Advice please - pancreatitis?

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Barb & Mr. Frog

Member Since 2013
This past couple/few days Frog has been sort of sleepy/listless... Not chasing me down for food (but eating if I bring it to him. A couple of times I thought he felt warm, but I don't have a thermometer and I'm not even sure you can take a cats temp with a people thermometer even if I had one... if I did, what would be normal? Hubby thought he felt normal, but honestly, I don't think he knows.

In addition to the listlessness now tho, He seems a bit wobbly to me, and not really moving from his perch except to use the litter. His sugar has seemed better recently than it was (although I think he may need a dose increase, I didn't want to fool around with changing that while he isn't feeling well) He definitely seems uncomfortable if I pick him up, unless I'm very careful to hold the ribs and the legs behind the tail area, so I'm guessing possible pain? And yes, I think he is slightly dehydrated, tho I have been adding water with the food, and offering tuna water which he does drink at least some of.

The real problem right now, is I don't have the money to take him to the vet for at least another two weeks, so.... :( Is there something I can do in the meantime, or is this dangerous to the point that I should be begging to borrow money to get him seen?
 
Hi Barb,

Have you checked him for ketones lately to make sure thats not whats going on? If you can I would do that first to rule it out altogether.
Then if you suspect pancreatitis, yes I would get him to the vet as soon as possible and have them run a test for it. Pancreatitis is nothing to mess with. There can be varied degrees of it from mild to severe and life threatening.

Terri
 
Thanks Terri, yes I test for ketones every chance he presents me with, yesterday was the most recent, and so far they've all stayed Negative. I'm doing what I can to borrow some money to get him in asap .... /sigh, why do bad things always seem to happen when you're broke?

I wonder... my mom is a nurse, she might be able to get me lactated ringers, would it be bad for me to try subq without vet guidance? If I get the cash to take him in, I'm worried about being able to trust the vet, since the things they told me at the beginning were WRONG.

It looks like I need to ask for the spec fpl test? Anyone know if there are other specific things we need? Full cbc probably? I know they will try to sell me a lot of crap, they always have, but I have to keep it down in terms of cost, so ... what do I actually NEED them to do? And are there things (like subq fluids?) that need a prescription that I can (or should) do myself? (for instance, injectable pain meds?< is that even acceptable? Pills aren't going so hot with him)

Thanks for the links Sue

ETA: I decided to try a curve on him since he's been so down... it's crazy flat all day so far, is that a bad sign?
 
Barb,

I hope he does not have pancreatitis. But if so, pain meds, anti nausea, sometimes fluids. I would not give him fluids before you find out whats wrong with him.
He could have a urinary infection or something else. I know its so hard when kitty is sick, one usually does not get out of the vets unless they are several hundred dollars lighter in the purse.
Also print out the link Sue gave you for the pancreatitis, that is the best info I have seen yet, and I would take it with you to the vets just in case.
Do you have another vet you could take him to?

Terri
 
Deb & Wink said:
You need to fast before the spec fPL, 8-12 hours I think it was.
Click to expand...

Crap... I got him appt for tonight, he is definitely not fasting, should I cancel and reschedule for tomorrow? And how do I fast him with the insulin? Just stop insulin for the night?
 
If it is bad enough, it will show up without fasting. Try to time that test after about 8 hours fasting, just before a shot.
 
Update: We did go to the vets tonight. I had to refuse 50% of the things they wanted to do because of money, but of the things that got done ( blood test, cbc, urine ) vet says everything looks pretty good (except his sugar of course, but that was right at what should've been shot time, so it shoulda been) He was definitely dehydrated, she gave me lactated ringers to do subq. They wanted to give him convenia, I refused. Also really really want me to feed the DM... also refused. So, $208. later I'm giving him Pepcid daily, and the water I could've probably gotten for free /sigh ... well, at least I have blood values now.

ETA: His weight is up by .4lbs from 11.5 @ dx to 11.9lbs now, so taking the dehydration into account, its probably a tad more than that, which makes me happy!

ETAA: He has tooth problems too, but there is no way I can afford what they quoted me, so my guess is this is a big part of his sugar problems too, maybe even originally the cause :YMSIGH:
 
If you can get a fluids kit, bag and line plus needles through your mom, that would be great.

Pancreatitis needs fluids for flushing the system out, something for upset stomach and pepcid is good enough - 1/4 tab am and pm 5mg/day max, and then pain meds. Cats with pancreatitis will have a bit higher BG and be a bit off food, plus many sit like a meatloaf and hide because of the pain.

It's OK to give pepcid every day; it may be an idea to give about 30min before the am and pm meals so that the stomach's settled in time for eating.

if you did not get the fPLI test done for pancreatitis, you won't know if it's an issue or not, but all the bloodwork is never a bad thing to get done. Be sure that you cat copies of all the results to have at home so that you can have a comparison with the next time. I don't like when vets say 'everything looks good' well, I want to see for myself because there could be a number that right at the max or min of the ranges, yes?

I hope all passes well, and that the pepcid helps a bit.
 
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