Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: harlequin on February 01, 2010, 10:57:09 AM

Title: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: harlequin on February 01, 2010, 10:57:09 AM
Well we've had a bit of a time of it this week. On Wednesday we took Spice to the vets. He'd had diahoerra for almost a week and after exhausting all possible explanations for it, we hotfooted it down to the vets. Our vets are brilliant and they were very sorry to see Spice in such a state (particularly because he stank of poo!). The vet asked me lots of questions and became very concerned when I mentioned that Spice seemed to be very thirsty all the time. He took a blood and urine sample from Spice and sent it off for analysis. After ruling out an infection of some kind, as well as chronic renal failure, the results came back as testing positive for pancreatitis. Poor Spice! :(

The vet has given me some special food for him (Royal Canin Sensitivity), since he said Pancreatitis is treated dietarily. The vet is waiting for some urine cultures to come back from the lab to rule out any other health problems and then we'll have to see him to talk about treatment. He said that the results demonstrate that Spice currently shows no sign of diabetes, but he may well develop it in the future as a knock-on effect of the Pancreatitis.

I'm glad we have a diagnosis for him and that this was picked up by the vet, but I can't help feeling terribly sorry for Spice. :( Does anyone else have a kitty with Pancreatitis? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Dawn F on February 01, 2010, 11:03:56 AM
poor spice, in humans its very painful I understand - hope the food gets working quickly
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Janeyk on February 01, 2010, 11:05:40 AM
 :( Poor Spice, hopefully the vet will be able to help him now.  I've not had a cat with this condition but I think a couple of Purrs members have.  I don't know whether you've seen this link in our guides section which has some info about it:  http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,27060.0.html
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: harlequin on February 01, 2010, 11:37:44 AM
:( Poor Spice, hopefully the vet will be able to help him now.  I've not had a cat with this condition but I think a couple of Purrs members have.  I don't know whether you've seen this link in our guides section which has some info about it:  http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,27060.0.html
Thanks for this Janeyk. This was really helpful and has helped me to get things straight in my head. One thing is clear though: Spice is bloomin' lucky the vet was able to detect Pancreatitis. I didn't realise it was so difficult to diagnose. Thank goodness I had the sense to take him to the vet. I was at the point of writing off his diahoerra as being characteristic of an old cat and then this would never have been diagnosed. I'm so glad I listened to my gut instinct. :scared:
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Lottie (Team Svartalfheim's) on February 01, 2010, 11:40:08 AM
Pinball's breeder had a neuter girl that had pancreatitis and she lost lots of weight really quickly with it and was a very poorly girl indeed but she is absolutely fine now she just has to be kept on food with a low-moderate fat content (her vet said it doesn't need to be a special prescription food, any food is fine it's just the fat content you need to keep an eye on)

Hope Spice is feeling a lot better soon.
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Tiggy's Mum on February 01, 2010, 11:56:59 AM
Poor Spice :care: Hopefully a good diet will be able to control it for him  :hug:
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Janeyk on February 01, 2010, 13:10:43 PM
:( Poor Spice, hopefully the vet will be able to help him now.  I've not had a cat with this condition but I think a couple of Purrs members have.  I don't know whether you've seen this link in our guides section which has some info about it:  http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,27060.0.html
Thanks for this Janeyk. This was really helpful and has helped me to get things straight in my head. One thing is clear though: Spice is bloomin' lucky the vet was able to detect Pancreatitis. I didn't realise it was so difficult to diagnose. Thank goodness I had the sense to take him to the vet. I was at the point of writing off his diahoerra as being characteristic of an old cat and then this would never have been diagnosed. I'm so glad I listened to my gut instinct. :scared:

Definitely, you are so right posts like this may be a lesson to us all,  wishing all the best for Spice  :hug:
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on February 01, 2010, 13:18:16 PM
sorry to hear about spice and hope that it can be controlled  :hug: :hug:
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Bazsmum on February 01, 2010, 13:38:04 PM
Hope the new diet works, sending tons of healing vibes!  :hug:
Title: Re: Spice has Pancreatitis
Post by: Fire Fox on February 01, 2010, 16:57:46 PM
 :hug: Bozita claims to be low fat and is complete if you want to try a wet food (obviously check with vet first!).