1.20 Nelli (AMPS) 174; (+3) 147; (PMBG) 118; (+2.25) 154

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Krystina & Nelli

Krystina & Nelli

Member Since 2018
I’m scared. I need help.
I have very little confidence in Vets. I’d love to walk in with an educated idea of what might be wron...
Nelli has gone through hell at ER- test,test,test. I have cl into her vet, hoping they can see her. They open in seven minutes-
Nelli, chomp, chomp with mouth after all meals in last few days- had gotten more often along with slapping side of face and gagging.
Won’t eat. Tried hand feeding... as last resort tried her Farmina Quona Digestion kibbles. SHE LOVES THIS. Won’t eat. Won’t even open her mouth.

I’m really scared. She has insulin in her and an empty belly.

I have some left over Clavamox, 125mg Tabs (4). Should I try to get one down her?
I will hopefully be able to get her into Vet this morning.
OMG the ER here is horrible. Horrible.
 
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It really sounds likes something mouth/teeth related. I hope you can get her to your vet ASAP. You could just show up there and tell them how urgent it is and say you trust them more than the ER. Sending vines ... :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
I agree -- a vet visit sounds like a good plan. This could be a dental issue or a swallowing or other digestive track issue if she's gagging.

You can always put a bit of syrup on her gums but see what her numbers look like over time.
 
I have problems with Buddy eating some times because of being nauseous, since he is diabetic he must eat, so his vet gave me syringes that are for syringe feeding. They work very well and I use them all the time. This is for future reference.
I hope your kitty is doing better and that the vet saw her today.
 
Gosh, what a day. First, i sincerely apologize for not showing back up here.
Right when Nelli and I got in the house, I tried getting on the site- kept receiving error message... "please try in a few minutes!?!
 
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@Bronx's dad, Left work at usual time this morning, 6:30, to come back home, test, shoot and, feed Nelli.
See #1.
Fast forward- The Vet said to bring her in. Oh, oh, oh! BTW< as I was getting everything together to load her up and go I decided to try one last thing hoping I could get her to eat. The Farmina kibbles I mentioned that she LOVES and was not at all interested in, I decided to squirt a bit of Churu Chicken paste (she LOVES this too) on some Farmina. YEAH!!! sHe ate about 2 tbls. of this. YEAH!
I felt a bit better.

Vet said "based on her symptoms I will tell you what I think and you can let me know what you think...it sounds like Pancreatitis."

*I need to understand Pancreatitis better. I have never (remotely?) thought Nelli= Pancreatitis?
Pancreatitis? What do you think?​

I kept circling back around to: her symptoms. The rapid chom, chom, chomping of her mouth, slapping side of her mouth and gagging as though she needs to throw up? Final result (experience) with Vet this morning: gave her B-12 injection (btw, when asked for a script- for remnants left of neuropathy he said its expensive And there are 100u in vial, that she can only have one 1u injection every 4 weeks. He also gave her fluids based upon believing she might be a little dehydrated.
Sent us home with script, appetite stimulant Mirtazapine 15mg. I told him I did not want to give this to her unless she wouldnt eat again tonight... he said that was ok.

Now the dentist s vet: Based upon my mentioning to him, telling him Dental Vet (DV) believing acid reflux the issue- Prilasic.
He told me, has seen many times, cats brought in for potential dental issues, when in fact acid reflux.
Nelli btw, had a dental exam and cleaning 3 months ago. No problems... as a matter of fact dental doc cant believe she still has all her teeth.​

?Prilacac?: Ive read that this is not good to give cats. What do you think?
I stopped giving her that and started raw Aloe Gel & Slippery Elm Bark syrup.


Thank you all for your interest in Nelli. I appreciate you and it... more than I can express :bighug:
 
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majandra said:
I hope you were able to get seen by your regular vet. How is she doing?
:bighug:
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@majandra Thanks :).
Nelli has been outside (somewhere) all day. Getting bready to find and get her in for test and food and...
I bought her some fresh chix hearts from a Pasture raised chix farm today. She loves these :cat: and they will be on her menu tonight :)
 
Glad Nelli ate!

Did you do a blood test for pancreatitis? Did the vet feel Nelli’s belly to see if she is uncomfortable?

I was recommended cypro as an appetite stimulant as opposed to mirtazapine because it doesn’t make kitties as loopy. I haven’t tried it myself though.

But what is usually done to fight panc is fluids, pain relief, anti-nausea meds and something to fight inflammation.
 
Crista & Ming said:
Glad Nelli ate!

Did you do a blood test for pancreatitis? Did the vet feel Nelli’s belly to see if she is uncomfortable?

