Can I free-feed my cat with pancreatitis wet/dry food & probiotics?

Pancreatitis pets should eat normal amount of times and normal quantity. THe key is to feed low fat food such as Hill's I/D low fat or Royal Canin GI low fat. The formula for resting energy requirements is kcal/day= 30 (weight in kg) + 70, so for a 5.8lb (2.6kg) is 149 kcal/day, which should be split into 2 meals, so that is around 74 kcal/meal. He should be eating like normal, 2 times a day, every 12 hrs. I hope this helps, and I hope that Batman has an appetite so that he can keep his nutrition up during his time of illness. If he is not eating well, then a feeding tube should be considered to help him get his proper nutrition. Best of luck to you and take care!

Usually I recommend a low fat gastrointestinal food for pancreatitis as it is easily digested with minimum fat content. Royal canin does a feline wet GI food. Hills and specific do a similar option. You can get these from your vet. If your cat also has deficiency in pancreatic enzymes these may need supplemented.

I would opt for a prescription kidney diet (Hill's K/D or Royal Canin renal) instead of any over the counter option if he has kidney disease especially, because the mainstay of treatment for this is the diet alone. This is also ok for his pancreatitis for now and hopefully he will get over this pancreatitis episode soon with the treatment recommendations through your vet. Pancreatitis in cats is often associated with a triaditis (3 disease) condition affecting both their intestines (IBD), pancrease (pancreatitis) and liver (cholangitis), so its imperative to follow your vets instructions on follow-up care as well. Here is more information on this condition in cats --> https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952234 I do hope that your pet Cat is going to be ok moving forward. Best of luck and take care.

I'm so glad that Mr B is feeling better. A prescription diet would be ideal, if he will eat it. However, it is more important that he be consistently eating something. Regular food intake and meals keeps the pancreas working at a steady pace to help digest food, rather than going from 0 to 60 so to speak; meaning not needing to work, then working really hard. Since he is an older guy, he is just more likely to start to have health problems. If he does have a recurrence of pancreatitis, it would be a good idea to talk to your vet about an abdominal ultrasound (sonogram of the abdomen) if that was not preformed yet, to see if there are any other issues going on, such as an obvious tumor, etc. I hope that information is helpful. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

if your cat is of normal weight and gets enough exercise, you can leave it at that. If you prefer to feed individual meals (2-3 times a day) you should slowly transition to wet/canned food and slowly reduce the dry food. Wet food overall is better for your cat, especially when a cat gets older. It contains less carbohydrates (cats are obligatory carnivores, so mainly need protein, not carbs), lessens the chance of your cat becoming a diabetic, and ensures that your cat gets more moisture with its food rather than having to drink more. If you feed canned food, stick with pate-type food, as cats tend to only lick off the gravy in chunky type foods. They prefer the ground mouse approach :D

Hello. I am so sorry for your worries with Maggie. There are other gastrointestinal diets for cats, like those made by Hill's & Purina that you can try. She may like a wet vs a dry diet, too. But the important thing is just to keep her eating. Cats tolerate dietary fats better than dogs, so while she recovers, you might even talk to your vet about introducing her to a hydrolyzed protein diet ( also used for pets with food sensitivities ) as this is highly digestible, too. As for asking about Mirataz, definitely do ask as this it can help as an antiemetic & appetite stimulant. I hope Maggie is feeling better soon & thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Pancreatitis in cats more commonly occurs due to concurrent diseases (such as inflammatory bowel disease, cholangitis, cholangiohepatitis, diabetes mellitus, etc.) than due to high fat diets. Dogs commonly develop pancreatitis after eating high fat diets, but this not been shown to be the case with cats. There are also many other cats that develop pancreatitis idiopathically (i.e. we never determine why it happens). One guess to try to associate Bella's pancreatitis with the diet change would be that she may have developed vomiting from a fairly rapid diet transition. The vomiting may have caused a back flow of bile into the common bile duct, which also empties into the pancreatic duct. When back flow of bile occurs, it can introduce bacteria through the shared duct to the pancreas. This may be a stretch of a theory, but is possible. Before changing Bella back to her old diet, I would recommend waiting for further test results to determine if other diseases are present and indicating the need for a different prescription based diet. Since she has been ill, I would also recommend discussing her diet with her vet and taking a full 5-7 days to slowly transition to any new diet. I hope that she does well!