Duke confirmed as having pancreatitis.

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Teetee (UK)

Teetee (UK)

Member Since 2019
Hi everybody.
Unfortunately Duke has been diagnosed with pancreatitis, He had blood tests done on the 16th June and his Lipase came back as 37 (range 0-24) plus bloods sent away which was confirmed yesterday.
At the moment we give him two Omeprazole 5mg tablets once daily (if we think he needs it) plus he has Gabapentin tablets (again given if we think he's in pain.)
He has vomited clear liquid late in the afternoon for the last couple of days that probably sent his bloods up for his PMPS, could the vomiting mean he has an acidy stomach?
We have also increased his fluid intake to make sure he hydrated and has at least 300ml per day from his food and he loves his tuna water which we give him about 15ml after his test +4,5,6 am/pm.
We've changed his feeding routine by feeding small amounts at +4,5,6 am/pm.
As he's now been diagnosed is there anything else we can do to help Duke with his pancreatitis.
Also can anybody please explain what the Lipase numbers mean please, is the 37 reading very high for a cat.
Any help and suggestions would be very grateful.
Thanks.
 
Oh man that sucks. My cat Zimmy had pancratitis once. We did daily sub q fluids for a few weeks, cerenia for nausea and bupe for pain. He started to feel better in a few days and was back to normal in about a week. I think we caught it pretty early. We knew something was wrong when he wasn't eating much. That big boy LIKED to eat. Lol
 
JanetNJ said:
Oh man that sucks. My cat Zimmy had pancratitis once. We did daily sub q fluids for a few weeks, cerenia for nausea and bupe for pain. He started to feel better in a few days and was back to normal in about a week. I think we caught it pretty early. We knew something was wrong when he wasn't eating much. That big boy LIKED to eat. Lol
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Hi @JanetNJ
It does suck but at least we have found the problem of him going through periods of him not interested in his food and trying sometimes 7 different types of food just to get something into him, it also explains why his bloods have been all over the place lately, dose increase then lowering then back up.
At the moment i feel a bit out of control with his dose and don't know day by day where he will be, and also before i could virtually guess what his BG would be after i test him, (i'm sure you know what i mean.) but not now. He's seen more light greens lately than ever before and yet on the same dose same day he won't even see a green.
Like Zimmy, Duke loves his food so we should have a good indication if he's having a flare up when he starts messing about with his food again and take action.
 
Unfortunately, the lipase values are pretty meaningless in cats. It's a test that's more helpful in dogs. Chances are, your vet sent o ut the blood for a Spec fPLI which is a more definitive test for cats.

If at all possible, can you ask your vet for burprenorphine for pain? Gabapentin is best suited for neuropathic pain and less so for pain that's from inflammation. Pancreatitis can be incredibly painful.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Unfortunately, the lipase values are pretty meaningless in cats. It's a test that's more helpful in dogs. Chances are, your vet sent o ut the blood for a Spec fPLI which is a more definitive test for cats.

If at all possible, can you ask your vet for burprenorphine for pain? Gabapentin is best suited for neuropathic pain and less so for pain that's from inflammation. Pancreatitis can be incredibly painful.
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Thanks Sienne
I have just rung the vets about the bupe, just in time before they closed for the day and the receptionist said she would pass our message onto the vet and get back to us if there is any problems getting some, we are picking some more Omeprazole up in the morning so fingers crossed she has ok it.
We do have some metacam/loxicom but i'm really not wanting to give him any due to the obvious reasons.
 
Do you have cerenia or ondansetron? Ondansetron is the best for nausea and you need an RX to get it at a human pharmacy. Omeprazole won’t take care of that.

Max had chronic pancreatitis and inappetence as always my sign he was having a flare. Ondansetron started immediately really helped. Feed small meals often which fortunately works well to keep the bg stable is best. If he eats too much at one time he will feel yucky.
 
@Sienne and Gabby (GA) @tiffmaxee
The vet has just called me back and she has prescribed us with some bupe, however they only stock the injectable type so it needs to be ordered in, should be here by Wednesday she said, also she has given us some mirtazapine to help with his nausea.
 
