Ziggy 1/1/2022 amps 223 +4 207 +11.5 234

Ziggyloveforever

Ziggyloveforever

Member Since 2021
Hey everyone it’s Ziggy and I were back to home testing after they turned us down for the libre they said to stop testing due to the ear hemotoma but we will not because I need to switch his diet and I can only assume I need to know how that will affect him. I was hopeful the diarrhea was from the doxycycline it was not. Although being off the doxy for a week his diarrhea continues to be worse. We’re switching from rayne clinical nutrition kangaroo to royal canin selected protien pr. Unfortunately to do the switch I believe I have to use the I/d mainly because he was pooping liquid 4-5 times per day. I fear mixing the food that absolutely doesn’t work for him with the new food will risk his IBD reacting badly to this new one? Thoughts ? We will absolutely be home testing during this transition if they are unwilling to install the libre. I’ll be sure to clean the ear off extra carefully and give him more massages throughout the day to keep up with circulation I feel I simply can not switch over and not home test
 
I’m sorry it wasn’t the food. You are right about needing to switch 100% at once in this situation. As you know a slow transition is to avoid intestinal upset. You already have it. :bighug: I hate to bring this up but is there a chance he has scl? (Small cell lymphoma). Perhaps he need to add the chemo medication whose name escapes me at the moment if the diet change doesn’t help. :bighug:
 
Please don’t be sorry I appreciate all the advice and help this forum has brought me ! I’m unsure that it isn’t SCL but our long-standing IM says that there is no significant progression in his IBD and intestinal wall thickening if anything the thickening has gone down (Ziggy gets ultrasounds about every 3 months so it’s very easy to look at the numbers and see how things have progressed) I asked to do a FNA or endonoscapy and my first IM (we have a few) who has been looking at Ziggys IBD for almost two years now strongly believes it isn’t that he doesn’t believe the biopsy or the FNA is necessary due to the way his intestinal wall thickening has actually improved do you think I should push for it anyway ?!
 
Out of all my IMs he is by far the smartest it’s just that in the event of an emergency he’s always booked out 3 months away so we have a few others getting to know Ziggy in the event of an emergency I will always need an IM who’s somewhat knowledgeable about him and his progress
 
For a while I was quite literally begging for another biopsy my IM seemed pretty confident it’s not that though Ziggy had a biopsy on 10/2/2020 and his ultrasounds have been monitored heavily since the most time we’ve gone without an ultrasound has been 5 months but that’s rare normally every 3 months we get one… since the food switch yesterday afternoon he’s already had a solid movement so fingers crossed I’m begging to think a majority of his weight loss was due to the food I switched him over too running right through him I just had to see it through and know it wasn’t the doxycycline which was a month of treatment
 
Ziggyloveforever said:
Please don’t be sorry I appreciate all the advice and help this forum has brought me ! I’m unsure that it isn’t SCL but our long-standing IM says that there is no significant progression in his IBD and intestinal wall thickening if anything the thickening has gone down (Ziggy gets ultrasounds about every 3 months so it’s very easy to look at the numbers and see how things have progressed) I asked to do a FNA or endonoscapy and my first IM (we have a few) who has been looking at Ziggys IBD for almost two years now strongly believes it isn’t that he doesn’t believe the biopsy or the FNA is necessary due to the way his intestinal wall thickening has actually improved do you think I should push for it anyway ?!
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It’s great that the thickening is improving but why is the diarrhea so much worse? I’ve not dealt with scl myself. My cancer kitty had intermediate cell. The loose stool and vomiting stopped with chemo and when that was stopped due to mistakes by the oncologist on only prednisolone.Are you on Facebook? IBD kitties might be worth checking out. @Wendy&Neko has lots of experience with scl as does @Katherine&Ruby .
 
