8/10, Bell, AMPS 55 +1 68 +3 57 +4.5 63 +6 83 PMPS 240. Blair update

Yesterday





Me sleepy. Looks like it may be a bouncy night, so hopefully I can have some stress-free sleep. It is good to see the greens continue on into this morning and not an immediate lime and bounce. Usually means the dose has juice.

Debated all day if I wanted to mess with the vet while Bell was low. Called after Bell's +6 and they had a cancellation in the afternoon. Blair's ear thing stumped the vet. The vet (and a med student) spent a lot of time looking at Blair's ears. They think the bumps are from her scratching, which is what I also think. She was visibly itchy while they looked at her ears, so I'm glad they could see that. They looked a swab of both ears under a microscope - nothing. The vet spent a good five minutes just looking in her ears to make sure she didn't miss anything. She said they were super clean (prolly due to all the ear flushing I've been doing). She said she could try steroids and suggested a Convenia injection, but I didn't want either. The bumps don't look infected and I think the source of itching is inside her ears, not outside. I asked about trying an antihistamine, so now I get to pill Blair twice a day with Chlorpheniramine. I found I can justttt squeeze half of one of the tablets into a size 5 capsule (broke a few) since I was worried about the jagged edges. We shall see. Any suggestions are welcome if this doesn't help.

Sorry to dominate this with Blair talk, me brain be pretttty addled. Bell is just doing fine and is rather smug about keeping me up all night.

Oh no, my emoji formatting!!!

Edit: fixed

"I dunno why you keep complaining about sleep, I sleep just fine"

Oh boy Seth, what a day! How did you manage with work, low BG and Blair to the vet?!
You’re a wizard
I hope you get a bounce sleep tonight to recover

I hope the antihistamine helps Blair’s ears!! Sending vines for healing for her

My weekday life is... ugh. I keep telling these girls that I have to keep my job to pay for all the vet appointments! They do the "sad violin" gesture

Blair's ears still seem itchy on this antihistamine, but I'll give it a few tries.

Are you using a pill cutter to cut the tablets? That makes clean edges. Earlier this year I had to give an antihistamine for an itchy cat and the vet suggested Benadryl. The one good thing about it was that it was only once a day. Does cause a little sleepiness. Oh, and it wasn't bitter so could give in a pill pocket. Chased with Churu of course.

My cat was causing so much damage to her neck I had to put "kitty socks" ie. bandages on the hind feet so she couldn't scratch so hard. Thankfully Blair isn't in nearly as bad a shape.

Oh wow, I might pick your brain on that some more, Wendy. I'm sorry you are dealing with a really itchy kitty. Do you have any idea what the source of the itchiness is? I feel like a failure not being able to get to the root cause of this and I know she is uncomfortable. The Benadryl helped I assume?

I do have a pill cutter and these are circular, so I'm just cutting down the score on them. But the half moons have some sharper edges. It is prolly fine, but I like the idea of having a consistent smooth pill for her when I'm pilling. Not sure if the capsules are hard on her stomach, tho. Both my girls are weird with treats. Bell doesn't want any of them. Blair is super smart when it comes to spitting up pills and detecting medicine. I got this one down her pretty easily the old-fashioned way, she just looked surprised at what had transpired .

I originally asked the vet for Benadryl and she said she preferred the Chlorpheniramine, which, after a cursory googling, seemed to check out. If this doesn't work, I'll give Benadryl a shot for sure. I didn't notice any sleepiness in her tonight.

On a positive note, I've been able to "brush" Blair's teeth daily, even while I was torturing her with the ear wash. She seems to forgive me for these transgressions more quickly now that I am doing them on a regular basis. She still hates them all, but doesn't hide for 3 hours after, which is a change. I've also noticed her being slightly more affectionate in her own way, which is really nice. She'll hop up on the bed with me and lay right next to me (never in my lap) and want pets. She's even stolen Bell's pillow (see above) on occasion, which is completely new:

Bell had no idea where to lay down!

Different situation to Blair. Check with your vet before switching to Benedryl. If no sleepiness, sounds like Chlorpheniramine is the better option.

I’ve been away from the forum for many days, Seth. But what is the availability of more natural veterinary medicines like in the US? Are there good options? Have you thought about talking to the vet about natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant options, such as turmeric, spirulina, high-quality omega-3, and even the Traumeel Vet formula? I use some more natural products myself and have had good results with them, but I don’t know what the general view of vets and people there is regarding these options.

Here, we have a very good palatable B-complex paste that is great for skin and coat. It contains L-cystine, yeast extract, and B-complex vitamins for cats. Besides making the coat look beautiful, it also seems to help reduce areas of inflammation (of course when the condition isn’t too severe). Vitamin E and zinc can also help, if the lab work confirms that they are needed.

If you feel like talking to the vet about this, see if they think she could benefit from a B-complex supplement. (It can be super helpful.)

Maybe there are similar products available there as well, which could be something to discuss with the vet... just to help "strengthen" and calm her skin from the inside out.

Thanks so much, Clarice, I will look into what you listed there!

Seth I don't know how you're juggling a full-time job, Bell's rollercoaster blood glucose readings, and now Blair's ear - you must have some of Blair's witchy powers in you too because I can't even imagine.

My civvie Wilbur had something similar last year, and while we never quite figured it out, it went away on its own and I think it was seasonal allergies that would worsen with his scratching. His ear had bumps on it and his ear had lots of furless patches from his constant scratching. I don't know if it's the same thing but throwing it out there in case helpful. Now we keep our air filters cranked up on max all year round.

Sending Miss Blair lots and lots of witchy healing vines

Thanks, Connie, that’s really helpful. I was also suspecting some sort of seasonal thing. I HATE having AC on so I tend to have windows open even when it is toasty out, so maybe I need to adjust there.

I don’t think what I’m doing is super sustainable to be honest. I’m kinda hanging onto my job just because the economy and world doesn’t seem exactly stable currently , and I have a lot of good will and trust built up in it, but I’m going to have to figure something else out in the near future. Sleeping a couple hours, working 10 hours with a double commute, and then having fun cat stuff pop up is tough. I’ve updated my resume with my Professional BG Tester experience, so we’ll see where that leads

Seth&Bell said:

Thanks, Connie, that’s really helpful. I was also suspecting some sort of seasonal thing. I HATE having AC on so I tend to have windows open even when it is toasty out, so maybe I need to adjust there.

I don’t think what I’m doing is super sustainable to be honest. I’m kinda hanging onto my job just because the economy and world doesn’t seem exactly stable currently , and I have a lot of good will and trust built up in it, but I’m going to have to figure something else out in the near future. Sleeping a couple hours, working 10 hours with a double commute, and then having fun cat stuff pop up is tough. I’ve updated my resume with my Professional BG Tester experience, so we’ll see where that leads

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I went back and looked at Blair's photo and Wilbur had similar bumps. I thought it was a mosquito bite at first too - and it could have been - but given how long it lasted (and when it went away), I'm now leaning towards seasonal allergy. It didn't come back this year, but I was also more paranoid about not letting him out during "high allergen" days and I kept the air filter running on high all day and night long.

And I hear you. Your current schedule definitely doesn't sound sustainable . I hope that in the near future, you can find something that might allow for a bit more balance. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you. It's a soft job market for sure but you only need one thing to work out

Thanks so much, Connie! I’ll have to keep track of the allergen index and see if there’s any correlation with her itchiness