6/26 Khloe AMPS 455, +3 391, +6 207, +9 207, PMPS 228, +2 183

[Sara & Khloe]

Previous Post

Well, no pees outside the litter box this morning

@Mary & Jude I bookmarked the list of things that help FIC if that’s what she ends up needing. But I don’t trust my vet anymore and think he would just prescribe a general antibiotic if it ends up being a UTI. Khloe hates pills, I refuse to use liquid oral meds, so we’d probably have to do injectables. Which antibiotics are acceptable for UTI so she doesn’t become antibiotic resistant? I want to be ahead of the game this time vs letting him prescribe whatever then being told by people here that he didn’t make a good choice.

Also, have you had any luck catching a UTI early with dipsticks or color changing litter like pretty litter? Just trying to think ahead

 

[Sara & Khloe]

Go Khloe! I see that she showed you a beautiful blue surf last night! Yay!

Albeit I can also see you didn’t sleep much

That was a steep drop at +4 so I get it. I will say though - I’ve had to force myself to sleep and stop testing as soon as I start seeing numbers flatten or come up. So +6 in your case last night. Or like 6/22 pm for Moonie - I should have stopped testing at +4.5 and gone to sleep.

I’m sure you know all this but mentioning it in case it’s a helpful reminder from another cat mom. Counting up the blank cells on your pm cycles, I know you must be pretty exhausted.

I hope Khloe gives you a nice smooth surf today so that you can get some rest!!

The plan was to go to sleep after the +6 but she kept waking me up with panicked meowing. Luckily I was able to catch some zs between test and took a nap yesterday so I’m ok today, sleep wise. Thank you for keeping an eye on me and checking on me tho! I hope little Moonie has let you get some good sleep last night! I see she’s being alittle goober and trying to avoid surfing. Don’t make me break out the wood glue again Moonie!!!

 

[Connie & Moonie]

The plan was to go to sleep after the +6 but she kept waking me up with panicked meowing. Luckily I was able to catch some zs between test and took a nap yesterday so I’m ok today, sleep wise. Thank you for keeping an eye on me and checking on me tho! I hope little Moonie has let you get some good sleep last night! I see she’s being alittle goober and trying to avoid surfing. Don’t make me break out the wood glue again Moonie!!!

I’m so glad you got some sleep! And I hope Miss Khloe breaks her bounce soon! Otherwise it’s the wood glue for both of them

 

[Mary & Jude]

Previous Post

Well, no pees outside the litter box this morning

Yay! Another small victory to be thankful for.

I bookmarked the list of things that help FIC if that’s what she ends up needing. But I don’t trust my vet anymore and think he would just prescribe a general antibiotic if it ends up being a UTI. Khloe hates pills, I refuse to use liquid oral meds, so we’d probably have to do injectables. Which antibiotics are acceptable for UTI so she doesn’t become antibiotic resistant? I want to be ahead of the game this time vs letting him prescribe whatever then being told by people here that he didn’t make a good choice.

Also, have you had any luck catching a UTI early with dipsticks or color changing litter like pretty litter? Just trying to think ahead

So, when you have her tested for the UTI, you need to tell the vet you want a cystocentesis and, if bacteria is present, you want a culture and sensitivity test. Then (and this is how my vet does it) they should do the cysto and an in-house UA will look for infection markers--blood, bacteria, protein. When those markers indicate a possible infection, they should send the urine for a culture and sensitivity test (though I'll mention that there are some FIC caregivers that don't even mess with the in-house UA; they ask that the urine be sent for the C/S no matter what an in-house UA indicates; they feel that the C/S is a better diagnostic tool and can identify sub-clinical infections that in-house UAs can't). The C/S test cultures the urine to determine what bacteria the cat is dealing with and then it determines which specific antibiotic is needed to treat that bacteria. Sometimes it's a broad spectrum antibiotic, but I've had Jude need narrow spectrum antibiotics before (which is why you don't want to just throw a broad spectrum antibiotic at the infection without knowing what bacteria you're dealing with). Using the correct antibiotic for the correct period of time ensures you eradicate the bacteria. With infections, and I know you probably know this, you don't want to just suppress the bacteria, which the wrong antibiotic or the right antibiotic not given the correct length of time can do. Then you run the risk that the bacteria will come back and that the cat can develop antibiotic resistance. So you want the correct antibiotic AND you want to use it the entire time it is prescribed.