I was recommended cypro as an appetite stimulant as opposed to mirtazapine because it doesn’t make kitties as loopy. I haven’t tried it myself though.

But what is usually done to fight panc is fluids, pain relief, anti-nausea meds and something to fight inflammation.
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@Crista & Ming No, vet did not do blood test for pancreatitis? Did not (even) suggest?
She, once again does not want dinner-
I gave her Pepcid (%mg) with a Churu paste (treat) and she ate?
Her PMPS was roceeded to give reg. shot and prepared her dinner-WONT EAT!
I am getting ready to give her (vet rx today),Mirtazapine and I will try hand feeding her.
 
Mirtazapine gives Buddy the meows (constant) I prefer cypro. Buddy uses cerenia, ondanseton and Bupe (pain meds). If Buddy will not eat I will syringe food, you will need a pate that is smooth or you will need to use a food processor to make food into liquid. Pancreatitis is very painful, your kitty needs pain medicine and something for nausea. Do not give appetite stimulant without giving nausea medicine. If you are syringe feeding, do not feed what you plan for her to eat when she is better, because she will not want it. Feed her something else.
 
They can do a snap test for p'titis. It just gives positive or negative results, not how bad it is. There are 2 blood test that will give a numeric value.

Olive now gets B12. Vet ordered a huge bottle (100 ml) for me and it's under $40. I give once a week for 4 weeks then she told me once every 2 weeks 4 times than once a month. Olive gets less than 1 ml each time, so it will last quite some time.
 
Olive & Paula said:
They can do a snap test for p'titis. It just gives positive or negative results, not how bad it is. There are 2 blood test that will give a numeric value.

Olive now gets B12. Vet ordered a huge bottle (100 ml) for me and it's under $40. I give once a week for 4 weeks then she told me once every 2 weeks 4 times than once a month. Olive gets less than 1 ml each time, so it will last quite some time.
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@Olive & Paula Why in the heck wasnt this done today i ask?!?
 
I would try to go back to the vet and not only get the snap test but also more supportive care which may mean things like buprenorphine, cerenia, ondansetron, and subq fluids to take home. Perhaps switch to cypro if mirtazapine doesn't work for Nelli tonight.

For now, I would encourage her to eat and that may mean syringe feeding. How is her hydration?

It could be something other than pancreatitis since I'm not too familiar with Nelli's symptom of gagging or slapping the side of her face.. I'm not quite sure what you mean buy that either. Could you elaborate?

But if your vet is so convinced, I don't know why they didn't do a test to confirm it or give you the standard medicine/treatment for pancreatitis. Did your vet take a temperature as well?

Ming has had 7 instances of pancreatitis. It is always the same: vomiting several times (upwards of 15 times within the hour), no appetite, dehydration, and sometimes fever. The last time, he went into DKA. Are you checking for ketones as well?

Edit: offer her all foods and any foods even if it's kibble. Baby meat food sometimes works. Temptations. Those tubes of paste that are for cats. Tuna juice. When Ming gets like this, I create a buffet for him and put bowls of water all over the house.

Although, I know some will argue it's not good to leave food out too long or kitty might associate food to pain and when kitty gets better, will refuse to eat said food. Ming isn't a cat like that so I'm okay with leaving a buffet for him. You'll have to make the decision as to whether Nelli will begin to dislike her food when she feels better.
 
Krystina & Nelli said:
@Olive & Paula Why in the heck wasnt this done today i ask?!?
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I don know why Krystina. Only they can say why. Olive's very first labs showed she had p'titis, but vet said wait till she settled in and gets some insulin in her (she just came to me). Her 2nd labs showed the value went down. Next labs showed it was up again. When I took her after Xmas when she wasn't "right" her value was even worse over 100. Norm I think is under 26. I believe idexx has the better test. Olive's was done through antech, her new vet doesn't like idexx, don't know why.

Olive continued to eat throughout her episode, but it's taken until now for her to be comfortable. She will be staying on bupre from now on. We tried reducing dose but she relapsed so she is staying on it. Vet supplies it to me in 10 ml bottle. I also have a/d critical care food should she stop eating.

The slapping of the mouth seems more like a dental issue though.
 
Buddy does not throw up very often, but he gets terrible diarrhea, he won't eat and he tries to hide. Some kitties act different than Buddy. Do not let your vet run amalyse & lipase testing, you want Spec fpl or the Snap test. These 2 test are specific for pancreatitis and Spec fpl is the gold standard. Don't leave until you have access to nausea medicine & pain meds for your kitty.
 
