11/13 Chewie AMPS 409/ +4 377/ PMPS 328/ +2 304

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Yesterday

Small chance that this awful AMPS might have been influenced by food: the screaming IBD cat spent the night in her own room with her food and water, and DBF opened the door for her at about 6am (Chewie’s +10) without checking if any food was left. She never finishes food, but the plate was licked clean when I got up 2 hours later, so someone got to it. Either Chewie or her brother Wicket.

In any case I bumped her up to 9 units, and my resolve to not mess with several variables at once evaporated when I saw her number this morning, so I fed her LC and will go buy her different raw food today.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Yeah! Chewie was SAILING through the move! Bodies ( both feline and human) can be so amazingly resilient one moment and fragile the next). Its always tough ( for me at least) to remember that and remember we can only control so much. The crying helps! but be kind to yourself also. Hugs to chewie and your other cat companion!

You are so right. It’s been so hard because before the move I was just in fight mode, didn’t even dare dreaming of green numbers, and I thought if we could only get her to stabilize in the 200s it would be so great. Then she surprised us with the sudden change, and after she had been in the green and blue for a bit I let myself hope that maybe we could do it after all… so the climb back up has been really hard emotionally. But. What goes up must come down? Hopefully?

Thank you so much for your kind words, it helps so much to have such support from people who fight the good fight too

 

[Angela & Cleo]

has been really hard emotionally.

 

[cecile & bella]

 

[Jackie and Biggie]

The “screaming IBD cat” made me laugh…though I know it isn’t really funny when you want to sleep! I hope IBD kitty finds some food that will satisfy her in the long term.
Good luck with the new dose!

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

The “screaming IBD cat” made me laugh…though I know it isn’t really funny when you want to sleep! I hope IBD kitty finds some food that will satisfy her in the long term.
Good luck with the new dose!

Better laugh than cry about it, was my late grandmother’s motto. And to be fair she has been doing a little better. I had to cave and let her eat her sister’s hydrolyzed dry food (it’s garbage but the sister is allergic to life and needs it) as well as wellness turkey and salmon - I never fed the cats dry food or fish flavors, so now they are really taking full advantage of their Senior and Sick status to get it all… at this point, whatever she will eat that doesn’t make her barf or poop on the floor is fair game, especially if it makes her shut up

Last night though she was in one of those moods, and we just knew she would keep everyone up, so she had to sleep in her own room, where she screamed profusely at first, but having two closed doors and earplugs took care of that - get cats, they said, it will be fun, they said

 

[Jackie and Biggie]

Better laugh than cry about it, was my late grandmother’s motto. And to be fair she has been doing a little better. I had to cave and let her eat her sister’s hydrolyzed dry food (it’s garbage but the sister is allergic to life and needs it) as well as wellness turkey and salmon - I never fed the cats dry food or fish flavors, so now they are really taking full advantage of their Senior and Sick status to get it all… at this point, whatever she will eat that doesn’t make her barf or poop on the floor is fair game, especially if it makes her shut up

I’ve been there, too…when my kitty Celeste was hyperthyroid before the vet thought her numbers were high enough to need treatment, she never seemed content, and would cry at any closed door…luckily, the i131 treatment helped calm her so she wasn’t so restless.

Biggie was on the hydrolyzed stuff for a bit too awhile back until I found some other foods that worked well. I don’t know how they can sell that for cats since it’s practically vegetarian. I think the only meat ingredient in the one we got him was chicken fat, which I guess b/c it was hydrolyzed didn’t give him allergies.

Last night though she was in one of those moods, and we just knew she would keep everyone up, so she had to sleep in her own room, where she screamed profusely at first, but having two closed doors and earplugs took care of that - get cats, they said, it will be fun, they said

Good thing they’re cute!!

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Biggie was on the hydrolyzed stuff for a bit too awhile back until I found some other foods that worked well. I don’t know how they can sell that for cats since it’s practically vegetarian. I think the only meat ingredient in the one we got him was chicken fat, which I guess b/c it was hydrolyzed didn’t give him allergies.

