Pancreatitis & Hairball obstructions .....

hi - hoping that i might be able to get some comments/advice about the following. My two current maine coons (males/2ys and 1.5 years) have had a number of issues that i have never encountered with any of my other maines, so i'm wondering if breeding/heredity might be a factor here.

1) rosko (2yr old) ate a paper towel that probably had residual food on it ..... he needed surgery to remove that but recovered fine. MY FAULT - should have been more careful.

2) boodle (1.5 yr) got a hairball obstruction and needed surgery for that. he recovered fine and is doing well. vet says this is not particularly common. would like some comments here about insuring that this doesn't happen again!

3) rosko a few days ago started vomiting and we were VERY concerned that he ate something he shouldn't have - ultrasound indicated pancreatitis. no obstruction! no surgery! (whew). pancreatitis seems to be one of those oddball occurences that is diffcult to pin down as far as cause. would like some comments on how to keep him healthy and
avoid a flare up.

these guys are on a raw meat diet supplemented with this stuff: Raw Meat Cat Food Company ? Raw Meat Food Products for Cats
and are lean, very strong, agile and active ..... they get meticulous care by us so when
something like pancreatitis or a hairball obstruction happens, it makes one wonder
how possibly one could prevent these from happening, given how healthy they otherwise
seem.

any breeding issues here? suggesting a tendency to develop any of these problems?

thanks so much for reading!

-robert hakalski (philadelphia)

Hi Robert,can't help too deeply here but I do think Rosco was rather unlucky to need surgery after eating paper towel that normally breaks down & passes through ok,it is the plastic bag & cling film that normally causes problems,I hate to think how much of the other mine have had & passed,my only real worry was when Shimba ate the narrow ribbon off of a chocolate box & I imagined that getting entwined as it went through the intestines,have seen the results of kitties eating cd tapes & xmas tinsel with drastic results & thought my boy could end up the same,never so pleased as the day a s*** came out gift wrapped.
As for Boodle know of one that had problem where it had vomited a furrball that got stuck
in throat,panic stations but got sorted,have not known of one that we haven't been able to get through the other way with lots of help from liquid paraffin,enemas & a bit of help,my boss always recommends to keep to a moist diet with these & use a product such as Katalax to help try & prevent but I have always found with my MC's using the hairball eliminator biscuits seems to help,they don't get them everday & they still have the odd furball but it does seem to make them easier to pass.No doubt someone will pop up with better ideas.
As for pancreatitis it does seem to be rearing its head more nowadays in cats but luckily not too often in the really serious form,we had one in at work that had a problem with it a year ago was fine & then nearly to the day flared again,the owners were more aware of what they were looking for & brought it in straight away & the same treatment has worked wonders again,there had been no changes to cats lifestyle either times so this is one thing that would be good to know,what sparks it off,I know there are other medical problems that can cause it but these one off & occasional flare ups are different, most I know of are in domestic cats.
With both of these problems I know of a MC owner who has suffered one or the other but I also know a lot of MC's from the same breeding lines & they have had no problems at all,so left with the question of heredity or not,I don't think so but again someone could pop up & tell us something different.
I think you have just been pretty unlucky to have expeienced such awful events with both your babes & hopefully were one offs that will never happen again, nothing detrimental in your obvious loving care of them.Now you have logged onto this forum pictures of Rosko & Boodle would be appreciated please.....!