12/6 Squamee A better morning!

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judy and squamee(GA)

judy and squamee(GA)

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Wow! She ate some of the higher carb food I left out last night, and ate normally this morning (her regular FF)! She is also able to drink some--altho she is still doing that standing and staring over the water bowl thing. And I feel totally different when she seems able to eat! (it's the crying and asking for food and then not eating which kills me).
I will test her in about a half hour---8:30 EST. (Robin, I believe you are 1 hour behind me).
Also, thanks Robin, it was very helpful that you suggested just leaving out the higher carb food for her---I was able to just leave and go to sleep. Thanks!
Fingers crossed for what today brings. I have a 9:45 vet appointment.
 
Since she's eating this morning and feeling better I would go with .7u or possibly .8u with the added vet stress she'll have today.

Keep us posted.
 
It's good to hear that Squamee is feeling better today and eating. I'll be thinking of you both and hoping for a good vet appointment.
 
Saw vet. He said her last test already indicated kidney disease and now he will be checking to see if her numbers are going up. He will let me know this afternoon. He says she has diabetes, Kidney disease, trigeminal neuralgia, and maybe a brain tumor. There is some question about her vision. SHe doesn't blink when he brings a q tip to her eye. This could be the neuralgia or loss of vision, or both.
She has lost a lot of weight (I forgot to ask how much, will find out later) . Says past tests indicate no thyroid problem. Doesn't think we can get her to take any of the meds for kidneys, but wants to see what the numbers are before we try anything. Will keep you posted.
He agreed that when the time has come, he will come to my house.
 
I had to google Trigeminal Neuralgia, I didn't know she had that, is that somehow connected to her jaw symptoms? Poor baby.
 
Judy my thoughts are still with you and Squamee.
(((((Judy))))) (((((Squamee)))))
 
Thanks, all.
Yes, the mouth symptoms are related to trigeminal neuralgia. The vet and the dental specialist did not diagnosis it. I found it myself, on line, under feline orofacial pain syndrome---which appears to be the same thing. That's where this whole trip started. She had it a year ago and had a steroid shot which stopped the jaw thing but brought on the diabetes. Then she went otj and was good for about a year. THen the FOPS came back. Tried steroids again, didn't work at all, but brought back the diabetes. Had 2 teeth extracted and a full workup by dental specialist ($1500) but found nothing besides rotten teeth. Said he thought it could be referred pain from her stomach . Suggested endoscopy and if that was negative, a CAT scan. THey were thinking cancer (which still could be). I refused those tests, as I was unwilling to do chemo or brain surgery. THen I found the FOPS online, and we started treated it with antiepileptics, which worked. (oh--somewhere along the line she also had a full blown seizure---which is why my vet thought brain tumor). Some saga, huh?!
Will post when I get her blood results.
 
Poor Squamee has had a tough year or two. And you are obviously the perfect mama for her, with how hard you work to keep her comfortable and happy. I guess work isn't the right word...its not work when it's for someone you love. Just curious, how old is she?
 
OHMIGOD!! I totally forgot to test her. WIll tell you about vet after posting this number
\AMPS 322 .8U
+6.33 248
PMPS (at +13) 287 so I shoot .6? or lower---she is eating very little again. But I am giving higher carb food.
 
The vet said her kidney numbers have improved. He thinks as a result of the subQ fluids. Her creatinine had been 3.3 and is now 2.2. Her urea nitrogen had been 70 and is now 43 (31 is normal)

He is sure that her difficulty walking and the vomiting after I gave them on Sat had nothing to do with the fluids or the way I gave them.

Her phosphorus was on the low side. Her blood sugar was 415. Her past thyroid levels were all within normal range.

He thinks all the symptoms I see, the difficulty eating and drinking, the staring into space, the weight loss, are related to cancer. He thinks she has a brain tumor. She has lost 1 1/2 lbs in the past 2 weeks. She is down to 6 1/2 lbs. He is not sure if she is losing her sight, because she doesn't blink when he puts a qtip to her eye. That could be the trigeminal neuralgia or vision loss. I think maybe I already said thal? I am losing track.

