11/21 - Xander | No AMPS yet

[Brianna & Xander]

Previous post: 11/16/25

I had purposely been putting off an increase until after my procedure because I was going to be hours away under anesthesia all day with no one to monitor him. So naturally he spent days and days all yellow until the day before the procedure when he suddenly decided to drop to the 50s. That made me very nervous for the next day, so I skipped Wednesday night in addition to the Thursday morning I had planned on. After the procedure last night I got home way later than expected, was in pain and exhausted, so I went to bed before his injection would've been (hence one more skip). It sucks but it is what it is. Back on schedule this morning. Still recovering so hopefully not too active for a few days. Might still have to put off that increase until after Thanksgiving.

S. Boulardii news isn't great. It didn't seem to be doing a whole lot in general aside from sometimes making him gassy and nauseated, but after ~5 days I increased him from 1/2 capsule a day to 3/4. Gross warning for the rest of the paragraph, so feel free to scroll past this part if needed. It made him very nauseated, worsened the soft poop and then that night he had diarrhea while laying on my lap. Not his fault; we didn't even notice it happened until he got up. Naturally before I could catch him to clean him up, he sat on everything so lots of cleaning other stuff too. Of course I followed the instructions to stop it immediately. I'm not all that sure I want to try again in 3 days as things suggest because it didn't really seem to help to begin with. I've still been giving him the Proviable Forte. No improvement in the poop yet since stopping either but his last dose was only on Wednesday night. We've switched to a traditional litter box for now because this was not manageable with the Breeze.

In some small win, he loves PureBites and they make a good reward for getting his ears wiped out and Mirataz applied, which he hates.

I think the vet was right that we need to see a specialist who can handle FD + IBD. I don't have any idea how much that will cost or if we can afford it, and vet visits are so hard for everyone involved and make everything worse.

I wish I knew if this is just a flare, or if it's because of the only food he'll eat having pumpkin, or if just 2 days on Clindamycin messed him up so severely (but obviously it wasn't a good choice). It wasn't until he didn't feel well from the antibiotic that he stopped wanting his normal food, so I think it was by association with not feeling well... Sigh. I've been able to get him to eat it some of the time, at the peak of his Mirataz dose when he's starving. I haven't tried a topper yet because I don't want to add too many other factors while trying to get his GI problem under control.

I think that's it for now. Hope everyone has had a nice week.

 

[Karolina & Nestle]

Oh Brianna I'm sorry you're dealing with all this. Poor Xander. I hope he feels better soon. And I hope you recover swiftly from your procedure as well. Boys and I are sending lots and lots of healing vines your way for both of you.
️️

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Oh Brianna I'm sorry you're dealing with all this. Poor Xander. I hope he feels better soon. And I hope you recover swiftly from your procedure as well. Boys and I are sending lots and lots of healing vines your way for both of you.
️️

It's miserable, but he's such a good boy. I hope this all passes soon. Thank you so much, Karolina!!

 

[Kat & Trixie]

So sorry you have so much going on, Brianna Not fun to have to deal with when you, yourself are recovering. You're doing amazing for him and he will get back on track. Be kind and easy on yourself.

Sending lots of vines in hopes that Xander feels better soon

Wishing you a speedy recovery

 

[Brianna & Xander]

So sorry you have so much going on, Brianna Not fun to have to deal with when you, yourself are recovering. You're doing amazing for him and he will get back on track. Be kind and easy on yourself.

Sending lots of vines in hopes that Xander feels better soon

Wishing you a speedy recovery

Thank you so much, Kat!! We're trying.

 

[Charlie'sMom22]

Blegh, I’m sorry Brianna. Absolute worst time to be dealing with diarrhea (and trying to figure this stuff out). I’m glad your procedure went well though, and I hope you recover quickly!

I really reccomend the AnimalBiome microbiome test that I just used. It’s a bit expensive and takes a few weeks, but it’s helpful when you’re dealing with microbiome stuff IMO. My internist had suggested it while having me decrease the probiotics I was giving Charlie at the time because she said “we don’t know if we’re just adding to bacteria he already has and worsening the dysbiosis.” And boy was she right. The microbiome test came back with an extremely high level of a bacteria that was the top ingredient in his probiotic! In high numbers this bacteria can be harmful because it outcompetes everything and screws up the diversity. He also has another harmful overgrowth of bacteria (C. Diff), likely caused by the antibiotic shot he was given in early October.

We’re working on cleaning it up now using another product of theirs that’s supposed to help rebalance things. Then a fecal transplant LOL (not nearly as bad as it sounds). I’ll let you know how it goes. But that test was a good start and helped us at least narrow down the next steps to try. They give you insights along with diet/supplement suggestions, as well as a free consult with one of their techs after too, so it could help you to gather ideas to take to the specialist if you end up seeing one.