tiffmaxee said:
It’s great that the thickening is improving but why is the diarrhea so much worse? I’ve not dealt with scl myself. My cancer kitty had intermediate cell. The loose stool and vomiting stopped with chemo and when that was stopped due to mistakes by the oncologist on only prednisolone.Are you on Facebook? IBD kitties might be worth checking out. @Wendy&Neko has lots of experience with scl as does @Katherine&Ruby .
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Oh yes I love IBD kitties I’ve been a member there for almost two years now! I can say with confidence the diarrhea was the food I made the switch yesterday afternoon and I saw a solid poop last night. The only reason I continued the food for so long is because I was unsure if it was the doxycycline or not so I had to have the doxycycline finish before I could know which one it really was
 
I’ve seen many people on IBD kitties who when switched to the right food their kitties diarrhea improved within the first 24 hours. I’m exited because this new food is even lower in carbohydrates so that’s very promising. I’m not exited about the I/d dry however which is what I wil have to use to transition him to this new wet food (royal canin selected protein pr) I fear if I mix the rayne nutrition kangaroo with the new food his body will believe/recognize that the new food is a trigger a well? It’s my understanding that novel protein diets are selected because it’s something they have never had therefor can not have an immune response too so I don’t want to cross those wires. He did “well” on the I/d for many months I say well in parentheses because I do believe that high carbohydrate food contributed to his diabetes but it was by far the only thing that helped his IBD strange I know it’s not common so I figure if I introduce the new food with what his body recognizes as okay I’m helping his immune system recognize the new food in a positive light
 
tiffmaxee said:
Since the food is helping I definitely would not push for a biopsy. Great news!:bighug:
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I do know that most likely SCL will on day be his fate I think most IBD kitties go that way and catching it in time always makes a big difference for treatment this isn’t the first time I begged for a biopsy and got turned down it’s actually the second I’m just very on guard for it because it’s my biggest fear but I’m trying to have faith in his doctor who’s been monitoring all this since day one it’s just a shame it’s so hard to get an appointment with him during emergencies because if we were going to his office this Monday I would feel a lot more confident there would be a resolution but whatever labwork I get there I can send to him and he will go over it with me so I will technically see him about it it just adds an extra step
 
Sorry to hear the Rayne didn't work out. But paws crossed the new diet will help his GI system. Getting something he can eat is the most important thing for Ziggy right now. If you have to modify the insulin dose because of higher carbs, so be it.

It is possible the steroid is helping his thickened bowels, in addition to food changes. A steroid can be part of the treatment for both IBD and small cell.

I have a non diabetic now who was IBD (food allergies) and now small cell. But we caught it early and she went into remission. Been almost 4 years now. The diagnosis was almost by accident. She was getting an endoscopy to check into something else, so I asked if they could get some samples while in there. I really wanted to know what I was dealing with. Contrast to Neko who we could not diagnose properly because her heart couldn't take anaesthesia. Her IM vet really thought it was small cell, though not 100% sure of course, so prescribed chlorambucil for chemo. Neko was especially sensitive to it and it made her quite nauseous. At the time, I really wished I had a definite diagnosis so knew whether chlorambucil was really needed. That's a bridge you can cross if you get there. You really do want a diagnosis before starting a chemo drug/

The link to your last post here for continuity: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/ziggy-12-29.257226/
 
Yeah I really do wanna know I’m not gonna lie he said if there was anything thick enough for a FNA he would do it just to ease my mind but he’s very confident his IBD has improved and the biopsy is costly and unnecessary it’s been about a $10,000 last three months and I would still do it if they thought it was even a possibility but since he isn’t and hasn’t been vomiting at all, he’s eating on his own he’s playing with his toys and does seem to be somewhat on the up and up I’m going for another ultrasound to see if the pancreatitis has improved more than just symptomatically our last ultrasound was December 17 so I’m hopeful we’re atleast going in the right direction I’ll be heavily monitoring it all though and if there is a point where the pancreatitis has been ruled out and he is losing weight eating well and having diarrhea I’m just gonna push for it but seeing the good change things around so quickly makes me really hopeful and oddly enough seeing that the food that wasn’t good for him didn’t cause an IBD flare up makes me more confident in his GI as well I thought it was the doxycycline all month but it is officially not the doxycycline as we’ve been off that for 10 days and the diarrhea was actually getting even worse
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Sorry to hear the Rayne didn't work out. But paws crossed the new diet will help his GI system. Getting something he can eat is the most important thing for Ziggy right now. If you have to modify the insulin dose because of higher carbs, so be it.

