cat/pancreas update

I posted 2-3 wks ago about my 13 yr old male cat who had a very high amylase
enzyme in his blood (2400-3600 reading where 300-1200 is normal). The vet
at first said she thought it was pancreatic cancer, although he had no other
signs of illness. The vet referred me to a specialist.

The specialist did an ultrasound and found nothing wrong with pancreas or
anything else and then did a PLI (or TLI?) blood test. The test revealed a
"reasonably mild" annoyance of the pancreas, based something in the blood
was reading a 110 level that is normally at 30-90 levels. The specialist
recommended changing diet from prescription X/D (he was on it since bladder
crystals 5 yrs ago) to prescription W/D stating that maybe the X/D was
adding to (or the whole?) probem.

Any comments?

I thank every for their previous posts!!!

bob

"bob" wrote:

I posted 2-3 wks ago about my 13 yr old male cat who had a very high amylase
enzyme in his blood (2400-3600 reading where 300-1200 is normal). The vet
at first said she thought it was pancreatic cancer, although he had no other
signs of illness. The vet referred me to a specialist.

The specialist did an ultrasound and found nothing wrong with pancreas or
anything else and then did a PLI (or TLI?) blood test. The test revealed a
"reasonably mild" annoyance of the pancreas, based something in the blood
was reading a 110 level that is normally at 30-90 levels. The specialist
recommended changing diet from prescription X/D (he was on it since bladder
crystals 5 yrs ago) to prescription W/D stating that maybe the X/D was
adding to (or the whole?) probem.

Any comments?

It sounds like pancreatitis; is that what the specialist decided? The PLI
(Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity test is pretty accurate for the diagnosis
of pancreatitis. Cats with mild pancreatitis generally fully recover on their
own, but to prevent recurrence vets often suggest a low-fat diet like Hills
W/D. If your cat is prone to urinary tract problems, I'd suggest feeding canned
food rather than dry.

"bob" wrote:

I posted 2-3 wks ago about my 13 yr old male cat who had a very high amylase
enzyme in his blood (2400-3600 reading where 300-1200 is normal). The vet
at first said she thought it was pancreatic cancer, although he had no other
signs of illness. The vet referred me to a specialist.

The specialist did an ultrasound and found nothing wrong with pancreas or
anything else and then did a PLI (or TLI?) blood test. The test revealed a
"reasonably mild" annoyance of the pancreas, based something in the blood
was reading a 110 level that is normally at 30-90 levels. The specialist
recommended changing diet from prescription X/D (he was on it since bladder
crystals 5 yrs ago) to prescription W/D stating that maybe the X/D was
adding to (or the whole?) probem.

Any comments?

It sounds like pancreatitis; is that what the specialist decided? The PLI
(Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity test is pretty accurate for the diagnosis
of pancreatitis. Cats with mild pancreatitis generally fully recover on their
own, but to prevent recurrence vets often suggest a low-fat diet like Hills
W/D. If your cat is prone to urinary tract problems, I'd suggest feeding canned
food rather than dry.

"Yngver" wrote in message
...
"bob" wrote:

I posted 2-3 wks ago about my 13 yr old male cat who had a very high
amylase
enzyme in his blood (2400-3600 reading where 300-1200 is normal). The
vet
at first said she thought it was pancreatic cancer, although he had no
other
signs of illness. The vet referred me to a specialist.

The specialist did an ultrasound and found nothing wrong with pancreas or
anything else and then did a PLI (or TLI?) blood test. The test
revealed a
"reasonably mild" annoyance of the pancreas, based something in the blood
was reading a 110 level that is normally at 30-90 levels. The specialist
recommended changing diet from prescription X/D (he was on it since
bladder
crystals 5 yrs ago) to prescription W/D stating that maybe the X/D was
adding to (or the whole?) probem.

Any comments?