I’m also happy to tell you more about my internist and how I work with her if that’s something you’d be interested in. I’ve had to get pretty creative with Charlie’s care because he doesn’t have the luxury of being able to be seen in-person much anymore—he simply cannot go to the vet unless it’s a true emergency at this point. So I work with her remotely in conjunction with my regular vet. She’s phenomenal.

Let me know if I can help in any way. I hope the both of you start feeling better and getting back on track soon.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Oh Brianna, I’m sorry to hear sweet Xander is still struggling with the poop situation and the eating. I know how hard you must be working to help him feel better.

It sounds like you have a good plan in place to try things to get him back on track.

I’m glad your procedure is over and it went well. I hope you will feel much better as a result!
We send you both many hugs and encouragement. You’re doing an amazing taking care of yourself sweet boy
(Please give him extra kisses from me)

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Blegh, I’m sorry Brianna. Absolute worst time to be dealing with diarrhea (and trying to figure this stuff out). I’m glad your procedure went well though, and I hope you recover quickly!

I really reccomend the AnimalBiome microbiome test that I just used. It’s a bit expensive and takes a few weeks, but it’s helpful when you’re dealing with microbiome stuff IMO. My internist had suggested it while having me decrease the probiotics I was giving Charlie at the time because she said “we don’t know if we’re just adding to bacteria he already has and worsening the dysbiosis.” And boy was she right. The microbiome test came back with an extremely high level of a bacteria that was the top ingredient in his probiotic! In high numbers this bacteria can be harmful because it outcompetes everything and screws up the diversity. He also has another harmful overgrowth of bacteria (C. Diff), likely caused by the antibiotic shot he was given in early October.

We’re working on cleaning it up now using another product of theirs that’s supposed to help rebalance things. Then a fecal transplant LOL (not nearly as bad as it sounds). I’ll let you know how it goes. But that test was a good start and helped us at least narrow down the next steps to try. They give you insights along with diet/supplement suggestions, as well as a free consult with one of their techs after too, so it could help you to gather ideas to take to the specialist if you end up seeing one.

I’m also happy to tell you more about my internist and how I work with her if that’s something you’d be interested in. I’ve had to get pretty creative with Charlie’s care because he doesn’t have the luxury of being able to be seen in-person much anymore—he simply cannot go to the vet unless it’s a true emergency at this point. So I work with her remotely in conjunction with my regular vet. She’s phenomenal.

Let me know if I can help in any way. I hope the both of you start feeling better and getting back on track soon.

I'm actually very interested! I would love to hear more about all of it.

As you know, it's so expensive to keep doing back to the regular vet and get no real answers, and with a cat that suffers so much by going it's even worse.

I'm very interested in the test. I'm wondering if it's more worthwhile to order one instead of going to the vet again and paying the same amount or more to have them shrug and say they don't really know.

He's not having, like, extreme diarrhea but it's been so long like this. I hate the idea of spending so much when it may just be his food but a) I don't really know what to do about that if it's basically all he'll eat and b) this all got so bad after the stupid antibiotics, despite only being on them for 2 days. I just wish I knew what the right move were.

Given that there's been no real improvement since this started despite the Proviable Forte and what you said, I'm wondering if I should stop that too. Do you have any opinion? I guess I could try it and either things get worse or stay the same.

I'm definitely interested in the situation with the specialist too. I have no idea how to even start going about it and no idea if I can afford it, etc. But the idea of this test giving me something to work with with them makes me really want to try it. Obviously things may be different given we're in different countries too, but I'm really in the dark here and would appreciate any insight at all.

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Oh Brianna, I’m sorry to hear sweet Xander is still struggling with the poop situation and the eating. I know how hard you must be working to help him feel better.

It sounds like you have a good plan in place to try things to get him back on track.

I’m glad your procedure is over and it went well. I hope you will feel much better as a result!
We send you both many hugs and encouragement. You’re doing an amazing taking care of yourself sweet boy
(Please give him extra kisses from me)

Thank you, Staci!! I really hope we get this figured out. I'm at a loss.

 

[Charlie'sMom22]

I'm actually very interested! I would love to hear more about all of it.

As you know, it's so expensive to keep doing back to the regular vet and get no real answers, and with a cat that suffers so much by going it's even worse.

I'm very interested in the test. I'm wondering if it's more worthwhile to order one instead of going to the vet again and paying the same amount or more to have them shrug and say they don't really know.

He's not having, like, extreme diarrhea but it's been so long like this. I hate the idea of spending so much when it may just be his food but a) I don't really know what to do about that if it's basically all he'll eat and b) this all got so bad after the stupid antibiotics, despite only being on them for 2 days. I just wish I knew what the right move were.

Given that there's been no real improvement since this started despite the Proviable Forte and what you said, I'm wondering if I should stop that too. Do you have any opinion? I guess I could try it and either things get worse or stay the same.