It’s so bad, and even with it she isn’t free of symptoms, so I’m trying her on a pork-based raw food… if she’s going to have to be on meds for the rest of her golden years she might as well be eating something of better quality that won’t destroy her kidneys (she was really thrilled about the kibble at first but got sick of it real quick). We still don’t know exactly what she’s allergic to.

At least Chewie is feeling good today, watching squirrels and beating up her carrot toy

 

[Jackie and Biggie]

It’s so bad, and even with it she isn’t free of symptoms, so I’m trying her on a pork-based raw food… if she’s going to have to be on meds for the rest of her golden years she might as well be eating something of better quality that won’t destroy her kidneys (she was really thrilled about the kibble at first but got sick of it real quick). We still don’t know exactly what she’s allergic to.

Yeah, I still don’t know everything Biggie is allergic too, though I’m pretty sure a lot of it is environmental…I’ve thought about doing the allergy testing but he seems to be ok now. The chlorpheniramine helps. I’m curious what meds you have her on?

At least Chewie is feeling good today, watching squirrels and beating up her carrot toy

Aww I’m glad she is having a good day!

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

377 at +4, sigh

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Yeah, I still don’t know everything Biggie is allergic too, though I’m pretty sure a lot of it is environmental…I’ve thought about doing the allergy testing but he seems to be ok now. The chlorpheniramine helps. I’m curious what meds you have her on?

For Mew as well, we know there’s an environmental component, as she gets much worse in the spring when there’s a lot of pollen. Also definitely some food allergies, but it’s been impossible to pinpoint a specific protein or ingredient. The hydrolyzed kibble helped a lot, but as time went by she refused to eat it and I have had to add a tiny bit of crumbled freeze dried treat or juice from a can to get her to eat, which totally defeats the purpose. It’s also really wreaked havoc on her coat.

She is on prednisolone, 2.5mg daily, and on cetirizine hydrochloride, 2.5 mg daily. That and the kibble keep it mostly contained to low level scratching, but she is still itchy and still mows her belly fur.
We have never tried chlorpheniramine, I might try to sub it for her cetirizine and see if it helps. So far the mix of pork raw food and hydrolyzed kibble hasn’t aggravated her symptoms that I can see, but it can take a while sometimes. It would be great if I could have her on raw food while keeping same meds level, it would help her kidneys and reduce the risk of diabetes so much. Probably would restore her coat to bunny soft too.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

@Jackie and Biggie, what’s the chlorpheniramine dosage like? Did your vet prescribe a compounded form? Or plain OTC version just making sure there are no additional ingredients?

 

[Jackie and Biggie]

For Mew as well, we know there’s an environmental component, as she gets much worse in the spring when there’s a lot of pollen. Also definitely some food allergies, but it’s been impossible to pinpoint a specific protein or ingredient. The hydrolyzed kibble helped a lot, but as time went by she refused to eat it and I have had to add a tiny bit of crumbled freeze dried treat or juice from a can to get her to eat, which totally defeats the purpose. It’s also really wreaked havoc on her coat.

She is on prednisolone, 2.5mg daily, and on cetirizine hydrochloride, 2.5 mg daily. That and the kibble keep it mostly contained to low level scratching, but she is still itchy and still mows her belly fur.
We have never tried chlorpheniramine, I might try to sub it for her cetirizine and see if it helps. So far the mix of pork raw food and hydrolyzed kibble hasn’t aggravated her symptoms that I can see, but it can take a while sometimes. It would be great if I could have her on raw food while keeping same meds level, it would help her kidneys and reduce the risk of diabetes so much. Probably would restore her coat to bunny soft too.

Just throwing out some other things that might be alternatives to daily pred that you may already know of but just putting them out there. One is apoquel. It’s an allergy med for dermatitis in dogs that we used in Biggie’s sister for allergies. It’s not really tested so much in cats, though and we eventually took her off it. I would probably try chlorpheniramine before that though.

