Pancreatitis & Hairball obstructions .....

[mooncat]

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)