Pancreatitis

[Sean]

For pain Tetsu is getting buprenex.
Ho and do I know about flinging things from paws.
I learned that with hairball control stuff.

On the hydration if I give Tetsu the formula by syringe
there is no problem but give water and I get one upset
cat. The brat spits. You should see him on liquid clavamox, Messy.

He does seem to take the Nutri-Cal ok so long as I
take a lot of time at it. 5 cc seems to be his at one
time limit. If that was all that he was getting I would
have to come up with a better plan. But with the formula
goat milk and the Nutri-Cal we should be good.

BTW he came out of his hiding place and is sitting
under the computer desk for the last 2 hours. Not nearly
as warm under the desk as the bed. He is not as
cold as he was the other day.

John how did you find the blockage? The Vet is thinking
we might do one or two things next week is he does not
show any progress. One thing is call in the ultrasound people
and the other is the use of some steroids to calm any inflammation
down. He just does not want to do that till the antibiotic
has had some time to work.

 

[John Popp]

They never saw the blockage until surgery. It was a piece of rubber, and patty had mentioned that rubber doesn't show up on X-rays. They also did a couple ultrasounds and they should have found it, my thinking is they were far too concerned with trying to solve a bigger mystery because of Dooley's liver disease.

When the options had run out, the choices were to scope him or do surgery. I'm glad we opted for surgery, because they wouldn't have found it otherwise. The piece of rubber was too large for the surgeon to squeeze through the small intestine and into the colon so it needed to be surgically removed.

Looking back, I think there was a few instances that were telling. No stool despite getting him to eat some and syringe feeding him, distended intestines and stomach, gassy sounds from his stomach which suggested nothing was going any further.

Not sure how this aligns with where you are with Tetsu, but despite the differences in Rafiki's care and diagnosis I was able to break things down so the critical portions of care, pain management and subq fluids. Those two things bought us enough time for the doctors to figure things out.

 

[Rafiki]

Hydration is apparently critical for pancreatitis as the toxins need to be flushed out for rapid recovery. Please speak to your vet regarding his hydration level. We had to do the Sub-Q fluids. I have had success with feeding tuna juice to my other cats.....either drain the juice from people tuna or run a cup of water and a can of tuna in a blender and strain. If you cat likes tuna, this juice is an easy way to get him to drink more fluids or get him to accept a syringe.

 

[Rafiki]

And BTW, coming out of his hidey spot is a good sign that he is feeling a bit better.

 

[Sean]

Just got a call from my Vet and the fecal analysis came back with nothing there.

John if you don't mind my asking. How much was the surgery?
Trying to plan out the worst case as far as funds go so I know
if I need to call for some money help from family.

Today Tests is moving around some. He spent last night in the
laundry room with Mokkun and Bella. I did bump the heat in the
house up somewhat. He seems to be drinking water and the Vet said
that the urine was dilute. After checking Mokkun so I know how
the skin pinch up at the scruff should look and feel I need to get some
more fluids into Tetsu.

Sean

 

[John Popp]

Surgery for Dooley was in the $2,500-$3,000 range. With nearly a week stay at the hospital, labs, X-rays, ultrasounds and the rest that went into his care the final tally was over $6,000. We aren't exactly flush with cash at the moment, trying to get our house finished so we can move back in, we just know how hard Dooley has fought through his disease and if we need to do without something to support those efforts, so be it.

Also, at our hospital, I have overheard plenty of people who are making payments as well as getting enrolled in some sort of support packages.

 

[Sean]

John thanks for that info. Guess if we have to take that path I will be reopening a
personal loan I just paid off. But that is much better than the rates with the CareCredit
card.

I do have some news to share.
He is a bit more active and my pants the chair and my truck keys with the remote that were in my pants
pocket all found out that the urine was dilute as it was the other day. He had hopped up in my lap for
what I thought was going to be the second nap there and about 10 minutes went by and he let go. Oh well
everything but the remote can be washed. I happen to have some electronics spray cleaner that
worked well for the door remote. The scruff of his neck also seems to be popping back faster after
that last feeding.

Sean

 

[Sean]

Not a good day.
Tetsu is not wanting to take in any of the feedings.

I tried the baby food and he sniffed and turned away.
I used the formula and had a hard time getting him to
take that.

Sean

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I think it might be best to get him back to the vet for further examination. John may be right and maybe you need to properly look at the possibility of obstruction?

 

[John Popp]

I agree with Brigitte, get him in and get some fluids in him. Again, the fluids will buy some time to find a path to get Tetsu back to health.

Does Tetsu have any sort of history of chewing things or eating stuff he shouldn't? Any recently destroyed toys, even going back a few weeks?

keep us posted.