I'm definitely interested in the situation with the specialist too. I have no idea how to even start going about it and no idea if I can afford it, etc. But the idea of this test giving me something to work with with them makes me really want to try it. Obviously things may be different given we're in different countries too, but I'm really in the dark here and would appreciate any insight at all.

Well the good news is I don’t think we’re in different countries—I’m in Massachusetts. I think you’re in California, right? That also happens to be where the internist is. I’ll DM you on insta about it.

I do think the test would be a good next step. Even if you don’t end up seeing a specialist, it’ll still give you information that is likely to be actionable in some way. At the very least I think it could help you confirm or rule out whether the antibiotics messed up his gut, or tell you if there’s an overgrowth of bacteria causing the diarrhea. Then that could help you rule in or out other diagnostics. If your regular vet is just shrugging and telling you to talk to a specialist, it sounds like they might have run out of ideas anyway. You could also tell them you’re going to do a microbiome test and see what they have to say about.

The food stuff is so frustrating. One trick I did with Charlie was I got a pepper grinder and put his freeze dried chicken treats that he LOVES in it. Then I would grind it up and put it on his food when I served it. So essentially was using it as a topper with something I know his belly tolerates. Also it was funny to me because I’d always be like “okay, tell me when” like a waiter would do with Parmesan lol. It’s the little things.

I’m not sure what to tell you about the probiotics, I’m sorry Has he been on them for a while? Have you noticed any difference? I do think you’re right though that you could at least try stopping them and see what happens. Just don’t change too many things at once so that you can isolate what’s doing what. That’s something I’ve had to learn to do with Charlie and it’s a huge pain in the ass. Seems like that’s par for the course with kitties with GI problems.

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Well the good news is I don’t think we’re in different countries—I’m in Massachusetts. I think you’re in California, right? That also happens to be where the internist is. I’ll DM you on insta about it.

I do think the test would be a good next step. Even if you don’t end up seeing a specialist, it’ll still give you information that is likely to be actionable in some way. At the very least I think it could help you confirm or rule out whether the antibiotics messed up his gut, or tell you if there’s an overgrowth of bacteria causing the diarrhea. Then that could help you rule in or out other diagnostics. If your regular vet is just shrugging and telling you to talk to a specialist, it sounds like they might have run out of ideas anyway. You could also tell them you’re going to do a microbiome test and see what they have to say about.

The food stuff is so frustrating. One trick I did with Charlie was I got a pepper grinder and put his freeze dried chicken treats that he LOVES in it. Then I would grind it up and put it on his food when I served it. So essentially was using it as a topper with something I know his belly tolerates. Also it was funny to me because I’d always be like “okay, tell me when” like a waiter would do with Parmesan lol. It’s the little things.

I’m not sure what to tell you about the probiotics, I’m sorry Has he been on them for a while? Have you noticed any difference? I do think you’re right though that you could at least try stopping them and see what happens. Just don’t change too many things at once so that you can isolate what’s doing what. That’s something I’ve had to learn to do with Charlie and it’s a huge pain in the ass. Seems like that’s par for the course with kitties with GI problems.

Why did I think you were in Canada?? I apologize, I have no clue where I got that idea. I must be mixing something up in my head. Yes, I'm in California!

Okay, I'll see what my partner thinks about the test. It would be nice to have some insight. We keep doing the blood work and pancreatitis tests and it's always fine and another "probably just related to his IBD" type conversation and I just don't want (and can't afford) to keep going in that circle.

It feels like forever ago now, but I don't feel like the probiotic made a difference. He's had better and worse days. I thought for a little bit that maybe the S. Boulardii was helping for the same reason (better and worse days) but overall that definitely seems to have been worse in how he feels if nothing else.

I guess I need to decide whether to try getting him to eat his normal food again or taking him off the probiotic first. I hate making these decisions. The probiotic came after the GI stuff got worse but the food change happened seemingly as a result of the GI stuff too.

I did get a topper but haven't tried it yet because I was doing the S. Boulardii first. The pepper grinder is a hilariously adorable idea!! I can just picture you doing it for Charlie like a little gentleman at a fine dining establishment.

 

[Laurie&Petey]

The pepper grinder is a hilariously adorable idea!! I can just picture you doing it for Charlie like a little gentleman at a fine dining establishment.

more, more, little more, more, keep going.

Hope you and Xander feel better soon . They are such stinkers with working the dose at the most inopportune times.

 

[Charlie'sMom22]

Why did I think you were in Canada?? I apologize, I have no clue where I got that idea. I must be mixing something up in my head. Yes, I'm in California!

Okay, I'll see what my partner thinks about the test. It would be nice to have some insight. We keep doing the blood work and pancreatitis tests and it's always fine and another "probably just related to his IBD" type conversation and I just don't want (and can't afford) to keep going in that circle.