It sounds like pancreatitis; is that what the specialist decided? The PLI
(Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity test is pretty accurate for the
diagnosis
of pancreatitis. Cats with mild pancreatitis generally fully recover on
their
own, but to prevent recurrence vets often suggest a low-fat diet like
Hills
W/D. If your cat is prone to urinary tract problems, I'd suggest feeding
canned
food rather than dry.

they actually didn't say pancreatitis, they thought of that at first, but
the specialist didn't say that..the specialist didn't believe anything to be
seriously wrong with him..the ultrasound didn't show any "infammations" of
pancreas or any other organ (at least, that's how in interpreted what they
told me)..

he'll be 14yrs old in a few months, so i'm wondering, should i forego the
urinary tract problem if it makes the rest of him healthy and hope the
urinary problem doesn't come back, or if it does he'll be very very old by
then hopefully?

i will suggest the soft food to a vet, i'm sure he'd be very happy :-)

bob

"Yngver" wrote in message
...
"bob" wrote:

I posted 2-3 wks ago about my 13 yr old male cat who had a very high
amylase
enzyme in his blood (2400-3600 reading where 300-1200 is normal). The
vet
at first said she thought it was pancreatic cancer, although he had no
other
signs of illness. The vet referred me to a specialist.

The specialist did an ultrasound and found nothing wrong with pancreas or
anything else and then did a PLI (or TLI?) blood test. The test
revealed a
"reasonably mild" annoyance of the pancreas, based something in the blood
was reading a 110 level that is normally at 30-90 levels. The specialist
recommended changing diet from prescription X/D (he was on it since
bladder
crystals 5 yrs ago) to prescription W/D stating that maybe the X/D was
adding to (or the whole?) probem.

Any comments?

It sounds like pancreatitis; is that what the specialist decided? The PLI
(Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity test is pretty accurate for the
diagnosis
of pancreatitis. Cats with mild pancreatitis generally fully recover on
their
own, but to prevent recurrence vets often suggest a low-fat diet like
Hills
W/D. If your cat is prone to urinary tract problems, I'd suggest feeding
canned
food rather than dry.

they actually didn't say pancreatitis, they thought of that at first, but
the specialist didn't say that..the specialist didn't believe anything to be
seriously wrong with him..the ultrasound didn't show any "infammations" of
pancreas or any other organ (at least, that's how in interpreted what they
told me)..

he'll be 14yrs old in a few months, so i'm wondering, should i forego the
urinary tract problem if it makes the rest of him healthy and hope the
urinary problem doesn't come back, or if it does he'll be very very old by
then hopefully?

i will suggest the soft food to a vet, i'm sure he'd be very happy :-)

bob

"bob" wrote:

they actually didn't say pancreatitis, they thought of that at first, but
the specialist didn't say that..the specialist didn't believe anything to be
seriously wrong with him..the ultrasound didn't show any "infammations" of
pancreas or any other organ (at least, that's how in interpreted what they
told me)..

Well, I can sympathize with you on that--my cat presented with some symptoms of
mild pancreatitis but I never really got an actual diagnosis. The PLI took some
three weeks for results and did finally come back indicating mild pancreatitis
but by that time she was perfectly well again. So all of the three vets who
treated her were vague about whether it was pancreatitis. That's probably
because it's notoriously hard to diagnose, even with PLI/TLI tests.

he'll be 14yrs old in a few months, so i'm wondering, should i forego the
urinary tract problem if it makes the rest of him healthy and hope the
urinary problem doesn't come back, or if it does he'll be very very old by
then hopefully?

I think you should discuss that issue with your vet.

i will suggest the soft food to a vet, i'm sure he'd be very happy :-)

Well, cats fed canned food only are statistically far less likely to develop
urinary tract problems than cats fed dry food, so I'd imagine the vet will
agree that it wouldn't hurt. W/D comes in canned as well as dry formulae so you
could still feed the W/D he/she suggested to you.

