Help with pancreatis

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Matt and Goldy said:
fluids not much at all 50 ml at a time only when needed
wants me to use syringe to get water down too
tiki food, I will look it up is that at Petco?
I'm gonna head there and look for something I can grind up and force feed if necessary
yeah they said he doesn't need pain meds at this point cause he supposedly was getting
better and no throw up meds cause he wasn't vomiting at this point? How do I know if
he is still in pain though? Or how do they know he is not?
I can see this is gonna be rough he has lost ALOT of weight, and I'm glad I got him
out of there because I think he was on the down spiral
His heart came back with issues when they sent out his throw up to be examined
for cancer and confirm pancreatitis, it said somewhat of an enlarged heart.

Anyone have experience force feeding their cat?
Click to expand...

I don't know if Petco has it. Petsmart does NOT carry it. You can also use baby food meat, beechnut and gerber. Make sure no onions or garlic are in it. Can also use kitten food, Authority brand (8%).

Pancreatitis is painful for most cats, and doesn't go away after a day or two. So I disagree with what you were told. Anyway, Metro will help with some of it. I will look for the pics of meatloaf position for you that indicates pain. Nausea is a little harder to figure out, but usually they want to eat and even start to then walk away because they know they will get sick. If you can try to find a vet who will give you some cerenia.
 
Max just stops eating. You would never know why. I do from experience. Gerbers 2nd all meat baby food is easy to syringe. Most cats love it. It comes in ham, chicken, beef, and turkey. Tiff wouldn't eat chicken and Nax isn't fond of the turkey so get a fees jars of each and you can return what he doesn't like.
 
got it heading out now
he just went out in the back yard and is over in his spot
so I will leave the door open for him to return..
thanks again
gonna look for another vet and see about the meds buprenorphine and cerenia plus vit b 12, enzymes, and probiotic
but I don't need a script for the probiotic I don't think
weird my brother is on suboxone which is buprenorphine but it has naloxone in it otherwise I would be
covered for the pain meds....maybe if I get desperate?
will check back when I return
thx again
 
great suggestions thanks will do
is there an over the counter nausea med?
I'm in Warner Robins Ga, if anyone knows of a GOOD vet
I know about feeling just unsatisfied with vets
Had a good one in Houston, but unf this happened after I left
and NO this came from the doctor, I spoke with him and he was supposedly
at a vet convention, its all b.s., but told the recept what to give, I had to ask him
about the subcutec or wouldn't have even gotten that...
oh and nothing personal but I have found that the women vets are better
just my opinion
also one other thing that I never mentioned, its weird, I have noticed with
him what seems to be a nose issue, like sinus, not that it runs, but just a
little grunt noise he makes like blowing out air in a mildly stuffed nose
then occasionally like goes into an open mouth, sneeze or like when a person
is going to sneeze, happened here today, went on for like a minute, I thought
he was having an attack, calmed him down and it went away doesn't happen
often but did notice it today, I don't know thought maybe he just cant smell or taste
anything anymore?
He definitely is not eating, those couple of tiny bites were it today
 
Matt,

I don't know about OTC nausea meds. A lot a people use pepcid for acid control. The plain one 10mg tab and give 1/4 tab. It might help until you can get cerenia or zofran. His noise, breathing sounds like his heart enlargement issue. You would need a cardiologist and echo to determine that. First you have to get him through this.

Your in Georgia, it's probably humid and warm. Get the ac on cold. It will help with the breathing somewhat. I was surprised how much a difference it made with Smokey. At times he even just sits in the room the window air is which is the coldest room or smack in front of the portable unit.
 
Woodsywife said:
Matt,

I don't know about OTC nausea meds. A lot a people use pepcid for acid control. The plain one 10mg tab and give 1/4 tab. It might help until you can get cerenia or zofran. His noise, breathing sounds like his heart enlargement issue. You would need a cardiologist and echo to determine that. First you have to get him through this.