I don’t understand what a test for pancreatitis wasn’t done since your vet suspects it and so do the symptoms. I also don’t understand why you were given an appetite stimulant but nothing for nausea or pain! If you go back for a test ask for cerenia or ondansetron and is f youndont bring Nellie back get the drugs or an RX. Giving an appetite stimulant with pout nausea meds can lead to food aversions. Max had chronic pancreatitis for several years. His symptoms varied but the one constant was inappetence caused by nausea. He rarely vomitedand had diarrhea maybe during two episodes at the most. I could usually get him to eat baby food when allelse failed or Soulistic Triple Harmony before diabetes. I hope things improve soon.
 
Marje (Marje and Gracie) wrote a Primer on Pancreatitis. This post will tell you everything you want to know about pancreatitis in cats. Just to be aware, not all vets stock the Snap fPL test. It's an in-office test that's like a pregnancy test -- you get either a "=" or "-" reading rather than a number. The Spec fPL needs to be sent out to a lab.

Prilosec (generic name is omeprazole) is a human drug that is used to treat reflux. There have been a couple of studies in cats and the research suggests that it's effective and safe. This blog from Steve Dale summarizes the research. Given what we know about the use of medications like Prilosec, I would not want to have my cat on the medication for the long term (i.e., years). Pepsid (famotidine) is also used to treat reflux. I'd suggest discussing the relative merits of one drug or the other with your vet.
 
Crista & Ming said:
offer her all foods and any foods even if it's kibble.
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Farmina kibble (https://www.farmina.com/us/cat-food/n&d-quinoa-functional-feline/431-digestion.html) was last try. Nelli LOVES this, I suspect the high carb count?
Ate, this (finally) a couple T. yesterday morning, before going to Vet.
Gave Mirtazapine last night after not eating dinner. Woke me up in middle of night HUNGRY. Gave dinner she hadn’t eaten. Checked bowl this morning and she had eaten ALL :bighug:.
 
@Crista & Ming , @Olive & Paula , @Teresa & Buddy , @tiffmaxee, @Sienne and Gabby (GA) ...
By the grace of God, truly last night I was cleaning Nelly's litter Box out after she went the bathroom and saw a worm!? I took lots of pictures of it on ziploc baggie and then put it in a little jar. It was hard to make its shape out because it had litter attached to it.
Woke up this morning an hour and a 1/2 late, Nelly shot late :( went in to kitchen and saw that she ate whole dinner :)! Hoping she had turn the page and was feeling better… not. She had diarrhea twice (truly a first ever for Nelli.) Also had very very very smelly gas before she went to go have diarrhea :(​
Started researching worms in cats. Discovered exactly what worm it was based on description and size… hookworm. Read about symptoms, she had several. Decided not to wait until morning to go back to her vet because she could be severely infested?
We are at ER now waiting for doctor with worm in “hand”.
After vet tech came to gather info, I told her I believe Nelli has hookworms... through my extensive research and description.
BTW, worm is about 1/8-1/2” (see pic).
The tech said no this isn’t a hook worm- they are microscopic, cannot be seen by naked eye. WRONG. I have pic/description (size of)...
Vet just came in (coming back with tech... get vitals)
Vet explained to me that hookworms don’t usually have as wide of a girth (I see this; agree?)
He thinks it’s a caterpillar.
Is going to do fecal flotation... and?
Waiting in room now-
Will post update ASAP :)
Nelli and I thank you, for your interest; to ALL :bighug:
 
Krystina & Nelli said:
@Crista & Ming , @Olive & Paula , @Teresa & Buddy , @tiffmaxee, @Sienne and Gabby (GA) ...
By the grace of God, truly last night I was cleaning Nelly's litter Box out after she went the bathroom and saw a worm!? I took lots of pictures of it on ziploc baggie and then put it in a little jar. It was hard to make its shape out because it had litter attached to it.
Woke up this morning an hour and a 1/2 late, Nelly shot late :( went in to kitchen and saw that she ate whole dinner :)! Hoping she had turn the page and was feeling better… not. She had diarrhea twice (truly a first ever for Nelli.) Also had very very very smelly gas before she went to go have diarrhea :(​
Started researching worms in cats. Discovered exactly what worm it was based on description and size… hookworm. Read about symptoms, she had several. Decided not to wait until morning to go back to her vet because she could be severely infested?
We are at ER now waiting for doctor with worm in “hand”.
After vet tech came to gather info, I told her I believe Nelli has hookworms... through my extensive research and description.
BTW, worm is about 1/8-1/2” (see pic).
The tech said no this isn’t a hook worm- they are microscopic, cannot be seen by naked eye. WRONG. I have pic/description (size of)...
Vet just came in (coming back with tech... get vitals)
Vet explained to me that hookworms don’t usually have as wide of a girth (I see this; agree?)
He thinks it’s a caterpillar.
Is going to do fecal flotation... and?
Waiting in room now-
Will post update ASAP :)
Nelli and I thank you, for your interest; to ALL :bighug:
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She goes outdoors does she not? That means worms are definitely possible.
 