It is possible the steroid is helping his thickened bowels, in addition to food changes. A steroid can be part of the treatment for both IBD and small cell.

I have a non diabetic now who was IBD (food allergies) and now small cell. But we caught it early and she went into remission. Been almost 4 years now. The diagnosis was almost by accident. She was getting an endoscopy to check into something else, so I asked if they could get some samples while in there. I really wanted to know what I was dealing with. Contrast to Neko who we could not diagnose properly because her heart couldn't take anaesthesia. Her IM vet really thought it was small cell, though not 100% sure of course, so prescribed chlorambucil for chemo. Neko was especially sensitive to it and it made her quite nauseous. At the time, I really wished I had a definite diagnosis so knew whether chlorambucil was really needed. That's a bridge you can cross if you get there. You really do want a diagnosis before starting a chemo drug/

The link to your last post here for continuity: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/ziggy-12-29.257226/
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@Wendy&Neko thank you so much for sharing ! Wow I’m so glad your kitty got diagnosed in time accident or not ! Yes you’re correct hands down I would absolutely want a definite dx before treating for SCL especially since he is FIV positive also if this food helps and he can regain some weight, balance his insulin and kick this pancreatitis flare for good I will be happy but if not we’re absolutely going to do the endonoscapy. I just hope I’m not putting it off to long I feel so torn ! Am I right to think that if his GI managed to “handle” a food that wasn’t good for him for a month without having an IBD flare that actually gives me confidence in his GI ? I had to know if it was the doxycycline or the food and to be honest I thought it was the doxycycline but now I see it clearly wasn’t
 
Everything came at once, the pancreatitis, insulin, ruptured abscess on the paw, as well as the mycoplasma parasite (what the doxycycline was for) so I needed to change what he had been eating I/d dry for the pancreatitis as well as for the diabetes I had no time to do things slowly in the means of switching food and adding medication(clavamox for 14 days and doxycycline for a month), I Ofcourse transitioned the food slowly but it was hard with everything else going on adding the two antibiotics and changing the food all at once but I had no choice
 
I'd think if you could get him to regain weight, and the rest of the GI symptoms are under control, you are on the right path. Paws crossed.
 
Ruby went through several ultrasounds before doctors would agree to do an endoscopy after her clinical symptoms did not resolve themselves after I tried over many month diet change and supportive meds like Cerenia, ondansetron, and appetite stimulants. She was throwing up all the time, inappetant, losing weight. Once an endoscopic biopsy was done, there was no doubt from the radiology report that it was SCL. Not every case is as clear cut though and I researched options for distinguishing IBD from SCL with tissue samples taken from a biopsy like PARR testing and another newer test called Lymphopro that had temporarily ceased operation when Ruby had her procedure done but I asked the IMs to keep a sample for testing on Lymphopro just in case we needed it later down the line. Thankfully we did not need any further testing. She’s been on a small dose of prednisone for more than 6 months now and all of the clinical signs have resolved including the complete reduction of the intestinal thickening. Chemo will likely be in our future but for now the steroids have given Ruby a new lease on life and she’s doing better than ever outside of her glucose levels that we are managing. My civvie has early signs of IBD with intestinal thickening as well but she is doing fine on EOD doses of Cerenia and a change to raw feeding.
 
Sounds like your an amazing pet parent and you’re so right that symptoms can vary so heavily. Some don’t show any from experiences I’ve had shared with me… how long did it take for your sweet babies symptoms to go unresolved before they agreed it must be that ?

