Hi Sidney, Welcome, I am sorry General is feeling so poorly, pancreatitis is a booger to deal with, Bailey had this and it eventually turned into cancer and I lost him to it. He was FeLV+ at 5 months of age and passed at 11 years old. We didn't realize he had pancreatitis because he his blood work was fairly normal but we did suspect cancer somewhere and couldn't find it. He had diarrhea and was not eating anything for 65, almost 6 months straight before I lost him and found the pancreatic cancer upon his death.
Hills prescription diet makes a food that is low in fat which is what you want for a cat that has pancreatitis. It is called ID, your vet should be able to get it for you. I had to eventually get a feeding tube put into Bailey to get enough food in to him because syringe feeding just wasn't working for us. Many cats do fine with syringe feeding, no cat likes it to start but many will adjust and even come to accept it. Bailey was not one if those, we tried it for a good month and he hated it the whole time, that is why I finally decided on a feeding tube. Unfortunately with the cancer hiding in his body and my vet not being able to find it (believe me we tried, we did every test imaginable, but nothing ever showed us where or what kind of cancer), even enough food eventually wasn't enough to make him well. It is extremely important to get General to eat, cats can get something called hepatic lipidosis which is basically fatty liver disease, this will kill them in short order is not treated, the treatment is food, enough of it. An average sized adult cat needs 200 or more calories a day minimum, that's about a 6 oz can. So even if you have to offer food every 15 minutes or put some in your finger and open General's mouth and put it in, do it. I do this with Fred my CRF guy (kidney failure) if he won't eat when I give him his meds. Always give food or water with pills, if they don't go all the way down a cats very long esophagus, they can dissolve in there and cause some bad damage, some cats won't eat if their esophagus is irritated from pills dissolving in there. The main thing is make sure general is getting enough food, have your vet show you how to syringe feed him if you need to. Here are some info and video's on how to do it: *Click Here* <cid:part1.07040401.03010103@bemikitties.com> Most important thing to remember is go slow and always go in the side of the mouth, you never want to shoot food or liquids straight back down a cats throat. This cat has obviously gotten used to the routine and adapted very well: *http://www.rindarealm.com/PDF/howtoforce.pdf* Here is an article by a vet on the benefits of a feeding tube if it becomes a necessity. I have had 3 cats with feeding tubes they did retty well, Buddie, my first tube kitty loved her tube feedings and actually looked forward to her feedings. *http://www.catinfo.org/feedingtubes.htm *Here is an article by the same vet about giving cats pills and why you don't want to do it without making sure they get it down all the way: *http://www.catinfo.org/pillingcats.htm *I hope General starts eating better on his own soon, just take things slow, stay calm and General will follow your lead. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... http://bemikitties.com http://BelindaSauro.com _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
