3/29 Jude | AMPS 169; +5 155; PMPS 108; +2 99

Angela & Cleo said:
How are you and Jude doing? Is he feeling better these days?
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Hi Angela, He's...weird 🥴 I think he is not having a FIC flare right now, but I'm never sure. His elevated and somewhat unstable numbers are what are causing me to think something underlying might be happening. We just don't have the days like last year with fairly steady blues and greens, though I will admit that much of that time he was taking antibiotics. Now, I never know what number I might be looking at when I test--could be a green--could be a stinky. Thankfully these past few days he's been mostly under 200. Besides his numbers going up, his one symptom when his UT is disturbed is that he urinates outside the box, and he has been doing that occasionally since the end of last year. He had a UTI back in February, and he had to take daily antibiotic shots because Clavamox upsets his stomach so much that he stops eating when he takes it. Here lately he's had a run of diarrhea. And while things on that front have improved a bit, I'm wondering if he has developed some IBD from the antibiotics. I see some patterns of bouncing, and it might be that he's just super-sensitive to those lower numbers. I've had him on Gaba + Prazocin and some UT supplements twice daily since the end of the year, but here in the past week or so, I've been weaning him off those since I think he's not flaring. Thanks for asking! It's kind of difficult to treat (and expensive) when he has both UTIs and FIC flares.

How are you and Cleo??
 
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FIC flares are awful and even more difficult to distinguish between it and a UTI. I'm assuming you've given him a good probiotic to help with the stomach flora?
I use these urine strips for Cleo's PH and to see if there is any blood in the urine to help me get ahead of any potential issues.
You're doing a fantastic job caring for him!

Cleo is Cleo! She bounces, dives, picky with food, then will eat anything in front of her. She's developed some gymnastic skills despite her age and being slightly overweight, enabling her to get to the high carb food packets in a kitchen cabinet and the other day she ripped open my bag of sour cream and cheddar chips :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: I was saving that bag!!!!
She's protested ear tests again just for fun and to really drive me to the brink of madness. Her moods mirror my husband's treatments which adds soooooo much extra work for me. All that said, she still won't let me pick her up, nor sits on my lap but snuggles really close at night. She also is my alarm clock for bedtime. I'm not allowed to work late anymore because she'll shut off my laptop. YES you read that correctly. She knows which button is the power one on the keyboard and holds it down. Thank Goodness for autosave :joyful:
 
Cleo! That girl has mad skills!! Gotta love a calico! My formerly feral Hazel is a callie, and she also isn't fond of being held or sitting in my lap. What am I saying, neither are Jude or the triples, but Hazel's especially not fond of affection on any terms but hers. She, like Cleo, has quite the personality and is my one cat that can make me laugh.

Thanks for the suggestion for the urine strips. I'll give them a try. Jude has just switched to Visbiome probiotic. I had been giving him Nexbiotics, but then I discovered it has a bit of sugar in the flavoring, so I cut it out. The Visbiome is pricey, but since going on it, his poops have firmed up some, so I think it's working well for him.

I forgot to mention that the vet and I had decided to put Jude on Bupe during this last UTI/flare because it just seemed to go on and on. Every time I tried to wean him off the Gaba, he would spike again, so I was suspecting pain, and then I wondered if maybe the Gaba wasn't knocking the pain out sufficiently, and that is why the flare kept dragging on. So I decided to try the Bupe. Then, before starting it, he seemed to improve, so we haven't gone that route yet. But I'm considering trying it the next time. I've heard it's powerful, and I've not been too keen on Jude being really loopy, but if it can manage the pain and get him over a flare more quickly, that sounds better for him.
 
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