06/20 Baby G PMPS 282 shot at 7

babyg

babyg

Member Since 2019
Previous thread:
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/06-19-baby-g-pmps-382.264826/
Gave her 3 units last night and sensor showed her in 300s all night. Also, gave issues with eating. Anything she ate was because I handfed her and dumped fortiflora on it. Not sure if she is holding out for treats at this point or what. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, that I can tell. But not confident if she will eat well while I am at work. I can come home and check on her on my lunch. Not sure if I should go for the 3 again, considering her appetite What do you guys think?
 
Sorry no one has got back to you.
What did you decide to do?
Lantus works best if you don’t chop and change the dose.
Did she eat well for her preshot meal?
 
Ugh I gave her the 2.5 but now wish I'd have done the 3. I'm still home and not sure if even going in today. I dont know how people can work while having a cat like this. I dont know how I can ever get her regulated if I'm not home to give her the dose I want and monitor and if I cant get her to reliably eat. Vet opens at 8 so going to call soon and see what they can give me to help her.
Preshot meal: she free feeds but I think with all my coaching and a bunch of fortiflora she ended up eating enough throughout the course of the night.
 
Ask for some ondansetron for possible nausea. It is better than cerenia. The vet will have to write a script and you pick the medication up at the pharmacy as it is a human medication. I used it for my Sheba and it is very good for nausea.
If you can, try and get 1 test in each cycle so we can see how low the dose is taking her.
 
Waiting for vet to call back. I'll mention the ondansetron. I got her to eat a little more so thinking I can go in to work for a couple hours and come home to check on her. The 2.5 has never dropped her low from what I've seen, so thinking she should be good til I get back for lunch. I have a second job I work that actually let me go on a personal leave so I can focus on getting her better, but my primary job has not been as helpful (they could let me work from home but haven't). When she was first diagnosed in 2019, I literally didnt work for a couple weeks because of all the hospitalizations, feeding tube, trying to get her regulated, etc. It's a full time job on its own! But I'll do whatever I need to to get her better. I'm hoping if I can get her some anti nausea meds that I can go back to the 3 tonight and stay on it. I appreciate you guys being here for us and helping us out.
 
As Bron said 3.0 is a better dose for right now. I used ondansetron a lot. I hope you can get some. It works really well for nausea due to pancreatitis. I also occasionally used cyproheptadine as an appetite but only if after a day or two of ondansetron didn’t get Max eating enough. It’s another human medication and just a sliver of a 4mg pill did the trick.
 
Update: got her ondansetron 4mg to give every 8-12 hours. Vet said to also give her the gabapentin 50 mg twice a day since the 25 was too little. Additionally, she was prescribed mirtazapine 7.5 mg to give half of the tablet every 72 hours in the morning so she eats during the day. Vet loved the numbers from the 3 units and thinks that will be her actual dose when all is said and done, so I'm to keep giving that. Do you guys know if you can give the ondansetron and gabapentin together or if you have to space them out? No one mentioned and I should have asked but forgot. I could always maybe check with emergency after hours if they know. Was thinking I could give her insulin and meds together except for the mirtazapine she'll get in the am. So glad I have something to help her! :cat:
Edited to add that I asked an after hours clinic and they said if no one specified it should be ok.
 
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I would see if ondansetron works first before giving mirtazapine. You don’t want to stimulate the appetite of a nauseous cat or she might develop food aversions. Ondansetron can be given 2-3 times, every 8-12 hours. It takes about 30-45 minutes to start working and it wears off in a few hours. If the nausea is gone you might not even need mirt. Many give gabapentin for pain. I prefer buprenex but see if it works.
Cats are not like humans or dogs. You rarely stick with one dose but rather go up and down depending on how low a dose takes your cat. The hard more difficult to regulate but unlike humans and dogs can go into remission. Excuse any typos. I need to get in the shower now and can’t check.
 
She's just been so sluggish and lethargic. From what I read about pancreatitis it sounds like it can make them like that. When I talked with the teaching hospital vet today, they had said that her ultrasound showed she had some kind of GI disease because of the thickened intestinal walls. Now that I'm thinking about that more, is that truly just the pancreatitis or could there be something else with it? I forgot why but when I asked about bupe, the vet didn't want her to have it.
So far with the ondansetron, she ate a little but in general is still refusing food. She came out of hiding under the couch. Not much improvement otherwise but I may need to give it more time. Still need to give her pain med too. She won't take a pill pocket so I dread having to pill her. :( I tried rubbing the pill pocket with fortiflora but she's too smart.
 
Thickening can mean IBD or even SCL. If IBD a novel protein diet might help. Do that means feeding a protein she has never had before and only that protein for at least a month or even three and see how she does. Tagging Wendy for her thoughts. @Wendy&Neko
 
Okay, I'm trying to check in on BabyG here.. a more recent thread. I hope she's okay. Thickened intestines are most likely IBD or SCL. Has vet started her on prednisolone yet, if a biopsy is not an option?
 
I think before starting prednisolone we need to know how thickened they are as it could be IBD and pancreatitis or triaditis. Once prednisolone is started it would make a diagnosis difficult and maybe not possible. I’d try a novel protein and see if he does better first. @Suzanne & Darcy Thoughts?
 
Sorry, guys, I have no idea why my phone didn't get the alerts of activity on this thread.
When they did the ultrasound, the teaching hospital vet at first said it looked unremarkable but of course the radiologist had to look at it too. I guess after he looked at it, that's where he saw thickened intestinal walls. The vet made out that it could be due to a ton of different things, ranging from a simple, temporary inflammation to cancer. She did not recommend doing a biopsy or investigating it further other than doing the GI panel and maybe probiotics, which we eventually did. When I told the local vet about the ultrasound findings she also seemed to brush them off. If something else is going on besides the pancreatitis, no one has outright said. Should I inquire further about it or let sleeping dogs (in this case, cats) lie?
 
If they see any thickening at all they mention IBD but can’t rule out scl. When my cat at 3 was vomiting and couldn’t eat or keep food down I had to take her to the ER because my vet was out of town. They mentioned both with her but due to age scl not likely. I don’t think it was either. I think it was bad hairballs. My cat that did have lymphoma had severe thickening and a biopsy or endoscopy was recommended by the radiologist. I would try a novel protein first. See what others think.
 
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