Mirt is an appetite stimulant with a tiny bit of nausea control. Stimulating the appetite of a nauseous cat rarely has a good outcome. They can refuse the food and develop food aversions . I am not a fan of mirt, at least the pills. Never tried the ear gel. The pills were new when it was tried on my cancer kitty and she became very agitated and vocal. I use cyproheptadine, a human antihistamine that used to be used a lot before the pharmaceutical company developed mirt. When I figured out Max’s proper dose of ondansetron I rarely need cyproheptadine.
 
tiffmaxee said:
Do you have cerenia or ondansetron? Ondansetron is the best for nausea and you need an RX to get it at a human pharmacy. Omeprazole won’t take care of that.

Max had chronic pancreatitis and inappetence as always my sign he was having a flare. Ondansetron started immediately really helped. Feed small meals often which fortunately works well to keep the bg stable is best. If he eats too much at one time he will feel yucky.
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Thanks @tiffmaxee
We have started to feed him small meals often to help cut the load down on his pancreas, but as you will see on his spreadsheet, his bloods are all over at the moment, luckily he's not going too high or really low, just a struggle with his dosing as i don't know from day to day what he will be.


tiffmaxee said:
Mirt is an appetite stimulant with a tiny bit of nausea control. Stimulating the appetite of a nauseous cat rarely has a good outcome. They can refuse the food and develop food aversions . I am not a fan of mirt, at least the pills. Never tried the ear gel. The pills were new when it was tried on my cancer kitty and she became very agitated and vocal. I use cyproheptadine, a human antihistamine that used to be used a lot before the pharmaceutical company developed mirt. When I figured out Max’s proper dose of ondansetron I rarely need cyproheptadine.
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I will ask the vet about the ondansetron on Monday and hopefully she will prescribe it.
Thanks again.
 
Teetee (UK) said:
Thanks @tiffmaxee
We have started to feed him small meals often to help cut the load down on his pancreas, but as you will see on his spreadsheet, his bloods are all over at the moment, luckily he's not going too high or really low, just a struggle with his dosing as i don't know from day to day what he will be.




I will ask the vet about the ondansetron on Monday and hopefully she will prescribe it.
Thanks again.
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cerenia is another option.
 
The bg will very likely be all over the place until the episode passes. You do have him tightly controlled so kudos to you. I would not even say it’s all over,
 
since the eating is not what it should be i might back the dose just a smidge to a regular 1 or skinny 1. You don't want him to go hypo and then not be able to get him to eat. He has been running a little low.
 
Teetee (UK) said:
The vet has just called me back and she has prescribed us with some bupe, however they only stock the injectable type so it needs to be ordered in, should be here by Wednesday she said,
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The injectable burprenorphine is commonly used orally by squirting it is a cheek pouch in the mouth. It is absorbed by the mucous membrane; not in the GI tract. Onoy downside is that injectable burprenorphine is more expensive than oral-only burprenorphine
 
JanetNJ said:
since the eating is not what it should be i might back the dose just a smidge to a regular 1 or skinny 1. You don't want him to go hypo and then not be able to get him to eat. He has been running a little low.
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@JanetNJ
He's back to eating normally at the moment, infact he's walking about at this moment following his mum about crying and wanting his supper (plus he can smell the roast chicken in the oven lol) but i will drop his dose back like you say to a regular 1u as he's seen light greens again and see how he goes, he's now dropped from 1.375 to 1 in the space of 9 days so maybe the worst is over for the time being.
I don't think he's ill at the moment because he is eating quite well.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
The injectable burprenorphine is commonly used orally by squirting it is a cheek pouch in the mouth. It is absorbed by the mucous membrane; not in the GI tract. Onoy downside is that injectable burprenorphine is more expensive than oral-only burprenorphine
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So is there any actual difference between the two?
 
Teetee (UK) said:
@JanetNJ
He's back to eating normally at the moment, infact he's walking about at this moment following his mum about crying and wanting his supper (plus he can smell the roast chicken in the oven lol) but i will drop his dose back like you say to a regular 1u as he's seen light greens again and see how he goes, he's now dropped from 1.375 to 1 in the space of 9 days so maybe the worst is over for the time being.
I don't think he's ill at the moment because he is eating quite well.
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oh that'S WONDERFUL news that he's eating.
 