"bob" wrote:

they actually didn't say pancreatitis, they thought of that at first, but
the specialist didn't say that..the specialist didn't believe anything to be
seriously wrong with him..the ultrasound didn't show any "infammations" of
pancreas or any other organ (at least, that's how in interpreted what they
told me)..

Well, I can sympathize with you on that--my cat presented with some symptoms of
mild pancreatitis but I never really got an actual diagnosis. The PLI took some
three weeks for results and did finally come back indicating mild pancreatitis
but by that time she was perfectly well again. So all of the three vets who
treated her were vague about whether it was pancreatitis. That's probably
because it's notoriously hard to diagnose, even with PLI/TLI tests.

he'll be 14yrs old in a few months, so i'm wondering, should i forego the
urinary tract problem if it makes the rest of him healthy and hope the
urinary problem doesn't come back, or if it does he'll be very very old by
then hopefully?

I think you should discuss that issue with your vet.

i will suggest the soft food to a vet, i'm sure he'd be very happy :-)

Well, cats fed canned food only are statistically far less likely to develop
urinary tract problems than cats fed dry food, so I'd imagine the vet will
agree that it wouldn't hurt. W/D comes in canned as well as dry formulae so you
could still feed the W/D he/she suggested to you.

"Yngver" wrote in message
...
"bob" wrote:

they actually didn't say pancreatitis, they thought of that at first, but
the specialist didn't say that..the specialist didn't believe anything to
be
seriously wrong with him..the ultrasound didn't show any "infammations"
of
pancreas or any other organ (at least, that's how in interpreted what
they
told me)..

Well, I can sympathize with you on that--my cat presented with some
symptoms of
mild pancreatitis but I never really got an actual diagnosis. The PLI took
some
three weeks for results and did finally come back indicating mild
pancreatitis
but by that time she was perfectly well again. So all of the three vets
who
treated her were vague about whether it was pancreatitis. That's probably
because it's notoriously hard to diagnose, even with PLI/TLI tests.

he'll be 14yrs old in a few months, so i'm wondering, should i forego the
urinary tract problem if it makes the rest of him healthy and hope the
urinary problem doesn't come back, or if it does he'll be very very old
by
then hopefully?

I think you should discuss that issue with your vet.

i will suggest the soft food to a vet, i'm sure he'd be very happy :-)

Well, cats fed canned food only are statistically far less likely to
develop
urinary tract problems than cats fed dry food, so I'd imagine the vet will
agree that it wouldn't hurt. W/D comes in canned as well as dry formulae
so you
could still feed the W/D he/she suggested to you.

thank you!

bob

"Yngver" wrote in message
...
"bob" wrote:

they actually didn't say pancreatitis, they thought of that at first, but
the specialist didn't say that..the specialist didn't believe anything to
be
seriously wrong with him..the ultrasound didn't show any "infammations"
of
pancreas or any other organ (at least, that's how in interpreted what
they
told me)..

Well, I can sympathize with you on that--my cat presented with some
symptoms of
mild pancreatitis but I never really got an actual diagnosis. The PLI took
some
three weeks for results and did finally come back indicating mild
pancreatitis
but by that time she was perfectly well again. So all of the three vets
who
treated her were vague about whether it was pancreatitis. That's probably
because it's notoriously hard to diagnose, even with PLI/TLI tests.

he'll be 14yrs old in a few months, so i'm wondering, should i forego the
urinary tract problem if it makes the rest of him healthy and hope the
urinary problem doesn't come back, or if it does he'll be very very old
by
then hopefully?

I think you should discuss that issue with your vet.

i will suggest the soft food to a vet, i'm sure he'd be very happy :-)

Well, cats fed canned food only are statistically far less likely to
develop
urinary tract problems than cats fed dry food, so I'd imagine the vet will
agree that it wouldn't hurt. W/D comes in canned as well as dry formulae
so you
could still feed the W/D he/she suggested to you.

thank you!

bob