Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi, My 18 year old cat Murphy was admitted to hospital last week and diagnosed with Pancreatitis. He spent 2 days on fluids, pain meds, anti nausea. He is home but appetite is not great and he’s very slow and just not himself. He also has ckd and on renal diet. Any advice on feeding would be appreciated or anyone else have experience of this? I just don’t know what else to do. Thank you.

Has your vet suggested a diet? The usual recommendation for humans and dogs is a bland, low fat food, but I believe fat is less of an issue in feline pancreatitis - if that is so you should be able to continue with a renal diet, which tend to be quite high in fat. I would concentrate on getting him eating frequent tiny meals of something lowish fat, tempting and easy to digest like skinless chicken breast or poached white fish, and focus on the kidney issues when he has recovered a little, but your vet may say differently. It is a horribly painful disease, as you know, but animals do make good recoveries in time.

Yes I’ve to keep him on the renal diet but he’s not very interested in the wet, I have to take it to him and encourage small amounts. He is taking the dry from his bowl. I don’t know if he’s in pain or feeling nauseous…he is only on metacam for his arthritis.

Has the vet instructed which brand? Because most vets tend to be loyal to one brand, when there are many to choose from with different textures and tastes but still basically the same principle. Also, depending how significant both conditions are, you may well not need to be too strict.

He’s been on the renal diet a good couple of years…different brands. I just don’t want to give him anything to eat that could potentially aggravate the pancreas.

I think in this situation you have to consider what is the lesser of two evils. With Pancreatitis, getting him to eat is more important - renal food is no good if he won't eat enough of it. I found Thrive or Cannagan Chicken, though expensive, worked with getting Tilly to eat again after Pancreatitis. Once he is eating move him back to the renal food.

He seems to be taking the dry over the wet which is really strange because he ha been off the dry food completely. Did Tilly have any meds to take? Murphy only had meds when in vets for 2 days, he is only getting enzorb supplement now. I don’t know what’s causing the inappetence…whether it’s nausea or pain, he isn’t being sick though.

Is he off his food to the point of not getting enough calories? Remember the volume of dry is so much smaller than wet for the same amount of calories, wet food is usually 70-80% water. So if you're not used to him eating dry it might look like very little but actually be fine.

He’s a big boy at 7kgs and I know he’s not eating what he used to before this. I know what you mean about the dry food but I don’t think he’s getting enough calories. I just want him to look for food but he’s not interested. I’ll. e talking to vet in morning and asking what else we can do.
Thank you for the replies, I’m so worried and it helps to get some advice as sometimes when our animals are ill we don’t think straight.

I think if he is eating anything voluntarily so soon after acute pancreatitis it is a good sign. Check with your vet first but the one thing that always encourages mine to eat is a little - a very little - raw liver. Even Pippin, who is in the final stages of lymphoma, will eat if I lace the food with half a teaspoonful of chopped raw chicken liver. It is not ideal for CKD, but as my vet said in similar circumstances the most important thing is that they eat.

Tilly was at the vet hospital for over a week. She had a feeding tube for several days until she could be persuaded to eat again. She wasn't allowed home until she was cured and I don't recall having to give her anything other than antibiotics to ensure there was no infection from the feeding tube. The main problem was to keep her eating (her throat was probably sore from the tube as well), hence the Thrive and Cannagan chicken.
(These days, she has gone of the chicken and believes in Gourmet Fish Pate and Savory Cake.)

Thank for all the replies
He is still not eating great, I’m having to take it to him every 2-3 hours or I’m sure he wouldn’t eat. He had an anti nausea injection yesterday but no improvement. I don’t know what else to do.

Small meals every few hours sounds ideal - if you are concerned whether he is eating enough I have found measuring a day's allowance and serving it bit by bit through the day helps to keep track. How long is it since he came home from hospital?

He was in 2 days so been home since last Wed (8days) he was doing ok first 3-4 days then appetite deteriorated. We are now trying him on pain meds, Gabapentin as he can’t take opiods…they space him out. He is really drowsy with the Gab now but we need to try. Everywhere I read about Pancreatitis it says it’s painful. Unfortunately bloods back and kidney levels raised again too. Not sure which one make him feel bad, or possibly both.

Just a small thought, my renal cat has ipakitine on her normal food.
she’s only 2.5kg I give a super small amount probably about 80% less than recommended for a cat of her size & I think it gives her small amount of blood in her poo.
Just a thought if you were giving your cat the ipakitine as well this may not help.