Willow is due for an increase of 0.5 units tomorrow, which would bring her to 9.5. I am hesitant though, because she has been having diarrhea for the past six days, since she dipped into the 100s. I have been giving her a probiotic for the past couple of months, which was working until now. Ordered another probiotic and will try switching when it arrives. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for acro/IAA test results since MSU let me send samples from my vet to them this week. The vet called me this week and asked me to look up the Somogyi effect, which I did and sent her a PDF of the 2016 paper concluding it doesn't exist. She let up on the pressure and said she'd reassign me to the head doctor, but no word on switching to Levemir. Sigh... Any advice/support appreciated!
Here's the link to your previous post here, where we celebrated those lonely blues. Bummer they haven't shown up again. I'm glad you managed to get blood work sent to MSU. Depending on what the tests say, it may help give you credibility and help with the argument about getting Levemir. I know my vet and the clinic owner thought I was wasting my money on "exotic tests", but I gained a lot of respect when I was proven right. And they admitted that we were the first acro and IAA kitties they had dealt with. Though after I opened their eyes they found another acro in the practice. Are you noticing Willow reacting to the Lantus shot? Which probiotic are you using? And what protein are you feeding? Some people here have success with S. boullardi for diarrhea. Here is more about it.
Yes, she snaps at me now and I don't usually get to inject all of it at once. It must not be pleasant for her. I'm using Nutramax Proviable, which has only bacteria, no yeast. I ordered this Purina probiotic because of its good reviews, and it looks like it has yeast but doesn't say whether it's S boulardii. I tried looking into the S boulardii products linked to on that page you refer to, but some of them don't have S boulardii (anymore?), some are no longer available, and all are on Amazon, which I've lost faith in due to their epidemic of knock-offs (even some of the Nutramax reviews said the company doesn't vouch for the Nutramax sold on Amazon). I'm feeding her FF roasted chicken, roasted turkey, flaked tuna, and classic pate salmon. Overall she eats half fish, half chicken/turkey. Is this an ok balance?
Fortiflora is not the greatest option. Some people use it as a food topping to get their cats to eat. The Renew Life options are available at many vitamin or other stores such as Whole Foods. Florastor is another brand I've heard people use as well as the Jarrow one. I seem to remember people saying getting Florastor at Walmart? Fish can be a common allergen, so I'd reduce the amount of it. Dr. Lisa Pierson recommends fish no more than twice a week.
Thanks for all these tips! Yikes on the Fortiflora! Have you heard of any of the Costco probiotics being good?
Sorry, I am in Canada and don't shop Costco so don't know what they have there or even if it's the same as what's here. I have seen Florastor at just a regular grocery store, maybe that's a Costco option.