I’m so torn between pushing for the endonoscapy and waiting to see if this food helps him I’m holding back because although I’ve had him on a food that didn’t agree with him for a month his ultrasounds the GI isn’t effective it looks calm and has improved within the last 6 months the ultrasound shows pancreas is enlarged (he needed a month long trial of doxycycline for a mycoplasma parasite/ANOTHER TESt I HAD TO PUSH FOR & 14 days clavamox for a ruptured abscess that needed surgery that’s also when his blood glucose began to rise so new meds and needing new foods all came together I had no way of distinguishing if it was the new food for diabetes or the doxycycline and clavamox, in hindsight deff the food) his ultrasound hasn’t shown any more inflammation in the GI tract it actually showed improvement even though the pancreatitis had developed we did an ultrasound an Flp I believe (snap test shows no reasons just abnormalities) we did the b12 folate and EPI test that we fasted for mid pancreatitis flare and then we did a pancreatitis test that was Spec FLp and it gave us numbers and range it was quite high I wish I could post the picture but it was 17.0 when normal range was 0.00-3.5 he was on pain meds cerenia fluids metronidazole metronidazole b12 for that pancreatitis, dexamethasone for IBD, doxycycline and in the begging clavamox as well . His doxycycline trial ended recently and the clavamox was done 3 weeks ago. He still tested positive for one of the 3 types of mycoplasma so we’re likely going to try a different antibiotic but I need to find a food that works I took him off rayne clinician and put him on Royal canin yesterday evening and I’ve already seen improvement not just in his Pooh’s consistency but also the volume and frequency so I’m gonna give it a few days and see if that helps I’m so upset I was giving him a food that was bad for IBD and giving him diarrhea I thought it was all the antibiotics but it definitely wasn’t it looked good for his BG numbers so until I could distinguish between the food and the meds I just continued it I had to get him off that hills I/d dry sorry if that’s alot or not enough it was just so much at once so I was thinking of of giving him a week with the food change before I push for a biopsy to see if the new food helps him
 
No need to rush the food trial. Changes from changing food can take a lot longer than a week to show how they are doing. Plus, small cell lymphoma is a slow moving disease, no rush if it is eventually that. Especially if you can get him to eat and gain weight.
 
Ziggyloveforever said:
how long did it take for your sweet babies symptoms to go unresolved before they agreed it must be that ?
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We went for an ultrasound and GI panel in February 2021, then another ultrasound in May. When things did not get better they finally agreed to the endoscopy. You can see all of this drama in Ruby’s numbers on her SS when greens and blues went to yellow in May 2021. It was pretty awful, but now we are much better.
 
We were on the first food trial for about a month after transitioning but it was hard to tell what was giving him diarrhea because at the same time we changed the food we added the antibiotics a few weeks later (it takes us about a week or two to fully transition to a new food) so the overlay was horrible

