Pancreatitis - very worried

[Mrsd86]

Hi everyone,

My 8 year old cat suddenly started vomiting on Wednesday night. She would eat, then seconds later throw it all back up again. The vomiting got worse into Thursday (I woke up to mounds of sick all over my house) so contacted my vets who squeezed her in later that day. I went to work that morning leaving only water and a handful of kibble, returned from work at 2pm to find mounds of sick all over the house once again.
The vet did blood tests which thankfully confirmed there was nothing wrong with her kidneys or liver, but that she had pancreatitis. They gave her an anti-sickness injection (which appears to have helped as there has been no more vomiting since), charged me £300 for the blood tests and told me to feed her little and often with white fish or chicken.
I have been doing so since Thursday, and she is managing this ok (with no more sick) but she just isn't herself. She's quiet, subdued and depressed
Has anyone had any experience of this? Can I try offering her a little of her usual food as I think that may perk her up? Thanks in advance.

[Mrsd86]

I have just been scrolling through this site and stumbled across a thread regarding Felix cat food making cats sick. Bella eats the "doubly delicious fish selection" - could this be the cause??

[fjm]

I would stick with the bland diet - pancreatitis is extremely painful, and it can take some time for everything to settle down. As long as she is eating, even if it is only a very little at a time, and drinking enough to stay hydrated then she is on the road to recovery, but reckon on full recovery from a bad bout taking a few weeks rather than a few days. I think I would avoid whatever she was eating when she became ill, just in case it is linked. A sensitivity diet might be a good idea, at least for the next few months. If she goes out a paper collar asking people not to feed her may be a good idea, too.

[alanc]

From experience with my Tilly, it can take two weeks at least for her to recover from a bout of Pancreatitis.

[Mrsd86]

Thank you. She seems a little better today so keeping my fingers crossed she is on the mend. I'm fairly certain it was the food, it seems odd that she stopped being sick as soon as I took her food away. She has managed chicken, fish and a little Whiskers over the weekend and no more vomiting.
She has however developed a gammy eye

[alanc]

My experience with Tilly makes me think her Pancreatitis was food related - she has not had any more bouts since I cut milk out of her diet. How that relates to other cats, I don't know and I am not going to undertake any experiments on Tilly to find out if there really is a link!

[mr_frisky]

Two of my cats have had pancreatitis. One was relatively mild, and may have occurred as a result of a fall. The other had to be hospitalised for three days, but she was fine after that (she had an inflamed liver too which was crushing her bile duct, and causing jaundice).

It's very frightening, but it can be amazing how quickly they recover from it.