acute necrotizing pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis

Hi folks,

It has been a while since I've been here, as my sugar kitty passed away nearly a year ago. However, one of my civvies developed some serious health issues (acute necrotizing pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis) that leaves me with questions that I think folks here might have some insight on.

First, some history:

My youngest cat, Olive, (she's about 2.5 years, a shelter kitty, so not really sure), was diagnosed last week with acute necrotizing pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis. She was hospitalized for two days and is now at home with an E-tube (feeding tube) in place. At the emergency clinic where her regular vet immediately sent her (for an abdominal ultrasound, then immediately admitted), she was given fluids, pain medication, a plasma transfusion, and likely other treatments as well (there's only so much of the itemized receipt I understand!). After treatment began, her liver values began to improve. Her jaundice has been visibly improving over the past couple of days, and she has been (mostly) tolerating the tube feeding. She has demonstrated some nausea and vomited once; the ER vet had me go from feeding every 8 hrs to a smaller amount every 6 hrs.

After I adopted her, she steadily gained weight eating a combination of Wellness grain-free canned and Wellness Core dry (I started leaving out dry food as a last resort when trying to deal with stress-related inappropriate elimination issues). But I was really concerned about the weight gain, and in January, after consulting with my regular vet, switched the cats back to a canned-only diet. The hope was that, as she was more comfortable in the home and hadn't urinated out of the box in 3+ months, removing the dry food wouldn't cause too much stress.

In early March, I was concerned by how much weight she had lost, and her marked lack of appetite. The cats had been eating exclusively the recalled Wellness for several weeks, and I attributed her weight loss and lack of appetite to early symptoms of thiamine deficiency. I brought the cats to the vet on March 2 to be evaluated, and the vet felt that switching to the non-recalled food would address any potential problem. Two and a half weeks later, I noticed that Olive was not eating enough when I found her drinking water from the water bowl. (They usually got sufficient hydration from canned food with added water). After watching her for other symptoms for a day or so, and then trying to find her after she spent a day hiding, she went to the vet for further evaluation on Tuesday, and was hospitalized later that day. She came home on Thursday night, with the feeding tube, Hills A/D food, and several medications (antibiotics, something for her liver, and an antacid).

She goes back to her regular vet tomorrow morning for a follow up, additional blood work (I expect), etc.

So my questions: Does anyone have experience dealing with cats who have had pancreatitis and fatty liver disease? Or any suggestions about where to go for some good information? All the information I have been able to find about these conditions deals with diagnosis, treatment, etc. I haven't been able to find much about what recovery looks like/how long it takes/etc. I don't know yet if Olive is out of the woods (she had been given a prognosis of "fair" at the ER). I don't know how long to expect her to take to begin to act more "normal" (grooming, etc.). Similarly, how long is typical for cats with hepatic lipidosis to begin eating on their own?

Also, given that her pancreas was involved here, how worried should I be about her developing diabetes, either in the short term as her pancreas heals, or down the road?

Finally, are there specific questions I should ask at the vet appointment tomorrow?

Thanks in advance for any insight or information.

Best,
Linda, Nero, and Olive

 

To follow up and clarify -- as best as anyone can tell, the recalled Wellness food did not cause Olive's problem! (Reading over my narrative, I feared it might sound like I thought it did.) Rather, because of the timing of the recall, etc., I did not act as quickly as I might have otherwise with an cat who lacked a hearty appetite. Clearly, it was the inflamed pancreas that caused her not to eat enough, and then to develop fatty liver.

 

My only experience with pancreatitis and fatty liver is that my cat died from it :sad: Sorry, I know that's not helpful at all. My cat was in the ER for a week getting every single treatment the vets could think of but it didn't help.

I know there are a few members here who had much more successful outcomes with pancreatitis and fatty liver. Cyncyn is one. I don't think she's around much these days though. Here's her FDMB profile with a link to her Google Doc profile: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=302

 

Sorry your cat is going thru this. Join Yahoo's group, Feline Asisted Feeding. They have good articles on fatty liver. I hope things get better soon. Donna

 

I have no personal experience with both of them . My civie Conor has pancreatitis. they are linked because for the hepatic lipidosis, they must eat, but the pancreatitis makes them not want to eat. Pancreatitis is a painful thing, and pain meds are a must. But I do not know if pain meds are advised for a cat with HL, if it will add to the strain on the liver. This is Jojos pancreatitis post (Jojo is a vet tech)

http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/r ... 722,876722

There are cats that have become diabetic due to pancreatitis, and there are cats that get pancreatitis due to the diabetes.. sometimes its hard to know what caused what.