Could be tape worm (flat with segments) or round work (spaghetti looking). I do think you can see hookworm if it's eliminated.

If infested with worms it could be the explanation of not feeling good, not eating, diarrhea, constipation (blocking), not hungry because she is full of worms.

Get treatment for worms anyway, Revolution flea tx, if there is one there are more. Think about using monthly flea treatment that helps worms but I don't think they help hook worm.
 
Olive & Paula said:
Could be tape worm (flat with segments) or round work (spaghetti looking). I do think you can see hookworm if it's eliminated.

If infested with worms it could be the explanation of not feeling good, not eating, diarrhea, constipation (blocking), not hungry because she is full of worms.

Get treatment for worms anyway, if there is one there are more. Think about using monthly flea treatment that helps worms but I don't think they help hook worm.
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Most (all) symptoms point to worms...
Picked up on Vet saying (in passing) fecal flotation is not exact.
I fear, vet will return NOT HAVING FIRM answer to what is wrong :(
Now we wait and I pray my fear will be wrong :)
 
Krystina & Nelli said:
Most (all) symptoms point to worms...
Picked up on Vet saying (in passing) fecal flotation is not exact.
I fear, vet will return NOT HAVING FIRM answer to what is wrong :(
Now we wait and I pray my fear will be wrong :)
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Stick to your gunns. Ask them to humor you and treat for worms, then tell them you are out of flea treatment and get some revolution. Since Nelli is an outdoor cat worms should be their first thought.

ETA, I don't see the pic you mentioned above.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Prilosec (generic name is omeprazole) is a human drug that is used to treat reflux. There have been a couple of studies in cats and the research suggests that it's effective and safe. This blog from Steve Dale summarizes the research. Given what we know about the use of medications like Prilosec, I would not want to have my cat on the medication for the long term (i.e., years). Pepsid (famotidine) is also used to treat reflux.
Click to expand...
Also see the following with regards to omeprazole, famotidine and similar drugs:
https://www.winnfelinefoundation.or...+Health+News+from+the+Winn+Feline+Foundation)
 
Krystina & Nelli said:
Perfect. I will :p
Would not have without your opinion :bighug:
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Even if she doesn't have worms, it won't hurt her. Yes have her tested for p'titis if you can.

If you have a tractor supply near you, a lot of rescues, fosters who raise orphan kittens do all their own deworming and get the otc drugs there. I can look into which they are if you need the info. Or go to FB and search orphan and bottle babies kittens. The group might have files.
 
Great! Thanks @Olive & Paula.
Yes there is a feed store here
I'd appreciate the information on name of otc de-wormers. I will also search FB for info.
They are sending up home with? dewormer. Thouhht they'd treat her-
WAITING AGAIN for vet to RETURN.
Now going on 3.5 hours. BTW, NO emergencies have come in since we've been here. We are in room next to front desk.
Jersey Peesy :woot: :mad:
 
Still get revolution it will help prevent future infestations as long as Belli goes outside. Use it year round.

Did they finally agree if it was a worm and which kind?
 
I too hope it’s worms and not pancreatitis.

I’m glad Nelli is eating but I would still get a panc test in case Nelli’s lack of food caused pancreatitis or something.

I’m sorry you’ve been waiting for so long and having to deal with vets and techs that seem to be frustratingly hard to convince or get answers from.
 
I hope it’s worms too and bet it is. I had one with worms that I saw several months after I got her. Two pills and she was fine. Stand your ground and don’t budge.
 
Sorry that Nelli and you are having to go through this. Hope you're home soon with an effective treatment that has Nelli on the mend. I'm so glad she started eating for you--that's always a relief, whatever the problem is.
 
@Susan&Felix thanks. Yes we are home. At ER from 11:40a to 4 something. Couldn’t find what’s wrong with, Nelli?
Nelli is not really eating :(. Had less than 2T. kibbles this morning... that’s all.
I am a bit hesitant to give her PM shot for fear she won’t eat afterwards :nailbiting:
What do you think? @Olive & Paula and @tiffmaxee too :bighug:
 
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