What dry food choice for diabetic pancreatitis fatless kitty cat

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Tiggers_Dad

Tiggers_Dad

Member Since 2015
From Idexx
There are no studies to support dietary choices for cats with pancreatitis. Nutritional experts do not believe that high-fat foods are implicated in causing pancreatitis in cats. However, some internists avoid high-fat diets because they have anecdotally recognized an association. Liquid diets are required for use in nasogastric, nasoesophageal and jejunostomy tubes. Commercially available CliniCare® Canine/Feline Liquid Diet (Abbott Animal Health) is high in fat but commonly used. Human-formulated liquid diets are too low in protein to be used in cats. Low-residue, lowfat, easy-to-digest blended canned diets can be used in esophagostomy or gastrostomy tubes. Recommendations for feeding cats with pancreatitis are based upon opinion. Trial and error is often required to find a diet that works for a particular cat. One challenge is that cats with pancreatitis often have concurrent disease. A low-residue diet might be the diet of choice in a cat that only has pancreatitis, but if concurrent intestinal disease is present, then a novel protein diet might be a better choice. The caveat for owners is that the cat must eat. So if their cat won’t eat one of these special diets, they need to go back to whatever they were previously feeding
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What kind of food do I feed Tigger? He is 7lbs, and needs to bulk up to fully fight off this pancreatitis
Tigger normally weighs 10-13lbs
Maybe a calorie dense food? To my understand I need high protein low carb, but what about fat value?
Any recommendations? I'll be purchasing a automatic feeder to feed him small amounts all throughout the day

Thank you all for your help, hope, prayers

Tigger is coming home tonight
 
You are going to find that nobody is really going to recommend a dry food to give to cats. When you go to the website that BJM cited, Dr. Lisa - explains the reasons why dry food is not a good food option for cats.

When dealing with pancreatitis, the goal is to get the cat eating. You may need to force feed him, as he may not want to eat on his own. Having a supply of baby food (Beechnut Stage 1 - meat flavors) are a good option, as it's just meat and broth and easy on an upset tummy.

Recovery by Royal Canin (I think) is also an option to use, especially if you need to syringe feed, it is very smooth and will syringe easily.

As your cat starts eating on his own, and the diabetes becomes more regulated, the weight will come back naturally.

Hope this helps.
 
I had a cat who had severe pancreatitis twice. I syringe fed her canned Hill's prescription diet a/d which is for critical care cats. It worked great. Hope all goes well. We even had a baby bib we used so that I didn't make too big of a mess with the syringe. She wasn't a a real fan of my syringe feeding but after about 3 days she finally started eating. I continued with the syringe feeding for a week but cut down the amount based on how much she would eat. I fed her every two hours, 24 hours a day. (about 2 to 3 ml each meal) My advice is to just get your cat eating and then worry about the high protein low carb diet after a couple of weeks of eating on his own.

Here's the description of the "a/d" food.
This quote is from the Hill's prescription diet a/d web page. "For the nutritional support of pets recovering from serious illness, accident and surgery. Cats and dogs can undergo significant metabolic changes when recovering from a serious illness, injury or surgery. During these stressful conditions the body is challenged to maintain strong natural defenses and spare lean body mass, which makes it is even more important to feed the right food. Cats and dogs need extra energy and nutrients, in an appetizing form, to encourage the recovery process."
 
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It's great to hear that Tigger is coming home! :)

What food has Tigger been eating at the vet's? If that agrees with him, that might be the best thing to go with for the time being. Food changes can be very, very tricky with pancreatitis. Remi's mum, Sarah (@phlika29) is a member of the pancreatitis support group on Yahoo and if I recall correctly she has posted here that the Yahoo group view is to be cautious about the fat content of foods, and also the type of fat (for example, I found through trial and error that Saoirse cannot tolerate salmon oil or sunflower oil, but she tolerates land animal fats better) . I have found from my experience with treating and managing Saoirse's pancreatitis that it is best to just change one thing at a time, and to change things very gradually, especially food.

Another critical caveat about changing food is to consider any changes in carb content, since that may have implications for insulin dosage. Is Tigger on insulin, and are you home testing his BG?

Also, has your vet spoken with you about vitamin B12 supplementation? (B12 supplementation can be a great help with appetite, digestion, may have an anti-inflammatory benefit, and may help Tigger to regain some of the weight he has lost. See the IDEXX treatment guidelines for more information.) Other things to ask your vet about are Rx's for anti-nausea meds (e.g. generic ondansetron) and appetite stimulant meds (e.g. cyproheptadine). Having a squirrel stock of these meds at home can help enormously because any re-emergence of nausea and/or inappetence can be addressed very quickly. The ability to intervene promptly with appropriate medicines makes management of pancreatitis much easier - for both cat and person. :)
 
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a consensus on the food front, it is a matter of trial and error but I will do a search on the forum and see what is suggested recently.

I would say that just as important is the anti nausea and anti vomiting medication. I can't emphasise enough how important it is that you continue this medication at home and keep it going for quite a while. The temptation is to stop it as soon as they show an improvement and that is a mistake. Please make sure you go home with a supply of ondansetron (or at least a prescription for it) and some cerenia. I would also get them to give you some empty syringes you can use for feeding.

With regards pain relief I personally gave it to remi for a few weeks at home and this helped him to eat and move about normally.
 
