Kitty With Pancreatitis And Liver Damage

[krissn333]

My best friend took her kitty in to the vet today because she's been a bit sickly. Come to find out she has pancreatitis and now has pretty severe liver damage as a result.

 

When Sutra had pancreatitis, it was hard to get him eating again. I had to feed him Ensure, and things like mashed potatoes, macaroni, baby food, cottage cheese, etc to get him eating again.

 

A kitty is a whole different ballgame though, I think. Not sure if a kitty will (or should) eat the kinds of things that worked for Sutra. Have any of you had a kitty with pancreatitis? Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Over the weekend my friend has to be out of town, so I'll be giving her kitty her antibiotics and administering sub-q fluids. If there's any food I can make for her or anything else I can do for her, I'd like to try.

 

My vet told me that kitty livers don't react kindly to a lack of food, so I'm guessing this kitty has maybe not been eating for a while and my friend hadn't noticed since she has two cats. My friend's brother passed away in April at age 24 after a long battle with leukemia-things have been really hard for her and she feels awful that she's been so out of it that she didn't notice anything wrong with her kitty. I feel awful for her and I'm going to help any way I can.

 

So, if you could say a little prayer for Sasha and send any suggestions my way, I'd appreciate it...

[dobelvr]

Serax is an appetite stimulate for kitties. Many years ago I had a very sick kitty and my vet gave me one 10mg capsule of Serax and I had to open the capsule and divide the powder into multiple doses(this is where my memory is fuzzy. It was like 5 or 10 doses). I may have mixed it with a bit of water and administered with a dropper again my memory is fuzzy. It worked. It took about two days and she started to drink and then ate a can of tuna. Hope this helps.

[RedSquare]

I'm so sorry for your friend's kitty. My kitty died from pancreatitis.

[tbhounds]

Unlike with dogs, cats with pancreatis need to continue to eat. Sometimes oral Buprenex will be dispensed to manage the pain and Mirtazapine to stimulate the appetite.

Sadly, if a cat hasn't eaten for a time it could develop a condition called heptatic lipadosis-- fatty liver- may be a difficult condition to reverse.

Gotta get that kitty to eat!

Edited September 9, 2011 by tbhounds

[krissn333]

I went over there tonight to get the key and find out about Sasha's meds. She's actually quite lively, I was surprised. And she WILL eat, she's just not eating a lot in one sitting at the moment...but if you give her some food, she'll eat a little and then return to eat more after taking a 10-20 minute break.

 

She is on Clavamox and Den-something, it's a liver support supplement. Hopefully we'll get her feeling better, poor little bug.

[tbhounds]

Deramarin?????Renemeber it is given on an empty tummy.

[Remolacha]

I'm not sure what restrictions she may have because of the pancreatitis, but kitties, even more than dogs, need strong smelling food to keep them eating. Maybe some stinky mackerel or sardines? shrimp? Lots of cats are lactose intolerant, but most can tolerate goat's milk, and meat baby food is another good choice.

[MyMenagerie]

I went through this with one of my cats earlier this year. According to my vet, there are no food restrictions with cats. I cooked up hamburger and chicken and would feed it to him 5-6 times a day for weeks and he ate as much as he wanted. Getting him to eat wasn't the hard part, getting 5 meds down him twice a day was the real challenge. He's fat, happy and sassy today!! Good luck!

[Guest budsmom]

Give kitty anything she will eat. Cats absolutely can't go without eating for long - that's what causes the liver damage and it can be fatal. Syringe feed her if you have to. Vets have a prescription canned food that is designed for this situation, A/D. You might try that, it's really easy to thin out with a little water and syringe feed if necessary. Mirtazipine is an appetite stimulant that can also be given if needed. If the kitty is on buprenex for pain, this can affect her appetite, so you kind of need to juggle a little. Sometimes warming the food a few seconds in the microwave, even dry food, will help. If she likes milk, there is a lactose free milk product available for cats at Petco, it's called Catsip. They also have an Ensure type product for cats, and there is a paste called Nutrical that can keep them going a while, also. I'm going through this with Rex right now since he's getting chemo for lymphoma. The mirtazipine works really quick, you might want that to jump start the eating and then sometimes once they start, they'll keep on eating on their own. If you need anything, PM me, I'd be happy to share what I've tried and learned.

[krissn333]

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences! Sasha is spending the night at the vet's office, getting fluids. I am to pick her up tomorrow at 11:30 to bring her back to my friend's house. I will make sure to have some of these items on hand so we can keep her eating and she can keep it down. I really hope the vet will prescribe some sucralfate for her - it did wonders for my Sutra after his bout with pancreatitis.

 

I am not worried about getting meds into her - my friend said she was a really good girl and will allow me to pill her. I used to pill our kennel cat all the time, so, I'm not nervous about doing it. I'm sure we'll be fine in that department.

 

I used to work at a cats only veterinary clinic too, but we never dealt with a pancreatitis case while I was working there. As I said, I had tons of tricks for feeding Sutra, but kitties are such a different ballgame! I will give some of the things mentioned a try. In talking to my mom this evening I had decided to boil some chicken for her and chop it up in my food processor. We really just need to get her eating and keeping the food down.

[Guest alannamac]

Twice I've had kitties come back from the vet's after anesthesia or illness with no appetite and had it go on for days. Both times, my vet recommended syringe feeding a finely chopped up portion of hard boiled egg (important that it's cooked)

mixed with water......and odd as it sounds, both times it worked. I'm glad because as you can imagine, trying to syringe egg into the mouth of a kitty that's not hungry is not easy!

 

Edited to add.....egg could be considered high fat, and if you need to keep her diet low fat for the pancreatitis then don't try this.

Edited September 10, 2011 by alannamac

[Guest jfroggirl76]

Back in December 2010, our cat stopped & was constipated. After about a week in a half of appite stimulators & emmas nothing working we had to syring feed him science RX diet a/d. We did it for a month and a half. Then finally one day he actually ate on his own. He was on antacid and an enzyme to help with his liver. I can't remember what itbwas but he didn't tolerate it real week. Good luck! I hope he recovers quickly.

 

Sorry if there are any spelling errors, I can't find the spell ck on the iPad in safari.

[krissn333]

We're home from the vet. Sasha is bright-eyed and has eaten some Royal Canin Recovery canned food (similar to A/D) and used her litter box. I just hope she keeps the food down