Following are selected posts to Holisticat on the subject of pancreatitis. There's a lot of information here, and the posts are arranged in ascending chronological order. If there is a particular word you're looking for, it's probably best to utlize the "Find in Page" function in your edit menu!

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<1/9/99 From Susan Wynn Re: pancreatitis?>

On Sat, 9 Jan 1999, Vick wrote:
<< as you may or may not recall, one of my kitties spent a week in the  hospital last january for liver problems and pancreatitis. as a result,  i'm a very watchful and paranoid mom with him... >>

Pancreatitis tends to be a chronic intermittent problem in cats, and signs are (believe it or not) much milder than in dogs, on the whole.  You are  certainly describing the signs of pancreatitis, along with a host of other possibilities.  The tenets of treatment are:

1. prevention by using consistently low fat diets.  I have some philosophical trouble with this one, since to my knowledge, no one has really proven the connection, though you can find an association, mostly in dogs, of a recent high fat meal and the onset of pancreatitis.  Since the cat paleolithic diet should be high in protein and fat, I don't know what to make of it, but I do tend to recommend more moderate diets.

2. the other part of prevention - in humans, Vitamin E, Selenium and Vitamin C *may* help decrease recurrences in some groups.  I don't see the harm in trying this in cats - usually about 50-100IU of Vitamin E daily, 250 mg Vitamin C daily, and maybe 5-10 mcg of selenium daily (I need to check that selenium dose - it may be high).  This is for life.

3. Conventional treatment has centered around absolutely nothing per mouth for the 3-5 days it takes to get through a pancreatitis episode, giving IV fluids to keep hydrated.  It is *vital* by the way, to prevent dehydration as this can exacerbate the effects  of the pancreatic inflammation.   Recently, some internists have given IV food instead of IV fluids, and much more recently, some are experimenting with elemental diets orally, in very small doses hourly.  The elemental diets contain building blocks - amino acids, fatty acids, simple carbohydrates - rather than the whole proteins, large carbs and whole fats in real food.

We use one called Jevity , usually at about 1 teaspoon hourly all day long.  I don't think it shortens the course of the episode, but it can get the cat home sooner, if you can do the hourly treatments. I usually have people give Pedialyte or chicken broth (1 tsp hourly) for the first day or two, then switch to Jevity.  The cat will continue to vomit, but you can usually treat through the vomiting. This is VERY experimental, mind you, and I have n't yet decided if I like this approach, but it is something to be considered for frequent relapses.  In this kitty's case, get fluids down him until you hear otherwise.

Remember, it is VITAL to make sure you are treating pancreatitis when you do this home treatment, so a vet visit, bloodwork, +/- ultrasound (if you have someone who specializes in ultrasonography, like a very good internist).

I am going nomail for awhile, as I am leaving to speak at a conference tomorrow and will be in and out of town for conferences all year.  I will check back in, but in the meantime, good luck to all.

Susan G. Wynn, DVM

hi all-

<< Hi, I'm updating you on Mac's condition cuz I'm a bit relieved but as usual in thedark on some issues with THIS diagnosis...originally he was dignosed with  colangular hepatitis but my vet. internist resubmitted the test to a different
lab and it came back with more a diagnosis of pancreatitis....with a liver   reaction; what's the scoop on this ? Any info would be appreciated.>>

this is some serious deja-vu for me.

last january, about this time, my sam went thru exactly the same thing. the vet first thought we were dealing w/ cholangiohepatitis, but after a few days and a few tests, we were faced w/ pancreatitis with liver involvement.

what followed was rough. to effectively treat pancreatitis, [dr wynn, please feel free to correct any mistakes here], the cat must get nothing by mouth for some time (a week, i think). but when they are fasted, you risk triggering hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver), so generally, the vet needs to put in a g-tube (gastrostomy? i think...) which bypasses the stomach and pumps liquid nutrition right to the small intestine. this way, the pancreas can rest and the animal gets food.

sam fasted but never did get fatty liver. when the allotted time passed, i began feeding him 6-7 small meals of hill's r/d. at first, he required syringe feeding, but i switched to a list of allowed foods (things like certain brands of fancy feast and whatnot) and he began to eat. within a week, i switched him back to raw. he spent a month on both baytril and amoxicillin, and two months on actigal, a gall bladder desludger.

cats who have had pancreatitis are at risk of developing a chronic form and/or diabetes. it's serious, but sam is living proof that cats can pull thru. his liver and pancreatic enzymes tested normal within two month of his diagnosis, and have remained consistently within normal ranges. getting mac thru the acute stage is crucial -- and for that i relied and will always rely on aggressive, allopathic care. had my vet hemmed and hawed on treatment plans, or if i had gotten wishy-washy on wanting a more 'natural' treatment with her, sam would be dead.

