New Pancreatitis Kitty Diet Woes

Hi Everyone,
Olive and I are new here. Her brother Edward has had his own share of heath issues, but this is a first for her!
She is home from 2 emergency hospital trips for about a week now and feeling even better than normal. Ultrasound showed pancreatitis and severe inflammation of her colon with ulceration.
She didn’t eat for a total of 4 days within the week but fortunately she is still a 15lb chonk. (We have been trying to diet For weight loss for years now with no success) We do not want this illness to happen again, and my vet said she will be prone to more attacks and advised us to feed Hills I/D of which she tolerates the dry. Turns her nose up to the wet. She really enjoyed bland finely shredded chicken in water while recovering but I know this is not the only thing she should eat. She has no teeth so this is also a concern for feeding. She does better with pate or small shreds of meat. Mainly she was eating Fancy Feast pate chicken or seafood before. She would also share k/d with Edward but we have determined this is too high in carbs or fat for her to eat anymore. The vet said fancy feast seafood blends are likely full of fat due to the fish base but when I break down “guaranteed analysis” in the fancy feast and compare to that of the I/d the ratios of protein to fat are actually higher in the fancy feast and lower in the I/d, and, I can not find “carbs” anywhere — just fiber. Does anyone have experience and can help me with choosing foods that will be easy for her to digest? I would like to try introducing digestive enzymes too but I think she threw up due to proviable this morning. (Either that or she ate too fast —she is her own worst enemy, our food -obsessed girl).

 

Welcome to FDMB I do not have experience with Pancreatitis. Hopefully others here can guide you. I just wanted to welcome you to the best site on this planet to help you navigate the disease of diabetes.
Ummm does Olive have diabetes?

 

Thank you!

she does not have diabetes but I’ve read this is a great resource for pancreatitis kitties due to the often correlative nature of it with diabetes. I worry for her developing db and we have tried to get her to lose weight for preventative reasons. I hope the pancreatitis does not have anything to do with early signs. She doesn’t have blood sugar issues or excessive hydration/urinary issues.

 

Understood! Ok hang on for more replies!

 

Hello!

I think it's been said that there isn't a pancreatitis-prone diet and that the fat-content diet was debunked for cats. Will be curious to see what others have said about it.
Pancreatitis can definitely cause diabetes. It was never determined but I have a huge sneaking suspicion that my cat was knocked into insulin-dependency from a bout of pancreatitis (she got it officially back in May and the symptoms were identical), so that is something to be concerned about if she has chronic pancreatitis. I would think going back to the Fancy Feast Classics is beneficial but I'd wait for some experts on the subject.

Have you looked at Dr. Pierson's food chart? The Fancy Feast seafood under Classics has roughly the same amount as fat as the Beef/Chicken varieties (50-60%). Normally we don't recommend an all seafood diet though:

 

Hi Shannon, and welcome to you and your furry ones.

WRT your concerns about whether pancreatitis automatically leads to development of diabetes, the answer is no. A cat may have a bout of acute pancreatitis and carry on regardless once the flare resolves after treatment. (I can attest to this personally: my civvie, Lúnasa, had an acute flare a few years ago, and she is not diabetic. May she stay that way!)

Some cats develop chronic pancreatitis and the long-term inflammation may damage the pancreatic beta cells responsible for producing insulin. If enough beta cells become damaged then the cat will develop diabetes. (General info: there has been at least one study into the potential anti-inflammatory effect insulin treatment may have on the pancreas - ETA: in humans.)

On pancreatic enzymes, they are only really of benefit if the cat's pancreas has an ongoing problem producing digestive enzymes (EPI, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency). A sign of enzyme insufficiency is the production of pale, 'fluffy', foul-smelling stools (steatorrhea). While a flare's in progress, the cat may produce such stools but if the stools normalise with the resolution of the flare then that indicates enzyme production is also normalising.

With an acute flare it may help the cat to eat more easily digestible food during the convalescent period. But, cats being cats, they often turn their noses up at stuff we mere humans believe to be good for them - and sometimes a specialised diet may not agree with a given cat. Ultimately, the cat needs to eat and with GI issues the cat is very much running the show. Sometimes the 'right' diet is the one that keeps a kitty alive and comfortable.

My little one had chronic pancreatitis and I had to watch how she herself reacted to any food offered. Did she have discomfort after eating (hunched in a meatloaf, slinking off somewhere quiet) or did it nauseate her (lots of info on that here)? Sometimes a different batch of her regular food would disagree with her. It can be very much a hit 'n' hope exercise, but this is more of an issue with chronic pancreatitis rather than a one-off flare.

Historically in veterinary circles it has been the view that a cat with pancreatitis should be fed a diet lower in fat but, according to my vet - whose opinion I hold in very high regard - results from the latest research have not shown much support for this hypothesis.

I see from your post that Olive also has GI problems. Just as a point of general interest, sometimes pancreatitis can be triggered by issues in the gut (pathogens migrate up through the duct leading to the pancreas giving rise to inflammation).

Here are the IDEXX guidelines for treatment of pancreatitis. There is much helpful information therein.


Mogs
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Hi. My cat had chronic pancreatitis for a few years and then became diabetic. Your cat needs to eat and there’s no proven reason to feed any type of fluids d except maybe not super high fat diets. Mogs has directed you to a good source of info. Cats with pancreatitis become inappetent due to nausea and pain. When Max first got it I had no idea he was nauseous. He only seemed to want dry food and was eating less and less but not vomiting. I didn’t know the signs of nausea. S ongoing treatment includes maintaining hydration, a nausea medication, either ondansetron or cerenia, pain medication, buprenorphine usually and feeding small meals often. Digestive enzymes are not necessarily needed.

I suggest that you also join the groups io pancreatitis group. The mod Maureen knows about everything cat. She’s constantly searching for new articles written by specialists that I copy and send here.

 

Neither, I have found, do some vets.


Mogs
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So true unfortunately. I couldn’t click on like as it’s pathetic.

 

@tiffmaxee -

Quite.

Maybe there's some earth-shattering medical reason why many vets seem to be reluctant to prescribe nausea meds for cats (unless there are specific contraindications). If so, I wish they'd share that info with the rest of us.</sarc>

< sigh >


Mogs
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Here’s a guide to pancreatitis.
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/a-primer-on-pancreatitis.83108/

There are lots of articles there. I like the IDEXX ones.