will come back.

We're seeing how she does today and tomorrow and then reevaluate if she needs to go back to the vet (also dependent if we're successful in the at home sq fluids lol). Her bloodwork and urine were good, nothing too worrisome...enzymes were slightly elevated but they said that could happen just from the vomiting and not eating.  They said they could do an ultrasound ($$$$$) but it's expensive and not alway conclusive plus it wouldn't change their method of treating her at this point anyways.  Vets here in Virginia by law have to close by 6pm so they don't do overnight hospitalization and ER vets are crazy expensive. So today is her first day at home without anti-nausea meds or IV fluids so we'll see how she does. My other cat Nala (14 yo orange tabby)  just finished Radiocat treatment for hyperthyroidism (but she's doing very well!!) so my pockets are about empty between the two of their treatments. 

This is a huge learning curve for me so I'm curious to see what methods and foods do or don't work for your kitty. Hopefully he starts eating soon :-) 

I'm sorry about your kitty having pancreatitis. It is a very painful condition that also makes them very nauseous. Did they give you an anti-nausea to administer at home? Was it Cerenia? I would ask for that to give at home if they didn't. An appetite stimulant won't work if they are still significantly nauseous and in pain. Glad that you are giving the pain meds, too. Which appetite stimulant did they give you? If it was mirtazapine, you could try cyproheptadine instead. The downside of the cypro is that it has to be given twice a day rather than every three days like the mirt. My Sebastian had chronic pancreatitis, and we managed it well for almost three years. His was hospitalized for four days the first time when it was really bad. He recently passed from an unrelated condition. Fluids were so important in treating his condition that we gave them at home every other day. He was also on Cerenia long-term...5 days on, 2 days off.

Now...with the eating. Did the vet mention hepatic lipidosis (HL), also known as fatty liver disease? It is caused from not eating or not eating enough. You must do your best to avoid this. HL on top of pancreatitis makes things significantly more difficult, and the only treatment for HL is food, usually by syringe-feeding or a feeding tube. You'll have to offer a smorgasbord of food...whatever she'll eat (within reason...nothing crazy). Only for now. Once she has recovered, you can work on putting her back on a better diet. I literally would have 10 foods lined up in a row. Sebastian tolerated syringe-feeding, and so I did that for two weeks to cover whatever he didn't eat on his own.

I hope she gets better soon.

 

[btrflygrl24]

Thanks for the input, it's been a rollercoaster. So sorry to hear about your kitty. :-(

She was on Cerenia (IV I believe?) for 3 days while she was at the vet (last dose was late Saturday) and she was given some sort of oral appetite stimulant that she got every other day (but she didn't usually get it down because she's very violent when people mess with her mouth...hence the B-12 shot). She hasn't had any more Cerenia since then and hasn't vomited at all since then! I can't remember the name of the appetite stimulant though. :-( And you're right about the smorgasbord of food options!! lol Luckily she started eating a little bit the day after I originally posted and is gradually eating slightly more each time. She seems to really love plain cooked turkey and canned tuna and Temptations milk flavored treats! I was very nervous about it at first but I have been able to give her subq fluids myself from home the last 2 nights which I know is helping a lot. She is definitely a million times better than she was last week so I'm thrilled!! It's definitely baby steps but each day she eats a little more. If she hadn't started eating I would have had to bring her back yesterday for alternative feeding options which thankfully it never came to that. Most of the time I have to put the food right in front of her to get her to eat it though. Only once or twice has she gone back to her food on her own to eat but this morning she was very energetic and followed me into the kitchen for her food like she normally did before the pancreatitis which is a huge feat!! It shows she's interested in it and is possibly getting back on her normal eating schedule to some degree. The only odd thing is that I haven't seen her drink on her own yet. Maybe since she's getting the fluids she doesn't feel as thirsty?? Granted, I'm at work all day and my boyfriend "tries" to keep an eye on her, not always successfully, so she might have drank and we just don't know that she did.

Her energy level is also getting better each day. She's already back to some of her shenanigans lol. 

 As long as she keeps eating and starts drinking, I'm very optimistic. I have 1-2 more nights left of her fluids and she got her last dose of pain meds last night so the real test is to see how she does the rest of the week as those things are taken out of the equation. I do talk to my vet tomorrow about her progress and see what they'd like to do from there. I'm guessing they'll want to give me one more bag of fluids but not sure what else. We'll see! 

 

 

[goholistic]

 
Thanks for the input, it's been a rollercoaster. So sorry to hear about your kitty. :-(

She was on Cerenia (IV I believe?) for 3 days while she was at the vet (last dose was late Saturday) and she was given some sort of oral appetite stimulant that she got every other day (but she didn't usually get it down because she's very violent when people mess with her mouth...hence the B-12 shot). She hasn't had any more Cerenia since then and hasn't vomited at all since then! I can't remember the name of the appetite stimulant though. :-( And you're right about the smorgasbord of food options!! lol Luckily she started eating a little bit the day after I originally posted and is gradually eating slightly more each time. She seems to really love plain cooked turkey and canned tuna and Temptations milk flavored treats! I was very nervous about it at first but I have been able to give her subq fluids myself from home the last 2 nights which I know is helping a lot. She is definitely a million times better than she was last week so I'm thrilled!! It's definitely baby steps but each day she eats a little more. If she hadn't started eating I would have had to bring her back yesterday for alternative feeding options which thankfully it never came to that. Most of the time I have to put the food right in front of her to get her to eat it though. Only once or twice has she gone back to her food on her own to eat but this morning she was very energetic and followed me into the kitchen for her food like she normally did before the pancreatitis which is a huge feat!! It shows she's interested in it and is possibly getting back on her normal eating schedule to some degree. The only odd thing is that I haven't seen her drink on her own yet. Maybe since she's getting the fluids she doesn't feel as thirsty?? Granted, I'm at work all day and my boyfriend "tries" to keep an eye on her, not always successfully, so she might have drank and we just don't know that she did.

Her energy level is also getting better each day. She's already back to some of her shenanigans lol. 

 As long as she keeps eating and starts drinking, I'm very optimistic. I have 1-2 more nights left of her fluids and she got her last dose of pain meds last night so the real test is to see how she does the rest of the week as those things are taken out of the equation. I do talk to my vet tomorrow about her progress and see what they'd like to do from there. I'm guessing they'll want to give me one more bag of fluids but not sure what else. We'll see! 

 

She was probably getting injectable Cerenia at the vet while hospitalized. And yes, if she's still getting fluids, then she probably won't want to drink. The fluids usually hydrate them enough. Since Sebastian got 100ml of fluids every other day, he rarely ever drank.

I'm glad she seems to be improving slowly but surely! Sending lots vibes for a full recovery.