2/10 Quincy AMPS 111 birthday boy update!!!

I am happy and grateful to celebrate Quincy's lucky 13th birthday today! Quincy has had some challenges over the past couple years - IBD/lymphoma diagnosis in April 2008, the loss of his kitty "sister" Cleo 4 months ago, and the addition of Katie dog in November - but he's not only hanging in there, but is a happy, good little boy.

(ANTI-JINX!) The GI problems (vomiting, regurgitating, loose stools, diarrhea) that started plaguing him soon after Katie joined the family have diminished considerably. He has normal BMs pretty consistently now, and last vomited on Jan 29 (only clear liquid, no food). (ANTI-JINX!)

Diabetes-wise, he's been a little champion. Last week he earned himself a dosecrease with his usual drama - a +3 dip into the 30s on Feb 2. So I took him down from 0.35 to 0.25. He's been on 0.25 for a week now, and is holding his own with that oh-so-difficult-to-measure dose. He may be getting ready for another decrease, as last night he dropped to 52 for his +3. With the help of a good amount of food and a little bit of Karo syrup, I kept him surfing in the 50s for a few hours (note I use small amounts of Karo because I don't want to overfeed him as it may lead to vomiting.) I was hoping he could spend a little time at this dose, at least through his vet appt next week, rather than rush him down to a lower one.

I think switching to mini-meals has helped a lot with the vomiting and with Quincy's BG numbers. I give him smaller breakfast and dinners now, which I split in half. He eats half with his shot, and then about a half hour later, he gets the other half. He also gets snacks, probably 4-6 of them, at different points in the day, before bed, and around 1am courtesy of a timer feeder. The snacks are usually the size of an ice cube (since I make/freeze food for him), and sometimes are smaller.

Quincy has his three-month vet appt next Tues, and I will be very curious to see how his lab work is and what the vet thinks we should do for his lymphoma. A month ago, I was really thinking he needed something to supplement his chemo drug (leukeran), and was ready to give budenoside a try. Now I'm not so sure. I don't want to wait until it's too late, but Quincy's quality of life seems very good right now, so I'm a little nervous to be almost "overly proactive" and potentially upset the delicate balance we seem to have achieved. That's why I'm just going to wait and see what the labs tell us. In addition to talking with him about budenoside, I wanted to see if B-12 shots might be an option for him. We haven't tried them. I know that's more for IBD than for lymphoma, but I'm thinking anything I can readily do to keep the inflammation in Quincy's GI tract at a minimum is a good thing.

So that's the latest with my little boy. Katie and Quincy are doing pretty well together. Katie still gets a little too excited with him, especially with the licking, but Quincy's definitely not cowering in fear. I partition off my bedroom with a baby gate when I'm out, but usually when I come home, Quincy's not in there. So he's pretty comfortable with Katie around. Sometimes he even goes to sleep on top of her crate! Here's a cute photo of them together waiting for breakfast: Breakfast buddies

We've started celebrating today with some yummy baby food. I bought him a peacock feather and a new toy, which we'll break out later today along with the party hats. I would have liked to take him out for a walk in the yard today, but it's probably going to be too cold. That'll have to wait until the weekend; we're supposed to see temps in the 70s here in southern CA. Quincy loves his outdoor time more than ever (probably because he's jealous Katie gets to go out so much), and lately has been enjoying walking on the roof of our house. We have a flat roof, which is easily accessible via a few steps in the yard, and Quincy likes going up there (not alone - with someone else, and on a leash!) It's funny being with him on the roof, looking down at Katie in the yard.

So that's our birthday report. I really am thankful to be here today, and to share it with you all! In case you're curious, here some photos we took for Quincy's birthday. He's decked out in his festive scarf in many of them.

Quincy's birthday photo session

I hope everyone has a great day. Here's a special toast to all the gray kitties out there! (((Logan)))

 

party_cat Happy Birthday dear Quincy...happy Birthday to you! party_cat
What a wonderful post :mrgreen: I love all the pictures...and wow...Quincy is very photogenic, isn't he?
He looks wonderful...such a handsome dude!! (My two are 13 this month too....)
Hoping for a good vet visit for you guys.

you really brought a smile to my day...thank yoy so much for sharing that touching post with us here!
Wishing you all the very BEST! :YMHUG:
hope Quincy has a wonderful birthday today.... party_cat

 

Happy birthday, Quincy! It sounds as if you have your hands fulll, but are doing beautifuly!

 

I've missed seeing Quincy's condo! Glad to hear he's doing so well.

Here in Chicago, we celebrate with fireworks!

 

Happy Birthday, Quincy! I'm so happy hear how well he's doing! You're doing a great job, Laura. And it's great to hear that he's getting along with the dog! That's a huge relief. We always say the following about our little zoo (3 cats, 2 dogs): "Cats and dogs...living together...mass hysteria!"

 

Happy Birthday Quincy!!!!!!! party_cat

What a lovely thing to celebrate! And what a rock your Quincy has been over all this time!

After all your celebrating is done over there, send Quincy to visit Latte...we will have a carb free/grain free bday cake with lots of fun toys on it for him! Whew! Good thing I saw this before I went to pick up the last of our party supplies! :mrgreen:

I hope you two have a special day together.

 

Happy Birfday Quincy. Love the birthday photos

 

Happy Birthday Quincy!!!! You looked so handsome in your birthday bow!

The pictures and update were a wonderful addition to my day!

 

Happy Birthday, Quincy! It's always an extra special occasion for a lymphoma kitty to celebrate a birthday. Teddy plans to celebrate his in April (he says to send extra special hugs to Quincy). I loved the photo album and the festive scarf. What a handsome boy he is. We'll see you next year for Quincy's 14th!

 

Happy Birthday Quincy! And many many many more to come

Beautiful pics Laura, he has an adorable face.

Thank you for sharing your special day with us, we do miss Quincy reports and very glad to hear he is doing well!
party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat party_cat

 

Happy 13th birthday, Quincy! I hope your day is filled with snuggles and catnip.

 

Happy birthday, Quincy!

Love the photos, especially the one with the doggie. Quincy really looks great. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

Re: 2/10 Quincy PMPS 96, +3~44

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! I'll try and post updates more often. It just got hard for me to do it daily when so many days a WCR involved vomiting or some other problem. If Quincy gets to the point of going on an OTJ trial, you know I will be posting that EVERY DAY!

Speaking of which, guess Quincy partied a little too wildly today. I think he's earned the dose decrease I was hoping to postpone until after his vet appt next week. He had a pretty good-sized dinner, including a few treats, and I think even was on the kitchen counter and took a few licks of dirty dishes, yet low and behold I took a +3 measure and yikes - 44! Fed some LC with a little Karo and will go test him right now, actually. Maybe the new peacock feather he played with has magic BG lowering powers.

I guess the next stop on the dose scale is 0.10, right? He's been at 0.25 for about a week, and was at 0.35 before that. Maybe going from 0.35 to 0.25 was too small a reduction...

 

Happy Happy Birthday Quincy!! Awwwwww what a beautiful gang you have there..So so sweet--
Hope you have a great birthday & wish you many more happy healthy birthdays!! Hugs from Us!!! :mrgreen:

 

woooooooo-hooooooooo! happy birthday, quincy!!!
love the pics! quincy has such an expressive face. and yes, take him down to 0.1 unit!

 

Happy Birthday Quincy!

How do you resist that face?!?

 

I hope the birthday boy had a wonderful day. What a reason to celebrate. Good luck with yet another dosecrease, too!