My vet was kind enough to set up the injectables for me the last time. I've never had a vet do this before. The shots were sub-q, and he knew I could handle them. Even though I rotated the shots around (5 days of shots) his body, Jude developed little sores at each injection site which eventually healed, but he has no hair in those spots any longer. I can't pill Jude because his head is too big for me to get my hand around it to hold and open his jaw--the vet can't do this either without assistance (Jude weighs 18 lbs.). I know you said you don't use liquid oral meds, but if Khloe can tolerate oral liquid, that's likely the easiest delivery, but you must be sure that the medication doesn't have sugar in it. We've had ours compounded. A lot of the times, too, oral antibiotics taste really bad--so compounding helped. As I said before, we don't go the oral route any more because the antibiotics are very hard on his gut, and he stops eating, so we bypass the GI tract.

I have used the dip sticks to measure blood in the urine, but I only did that because Jude had urinated outside the box and his bg was rising, so it was a sort of backup test. We haven't used Pretty Litter.

 

[Sara & Khloe]

Yay! Another small victory to be thankful for.


So, when you have her tested for the UTI, you need to tell the vet you want a cystocentesis and, if bacteria is present, you want a culture and sensitivity test. Then (and this is how my vet does it) they should do the cysto and an in-house UA will look for infection markers--blood, bacteria, protein. When those markers indicate a possible infection, they should send the urine for a culture and sensitivity test (though I'll mention that there are some FIC caregivers that don't even mess with the in-house UA; they ask that the urine be sent for the C/S no matter what an in-house UA indicates; they feel that the C/S is a better diagnostic tool and can identify sub-clinical infections that in-house UAs can't). The C/S test cultures the urine to determine what bacteria the cat is dealing with and then it determines which specific antibiotic is needed to treat that bacteria. Sometimes it's a broad spectrum antibiotic, but I've had Jude need narrow spectrum antibiotics before (which is why you don't want to just throw a broad spectrum antibiotic at the infection without knowing what bacteria you're dealing with). Using the correct antibiotic for the correct period of time ensures you eradicate the bacteria. With infections, and I know you probably know this, you don't want to just suppress the bacteria, which the wrong antibiotic or the right antibiotic not given the correct length of time can do. Then you run the risk that the bacteria will come back and that the cat can develop antibiotic resistance. So you want the correct antibiotic AND you want to use it the entire time it is prescribed.

My vet was kind enough to set up the injectables for me the last time. I've never had a vet do this before. The shots were sub-q, and he knew I could handle them. Even though I rotated the shots around (5 days of shots) his body, Jude developed little sores at each injection site which eventually healed, but he has no hair in those spots any longer. I can't pill Jude because his head is too big for me to get my hand around it to hold and open his jaw--the vet can't do this either without assistance (Jude weighs 18 lbs.). I know you said you don't use liquid oral meds, but if Khloe can tolerate oral liquid, that's likely the easiest delivery, but you must be sure that the medication doesn't have sugar in it. We've had ours compounded. A lot of the times, too, oral antibiotics taste really bad--so compounding helped. As I said before, we don't go the oral route any more because the antibiotics are very hard on his gut, and he stops eating, so we bypass the GI tract.

I have used the dip sticks to measure blood in the urine, but I only did that because Jude had urinated outside the box and his bg was rising, so it was a sort of backup test. We haven't used Pretty Litter.

Ok thank you! I bookmarked this message too so I can come back to it.
I don’t like the idea of sores and losing fur so I’ll figure out a way to do some oral meds, one way or another.
I’ll make sure to firmly push for all this and if my vet refuses, then it’s time for me to find a new one. He’s ignored this problem for too long.

Side note: Wow! Jude is a BIG kitty!

 

[Sara & Khloe]

That’s a pretty big dive you took there Khloe..
if she continues these “slides” like she has the last 2 days, then we might just have ourself a blue pre-shot tonight.

 

[Mary & Jude]

Yeah, she's working that 2.5U dose! And she's breaking her bounces quickly too. If this is a long bounce breaking cycle like yesterday's, you're right: she might give you a blue preshot. Go Khloe!!

 

[Christie & Maverick]

Nice to see Khloe’s decided to work this dose! You could have called it a night at +6 last night, since she was on the rise . Today into tonight has potential…so much for watching paint dry

 

[Connie & Moonie]

I love the beautiful run of blues she showed you last night. Go Khloe! Let’s keep this going!

Or else…. It’s the wood glue