Pancreatitis?

[Ellybellyboo]

Does anyone have any experience please?

My wee girly has pancreatitis and is point blank refusing to eat.

First took her the vet just before Easter when she was massively sick and had diarrhoea. She had blood tests which showed pancreatitis. Given an appetite stimulant and pain relief. The first appetite stimulant worked pretty much straight away and when we took her back for a check up she’d gained weight. All good. She carried on eating ok-ish for a few days but then she stopped again so we took her back to the vet and given more pain relief and more appetite stimulants.

Gave her the first one, ate small amounts but reasonably often, then stopped again.

Gave her another stimulant and nothing so back to the vet today.

She’s had a second blood test today which showed that whatever marker shows pancreatitis has almost doubled since the first test

She’s lost more weight than we’d like and is just point blank refusing to eat so she’s staying in overnight potentially for tube feeding and to see if they can get her eating again and they’ll give us a call in the morning to discuss next steps.

They’re talking about a scan, but didn’t really elaborate on what they were looking for - my googling suggests that Pancreatitis is one of those things that comes and goes, usually for no real reason that anyone can find.

I just don’t know what to expect. Our vet has always been amazing with our pets, but if a bit iffy in the communication with humans front. We’re insured so finances aren’t the major consideration.

Cat is 12 and has been completely healthy until now. She’s a bit of a fussy eater sometimes and is a tiny little thing, but always has been and we’ve never had any health issues with her.

Just wondered whether anyone else had any experience.

Thank you!

Thank you!

It has been very frustrating- 1 step forward and 2 steps back. It was actually nice not to be responsible for her last night.

I’ve heard from the vet this morning - they had her on a drip overnight as she was a little bit dehydrated and given her pain relief. They offered her some fish this morning which she was interested in, but gave up after a couple of licks. They didn’t tube feed her though, which I thought was the whole point of leaving her there over night to be honest.

They want to do an ultrasound and X-rays, but she has lost so much weight and is so delicate that I’m nervous of sedating her and doing anything invasive at the moment. They think there’s something underlying going on.

I’ve left it with them to try tube feeding today and see if that helps.

We’ve now got to decide whether we want X-rays and an ultrasound - she’d need sedating, given how delicate she currently is. If it is something nasty would we put her through an operation, treatment, etc.

Shes a timid, delicate little thing at the best of times so I don’t know what to do for the best to be honest.

It is a really difficult illness and one we've just been through with our dog, sadly with not a good outcome.
I just wanted to say the scan will be to look at her pancreas to see if there is damage, or if it's just inflamed. As you have insurance, if they vets suggest keeping her in on a drip then I would suggest doing that. We sadly couldn't afford to do this for our dog other than just for a few days.
I really hope she pulls through. I know you are worried about sedation for the scans, but I do feel, if it were my cat, I would have it done. At least everyone knows where they are and potentially what can be done to help her 💐

Honestly we went through this with our cat, and we have said if another went through it we would not go through intensive treatment. Pain relief appetites stimulant and then call it a day if no improvement.

Vets will carry on treating it, but in all honesty it just meant my cat was poorly for months, stressed at hospitalisation and the the outcome didn't change he got put to sleep.

Really sorry you are going through this xoxox

My last cat suffered with chronic pancreatitis before she unfortunately got cancer. Regular Mirtazipine helped to stimulate her appetite iirc as it’s ‘obesogenic’.

Thank you!

She’s had several Mirtazipine tablets - the first few times they worked really well, but the last one I gave her did nothing, and then she had another at the vets last night which also did nothing.

Shes also been on Buprenorphine for pain relief which is meant to stimulate appetite as well.

The vet has called asking if they can run another set of blood tests which I’ve agreed to, but no news on the tube feeding yet.

We are insured up to £7k, but we do now have a 20% co-pay due to her age so it’s not a bottomless pot, but it’s not my major concern just yet.

I kind of go down the route that just because we can, doesn’t always mean we should so I’m trying to weigh up what to do for the best.

My late girl had it. She was critically ill and not expected to survive. But somehow she did. She went home with a feeding tube. But once she was home and settled, she did start eating again. And I just topped her up with water then stopped that. They said it would probably re occur. But it never did. And she died of something else 5 years later.

She was on morphine and ketamine and cefuroxime and metronidazole. Which I found really weird as I’m a paediatric nurse and exactly what we treat kids with.

The feeding tube raw really easy. Although I forgot to ask what volume of feed to give. But she was very compliant anyway. And I’m used to tube feeding.

Thank you!

I’ve just had a call from the vet asking for a face to face appointment later on to discuss a plan moving forward.

I’m not sure how to take that…

My old boy had pancreatitis 4 years ago. I nursed him through it and he made a good recovery, but he was in a lot of pain for at least a month and I told the DC (young adults) that if it came back again I would PTS.
I used a syringe initially to get water into him and then bone broth. I warmed all his food and sprinkled nutritional yeast flakes on it, because cats really like the smell of it.
He had all his meals on our bed and I carried him up and down to his favourite place in the garden to wee several times a day.

Does she need sedation for scans. My girls have had multiple scans and never needed sedation.

How are you and your cat doing, OP?

(I read this thread this morning and wondered if Chat GPT was writing some of the posts - is that what’s been deleted?)

Thanks all!

Sorry for the delay in coming back, unfortunately the news wasn’t great so sadly she was put to sleep this evening.

Despite the tube feeding, drip and pain relief and the appetite stimulant, she had continued to deteriorate, her glucose levels kept crashing and they were struggling to get it stable at a reasonable level, her latest round of blood tests showed the pancreatitis marker was still increasing massively, her liver which had been ok was showing issues and some other stuff wasn’t as good as it has been - sorry, there were so many things that I can’t remember them all.

Our vet is fab, she’s been our vet for years and I totally trust her, and she felt that there was something underlying going on and given her last blood test results, we felt the best thing was to let her go.

So sorry to read that update @Ellybellyboo - we had our lovely girl pts last year after she was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma. I am so grateful we were able to let her go with grace, but oh my goodness, the heartbreak is real.

So sorry to read your update @Ellybellyboo It is such a difficult decision to make, but one I am glad we can do for our pets. I hope you are all doing as well as you can do at a time like this 💐

So sorry to read your update, It is very similar to what happened to mine.

It is so hard, but you 100% did the right thing for her. She was very lucky to have you.