Feline pancreatitis

RE: Feline pancreatitis

Kara Gibson — Thu, 05 May 2016 10:53:19 GMT

Thank you for your concern!

He is back home now, I had him on IVFT for 5 days but the last 2d he pulled the iv out and was eating quite well with no vomiting. He seems very bright and is eating wet food (a combination of Applaws, GI moderate calorie and sensitivity) very well, no vomting so far with normal stool.

So far so good, I guess I'm just concerned as to how long he will stay well for. I am going to check his pancreatitic lipase again early next week.

RE: Feline pancreatitis

niall morton — Wed, 04 May 2016 16:06:31 GMT

hows he doing now?? hope he's back home and purring away

RE: Feline pancreatitis

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:18:17 GMT

[quote user="Kara Gibson"]No interest in food currently.[/quote]I would at the very least be syringe feeding or putting in a naso-gastric feeding tube.

RE: Feline pancreatitis

niall morton — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:02:07 GMT

If already on an iv line then iv diazepam can be like magic to get cats eating in the short term

RE: Feline pancreatitis

Kara Gibson — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 12:22:13 GMT

I've repeated his bloods today, in house haematology shows a granulocytosis. His potassium is in the middle of the normal range and his total bilirubin remains normal. The fPL was ran externally and was 9.2ug/L (0.1 -3.5), I have sent repeat bloods today. Conscious US shows an enlarged and hypoechoic pancreas, I can't see any focal lesions or areas of GIT thickening but he is tender so not the most thorough ultrasound. He's back on fluids, maropitant, ranitidine, buprenorphine etc. No interest in food currently.

RE: Feline pancreatitis

Kate Richardson — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 23:33:31 GMT

Agree re repeating scan, also check potassium on bloods to see if low-could be cause or effect of inappetence. Check B12 as well?

How high was the spec PL? might be worth checking when he is clinically normal to assess if he's got chronic pancreatitis with acute flare ups? if so long term hypoallergenic diets might help and some cats are reported to be better on low fat diets but I've heard differing views on dietary management- low fat thought to reduce pain associated with pancreatitis in cats as well as dogs

RE: Feline pancreatitis

Kara Gibson — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 20:12:59 GMT

Thanks guys.

I have ultrasounded him on the 2 previous occasions but not this time. The diagnosis is based on external lab feline pancreatic lipase levels. In between the 3 episodes he has had literally no signs of inflammatory GI disease, he hardly ever vomits (except the odd fur ball) and always has had normal stool.

I will take him in and repeat blood work and check an ultrasound I think but was just checking to see if there is any new thinking on these cases. I did give him a one off metacam injection on day 2 which did seem to correlate with him perking up, perhaps an antiinflammatory would be a good idea.

RE: Feline pancreatitis

Andrew Kent — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 19:51:26 GMT

Hi Kara,

What's the diagnosis of pancreatitis based on? A positive fPLI? And have you every done any ultrasound? Even without GI signs I would be wanting to have a good look at the GI tract, liver, biliary tree and pancreas to see if we can identify potential triggering factors/concurrent disease.

Some cats can have vomiting as the only sign of inflammatory GI disease.

Andy

RE: Feline pancreatitis

niall morton — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 19:42:05 GMT

http://www.idexx.es/pdf/es_es/smallanimal/reference-laboratories/spec-fpl-treatment-for-feline-pancreatitis.pdf

this may be of some use to you.

I've found mirtazapine works wonders in some and a dexs injection is always worth a try