He’s already improved in his poohs not just in their consistency but in their frequency and physical volume they’re not perfect yet but it’s a big improvement oh wow I didn’t know SCL was slow moving I am glad you mentioned that our IM we have had since day one said on our last ultrasound said the small intestines demonstrate stable transmural wall thickness (duodenum: 0.2cm jejunun .3cm ileum .35 cm with retained anatomic wall layering and looking at ultrasounds from back I can see he’s been more inflamed than that and it’s settled within that thickeness for 7 maybe 8 months others show measurements like duodenum.38 ect from before we went through our first flare so I can kind of look at numbers with organs my Ultrasounds from LIVS our primary IM always measures but our back up IMs unfortunately do not it’s very hard to get frequent enough appointments with my regular IM but he will take whatever labs are done and go over them with me I try and have an ultrasound booked with him every 3-4 months he gets them so often so I would really hope if there was some major change he wouldn’t have documented it and mentioned it ? His last ultrasound there was on December 10th and he’s been looking in Ziggys belly so long so I’m just hoping going back to the food I know is good for Ziggy monitoring his BG to properly dose until I can make full transition on to royal canin pr from hills I/d I weigh him at home too if I can start to get him to gain some weight I’ll be happy how can anyone gain weight with a food that runs right through them and doesn’t agree with them he was on that food for a month before I was able to rule out it wasn’t the antibiotics causing that so I’m wondering if that had something to do with the weight loss I’ve been seeing even though symptomatically he’s improved from pancreatitis I understand losing weight when you don’t feel great we got pain meds cerenia subQs and app stimulates and he started eating again but within those 3/4 days of the pancreatitis at it’s worst he lost a lot of weight but he hasn’t put it back on and possibly it’s because I’ve have him on the wrong food for a month fully and the two -three weeks of transition so I’m gonna keep weighing him twice a day he always weighs 10.6-11.2 he has not fluctuated up over 10.8 since we started the food and the antibiotics though so we’ll see he’s been off the final antibiotic for a week and it didn’t get better it actually seemed to get worse but after changing the food yesterday evening I’ve seen improvement not gonna get to exited and monitor close but it seems promising so far Pooh’s improved and the frequency and volume have improved not going as much yesterday and last night he only went once and today he made two smaller less massive ones during the night and definitely a better consistency it’s got form not puddled so if this can help him put on some weight I’ll be very thankful fingers crossed I was hoping I could home test for BG every AmPS +6 and PMPS +2 seems like his number is on the rise from the I/d

Wendy&Neko said:
No need to rush the food trial. Changes from changing food can take a lot longer than a week to show how they are doing. Plus, small cell lymphoma is a slow moving disease, no rush if it is eventually that. Especially if you can get him to eat and gain weight.
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Katherine&Ruby said:
We went for an ultrasound and GI panel in February 2021, then another ultrasound in May. When things did not get better they finally agreed to the endoscopy. You can see all of this drama in Ruby’s numbers on her SS when greens and blues went to yellow in May 2021. It was pretty awful, but now we are much better.
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@Katherine&Ruby
Wow I’m sorry it took me so long to write that last post I didn’t even see yours =[ I’m so glad to hear Rubys doing well now she’s got the best kitty mom I know it’s terrifying when somethings going on and kitties with multiple conditions can be so hard I’m definitely gonna check out Rubys SS and story thank you so much for sharing your experience I hope Ruby doing well is a trend and an upward spiraling theme for you in 2020 hope new year is amazing to you and yours ❤️
 
Hey everyone ziggys number are clearly on the rise likely due to the dry food he’s been eating I switched his dex shot to a half hour before insulin so this last BG is not affected by it I started doing .25 this am should I just continue with the .25 and give it time to build up ?

amps 223 +4 207 +11.5 234 (Ziggys last meal was a little under two hours ago for the last BG
 
Okay awesome I’m just afraid because his numbers are on the rise from the diet switch which was unfortunately necessary it wasn’t something I would want to do in the first week if I didn’t have to but he was originally getting .10 so the .25 is already a change =[
 
Okay very good to know I’ve been reading through other peoples posts and studying their spreadsheets and that’s been helping me immensely thank goodness for this site ❤️
 
Yes you’re so right I’m trying to keep that in mind they’re all so different I learned that the hard way with IBD it’s like a diet that works for a cat who’s biopsy is just like mine doesn’t mean it works for my kitty I’ve been trying to take everything extremely slow I also do Keto-Diastix urine dips throughout the day also just to check for ketones.. it’s strange although his numbers are on the rise since food change for the first time since we started all this I saw a negative sugar result in the urine I’ve never seen that it’s also so strange that all of his fructosomine tests were normal but at home his BG is clearly high when he’s hitting 232 after a two hour fast so we’re on the right track with staring insulin without home testing and this group I would be so lost the resources here are amazing and some of the wonderful members tagged SS of kitties who also have IBD and get steriods so it’s beneficial to learn from everyone here follow their lead while also monitoring and learning my kitties needs I love him more than life he’s my whole world
 
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