Parents' cat got pancreatitis & they are petrified - what happens?

[Corygal]

Greetings all - Mr C's stepfather, Mr B, an 11-yr-old fluffy black mog my aged parents are extremely fond of, has been whipped into kitty hospital with what they think is pancreatitis.

The vet suggested the treatment was so expensive that Mr B might need to be PTS. Can this be true? Like me, they would sell themselves before a kitty suffered (not that they would get much, they are both nearly 80) but they are freaking out he might snuff it anyway.

Any words of wisdom from the Little Tray? Their other cat, Mr D, is rampagingly pleased with himself at having the entire premises and both elderly servants at his disposal, which is the only cheer in their house at the mo.

I think if the vet is suggesting he is PTS they obviously feel the poor thing is suffering. From what I know of pancreatitis in people it is extremely painful and can do lasting damage to the pancreas sorry.

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So sorry to hear that Corygal. I had a look see this afternoon at feline pancreatitis but I'm afraid that my brain started to explode so I reckon you need one of the vets who post to give such view as they can in the circumstances. The one thing that I do remember is that the vast expense seems to come mainly from the extended supportive care that might be needed. (Hospitalisation etc.) It seems to be something which is not fully understood and for which there isn't a single magic bullet.

Do the aged parents have him insured?

Hey cozie, lovely to read you. Mr B is not insured. Let's just hope the problem is financial.

Our cat had this. We had insurance, it was very costly and treatment costs went over our insurance limit.
We wanted to do everything we possibly could for her, however in hindsight I think it would have been far kinder, and caused much less suffering if we had PTS.

The difficulty with pancreatitis is that some cars bounce back very, very quickly with intravenous fluids and painkillers. Some cats improve, but refuse to eat and end up with a feeding tube that stays in for months using special expensive food to fed them. Some cats go onto get raid iris a syndrome involving cholangiohepatitis, pancreatitis and IBD. Some cat's turn out to have lymphoma causing their pancreatitis.
There is a final groups of cats that get a necrotising pancreatitis which even methadone does not control the pain.
On admission it is impossible to know which group they are going to fall into.
It is very easy to rack up hundreds, even thousands of pounds investigating and treating these cats.

Damn autocorrect raid its actually is triaditis.

I'm not surprised your autocorrect had a moment.

Is there any way to tell the prognosis during the treatment, Lone? (I'm guessing not at an early stage.)

Thanks a million Lone & Cozie. Parents are now glued to Dolly Parton at Glastonbury, are indulging in an IV of Gordons by the sounds of it, and have more or less forgotten the cat exists.

Turns out Mr B has had it before, and bounced back, which is I reckon a good sign.

In the meantime, Mr C is snoring in his box after a trauma. Earlier in the week I proudly put on a new designer T shirt featuring a cat on the chest. Mr C took one look at me, yowled, jumped, peered myopically at my bosom and then stamped out of the room with his tail bottlebrush.

I ran after him, topless, pleading for forgiveness. I have had to throw it away. I am gutted as v skint at the moment and really liked it.

I may try getting a t-shirt made featuring the "hunk" of the moment to see if it will elicit the same response from DH...

Dolly Parton and gin, used sensibly, are the panacea that cures everything that ails one. Even aging parents.

You could always purchase Mr. C a T-shirt depicting a sexy lady-cat...

Cozie a lot comes down to response to pain meds and whether they will eat. Cats never cease to amaze me in both bad and good ways.
Corey just watch they don't give themselves pancreatitis with all that gin - this proved to be a side effect of successful treating a cat with intravenous vodka ( yes this is a real treatment). I will report that in cats going cold turkey from the vodka does resolve the pancreatitis.

Lone, DF's pancreas turned to vodka jelly sometime in 1969, I assure you.

Rubbish - Mr C is ok when I wear this

There's an official treatment for something which is intravenous liquor? Is this a deadly disease - and/or one which humans get?

Well done Cozie, I want to know too but I was too ladlylike to ask.

Lone, pls can we also have a list of the symptoms that, say, a group of feline-loving ladies in their prime might suffer from?

Vodka has restorative powers?

Can I have it? Got BUPA...

Mr B is out of hosp! Recovering at home! Purry!! Bll 'only' 641 quid. Thanks so much, all. All comments clung to by all Corys during the trial.

I am living tribute to the restorative powers of vodka after taking my hysterical elderly parents out to lunch to take their minds off kitty trauma. I organised tickets to a day concert in the park and visit to a fair.

Point blank refusing my luxe picnic with chilled peaches and fizz to the gentle sound of violins, Dad was so stressed at the thought of Mr B's hosp bill that he couldn't face anywhere but Costa. He was soothed with a tuna melt.

We then blew out the fair in favour of a trip to Boots Opticians to admire the own-brand frames. "Oooh, incredibly lovely". Dad escaped and me and Mum had to chase him for 20 min round Balham, no mean feat as she has Parkinsons and I was carrying her, two rugs, every daily paper printed and the picnic basket. Then he got gout, claimed to lose the use of his legs, and had to be put on a bus, with no means of paying for it as they don't take cash any more, and taken back to the car (after me deducing where he had parked, which took some time.) Peaches flew out when the bus went round a corner, etc.

I am so knackered I am swigging a tin of V&T with Migraleve, recommended.

Sorry have missed the requests for what you treat with vodka. Anti-freeze poisoning can be treated by administering I/v alcohol (vodka is the purest easiest thing to get hold of) every 4 hours for the first 48 hours then every 6 hours for another 48hours.
It is physically very hard work for the team caring for the cat, it puts tremendous straight on the cats organs particular liver and pancreas. It can only be attempt if kidneys are not yet affected.
But when it works it's bloody marvellous.

Good grief that sounds exhausting cory. At least the bill wasnt thousands.

Darn it - far too dangerous not to say potentially quite lethal. (I was quite looking forward to quoting the symptoms of something gentle and only vaguely debilitating which required me to sit and swig chilled vodka! )

Excellent news about Mr B, Corygal - except for Mr D, I'm guessing, who must have thought he'd won the jackpot. Some day for you though.

Trust me Lone, after a day like today me and Mum would be inhaling antifreeze if it got us a voddy and half an hour away from Dad. He's been given the all-clear for dementia twice, hilariously, by doctors - no vet could be that stupid.

I got Mr D a catnip seedling as consolation prize, cozie.

Happy to hear that Mr. B's out of the woods.

Next time tantrumming elderly parent requires Costa - goat's cheese and beetroot seeded panini has excellent calming powers. And voddy of course...