Confirmed pancreatitis. Treatment options?

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Well we are all conflicted leaving the current vet. Prior to the pancreatitis and the pain med situation it was usually a good experience. The staff is beyond amazing, they are truly wonderful people. Each and everyone of one them. It's a shame and saddens me that I won't be able to be in contact with them anymore once I leave.

The vet that was suggested to me was ultimately too far away (long distance--3 train transfers and a bus ride). My mom is not on board with vet visits anymore and she is not giving me rides, so it is public transportation most of the time unless my best friend is off from work. I'm going to ask around at school to see if anyone knows anything easier to get to. Or I can check on Yelp and see reviews for more accessible vets.

I plan on getting some fluids and requesting the information on file at the same time.

I add water all the time, when I see the canned food sitting around after he's had some, I'll add more water. He likes it a lot better this way.

Spence ate A LOT today. I woke up the huge bowl I put out was completely empty (it had a full can of tuna and a 3oz pouch of wellness). Even if Sammie ate some, which I doubt (put food for him downstairs--he absolutely hates and refuses to eat in the kitchen), there was a considerable amount of food. Here's the funny part, when I woke up and checked on the bowl, Spence was laying right next to it waiting for more food :lol:! I put out a 3oz can and a 3oz wellness pouch, mixed up with water and I mash up the wellness pieces. Most of it was gone by 2PM.

So he's eating! I hope we can keep up this momentum.
 
Excellent on the food! Sounds like he is past the worst of it now.

I understand about the vet. Maybe this vet has learned something from the experience with Spencer and will be better about it going forward. Just as an FYI Moochie's vet didn't think I should waste my money on the fPLI test when I asked for it because she didn't think it was CP. When the results came back she was amazed. She also told me that the timing was perfect because right after she sent the b/w out to IDEXX she attended a seminar on pancreatitis and they were discussing the very symptoms that Moochie had and how many diabetic cats seem to have CP. Then she got Moochie's results and there you have it. I gave her a lot of credit for telling me about it. It showed me that although she had thought I was over-reacting she had learned that it was probably a good reaction.

I also understand having to do the public transportation with a pet. I thankfully have a car to get around but when you have that many transfers on trains and buses it's rough.
 
Atta boy Spencer!!!!

He will hopefully eat well now to make up for lost time and gain weight ! If he slows down in the eating at some point, don't panic, he may simply be easing off the pace at which he's eating, or nearing a normal weight.... and keep an eye on that there's regular "output" in the litter tray, now that he's eating again, let's hope he won't head down that scary constipation route again !

I've not had time to log on for a while and look, but just HAD to come and see how Spencer is doing.

So glad for you he is eating now, does indeed sound like he's over the worst of it. I'm sure he understands & appreciates what you have done for him. So that's a big "well done!" to you for sticking with it and a big fat "congrats!" to Spencer for toughing it out !!!!

Maria & Suzie
 
> Well we are all conflicted leaving the current vet. Prior to the pancreatitis and the pain med situation it was usually a
> good experience. The staff is beyond amazing, they are truly wonderful people. Each and everyone of one them.

Okay, well, then you have a decision to make: how much do you trust these people? Do you think they've learned anything from this experience? How likely are they to listen to you in the future? Has your vet been willing to work in conjunction with you to help keep Soencer healthy?

I do not consider it a crime for a vet to not be completely familiar with all the nuances of every disease that they might see in every animal they treat. After all, they're supposed to know about scaling infections in fish, beak deformations in parrots, hyperactivity in ferrets, etc, etc -- they need to know signs and symptoms and enough information to differentiate between conditions that may have very similar symptoms, and be able to treat everything. That's a hell of a lot of knowledge to keep in one head, and keeping up with the latest developments for all diseases in all animals is pretty much impossible, so I tend to cut vets some slack in this area.

Ive been very lucky, as for most of her life Gwyn had some really incredibly super-competent vets. Even so, there were things that they just weren't up-to-date on. But, as long as my vet is willing to work with me to keep my pets healthy and happy, is willing to listen to me and to share her knowledge with me, and (importantly) is willing to do research to see if a new and improved treatment may be available if it looks like current treatments aren't working, and refer us to a specialist when it's needed, I'm mostly content. I've also discovered that, even if I switch to a vet who's absolutely all-knowing about, say, pancreatitis, they may be an absolute dunce in diabetes, or heart disease, or whatever other ailment my cat decides to spring on me next.

Regarding your current vet: there may or may not have been some problems with your vet treating the constipation; I can't comment on that because I'm not sure at what point Spencer started having his pancreatitis attack and whether that affected the constipation issue. What does concern me is that your vet was slow to react effectively to the pancreatitis: they poo-poo'd the idea of Pepcid which, even if it didn't help, was very unlikely to actually *hurt*, and they were extremely slow to provide any form of pain relief. You might try dropping off copies of the previously mentioned articles about identifying and treating pancreatitis in cats, and seeing how your vet reacts to that. If your vet isn't willing to listen to you and isn't willing to learn what s/he needs to effectively treat his/her patients, then you might want to consider asking around for referrals for a new vet.


I'd like to add my delight that Spencer is showing more interest in food (you let his food bowl *be EMPTY*!!! bad human!! :lol: ) I think you've been doing an incredible job in very trying circumstances -- well done, to both of you!

-- Jean and her Gwyn
 
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