10/15/10 Squamee AMPS365,+ 4 272, +11 263, BAD DAY!

[judy and squamee(GA)]

AMPS 365 .6U phenobARB 7.5MG
+ 4 272 Gabapentin 25mg
+10 Phenobarb 7.5mg
+11 PMPS 263 .6U
+3 Gabapentin 25mg
+4 127

Horrible morning! SHe didn't eat at all during the night, and this morning she struggled and struggled and was totally unable to eat. SHe was also refusing the pill pockets. I called the vet and he said it was ok to give both the phenobarbital and the Gabapentin. I was able to get the phenobarb down her throat, and a little while later she was able to eat. SInce this symptom is episodic, I can't be sure that her difficulty was connected to stopping the phenobarb.--I stopped it on Oct 12 when I started the Gabapentin. But it seems likely, especially since she was able to eat after I gave it to her. On the other hand---I don't know how long it takes the phenobarb to work---she was able to eat about a half hour later. So for now, I think I will give her the phenobarb 2X/day (I had been doing 3x) and continue with the Gabapentin. I found bigger dog pill pockets that cover the big capsule better (tho I don't use the whole thing) and she seems to like the beef flavor better than the salmon flavor. (it really smells like bacon, and the salmon didn't smell that much).

I knew giving her the Gabapentin was going to be a problem as the tablets are big and she was getting increasingly reluctant to take them. I decided to be proactive and order them in fish flavored suspension. I ordered yesterday from a compounding pharmacy in NJ and paid $30 extra to have it delivered next day express---they said it would get to me by 10:30 AM today. At 10 it had not arrived, so I called them. THe order had never gone out!!! THey apologized,said they would not charge me shipping, but that it could not get to me till MOnday! I was freaking out (at that point I did not have the beef pill pockets and was not sure I would be able to get her to take the medicine.) and that's when I decided I would have to go back to the phenobarb. and then I lost a contact lens!!! (luckily I found an extra I had stored away)

Her BG has been going up, and I have increased her dose to .6u. I am thinking of going higher. THe vet had thought that the diabetes would stop as her steroid injection wore off, but that does not seem to be the case. Phooey!

After spending a couple of exhausting days helping my daughter with her adorable 8 month old twin boys, we now away for the weekend at a small place we have on the Hudson RIver in the foothills of the Adirondacks. The foliage is magnificent, and Squamee likes having us around all day. Having her off the phenobarb was nice because she seemed somewhat less dopey and wobbly. But not eating is too great a price to pay! I am really hoping that she will adjust to the meds and not be so sedated.(it feels like she isn't really here when she is dopey).

 

[Gator & H (GA)]

S seems innapetent? Have you thought about appetite stimulants?

Mirtazapine 1/8th pill to start with every 36 hours or Cyproheptadine 1/4 pill every 12 hours. One can double the cypro but if you double the mirt then one should wait every three days. But there has been some updated research on mirt from Colorado State University that may update that protocol. One should look at this if they choose mirt.

If you want more input I can detail a little more.

Also, I highly suggest weighing potentially inappetent kitties. All that matters is that they maintain their hopefully ideal body weight. I use a lightweight cardboad box on top of a MyWeigh KD-8000 scale. I weigh 2x per day - morning and night in Kg to the thousandths or basically in grams. This gives one the ability to chart the weights and make very relevant judgments as to where things are headed in less than 200g swings.

You can kind of see what I did here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key ... HR0NUNReXc

 

[judy and squamee(GA)]

Thanks, Gator. But I don't think innapetent applies here. She tries to eat, and something happens to stop her--supposedly nerve pain in her face. She moves her jaw around in funny ways, licks her lips, swallows and paws the sides of her face. SHe tries to eat, and if this keeps happening, she stops. Sometimes she can successfully try a little later, sometimes she still can't eat. THe phenobarb and the gabapentin somewhat reduce the symptom.

WOW! THat is a very impressive spreadsheet!

 

[Gator & H (GA)]

Excel and google understand time. I know the Excel shortcut key for date and time stamp is ctrl+; and ctrl+shift+: respectively [pressing a space in between]. I'm unsure if this works in google. This makes adding dates and times fairly easy if one does it right at that time. I have the excel version that has the carts set up with the excel friendly charting too which I'd be happy to share. :smile:

EDIT: Those shortcuts seem to work in google too but on my quick check I could not add date and time to the same cell??

The SS was my answer initially to our vet who did not want me home testing. LOL, so I flooded him with other data based on the "clinical signs" he supposedly wanted to use as the means to adjust his dose. Ultimately, the charting of his weight became very useful, to me, during our efforts.

Unfortunately, the SS template that FDMB uses is not really set up to use time so charting BGs using that SS would be very difficult. It would be very cool if someone could figure out a way to make a template that captured all the great things about the current template and also allowed date and time stamping. :roll: