Re: 12/26 Ozy AMPS-216,PMPS-320
Sienne, I don't do much to treat them anymore. I keep a close eye on them, feel them, scratch them when they itch toward the end of their cycle. They were the reason he was on prednisalone for so long. They were pretty bad and painful on his feet. We did try some sort of liquid that we soaked them in to dry them out. It was a blue liquid we got at the vet. He did poorly with the prednisalone. It made him feel really bad and I begged to take him off but the vet kept saying there would be dire consequences. He no longer gets them on his feet but his feet have scars where they used to be. He had remedies for them from the holistic vet that came to the house.... I don't remember what they were. Some of them seemed to help him for a while but nothing worked for very long. I think we got rid of all that stuff in a big cleanup last summer.
I would be opposed to giving him steroids. I would have a hard time giving any of my cats steroids after seeing what they did to Ozy. Keeping him on the prednisalone so long is my biggest shame. The owner of the practice said all that prednisalone gave him pancreatitis. Ozy has a permanent pass on vaccinations due to his autoimmune issues.
Here is a little history detail that I haven't explained, though it might not be important but might be confusing. We started with Ozy at Laurelhurst Vet, which is a very western medicine practice fairly near us. They have about six vets in the practice. When we first had Ozy, he saw all of them. Only one was a man and Ozy ended up seeing him because Ozy wasn't as freaked out with a man. That man disappeared from the practice after about a year. It is speculation on my part, but I think that he may have gotten into some trouble about how much prednisalone he prescribed for Ozy.
At the same time the owner of the practice said NO ONE could examine Ozy without sedating him. That was when I got someone to come to the house. It was just so hard on him to go to the vet and he had to go so often. The woman who made the home visits had a holistic practice and a different approach, which after all the prednisalone I was okay with. But I feel bad that she didn't recognize the signs of diabetes. That is my second biggest shame, that I let him wallow in diabetes for so long.
We are back at Laurelhurst vet now. And he no longer needs sedation to be examined. At least I was right about one thing.... I poured in lots of love and he became much easier to handle.