? Chronic pancreatitis

Hello, all! My kitty finally seems to have recovered from his bout of pancreatitis, and his blood glucose levels are getting back into a more stable and acceptable range. Now I'm worried about what is likely to cause it to flare up again. He has been under a great deal of stress this past year--I moved twice--and I'm wondering whether that might have triggered this issue. My husband and I would really like to go out of town for a couple of days in July, and I think I've found a sitter, a vet tech who should be able to test him and give his insulin. But he hates it when we leave and is very frightened of strangers; he will not be happy if we go. We will have to go out of town eventually--my husband's mother will literally lose her mind if we are not there at Christmas, since we've missed the last two promised visits due to health issues and moving. But this July trip is optional--we'd really like to do it, but we could try to go next year instead--and I'll feel horrible if I get home and all of his progress is undone. Does anyone with experience managing chronic pancreatitis have any advice?

 

Hi Vicki. I'm sorry to here about Misha's flare. Is Misha on any meds for the pancreatitis?

 

Thanks! Right now, he's just on 1/4 tablet of Cerenia (maropitant) daily. I have buprenorphine around in case he flares again and seems to be in pain.

 

Thats awesome & promising. We were not able to stabilize our guy off of Prednisolone. He's got what is a called a chronic immune mediated pancreatitis. We tried and tried to slowly titrate it to lower doses &/or every other day & he would decompensate. So he has been on it since diagnosis. He's had the initial flare & then a year later another flare & now 4 years later a 3rd. Not sure if its due to a slight decrease in the pred or stress recently.

One thing you can try for stress are the Feliway Classic Plug Ins &/or spray. They diffuse what is a man made version of feline facial pheromones & calm the cat.

https://www.feliway.com/us/Why-Use-Feliway/Cats-not-eating-5-things-to-do

Otherwise, not sure if increasing the cerenia while you are away would be helpful as a safety net. Our vet initially had us bump the Pred up slightly when we went out of town & that worked well.

 

Oh, that's interesting! My previous vet suggested that we might need to use steroids to calm his system down if we couldn't get him regulated; I'm glad to hear that that's working for you, though I'm sorry he's had such a tough time and still needs them. I was really afraid we wouldn't be able to manage the diabetes if we had to go that route.

Our house is awash in Feliway but that's a good reminder to me that I need to order some more! I'm thinking right now that we shouldn't travel; these poor cats have put up with enough recently, and I would feel absolutely terrible if we screwed up his progress, though we will surely have to leave him with a sitter again someday...

Mr. T sure is a gorgeous kitty!

 

Thank you! Misha is gorgeous. I love her fur color! She looks silky!!

Prednisolone is actually commonly used & recommended if the cat does have a chronic form of pancreatitis. I've recently had some email exchanges with vets out of Texas A&M regarding the use of immunomodulary drugs. There is a study about to begin using a combo of prednisolone with an immunomodulary drug but they are not accepting cats if they have DM . So, I'm going to have my vet do a consult to find out what they are using there as far as specific medication, dosing etc.. My hope is maybe we can decrease the Pred by adding an immunomodulary drug & that would in turn also help with the BG.

The good news is if Misha's form isn't so chronic or immune system related, if you had to use prednisolone, you probably would be able to use a small dose every other day & then discontinue it once she's under control

I always follow my gut with re: to travel. You mentioned its just a "couple" of days? Do you think Misha would have issues within that short period of time?

 

Wow, this is all great info--the immunomodulary drugs sound so promising. I'd love to hear how that works out if your vet is able to arrange it!

Misha is a very sensitive soul. We would leave after doing his shot one morning, be gone two days, and return in time to do his shot the next evening--but yeah, I do think he could deteriorate that fast, if he decides to hide under the bed and not eat much, which he probably would. His blood sugar can get out of whack that fast, anyway--obviously we don't have much experience with the pancreatitis situation. But since it's only within about the last 10 days that we've started to feel like he's under better control, I am reluctant to assume that he's truly stabilized. It's like a contest: who is more likely to freak out, my husband (deprived of a hard-earned, though brief, vacation) or my cat? I'm betting on the cat...

 

Hilarious ....playing the odds ! Interesting you say sensitive soul because thats the same exact personality my T has & so I totally get it! The last thing you need is cat not eating on insulin. Maybe a day trip ?

 

Yep! He'll usually eat, but only when he's 100% sure the petsitter is gone, which I suspect can take most of the day (or night)--and that is indeed not great given that he's on insulin (we usually reduce his dose slightly unless we have known the sitter a long time and he/she is staying overnight). I think a day trip or two is the way to go--thank you, and wish me luck!

 

The only other thing that I can recommend that has literally saved my sanity is the Nest Cameras & I pay for 5 day video recording which isn't expensive. Maybe get just one (you get a free trial of the video recording for a month or so) & try it out during a day trip (have the petsitter come). You can set up a "food zone" where you put his bowl & you will get notifications on your phone that he's eating . Maybe you will find out that he is in fact eating vs hiding most of the day or night & won't have to worry!!

 

That is an AMAZING idea--thank you so much!!!!

 

You are welcome! We got our first one years ago when we had a sick cat & OMG, LIFESAVER! Now I have several so that I can look back & see when he has eaten, which litter box he used (multi cat household) etc.. You are also able to create video clips so I've been able to catch a few postures, etc over the years & show the actual behavior to the vet vs trying to describe it