20 Sept | Girlie | AMPS 202; 189@+2; 218@+3:30 Acupuncture day

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Girlie's mom

Girlie's mom

Member Since 2017
Condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...0-3-76-3-30-61-4-67-4-30-58-10-30-266.184141/

Pleased that she was in blues last night, and ok that she's only just yellow this morning for her AMPS after her drama day yesterday and her reduction to 0.25. By hook or crook, I'm getting her to her acupuncture today after having to cancel it last week because she was diving. Fingers crossed that she's happy with the 0.25. No swimming with the sharks for at least two days please, Girlie! :-)
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
yesterday was a good day....
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A very good day - and I learned a lot! Thanks for your support yesterday. It seems like Girlie has decided to finally put her working shoes on as far as dealing with diabetes and insulin. Maybe she's just decided that she's tired of all the ear pokes! :)

It helps that I've followed advice and gotten a better handle on things, too...:rolleyes:
 
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Bron told you about the aussie version of adequan , didn't she? ( cartrophen? )

my girl had severe arthritis.
Besides the adequan helping a lot , the other thing I would advise you is to get a pet heating pad.
something like https://www.amazon.com/Manufacturin...Inch/dp/B000S9M2U4/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
https://www.amazon.com/Manufacturin...id=1505873386&sr=8-3&keywords=pet+heating+pad
hopefully they have this down there.
it needs to be a pet heating pad, not a human one simply because it has a limited temperature so that it's never too much.
I'm sure Girlie would especially like it in the mornings and during winter.
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
Bron told you about the aussie version of adequan , didn't she? ( cartrophen? )

my girl had severe arthritis.
Besides the adequan helping a lot , the other thing I would advise you is to get a pet heating pad.
something like https://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Thermo-Kitty-Mocha-12-5-Inch-25-Inch/dp/B000S9M2U4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1505873386&sr=8-3&keywords=pet heating pad
hopefully they have this down there.
it needs to be a pet heating pad, not a human one simply because it has a limited temperature so that it's never too much.
I'm sure Girlie would especially like it in the mornings and during winter.
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Thanks so much for that info. Yes, Bron did. We've been using Zydax which is Pentosan (same as Cartrophen) since 2013, but to less effect as time went on and she got older.

Love the cat heating pad. There are so many things that I plan to buy when I'm back in the US and bring back to Oz! I've seen some thermal heating pads here, but they've been too small. The one on Amazon looks great. I'm her personal heating pad at night when she's curled up under the covers under my arm. I have a wonderful, lightweight blanket that gets her toasty warm in a second. And with spring coming on here, she takes every second she can out in the sun, which also helps. Warmth is key, you're right!

I have a non plug-in thermal pad (supposed to warm up with the cat's body temperature - not sure how that works out; maybe I'll try it myself tonight and see how it goes for me) that is right next to the oil column heater which I put on for her when she wants it. She blisses out to the warmth.

She also gets Meloxicam which is "ok" in Oz, but as she's so old and already has some kidney issues (yet to be diagnosed with CKD definitively), I'd love to stop giving her that, if I could. The vet suggested that we see how she goes with the acupuncture and restarting the Zydax and then removing the Meloxicam. She thinks that removing the Meloxicam and having her in pain might not be such a good choice right now, even though she's probably got some kidney issues happening.

I've struggled with arthritis myself even though I'm not even close to retirement yet, so I really sympathise with her pain issues. The vet gave me Gabapentin to try, but it knocked her for six on even a tiny dose, so I'm not keen on using that again.

What do you think of the food supplements like Chondroitin and Glucosamine? Do they help much?
 
I have Rheumatoid myself. I didn't have any luck with those supplements for my cat. They had no effect. I have heard others believe that it helped.
I had Shadow on bupenorphine ( which I know you can't get) but she couldn't handle pain medications very well so I had her on the lowest dose possible to at least take the edge off. ( better than none at all)
I actually had an infrared pad for her too. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011Q04ZVW/_encoding=UTF8?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011Q04ZVW/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1TKYX111PMHD&colid=3A9HJCE5GG5CZ
I do infrared on my own joints besides medications.
It does make a difference and they make full size ones at a high cost. But as damaging as some of the medications are, it's worth it for those who can come up with the money.

I know Neko did well with her acupuncture.
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
I have Rheumatoid myself. I didn't have any luck with those supplements for my cat. They had no effect. I have heard others believe that it helped.
I had Shadow on bupenorphine ( which I know you can't get) but she couldn't handle pain medications very well so I had her on the lowest dose possible to at least take the edge off. ( better than none at all)
I actually had an infrared pad for her too. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011Q04ZVW/_encoding=UTF8?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
I do infrared on my own joints besides medications.
It does make a difference and they make full size ones at a high cost. But as damaging as some of the medications are, it's worth it for those who can come up with the money.