Your in Georgia, it's probably humid and warm. Get the ac on cold. It will help with the breathing somewhat. I was surprised how much a difference it made with Smokey. At times he even just sits in the room the window air is which is the coldest room or smack in front of the portable unit.
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Pepcid won't help with this. You need cerenia or Ondansetron, a human drug. I know you don't like the vet and I don't blame you but can you get him to give you either some cerenia pills or a RX for ondansetron? I'm really worried about the large weight loss . I also am concerned about the open mouth breathing which could be coming from the heart issue. That would make fluids a bad idea.
 
yeah I think I know the pain and the meatloaf position, since Ive seen him in that before...
he is in a half position like that now, and every now and then I see him let out a little cry so I believe he
is in pain not quite sure though
the open mouth isn't him breathing but it was more like when an animal say gets water in the nose and kinda
like snouts and he only did that once so I may have not explained that quite right. He is sleeping on my bed, I just forced some
gerber ham down, he then licked the tuna once and took 2 licks from a can of fancy feast and he is now sleeping
on my bed. He looks like he has been through a war...so I'm sure he is in some pain
Does anyone that has given buprenorphine, know what dosage they gave their cat?
I did see where they gave him an injection of cerenia on the 29th of july? Does that last a while?
 
The dosage for buprenorphine depends on the weight of the cat, and the concentration of the buprenorphine, and is a sliding scale. My Neko weighs 13 lbs, and gets .22ml of bupe twice daily and it's 0.3 mg/ml concentration. She gets it for quite severe arthritis so gets a higher amount. My civie was getting buprenorphine for a pulled crutiate ligament, about the same weight and getting 0.2ml twice a day to start, then tapered down to 0.1 ml. Your vet should have a recommendation on amount and may have given you prefilled syringes. Some cats don't need very much and you'll have to reduce the dose. My civie once got some bupe with a higher concentration (emergency weekend vet) and I didn't notice. He was walking like a drunken sailor.

I would recommend seeing if you can get to the bottom of the heart issue. If it is indeed an enlarged heart (cardiomyopathy), then no fluids should be given. My Neko had a clean echocardiogram last fall, we started fluids in April for her kidney disease, the she lost her appetite within a few weeks. We had to stop fluids because her heart had gotten enlarged since her previous echo and she had fluids around the heart. Heart issues can also cause lack of appetite and lethargy. I had to syringe feed until her heart medications started making her feel better and the fluids went away. Ondansetron (Zofran) was also like a miracle drug for her in stopping the nausea and making her feel like eating.

One simple at home thing you can do is measure his resting respiration rate. When he is sleeping, try to count the number of complete breaths (in and out) that he does per minute. You want it to be less than 30 if he's sleeping, Over that, you should let the vet know.
 
Cerenia only last about 24 hours. I use ondansetron when Max's chronic pancreatitis acts up. I suggested you get cerenia because it's a vet medication so they gave it. Since tgey gave him some I think you can probably get them to sell you some. I haves used it and prefer the pills because the injections sting. Some cats do better with cerenia, some with ondansetron, and some with both. The article I directed you to mentions both of these drugs. Goody probably won't eat on his own until the nausea is controlled. Max has been on ondansetron for months at a time.
 
My Smokey Buprenorphine was started at 0.1ml (0.5mg per ml) every 8-12 hrs. The 12 hrs was to plong so went to every eight hours. That remained for many weeks. Every week I would try the 12 hrs but he still needed it more often. He now gets 0.05ml. Once a day and is doing fine. And I can give more if he needs it.

