11/04 Butters AMPS 274/+3 232/+5 178/+7 146/+9 160/PMPS 207/+3 389/

Butters & Lyla

Butters & Lyla

Member Since 2020
Yesterday
Today Butters hit blue at least. She also finally hung out on the windowsill and watched the squirrels and birds.:cool: I tried my best to give her buprenorphine from the prefilled syringes today instead of gabapentin. By fluke, I managed to administer .1mL twice (8 hours apart). I think she actually seems better on the bupe. Content and happy. Or it could just be how she is feeling today and have nothing to do with the bupe.

I'm getting frustrated because I've called the hospital two days in a row now asking to get an rx for compounded bupe and each time I'm told the IM is supposed to call me back to discuss but she hasn't. I get it. This isn't an emergency. But I am still frustrated.

Tonight will be cycle six of 1.625u. Assuming her numbers go back up tonight, I'm wondering your thoughts on increasing tomorrow morning? I feel like we know she will just go back to high numbers and stay there. Or do I wait a couple of cycles, because we never really know for sure.

I hope everyone kept their kitties safe while the board was down. I was thinking of you, but was not able to do anything to help!

Enjoy the rest of your day, all.
 
I don't know about the dose. I'm glad Butters seems to be feeling better today. I hope you can get a script for the compounded bupe soon. Sending prayers.
 
Considering all that's going on now, I'd be thrilled with those blues! Very nice Butters...tell mama to chill:joyful:...give her a few purrs and help her relax...

Have a good one Lyla :bighug::bighug:
 
Go Butters :cool::cool::cool:

Curious what more experienced folks will say but since Butters hasn't seen blues in awhile, I wonder if you should hold an extra cycle or two? But they are high blues so maybe an increase would be good? I'll just stop rambling o_O
 
I would hold the dose :cool: Content and happy sounds like some good pain control. I am hopeful the combination of her starting to feel better and the Bupe to take any remaining “edge” off is resulting in the birdwatching and some better glucose regulation.

The Bupe is a decent thickness so you can always put a glove on and put the dose on your finger and rub it on the upper gum under the cheek pouch that way.

I am sorry the clinic is an issue. At this point, I would tell them you are running out of Bupe and you need to speak to a supervisor or manager because you cannot wait any longer. I would personally refuse to leave a message and demand to speak with someone. You have been very patient and understanding but you don’t want to run out of medication.
 
Hi Lyla , so happy Butters was bird watching woday and that the bup seems to help with
the pain better. I agree with Tomlin, you gotta get a little tough with them .
Two days and no phone call BS!
I'm just happy she's feeling better ♥:bighug::bighug:
 
I too think I would give it a couple more cycles now that’s she’s back in blue. Stick with the dose tonight at least is whatI would do.
 
Nice visit to the beach today, Butters!! I'm so happy you've been bird watching as well. Hopefully you hear from the IM tomorrow. I wouldn't wait much longer before running out of patience. Lol. But that may just be me :p Hope Butters visits the beach again tonight :cool:
 
Well, the high blues were nice while they lasted, like for all of six hours. :cool: She is out of blue. This evening is cycle 6 of 1.625u. I will wait through tomorrow in case she changes her mind and comes back to blue again, but then I think I want to revisit the increase discussion:). Her numbers have overall been trending higher and higher, so I don't think it's a good idea to hold for too long if she is back in yellows and pinks. Hello, patience pants.

I'm trying to figure out the lesser of two evils: aggressively increasing her insulin OR keeping her stuck in high numbers and potentially having glucose toxicity issues to deal with. I think the latter is worse...I think.

The issue with the bupe is the IM vet gave me gabapentin. She never gave me bupe, so I'd feel weird asking to talk to a clinic supervisor about that. It was the first ER that gave me bupe but they made it clear they would not give me more meds ever. I called the hospital again at the end of the day, and once again they sent a message to the IM vet who is now supposedly going to call me tonight to discuss getting bupe.:banghead: That was almost three hours ago.

Noted about the glove. Good idea.:) I may have to go out to get some...I wonder if they're still sold out everywhere.
 
With blues, you hold the dose 6-10 cycles. I tended to longer for lower blues, shorter for high blues. Butters got mid blues.

