? 08/11 Rhubarb ambg=83 still in pain +4=81 +9 89 not eating much

majandra

majandra

Member Since 2018
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Rhubarb is much more sore after this dental than her last one. I'm not sure if it is because she was in pain already (possibly from missing upper left rearmost tooth), that they took out more teeth, that a root is retained or all of the above. She had 3 out last time, 4 this time, not sure if the retained root was from the dental or they found it like that.

Yesterday her bg was lower to start and increased, today it is still higher than usual. Yesterday evening she didn't eat more than 2 bites of supper then slept on our bed for evening(she never does that). I managed to get her to eat when she came out of room, but only the babyfood. She was eating baby food/ reg food mix earlier in day. She had pink tinged drool all day.

Today she will only eat the baby food, is still drooling (maybe less pink?), and bg still higher than her normal. I'm not sure if she should be in more pain now than yesterday, but it seems the metacam didn't touch the pain, when it did help before her dental.

I'll see how today goes, and will call vet in the morning to see if her pain level is expected. I'll go grab some more babyfood right away, since I didn't expect to need more than 2 jars. I didn't give any to her last time. Not sure if it means pain, nausea, or both.

I worry about her, and I also hope this isn't going to cost more than the $1000 it has already since we aren't working regularly now. We will spend what we need to of course.

Another thing that has me worried is her creatinine has shown an elevation trend. I won't have her getting anymore metacam. Is it possible that the values are just temporary from the metacam? Or is she showing very early kidney issues? I can't remember who it is that knows bloodwork to tag here. I have Rhubarb's labs up to date in her sheet.

Eta: how often should I check her bg to make sure it's not raising? Is there anything other than meds that I can do to help her?
 
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Sorry to hear Rhubarb is not feeling well. I would have expected the vet to give you some Bupe or Codeine for pain. Metacam is for inflammation so while it will help, it's not an analgesic. They may have given her a shot of Metacam post surgery and you are seeing the effects of that wear off now. I'd definitely call the vet tomorrow and ask for something specifically for pain. That alone will affect her appetite and she is no doubt stressed from that alone which would raise her BG.

Not sure whether Metacam would cause a temporary rise in creatinine or not.

@Marje and Gracie can you please have a look at Rhubarb's labs and offer any insight? Thanks.
 
I had oral metacam to give her yesterday morning and it didn't seem to help at all. I don't know if they gave any during/post dental, but the bill does list a peridental painkiller as well as the metacam they sent home.

At least she is happily curled up to hubby on couch, purring madly, rather than isolating.
 
Metacam is what I give Tina for arthritis - it lessens inflammation to reduce pain. My vet insists newer studies show a cats kidney disease does not progress any faster with a proper dose of Metacam.
Tina has been on it for a year. Her creatinine was 2.9 I think in February, and 2.8 in July. All the info out there on Metacam still worries me.
O-n-s-i-o-r is what we get for dental pain relief. I've never used b-u-p-e but wonder about it.

(Having hard time with dictionary additions I guess)

So glad she is purring and cuddling.
 
Poor thing! Sending feel better vines for Rhubarb...as a recent root-canal recipient - I can relate - it's just not much fun at all :(

Sending hugs for you too mama...:bighug:
 
Went to grocery store, and they had a bunch more baby food on sale for 25 cents a jar. A bunch of no carb chicken, and a couple 3g carb beef. Checked the regular aisle, and they don't make the low carb anymore, and reg price is 1.25 a jar. Good catch!
 
Rhubarb did eat a bit of the beef babyfood for lunch. Yay! She's still not herself though. The vet did say to call if her pain worsened, or didn't go away. I think Rhubarb is ok until tomorrow business hours. Just to be on safe side, I've got someone grabbing my vet kit from the barn to bring into town so that I've got supplies if needed. Most of the stuff is for horses, but some could be useful for Rhubarb too.
 
Just a reminder. The baby food should NOT have Onions or garlic in it.
" powdered garlic or onion are much more potent and more likely to cause toxicosis "
 
Ugh, post deleted while writing it.

There is nothing in the babyfood but meat, broth, rice powder, with minimal powder. Thanks for the reminder though!
Rhubarb has left the couch only once today. I've been feeding her on the couch since she wont get up. She didn't move when I tested her sugar. She let me cuddle with her while I was sick and on couch too. she never does that. She's eating maybe half of her usual amount of food, and will only eat the babyfood chicken. she had ate the beef in morning, but wont now.
I will be calling vet first thing in the morning.
Should I give her nutrical paste?
 
majandra said:
Another thing that has me worried is her creatinine has shown an elevation trend. I won't have her getting anymore metacam. Is it possible that the values are just temporary from the metacam? Or is she showing very early kidney issues? I can't remember who it is that knows bloodwork to tag here. I have Rhubarb's labs up to date in her sheet.
Click to expand...
That would be me :) Thank you, Linda, @MrWorfMen's Mom, for the tag.

All her labs look really good, although her potassium is still lower than it should be (should be 4.0 or higher) but she definitely is trending up on the creatinine. With the tests that you have, it’s difficult to tell if it is indicative of early CKD or not. Her BUN is still normal. At a minimum, you would need a urine sample that shows her urine specific gravity. The best thing to do is to free catch a urine sample, the very first one of the day when the urine is most concentrated, and take it to the vet and let them run a urine specific gravity. Usually, a low USG in the first urine of the day is a precursor sign of CKD. If her USG is normal, then it’s “unlikely” the creatinine elevation is due to CKD. A more definitive thing to do, if you can wait, is redo labs in 3 months and ask the vet to use IDEXX which runs, as part of the labs, an SDMA. If the SDMA and the creatinine are abnormal, then it is indicative of CKD.

I have seen my cats’ creatinine go from 1.1 (US numbers) on one test to 1.7 on the next and then back to 1.1 or 1.2. So it can vary and it’s important to note with any labs that it’s just a snapshot in time. However, what you have noticed and what is important is the upward trend.

If it were me, I’d go the easy route and take the urine sample over. You’d at least know pretty quickly. If the USG is normal (should be above 1.040), it doesn’t absolutely, positively rule out early CKD but, typically, we see the USG drop before the creatinine rises with CKD.
 
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