Cerenia is only good for 24 hrs. Smokey has been on it daily since March.
 
hey everyone
I lookd up the drugs this guy sent him home with goldy, and its 3 antibiotics, 2 have nothing to do with pancreas, or gi, and one of those has pancreatitis as a side effect? 2 are for skin infections? I guess because he has like a serious rash on his back legs, into his stomach area, prob from sitting in that cage. plus, No pain killers, no upset stomach med, what I thought was good care is turning out to be a wasted week and money it seems. I don't think I am even going to give him these 2 antibiotics for skin infections. I'm gonna try to keep him alive to go to another vet in the area and see what there protocol is for treating him at home...
Just wanted to say I have really appreciated all your help, and support through this, it really means ALOT
he made it through the night, still not eating, but I have seen him drink so that's a good thing, I am forcing the gerber food, he hates it.
to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if this heart issue is causing a lot of this
 
sorry I'm losing it, I am trying to take all the suggestions in, I am force feeding him more
cause I think I was seriously under force feeding him
does anyone know how much and how often..
I will hold on giving him to many fluids...
 
Matt, the best thing you can do is get some cerenia or ondansetron. If nauseous he won't eat. Once Max was on the right dose he ate enough. He needs to eat at least 3/4 of what he was eating before he stopped. There are appetite stimulants but you don't want to give them if nauseous.
 
Matt and Goldy said:
Hi everyone
I have had a rough time with goldy for the past month.
Has anyone dealt with severe pancreatic with their cat while being diagnosed with
diabetes?
He is at the vet now for the past 2 days and the doctor wants him til Monday, so
its cost me over a grand but what scares me is the future
and has anyone dealt with trying to heal the pancreas while at home?
He was originally on Novo that didn't seem to be working so the doctor he is at now
has switched him to vetsulin.
He is not eating their, but the doctor said he doesn't want to give him food orally
so his pancreas can heal.
I can see this is gonna be a long healing process and could really use some advice as to
whether anyone else went thru this.
Thanks again
Matt
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With holding food for feline pancreatitis is not good medicine. For cats, this can be very dangerous. Kitty needs Cerenia, pepcid, fluids, and bland food, like baby food Beechnut chicken or turkey, and pain managment, like buprenorphine. You can give Cerenia by injection at home, pepcid too, if they are not taking meds orally. I ordered Cerenia injection from Allivet, and got the pills at Costco for a decent price. Pepcid injectable can be tricky, but some pharmacies will order it for you. If not, just stick with the oral version of these. If you can do subcutaneous fluids at home, that is very helpful too.

If doing the homecare is too much, and kitty is staying in hospital, MAKE SURE THEY ARE PRESENTING BLAND FOOD AND GIVING PAIN CONTROL LIKE BUPRENORPHINE, along with Cerenia and pepcid. Without pain management, it is difficult to get better.
 
Also, no probiotics for now. Probiotics seem to make pancreatitis less likely to resolve. You can give probiotics after he is completely resolved.
 
Haven't been around much this past week, but I wanted to pop in and second (third? fourth?) the buprenorphrine and cerenia/ondansetron. When Jason had his acute pancreatitis flare back in December, the ER vet didn't give him pain medication (even though they're the ones that diagnosed the pancreatitis!) - it wasn't til 2 days later when I was checking with a vet that I work with about giving more Cerenia that he told me I should absolutely give bupe (I didn't know anything about pancreatitis at the time). The pain medication was the biggest turnaround for Jason and his appetite/attitude, and I could tell exactly when it wore off (I actually had the extended release that lasts 3 days) and that he needed another dose.

I'd also suggest getting B12 injectable - whenever Jason's had a flare, that really does seem to help.

Food-wise, you can also look into science diet A/D - it's a calorie rich, really tasty canned food. You'll probably have to get it from a vet or get a prescription for it. If you do have to do syringe feedings, it's very mushy to start with and is very easy to syringe feed with after adding a little water.

One other thing regarding probiotics - FortiFlora (a cat probiotic) can actually work really well to help stimulate appetite. It's really stinky most cats love the taste. I've had really good luck with using it for sick cats to help stimulate them to eat (my personal vet actually now uses it this way as well after I told him about it). I don't use the whole packet, I just sprinkle a little on top of the food. It's something to keep in mind if you continue to have problems getting Goldy to eat.
 
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