Critter Mom
Very Active Member
Hi all,
Saoirse's nausea has subsided now she's just eating chicken breast and broth mini-meals and she has her appetite back after the pancreatitis flare-up but I think she may still have diarrhoea. She hasn't passed any solids since Friday's large, off-coloured, squidgy stools and a later identifiable splurge of beige pancake batter-ish diarrhoea. No obvious whiffs or colours from any deposits to give helpful hints about whether it's urine or very watery, very pale diarrhoea (I use wood-based clumping litter). She's visiting the litterbox more than normal (usually 2 piddles every 24 hours, and 1 stool every 24-36 hours) so I'm working on the principle that she is probably still passing watery diarrhoea.
She is taking Pro-Kolin (kaolin paste with gut flora stuff), and the vet has said it's OK to give her Fortiflora (which she likes) but I forgot to ask how much to give. I'm petrified of doing anything that might trigger another attack of nausea but - wuss that I am - I would feel very embarrassed about calling the OOH vet again because I don't want to be a pest. I've looked at the packet and online but the dosing guidelines I've found are very general.
I'd be so grateful for advice on how to nurse a pancreatic cat with diarrhoea. I'm so worried about triggering another bout of nausea. In particular:
1. Is it ok to leave broth available all the time to help her rehydrate or could that upset her tummy? (Tried flavouring water with broth but she wasn't having any of that.) She is relatively well hydrated with the 18g chicken / 18ml broth I've been giving her every 2 hours, but is that enough given the diarrhoea?
2. Can Fortiflora cause nausea? Any suggestions on how much/little to give? (I've given her a tiny tip-of-a-kitchen-knife's worth so far.)
3. Now that she's getting hungrier, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I don't want her hunger to result in a bout of stomach acid (her only real major problem before this flare-up) but I also don't want to overload her pancreas either. Any recommendations on portion size? (Saoirse weighed in at 4.43kg before a meal earlier.)
Saoirse's going to see the vet tomorrow to get checked over and to get some fluids if needed. The skin-pull test seems fairly ok at the moment. Also she did an "identifiable piddle" a little while ago, and it wasn't as big as normal, so does that mean the fluids are being lost in the diarrhoea instead?
If she had just had a bout of diarrhoea I'd have some idea what to do, but with the pancreatitis I'm so worried about upsetting her system again that I'm stuck. Any help or advice would be very, very welcome.
Saoirse's nausea has subsided now she's just eating chicken breast and broth mini-meals and she has her appetite back after the pancreatitis flare-up but I think she may still have diarrhoea. She hasn't passed any solids since Friday's large, off-coloured, squidgy stools and a later identifiable splurge of beige pancake batter-ish diarrhoea. No obvious whiffs or colours from any deposits to give helpful hints about whether it's urine or very watery, very pale diarrhoea (I use wood-based clumping litter). She's visiting the litterbox more than normal (usually 2 piddles every 24 hours, and 1 stool every 24-36 hours) so I'm working on the principle that she is probably still passing watery diarrhoea.
She is taking Pro-Kolin (kaolin paste with gut flora stuff), and the vet has said it's OK to give her Fortiflora (which she likes) but I forgot to ask how much to give. I'm petrified of doing anything that might trigger another attack of nausea but - wuss that I am - I would feel very embarrassed about calling the OOH vet again because I don't want to be a pest. I've looked at the packet and online but the dosing guidelines I've found are very general.
I'd be so grateful for advice on how to nurse a pancreatic cat with diarrhoea. I'm so worried about triggering another bout of nausea. In particular:
1. Is it ok to leave broth available all the time to help her rehydrate or could that upset her tummy? (Tried flavouring water with broth but she wasn't having any of that.) She is relatively well hydrated with the 18g chicken / 18ml broth I've been giving her every 2 hours, but is that enough given the diarrhoea?
2. Can Fortiflora cause nausea? Any suggestions on how much/little to give? (I've given her a tiny tip-of-a-kitchen-knife's worth so far.)
3. Now that she's getting hungrier, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I don't want her hunger to result in a bout of stomach acid (her only real major problem before this flare-up) but I also don't want to overload her pancreas either. Any recommendations on portion size? (Saoirse weighed in at 4.43kg before a meal earlier.)
Saoirse's going to see the vet tomorrow to get checked over and to get some fluids if needed. The skin-pull test seems fairly ok at the moment. Also she did an "identifiable piddle" a little while ago, and it wasn't as big as normal, so does that mean the fluids are being lost in the diarrhoea instead?
If she had just had a bout of diarrhoea I'd have some idea what to do, but with the pancreatitis I'm so worried about upsetting her system again that I'm stuck. Any help or advice would be very, very welcome.