So you wouldn't believe the miracle that happened today!
Tigger is home finally! :)))))))))))))
I asked the nurse, if I can have a little bit of food to take home because pets mart is not open right now
she gave me a can of purina dm, I said oh no the dry food he doesn't eat the wet, never has his whole life
she replied, oh well we give him this and he eats it
I thought she was confused, anyways to my amazement! Tigger is chowing down some purina dm canned right now like a CHAMP! I am going to keep him on this for a good minute. And I thought I was going to have such a hard time transitioning him over to wet lol Wow did I luck out!
Tigger is still very weak, but looking so much better :)

I do not have any pain meds right now for him, if he stops eating or moving I'll get some asap for him
I have a script for some ondansetron and they sent me home with regalin, and some ear drops for an ear infection
3 units twice a day of Novalin, as vet prescribed
24/7 access to food as he eats little amounts often

I will check glucose 4-5 times a day for the first few days to see his curve
 
Critter Mom said:
It's great to hear that Tigger is coming home! :)

What food has Tigger been eating at the vet's? If that agrees with him, that might be the best thing to go with for the time being. Food changes can be very, very tricky with pancreatitis. Remi's mum, Sarah (@phlika29) is a member of the pancreatitis support group on Yahoo and if I recall correctly she has posted here that the Yahoo group view is to be cautious about the fat content of foods, and also the type of fat (for example, I found through trial and error that Saoirse cannot tolerate salmon oil or sunflower oil, but she tolerates land animal fats better) . I have found from my experience with treating and managing Saoirse's pancreatitis that it is best to just change one thing at a time, and to change things very gradually, especially food.

Another critical caveat about changing food is to consider any changes in carb content, since that may have implications for insulin dosage. Is Tigger on insulin, and are you home testing his BG?

Also, has your vet spoken with you about vitamin B12 supplementation? (B12 supplementation can be a great help with appetite, digestion, may have an anti-inflammatory benefit, and may help Tigger to regain some of the weight he has lost. See the IDEXX treatment guidelines for more information.) Other things to ask your vet about are Rx's for anti-nausea meds (e.g. generic ondansetron) and appetite stimulant meds (e.g. cyproheptadine). Having a squirrel stock of these meds at home can help enormously because any re-emergence of nausea and/or inappetence can be addressed very quickly. The ability to intervene promptly with appropriate medicines makes management of pancreatitis much easier - for both cat and person. :)
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Purrrrina DM canned
I made the vet give Tigger a vitamin b12 shot, 250 ug.

Yeah I'm trying to stock up on what I need! I need to get more alpha trak2 test strips!

Thank you for the advice
 
Thank you everyone! I cannot thank you enough for the advice and direction/guidance you all have given! It is such a great thing talking to other's who have gone through what I am.

Tigger is eating on his own and drinking water like no tomorrow!

I just gotta keep his BG down and his anti-nausea meds in him

hopefully he won't need the pain meds

In your own experience were the pain meds needed?
 
Hiya!

Tigger's home. Yay! :D

It's a real bonus that Tigger is on a wet, low carb diet already. That will make things much easier for you both. Good news on the B12, too. The course of weekly B12 injections Saoirse received (per IDEXX treatment recommendations) during her flare last year helped her so much. Indeed, Saoirse's pancreas was threatening another flare over the last couple of weeks. She started crying after eating or pooping and her BG started creeping up, first to the mid-6s/120s (Alphatrak) and last weekend they climbed to 8.1/146. :( I restarted her ondansetron but she needed more support. I was really worried that I might have to restart insulin treatment. I asked our vet to give her a dose of B12 on Monday last (plus a dose of buprenorphine) and her numbers started to steadily come back down on their own. This evening she just tested at 5.2 (94). Such a relief! B12 rocks. :D I'm now planning to put Saoirse on a regular B12 maintenance programme (discussing it with our vetty bean next week).

Re pain meds, I think that may vary from cat to cat. Saoirse had some treatment with buprenorphine for pain during the flare last year (and again this week) but generally she only seems to get intermittent, relatively mild discomfort. If I catch her crouching after a meal, I stroke her neck and shoulders and speak soothingly to her to help her body to release endorphins. I also have a refillable catnip toy that I encourage her to lick when she's uncomfortable. In some cats who respond to catnip, it is alleged to have a mild analgesic effect, and it does seem to help Saoirse. I use Yeoww! organic catnip to refill the toy. I've read here about other cats that seem to need bupe more often.

Sending special 'Welcome Home!' scritches for Tigger and a :bighug: for you. Hope you both have a wonderful day snuggled up together. :)
 
I'm relieved to hear your Tigger is eating and coming home. Purina DM is what my Tiger was given at the h0spital the first time she was hospitalized. Best to feed what Tigger will eat at thsi point.

I'm also glad you were given Ondansetron for Tigger. So many ER's don't think to send the kitties home with anti-nausea and pain meds! Personally, when Tiger came home from the ER after her pancreatitis attack, she did not need Bupe(I keep it on hand though just in case) She did need Cerenia, Pepcid, Metronidiazole and Carafate for a week after coming home.

Aine, glad to hear Saoirse is doing better- hope the B-12 is working for her!
 
@Tiger and Ruth - Thanks! I think it's doing her good. She hasn't cried after food the last couple of days and it's great to see her numbers back under 5.6/100 (Alphatrak). I am one relieved mammy bean (it withers me to see anything wrong with her).
 
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