i'd be more than willing to talk more with you about it, so email me if ya want :)

Vick and the kitty company: Skippy, Sam, Max and Jezebel

<< had my vet hemmed and hawed on treatment plans, or if i  had gotten  wishy-washy on wanting a more 'natural' treatment with her,  sam would be dead.>>

This is exactly what happened with Pumpkin as well.  About a year and a half ago, he became very ill, vomiting, lethargic, hiding, fever.  His regular vet began treating with antibiotics, when that didn't help,  she recommended he stay during the day and recieve IV fluids.  This whole time she really didn't have a clue as to the problem.  Since he wasn't eating, he did develop hepatic lipidosis, (which is evident by extreme bloating and discoloration).  It soon became an emergency and we took him to a specialist where they would not treat without first doing an ultrasound to diagnose pancreatitis.  He was hospitalized for a couple of days and then returned with an NG tube which we used for about four weeeks until he began to eat again. It was a slow recovery.

Unfortunately, there was a "next time" about 4 months ago.  We did take him to the regular vet first, but very quickly realized we did not want to get in the same positition again and rushed him to the emergency vet.  He was hospitalized on IV fluids for 3 days this time, and has recovered much more easily and quickly.

I agree with Vick that Allopathic is the way to go in a crisis like this. The good new is that we have begun to learn that improving his diet may help prevent a relapse.  Believe it or not, the vet insisted that Friskies Senior was the best food (because of low fat content.)  Sometimes that is still all Pumpkin will eat, but we're trying...  It's so hard to believe how little the vets know about diet and Nutrition.  Pumpkin's vomiting has decreased tremendously since he has been getting digestive enzymes.

Acute Pancreatitis is most often an extremely urgent situation.  It's important to make your decisions quickly, but rationally.   Fasting is essential, and IV fluids may be necessary.  Vit. E will help decrease inflammation and scarring.  Antibiotics may be necessary to prevent further infection. And of course lots of gentle, understanding love--sometimes I feel we literally LOVED Pumpkin back to life.

Best wishes for Mac, and please write to me if  you have any other questions for someone who has been there.

Emily

Hi Everyone,

I'll try to put this across more clearly this time. The study was done on cats.

Conclusions; "this profound decrease in pH, lasting up to 2 hrs. after ethanol exposure (intragastric) in the chronic pancreatitis animals, suggests the possibility of ischemic cellular damage to the pancreas. These findings may explain the pathogenesis of bouts of acute pancreatic inflammation after ethanol ingestion in the setting of chronic disease."

'Background ethanol is known to contribute to the development of both acute and chronic pancreatitis.'

If 'background alcohol ' is simply small amounts ingested through remedies preserved with alcohol, then I think this info has some merit.

An alternative vet that we used to go to, cautioned me about oral ingestion of alcohol for Myrtle. He didn't explain why or how much alcohol.

The homeopathic remedies that we have used in the past were liquid, with an alcohol preservative, not the pellets.
Hope this is clearer now, all comments welcome.

The woman from the crf list who offered the pancreatitis info, simply offered the info, no discussion at all. After reading this one article it caught my attention and I made the connection between  the events in Myrtle's medical history and the alcohol in some of the treatments. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

Sandy,thanks for the caution about the moxa. I wouldn't try this without expert instruction but some might, so this is good info.

The Pancreatitis info that I'm offering to share are Medical Abstracts pertaining to Cats and may need to be read with a Medical Dictionary in hand.

Any good suggestions for soap etc. for hand washing and/or dishwashing, greatly appreciated.

Love & good thoughts for  Kashmir, Baranoff and all the other kitties experiencing difficulty right now.

Ahaphia& Myrtle :who stares at the ceiling over my head and makes me think there's a  spider up there (evil feline snicker)

Hi there --

<<Hi, I'm back looking for a good diet for my pancreatic cat. This is  Mac. Does anyone have a rec. that's fairly simple? Please >>

When Sam was recovering from pancreatitis, I fed skinless, trimmed poultry as the meat source. You want low fat. I also avoided grains b/c I didn't want his pancreas working too hard. Sam ate chunked chicken or turkey meat (breast meat only for the first few weeks) and a neck or two a week. I used peas and carrots as his veggie source.

It has been a little over a year since he was released, and I have just now begun grinding whole chicken w/ skin and fat for him. I kept him on breast meat only for a few months, then slowly added fattier meats.

If it's cost efficient, my grocery store sells turkey tenderloin for around $3 a pound. It is very lean and even Max gets food aggressive over it -- meaning it must taste really good :) If ya have problems getting Mac to eat veggies, try baby food veggies like carrots, squash and sweet potato.

Let me know if I can be of any (more?) help, and give Mac a squeeze for me :)

Vick and the kitty company: Skippy, Sam, Max and Jezebel