I know Neko did well with her acupuncture.
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Great tips. Girlie now has her own Amazon wish list, and I've added those to it. Many of the items won't ship to Oz, unfortunately, so I'll have to get them when I go back there to visit mom. I'll see if I can get them here, though, in the meantime.

I have osteo: proud recipient of two hip replacements, whoop whoop! :-) Rheumatoid is nasty, though - I think it's worse than osteo. Both are no fun, to be sure.

I'm with you there on alternatives to the meds if possible. I would really like to get Girlie off the Meloxicam, so I'm willing to try whatever will help her. I'd like to keep her kidneys safe - or at least not add to the current damage - as long as I can.
 
Neko loved her memory foam bed. I think it took a lot of pressure off her joints. You want one with a solid piece of foam. I got it on Amazon. :) She was also on buprenorphine for pain and it helped a lot. I also tried Duralactin as an anti inflammatory with some success.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Neko loved her memory foam bed. I think it took a lot of pressure off her joints. You want one with a solid piece of foam. I got it on Amazon. :) She was also on buprenorphine for pain and it helped a lot. I also tried Duralactin as an anti inflammatory with some success.
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Thanks, Wendy - I'll check the Duralactin out. It looks like the buprenorphine might be available now in Australia for cats: https://www.jurox.com/au/products/bupredyne-injection?vet=1

I'm seeing my vet in two weeks and will ask her about that. I'd be curious about the doses you used that worked for Neko that worked.
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
I have Rheumatoid myself. I didn't have any luck with those supplements for my cat. They had no effect. I have heard others believe that it helped.
I had Shadow on bupenorphine ( which I know you can't get) but she couldn't handle pain medications very well so I had her on the lowest dose possible to at least take the edge off. ( better than none at all)
I actually had an infrared pad for her too. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011Q04ZVW/_encoding=UTF8?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
I do infrared on my own joints besides medications.
It does make a difference and they make full size ones at a high cost. But as damaging as some of the medications are, it's worth it for those who can come up with the money.

I know Neko did well with her acupuncture.
Click to expand...

I just looked up the Bupenorphine, and it looks like I might be able to get it in Oz now: https://www.jurox.com/au/products/bupredyne-injection?vet=1

I'm wondering about the doses that seemed to work for you, as it's new here and my vet might not be that familiar with it. I assume that I could use it to try to replace the Meloxicam as it's an anti-inflammatory - is that right? Then I could possibly also use the Zydax (Pentosan) as well, as I think they do different things? I'm sure that you and @Wendy&Neko have much more specific knowledge on this that would be helpful for me to present to my vet, if you both wouldn't mind.
 
Buprenorphine given orally is better than that given via subq injection. In the Health Links forum there is a paper on pain management in cats and dogs that talks about it. And yes, you use it instead of Meloxicam. Some people have had some success with gabapentin, it just made Neko sleepy. The Pentosan helps the joint themselves, not so much the pain.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Buprenorphine given orally is better than that given via subq injection. In the Health Links forum there is a paper on pain management in cats and dogs that talks about it. And yes, you use it instead of Meloxicam. Some people have had some success with gabapentin, it just made Neko sleepy. The Pentosan helps the joint themselves, not so much the pain.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much, Wendy. I'm an absolute horror at giving pills. Could this be compounded into a liquid, do you think?

Also, was reading up on it elsewhere, and I read that it's not good for those with kidney issues. Any thoughts on this?
 
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Buprenorphine is called temgesic here in Aust and is not new, so your vet will know about it. It has been used for years here. It is not an anti inflammatory but is a pain killer and belongs to the group of medicines called opioids or narcotics. You need to be careful of the dose. It completely zonked Sheba out and she was unable to eat or drink for several hours til it wore off.
When she stopped the metacam, she was put on tramadol 10 mg twice a day, which seemed to control the pain. That is a pain killer also not an anti inflammatory but it was not as strong as temgesic.
Cartrophen can be given with tramadol.
 
Buprenorphine dose is based on weight of cat, and there is a range. Neko was around 6.5 kg, when she started it and took .22 ml. There are also different concentrations of buprenorphine, and that tripped me up once with the civie. It is given sublingually, not directly orally. In other words, you have to shoot for the check pocket or under the tongue.
 
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