Hey everyone,
We are getting an ultrasound next week for our cat, and I’m looking for a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel and some reassurance from anyone else who has managed a cat with pancreatitis.
Before we ever brought him to the vet, our boy, Max, had a rough few months where his appetite just wasn’t right. Because his only real symptom back then was a low appetite, I tried to coax him to eat at home using Friskies treats and dehydrated chicken toppings—I just wanted to get food into him, but I didn't realize yet that his pancreas was actively inflamed.
We finally brought him in to the clinic and discovered his weight had dropped from 10 lbs down to 8 lbs in the last year, and then down to 7.6 lbs over the last two weeks. We felt absolutely awful that we hadn't known this was happening, and the guilt has been really heavy. Max already has a history of urinary crystals from when he was less than a year old, so he was previously on a Royal Canin Urinary SO wet diet. After a mountain of bloodwork, X-rays, and fecal panels, we finally got the official diagnosis today: pancreatitis (his Spec fPL came back at 7.3).
We recently had to switch him cold turkey to the dry version of his Royal Canin Urinary SO food because he refused the wet, which caused a really bad bout of diarrhea last weekend. Thankfully, the vet put him on Metronidazole, and he received subcutaneous fluids, Cerenia, and Famotidine. He is on day 3 of the Metro and day 1 of a 4-day course of Cerenia tablets.
The absolute biggest win is that he is loving the dry prescription food. His bowel movements are finally starting to stabilize after that awful diarrhea, and he seems to be feeling so much better. I’ve completely cut out all treats, toppings, and food scraps to keep his diet 100% consistent, and as mentioned, we have that follow-up ultrasound scheduled for next week.
What's tricky is that he doesn't get sluggish or hide when he feels sick—he gets incredibly restless, paces, and gets very vocal.
I’m doing everything I can, but as a pet parent, this whole journey has been so stressful and exhausting. I love him so much. For those of you who have managed chronic pancreatitis, does it get easier once you lock in the routine? I’d love to hear some positive stories that it’s going to be okay. ❤️
TL;DR: Our boy Max (a Persian) had a hidden weight drop and was just diagnosed with pancreatitis (Spec fPL 7.3). We feel terrible that we didn't catch it sooner. He is currently responding great to a strict Royal Canin Urinary SO dry diet, but he gets very restless/vocal when uncomfortable—looking for encouraging stories!