My male cat has been on Exclusive Signature Weight Management and Hairball Care food the majority of his life. Unfortunately it has been abruptly discontinued. During covid that formula was not available for a few week so the store recommended the regular version of the same brand. That landed him in the emergency room with pancreatitis.
The Vet suggested it was due to the higher content of certain ingredients in the regular formula being too high for him but I don’t know if it t was the fat, protein, carbohydrates…. I need to pick a new food quickly but not sure where to go. I was able to find out that the current food had 9%f fat but the carb and protein count were not available. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you so very much for the in-depth explanation. I really appreciate it.
@themillers3 Unfortunately in cats, the underlying cause of pancreatitis episodes can be very unclear. A sudden diet change without a slow transition in cats can certainly induce it, though it may just be the sudden change in ingredient makeup that triggers it vs. any particular increase in one ingredient or another. At the simplest, it may just be a matter of doing a transition to a new diet over a good 2-3 weeks (or longer) so that the body has time to adjust to a new nutrient profile.
Unlike in dogs where increased fat is a known inducer of pancreatitis, we don't see this in cats. Carbohydrates (while hotly debated in cat diets for other reasons) are not stimulants of the pancreas either. The one thing that does make a difference in cats is proteins. While cats do require high protein diets, whole dietary proteins can be pancreatic stimulants. For this reason, cats with active or chronic recurrent pancreatitis can benefit from a hydrolyzed protein diet that is made up of only amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) as they are less inflammatory or allergenic. It’s also important to keep in mind that in cats, we can see pancreatitis also associated with inflammatory bowel disease (also now called chronic enteropathy) as well as inflammation of the bile ducts (cholangitis). If there are persistent GI issues, these can also be contributing.