It feels like forever ago now, but I don't feel like the probiotic made a difference. He's had better and worse days. I thought for a little bit that maybe the S. Boulardii was helping for the same reason (better and worse days) but overall that definitely seems to have been worse in how he feels if nothing else.

I guess I need to decide whether to try getting him to eat his normal food again or taking him off the probiotic first. I hate making these decisions. The probiotic came after the GI stuff got worse but the food change happened seemingly as a result of the GI stuff too.

I did get a topper but haven't tried it yet because I was doing the S. Boulardii first. The pepper grinder is a hilariously adorable idea!! I can just picture you doing it for Charlie like a little gentleman at a fine dining establishment.

I was using a meal completer that’s from Canada and Wendy and I had talked about it on here a few times, maybe that’s why?

I feel you on the bloodwork and pancreatitis tests. That’s the exact same cycle I’ve been in this year: He has an episode, I take him to the emergency vet to get meds for the symptoms and get bloodwork (because that’s the only test they’ll do), which confirms a high spec fPLi. The vet tells me the spec fPLi doesn’t diagnose pancreatitis, just indicates inflammation. They tell me to get an ultrasound at a specialist (which I can’t do), and I go home. He’s fine for a couple weeks then it happens all over again. There’s been a food trigger almost every time though.

With all the info I have now though (from the microbiome test and my chats with the internist) I’m starting to think all of these “pancreatitis” flares have been stemming from GI issues all along. The internist had suspected dysbiosis in his gut that was making it so any change to his diet triggers an inflammatory response (which can be systemwide). We just confirmed the dysbiosis piece of the puzzle with that microbiome test, so now we’re trying to fix that in hopes that he’ll 1) be able to digest real food instead of just plain chicken, which is NOT good long term and 2) his inflammatory response to things will chill tf out.

Anyway, I digress. All that is to say I’m right there with you. And I absolutely hate making food decisions too. I wish I had never switched him off the raw 9 months ago. I think that’s what led to this dysbiosis situation in the first place. But I can’t put him back on it yet because he can’t friggin digest anything!

Did you switch Xander off his normal food because of the antibiotic?

 

[Brianna & Xander]

I was using a meal completer that’s from Canada and Wendy and I had talked about it on here a few times, maybe that’s why?

I feel you on the bloodwork and pancreatitis tests. That’s the exact same cycle I’ve been in this year: He has an episode, I take him to the emergency vet to get meds for the symptoms and get bloodwork (because that’s the only test they’ll do), which confirms a high spec fPLi. The vet tells me the spec fPLi doesn’t diagnose pancreatitis, just indicates inflammation. They tell me to get an ultrasound at a specialist (which I can’t do), and I go home. He’s fine for a couple weeks then it happens all over again. There’s been a food trigger almost every time though.

With all the info I have now though (from the microbiome test and my chats with the internist) I’m starting to think all of these “pancreatitis” flares have been stemming from GI issues all along. The internist had suspected dysbiosis in his gut that was making it so any change to his diet triggers an inflammatory response (which can be systemwide). We just confirmed the dysbiosis piece of the puzzle with that microbiome test, so now we’re trying to fix that in hopes that he’ll 1) be able to digest real food instead of just plain chicken, which is NOT good long term and 2) his inflammatory response to things will chill tf out.

Anyway, I digress. All that is to say I’m right there with you. And I absolutely hate making food decisions too. I wish I had never switched him off the raw 9 months ago. I think that’s what led to this dysbiosis situation in the first place. But I can’t put him back on it yet because he can’t friggin digest anything!

Did you switch Xander off his normal food because of the antibiotic?

I felt like it was something about when there was an emergency and not being able to get him to anyone because of isolation. Maybe I'm just going crazy. In any case it's not accurate lol

What's weird in our case is that he's never even (clinically) had pancreatitis. His numbers are always fine. Sigh.

I'm really leaning toward wanting to do the test. It sounds better than doing the same thing over and over again anyway.

Nope, the food only changed because he stopped eating it. I started giving him his secondary food as primary because he was still eating that one.

 

[Brianna & Xander]

more, more, little more, more, keep going.

Hope you and Xander feel better soon . They are such stinkers with working the dose at the most inopportune times.

Thank you, Laurie!! They sure do lol

 

[Seth&Bell]

I hope you rest/heal up quickly from your procedure, Brianna! I also hope sweet Xander feels better soon. Ugh

 

[Albert & Xander]

Hoping things improve soon! They can be such a handful

 

[Brianna & Xander]

I hope you rest/heal up quickly from your procedure, Brianna! I also hope sweet Xander feels better soon. Ugh

Hoping things improve soon! They can be such a handful

Thank you both so much!