Teetee (UK) said:
Unfortunately Duke has been diagnosed with pancreatitis
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Ugh, I'm so sorry to hear about Duke's pancreatitis diagnosis, Tee. ...It is not at all uncommon in diabetic kitties, and is likely under-diagnosed.
My diabetic girl was diagnosed with it (even though she had no clinical signs at all...)

Hopefully this episode will soon pass, and Duke will be feeling fine again very soon.
Keeping fingers and paws crossed! :bighug:

Eliz
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Ugh, I'm so sorry to hear about Duke's pancreatitis diagnosis, Tee. ...It is not at all uncommon in diabetic kitties, and is likely under-diagnosed.
My diabetic girl was diagnosed with it (even though she had no clinical signs at all...)

Hopefully this episode will soon pass, and Duke will be feeling fine again very soon.
Keeping fingers and paws crossed! :bighug:

Eliz
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Thanks @Elizabeth and Bertie
He's actually i think feeling better as he's eating better now, although he left half his supper tonight, it was the whiskas duck in jelly but he ate his second lot of whiskas poultry in jelly plus we've managed to get about 270mls of fluid into him today so far (including the fluid in his food) so maybe another 30/40 mls of tuna water tonight and that will take him over 300mls, we have to keep him hydrated.
 
@JanetNJ
I have dropped his dose tonight to 1.0u but he was really high again tonight. If he's low again in the morning would it be worth stalling for say 1/2 to 1 hour until he rises to about 10/11 mmol (180/198 mg/dl) then give him his breakfast and shot and hopefully at his normal PMPS he will be lower, or does it not work like that. It's like his insulin/BG has shifted an hour.
 
Teetee (UK) said:
@JanetNJ
I have dropped his dose tonight to 1.0u but he was really high again tonight. If he's low again in the morning would it be worth stalling for say 1/2 to 1 hour until he rises to about 10/11 mmol (180/198 mg/dl) then give him his breakfast and shot and hopefully at his normal PMPS he will be lower, or does it not work like that. It's like his insulin/BG has shifted an hour.
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You do realize 13.8 isn't really very high, right? esp for a cat recovering from pancreatitis!!
 
Teetee (UK) said:
I will do, I've already written it down so i can ask the vet.
Thank you so much for your help and advice.
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Your welcome. Max had chronic pancreatitis fur a few years before he became diabetic diabetic so any time I can help just tag me. Look at the pancreatitis handbook. The forum that helped me posted the latest on pancreatitis and Marje added it there.
 
tiffmaxee said:
How is he today?
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Hi @tiffmaxee
Thanks for asking and i'm sorry i didn't get back sooner.
He was very quiet yesterday and never asked to go outside at all, he slept most of the day and messed about with his breakfast and supper a lot so we knew he wasn't feeling too good, however this morning he ate all his breakfast no problem but we gave him a gabapentin tablet just before he went to bed last night as he seemed uncomfortable and his bloods were running higher than normal.
He's bright as a button today and drinking his fluid albeit it's diluted minced beef blood. (yuk) and his bloods are great today so far.
Plus he's scouring the house looking for plastic carrier bags or any polythene bags, he's weird, what he does when he gets one he carries it around the house howling then drops it and walks away.
 
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Diane Tyler's Mom said:
I'm so glad Duke is feeling so much better, how cute looking for plastic bags and carrying them around, silly Duke. Nice numbers today , surf safely :bighug::bighug:
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Thanks Diane
It's best when he gets hold of a big 12 pack of toilet rolls and tries to bring them downstairs, all you hear is howling clump, clump, clump when he's dropped them and then he chases it down the stairs and drags it about again howling. Many a time when we are watching tv we hear a thud upstairs and howling and we say what's he got now lol.
 
We have tried many times to video him but when we do he stops doing it and looks around as if to say wasn't me, you know like the innocent whistle.
 
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