There is also atopica, which comes either in a liquid or pill. It’s an immune modulator and long-term can possibly increase chances of cancer, but it is one of those quality of life things. It can help cats a lot with itchy skin. It’s also used to calm down bad stomatitis in cats who’ve had full mouth extractions and still suffer from inflammation.

@Jackie and Biggie, what’s the chlorpheniramine dosage like? Did your vet prescribe a compounded form? Or plain OTC version just making sure there are no additional ingredients?

Biggie gets 1/4 pill twice a day (that’s 1mg). It’s a pretty small pill. It’s also extremely cheap. We don’t have it compounded but it shouldn’t be too expensive to do that if you want to try to get it without any fillers but you can just try it otc first and see. I just make sure it doesn’t have any decongestants or anything else in it. The drug name is chlorpheniramine maleate. I think some cats can take a larger dose, too- maybe up to a half pill, but would definitely ask the vet. It can make them a little drowsy at higher doses but Zyrtec probably does too. My vet told us we could also try Claritin but I never did. My vet said the chlorpheniramine is the one they’ve had the most success with but she didn’t believe it would help with food allergies, only environmental ones. I think it might be bitter so I put it in a clear capsule and give it that way. You can put all the meds in the size 4 capsule and just give them together.

Mew sounds like a real mystery. I’m glad she gets some relief at least…I think even alternating allergy meds might be helpful since they can get used to them and may not work as well.

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Just throwing out some other things that might be alternatives to daily pred that you may already know of but just putting them out there. One is apoquel. It’s an allergy med for dermatitis in dogs that we used in Biggie’s sister for allergies. It’s not really tested so much in cats, though and we eventually took her off it. I would probably try chlorpheniramine before that though.

There is also atopica, which comes either in a liquid or pill. It’s an immune modulator and long-term can possibly increase chances of cancer, but it is one of those quality of life things. It can help cats a lot with itchy skin. It’s also used to calm down bad stomatitis in cats who’ve had full mouth extractions and still suffer from inflammation.

I have done a bunch of research on these two options, and for me the risks outbalance the possible benefits. If she were to get diabetes from pred, that’s manageable. Cancer from immune suppression, not a risk I’m willing to take. I asked the question to members of both my IBD and pancreatitis boards, and no one had good things to say about Atopica especially.

There is still room for a few more food options to try, and chlorpheniramine. There is another compound that showed promise in studies for atopic dermatitis but she wouldn’t eat any food I added it too, nor the soft chew formulation for dogs, so that’s a no-go, but might be an option for Biggie if you haven’t heard of it yet? It’s called Ultramicronised palmitoylethanolamide (PEA-um). Here is one study using it.

My vet said the chlorpheniramine is the one they’ve had the most success with but she didn’t believe it would help with food allergies, only environmental ones. I think it might be bitter so I put it in a clear capsule and give it that way. You can put all the meds in the size 4 capsule and just give them together.

Thanks for all this info, I will look into it this week!

 

[Virginie & Chewie (GA)]

Sorry the hyperlink didn’t work: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6852539/

 

[Jackie and Biggie]

I have done a bunch of research on these two options, and for me the risks outbalance the possible benefits. If she were to get diabetes from pred, that’s manageable. Cancer from immune suppression, not a risk I’m willing to take. I asked the question to members of both my IBD and pancreatitis boards, and no one had good things to say about Atopica especially.

There is still room for a few more food options to try, and chlorpheniramine. There is another compound that showed promise in studies for atopic dermatitis but she wouldn’t eat any food I added it too, nor the soft chew formulation for dogs, so that’s a no-go, but might be an option for Biggie if you haven’t heard of it yet? It’s called Ultramicronised palmitoylethanolamide (PEA-um). Here is one study using it.


Thanks for all this info, I will look into it this week!

That makes sense- if the pred is giving enough relief then it is probably the lesser of two evils. Apoquel is ridiculously expensive too. I have heard of PEA for people but not for kitties. I will look into it. Ty!!