Hi
@Bobbie And Bubba
Yes, I've worked with him for about 2 weeks. First introducing the mask alone with small pieces of tuna or turkey lunch meat inside it so he has to eat it out of the mask. Then, when that went well, I put the mask on the AeroKat chamber and did the same thing for about a week. In between, I'd just put it on him without the inhaler and reward him every time he kept it on for a few seconds. He will bury his nose in the mask to get the treat, but when I try to do a treatment, he fights like heck.
The worst part is, he now seems afraid of me and that is quite literally breaking my heart.
I do everything on my kitchen bench (I have one of those built in corner units) and he'll lay up there, even started coming for testing and shot, but now that I've been using the inhaler, he shies away. I am considering only doing t/s there and taking him someplace else to do the inhaler. I am wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do.
I do end up getting a full dose (10 breaths) into him but at the cost of having a freaked out, fearful kitty. He used to be my "velcro" cat.. always with me, always on top of me whenever I sat down... now, he want's little to do with me. It hurts my heart.
This is why I'm hesitating starting to wean him off the pred now, yet, I want to get him off that stuff. Steroids are no joke. I'm afraid of what they do to his body and I'm afraid that his chance of remission shrinks with every week he's on insulin, at high numbers and on pred. I know I can work the insulin around the pred, but I don't like the thought of steroids long term.
And, I can't figure out his numbers either. His PMPS was 294. Not great, but yellow at least. I come home and do a +3 and he's 322! I fattened up his 1U tonite to hopefully bring him down a little bit and instead, he goes up. Wasn't sure if the shed needs to rebuild, etc. from just fattening the dose, but the higher numbers at +3 confuse me.
I'm just exhausted and stressed by all of this and trying to manage these 2 things simultaneously. I'm SO glad I made it to Yoga tonite cause I REALLY needed it!!
Thanks for being here Bobbie! You and a few others do stop by our condo to check on us and offer help and encouragement and I really appreciate that!! Sometimes, I just need to vent, sometimes I need some other eyes, sometimes I need some guidance.
Thank you again!! Time for bed for me. Getting bleary eyed. G'night L&L. Kiss your kitties for me!!