Some gloves available around here. Tip, try to stores that sell metal and workworking tools. My DH gets them for fiberglass work. The rest of the grocery stores and pharmacies around here just seem to have a smaller bag instead of a box, and latex instead of vinyl or nitrile (which I got at DH's tool store).
 
Call them back :). When you explain the issue with the inability to use an effective dose to manage her pain without significant side effects, they will hopefully be understanding and help you.

Gloves- I think there are still plenty on Amazon

I totally understand your concerns. See how things go tonight and tomorrow (if you can locate those pancreatitis patience pants—how did you lose them already :facepalm::rolleyes:?). Hopefully tomorrow is another day of progress:bighug::bighug:. Things are looking good Lyla.
 
I am very organized but somehow keep misplacing those darn patience pants. :p

Thanks for the tips on where to find gloves in stock.

389 @+3. I hoped for a lower number, but I'd been expecting this. I'll hold the dose tonight and tomorrow. That will be cycles 7 and 8 at the current dose, and possibly a good time to then increase it having seen mid blues.:)

When I look at my spreadsheet, her numbers have actually been getting higher overall as I have been increasing her insulin.:confused: I'm not sure what that's about.

I called the hospital back for the second time tonight. Of course, the IM vet went home without calling me. I again explained the issue to the front reception (super patiently, don't need any patience pants for that!:p). She spoke to the ER vet for me, who apparently is going to review Butters' file and call me sometime tonight. I'm hoping the vet decides to just write a prescription for bupe to get me off their back. They sent Butters home with a freaking fentanyl patch and 250 gabapentin pills...but somehow bupe seems to be a big concern. I don't understand.
 
tiffmaxee said:
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: I don’t understand the resistance to bupe. :bighug:
Click to expand...
:arghh::banghead::arghh::banghead::arghh:

No callback from the ER vet and no rx in my email. I may as well give up for tonight and call again in the morning. The IM vet promised to make sure Butters had meds until I found her a good vet. If she's not going to do that anymore, maybe tomorrow I go crawling back to the awful vet and see if he will write an rx for it. It's worth a try, I guess.
 
She sure acted like she was. The hospital called me back at 2am to tell me that the ER vet sent a note to the IM vet to have her call me this morning. :banghead: I doubt this is going to go anywhere.
I'm going to do it...I'm going to call her old awful vet and see if he'd be willing to give her an rx for bupe. It's I think my only other chance of getting her to switch off gabapentin onto bupe. And if that doesn't work, then what? I have to give her gabapentin and watch her have side effects? Ridiculous. :(
 
I'm so happy Butters has seen some blues today and she has had fun watching the squirrels and birds! That's definitely a step in the right direction :D

I'm sorry the vet has been difficult. Try anything you can to get what your baby needs. The only other thing I can suggest is to go in instead of call, but i understand that might be too much.

Thinking of you :bighug:
 
Butters & Lyla said:
She sure acted like she was. The hospital called me back at 2am to tell me that the ER vet sent a note to the IM vet to have her call me this morning. :banghead: I doubt this is going to go anywhere.
I'm going to do it...I'm going to call her old awful vet and see if he'd be willing to give her an rx for bupe. It's I think my only other chance of getting her to switch off gabapentin onto bupe. And if that doesn't work, then what? I have to give her gabapentin and watch her have side effects? Ridiculous. :(
Click to expand...

I would try again this morning (IM) and hold the line. This is where the pandemic throws a curve because it’s in these situations that an in person visit at the front desk makes a difference but of course, we cannot do that right now :banghead:.

So, people often wonder why is the Bupe such an issue? It is a narcotic and unfortunately, there have been and are actually still cases of pet parents abusing the drug :eek::(. As a means of “diversion” many, and actually most, clinics control how much they will give a client at one time. This is why you hear of many people getting prefilled syringes to use for oral application and only receiving limited quantities. In cases where people may have long term, strong relationships with their vets, the vet may be more likely to be more liberal with providing a prescription for it. It is frustrating but it is their way of trying to avoid problems.
(*Gabapentin is not a narcotic)
 
When you get it another problem will be that the darned prefilled syringes they give might not contain enough in each dose. One vet gave me 0.2 which did nothing for Max. I suspect that’s why it didn’t work at first for Butters. My regular vet knew better.
 
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