1/10 Orchid curve and medical issues

Brandy’s Orchid

Brandy’s Orchid

Member Since 2018
01/10 - Orchid - AMPS 234 - 188@+1.25 - 251@+2.75 - 223@+4- 234@+5- 308@+6.5- 226@+8- 264@+10-
PMPS 406- 269@+2- 302@+4.5- 238@+6


Orchid is eating two cans fancy feast classic beef & liver pate two times/day and receives one unit Lantus at each meal.
Orchid also gets two half cans of the fancy feast as snacks twice/day between meals.

Orchid also has IBD/possible small cell lymphoma as well as a history of pancreatitis. Orchid takes a probiotic, antibiotic, B12, and Budesonide.

Orchid was taken to the emergency room on 1/7 and was given an enema for her constipation as well as subcutaneous fluids for dehydration. Her vitals and bloodwork done that night came back normal. She has continued to be constipated so I started her on 1/8 tsp Miralax every twelve hours beginning Thursday night. She began vomiting a lot on 1/11 so I started giving her Pepcid AC every 24 hours as well beginning tonight. Since she began vomiting her glucose has been haywire while I’ve been spot checking it, ranging from 456 to 47. The 47 was tonight and I immediately gave her some dry food and it went up to 146 within an hour and is currently steady. Orchid’s appetite is still good, but she becomes extremely lethargic right after every meal and is clearly bloated after eating.

I have an appointment scheduled with the internal medicine specialist including doing an ultrasound but it isn’t until Thursday afternoon, so I’m trying to make sure I’m doing every possible thing to help her in the meantime.


 
Also I forgot to mention that yesterday’s vomits were her food at 5:30am (the food from 7pm the night before) then her 7am food came up at 11:30am. Around 12pm she vomited a small amount yellow mucous/ stomach bile. This is what prompted the emergency vet to suggest starting her on the Pepcid AC.
 
Good job catching that 47! That 47 tonight means the insulin dose is too high. Especially since you are using the AT. Would it be possible to put your test results in a spreadsheet so we all can see her numbers? Here are the instructions in setting up a spreadsheet. https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Do you know what foods Orchid is allergic to? Beef is a common allergen. Have you tried novel proteins like lamb, rabbit, duck, or venison?
 
Thank you for your response!

I was thinking the 47 was due to the vomiting she experienced. She’s been on the 1 unit for a long time and usually her numbers are consistently between 200 and 300. So I’m hesitant to consider a dose change at this time other than temporary changes if she continues to vomit or tests low pre-shot. Sorry I put the numbers on here like this because I’m using my phone and unable to do the spreadsheet on here.

Orchid has been eating the beef & liver for several years. I did recently have to do a temporary switch to salmon while the beef & liver flavor was out of stock and then I had shipping issues with chewy.com, but then I switched her back to the beef & liver right before this all started. I’ve suspected that the change in foods might have something to do with what’s going on, but that just makes me even more hesitant to try switching her food again until all this is under control. I have looked into some of the other food options that chewy.com offers as far as duck, rabbit, and venison goes. I’m finding it hard to find options that are low enough carb though since a lot of them are in gravy. Is there a particular one you would recommend switching to that would be comparable to Orchid’s current food? And do you think it could be a food allergy despite her eating it for several years? As far as I know she doesn’t have any food allergies.
 
It possible she may need smaller meals more frequently. And it the food itsrlf.

Also and I have no data to back it up except people have been voicing. Purina is having a hard time sourcing their ingredients. So maybe their recipes have been altered because of what they can procure. I do know shelves by me are pretty empty for Fancy Feast, ProPlan, Purina One and have been for awhile. The 3 foods I use. So far chewy has them.

I do know the Fancy Feast Beef Pate has changed. It is the favorite in this house and never had a problem with it. The last 3 weeks, my 3 cats will not go near it. It smells stronger than it had been, it has less juice, and it's more grey in color. Tripper although a vomiter had vomited much more often.(It was the only food Tripper will eat). But it could also be her thyroid med adding to it. Stopped the FF about 1.5 weeks ago. Tripper stopped vomiting daily. Now she does once every 5 days. Today is day 6 no vomit, and starting oral gel thyroid med. It does appear the beef has been the main cause in this house.
 
Any chance you could put together a spreadsheet of Orchid's test values, maybe just the ones since the beginning of the year? We have people here who are experienced in reading blood sugar data who can tell you if the dose needs adjusting. Here are the spreadsheet instructions. A cat's insulin needs can vary over time.

Pepcid is also not the best choice for a cat with IBD or small cell lymphoma. For vomiting, Cerenia is a better option.
 
Olive & Paula said:
It possible she may need smaller meals more frequently. And it the food itsrlf.

Also and I have no data to back it up except people have been voicing. Purina is having a hard time sourcing their ingredients. So maybe their recipes have been altered because of what they can procure. I do know shelves by me are pretty empty for Fancy Feast, ProPlan, Purina One and have been for awhile. The 3 foods I use. So far chewy has them.

I do know the Fancy Feast Beef Pate has changed. It is the favorite in this house and never had a problem with it. The last 3 weeks, my 3 cats will not go near it. It smells stronger than it had been, it has less juice, and it's more grey in color. Tripper although a vomiter had vomited much more often.(It was the only food Tripper will eat). But it could also be her thyroid med adding to it. Stopped the FF about 1.5 weeks ago. Tripper stopped vomiting daily. Now she does once every 5 days. Today is day 6 no vomit, and starting oral gel thyroid med. It does appear the beef has been the main cause in this house.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the idea to do smaller meals more often. That makes a lot of sense with the bloating and constipation so I tried that today and she had a good day today so that might’ve had a lot to do with it.
I do have concerns that this is being caused by the food and I’m considering a switch, but am also hesitant to throw her off by switching foods again while trying to get all these issues figured out. I can’t get the beef liver FF in any stores near me and Chewy was out for a while too, then they messed up my shipment when it finally was in stock and I ran out and had to switch to other FF for a week and half. Once she switched back to the beef liver was when all this started, so it had me wondering if it was a bad batch or something. I even stopped feeding cans from the first case I opened and moved on to a different case hoping it would help but it didn’t. Now that you’re saying you had issues with FF I’m thinking even more that this may be an issue. What food did you end up switching to?
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Any chance you could put together a spreadsheet of Orchid's test values, maybe just the ones since the beginning of the year? We have people here who are experienced in reading blood sugar data who can tell you if the dose needs adjusting. Here are the spreadsheet instructions. A cat's insulin needs can vary over time.

Pepcid is also not the best choice for a cat with IBD or small cell lymphoma. For vomiting, Cerenia is a better option.
Click to expand...

Once I get my laptop back I will make sure I do a spreadsheet and upload it. I also sent the curve and other spot check numbers to Orchid’s specialist and she is usually really good about advice on dosage adjustments. (Finally after have 5 different vets over the years who knew nothing about feline diabetes)

I did ask the vet for cerenia, but the emergency vet didn’t want to prescribe it without seeing her again so they told me to just give her the Pepcid for now. Orchid’s specialist already told me she will prescribe and give me cerenia at Orchid’s appointment on Thursday, so at least Orchid will only be getting the Pepcid for 3 nights. Thank you for that information I didn’t know that Pepcid was bad with IBD/SCL.
 
I rotate between Tiny Tiger Beef, Purina One beef, FF Medley Primavera Chicken with veggies. Grocery store has a brand called Paws, chicken, they loved it for a long time but not anymore. Vital Essentials freeze dried raw. I still give a little of the FF beef about once a week now until it's used up. My kits won't eat same thing twice in a row.
 
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