And this afternoon and tonight she is mostly not eating again. I think I am , at least for the moment, throwing my concerns about carbs away and just trying to see if I can find anything she will eat.

I am thinking of cutting back on the phenobarb to see if that is effecting her appetite. If the mouth symptoms get worse I can increase again.
 
Didn't think I should wait any longer--I shot .6. Will leave out even a litlle higher carb food tonight.

So the result with the vet is not great and very unclear as to length of time she has. I think it is mostly related to how much she will or is able to eat. Rather discouraging---she seemed so much better this morning, and now we are back to the same place as last night. I still don't know what it is that stops her from eating. I mentioned to him that the online site lists all her symptoms and suggest possible reasons---I had it all written down and read it to him. But he said the blood numbers didn't support that. Maybe he is right---I don't know. But oneway or another, I end up not knowing what is stopping her from eating and drinking. And then I think that even if I knew what it was, there is precious little I could do about it--and he agreed that it is most unlikely we can successfully medicate her with anything. So for nnow he wants me to continue the fluids twice/week and feed her anything at all that she will eat.
 
Cancer sucks! Hugs to Squamee,

I agree, feed her whatever she wants for now for how ever long she has. We can keep her feeling good by adjusting her insulin to accomodate the extra carbs, as long as she is happy, eating, and feeling good.

((((Judy))))
 
Thanks, Robin. I can't say that I am sure he is right,but I am not willing to do the tests (Cat scan, etc) that might clarify the diagnosis.Too much money and I don't want to put her through any more than is necessary anyway.
 
Thanks, Robin. I think we don't have too long. If you saw her---she really doesn't look like the video anymore. All skin and bones. She does remind me of a good friend who died of cancer a little over a year ago.
 
Without intervention they lose weight so fast. F went from OK to nothin' in about one month. It's sad and I'm sad for you Judy.
 
I'll tell you another thing - H ate just about all dry evo the last month. I couldn't get him to really reliably eat anything else and I was determined that if he was going to eat something it was going to have a lot of calories in it. I got lucky that since he was eating less so it really didn't end up playing with his BGs. But I do know the Core played with it when he was eating if I let him have more than just about 6-10 kibbles.

Anyway, I bring it up because when they are not consuming food, dry at least has the most calorie bang for the amount consumed. Evo would probably be bad for the CRF/CKD though. And if you are subQing then they are getting plenty of fluids to account for not getting any through their food.
 
"But I do know the Core played with it when he was eating if I let him have more than just about 6-10 kibbles." what is the Core? And what do you mean he played with it? I feel slow witted tonight--am I missing what you are saying---except that I am going to try giving her dry EVO. Come to think of it, before I knew better, I gave her all those dry treat things. Maybe I should get some of those. I wonder if they have any nutritional value.
 
Core is the grain free Wellness dry food. It would make his BGs go up is what it would do. Not good. And I won't say the Evo won't or wouldn't do the same thing to H if he had been eating well. You are just going to need to keep an eye on it and make sure it does not - you can try with just barely any and move up from there. It have very high P levels so that's bad for CRF/CKD - so maybe not optimal for S.

I always felt like there was a tipping point of carbs that H could get - over that and he we would start to get higher BG AND have to give more insulin. At the end I was fine to give him more insulin if needbe.
 
Judy I am so sorry you and Squamee are going thru this. Please know you have all of our support and we'll do anything we can for you to help you get thru this. I know how hard this must be.
Lori
 
Thanks, Gator. I am bleary-eyed.Time I put myself to bed. Sweet dreams to you!

And thanks, Lori, too. I do find all the concern and good wishes most helpful.
 
Judy, I know we all, especially you, were hoping for better news. I'm so sorry you and Squamee have to go through this. Keep her comfortable and tell her how many people care about you both.

Edit: I think I recall you mentioning your dh in past posts. I wanted to add that he's in my thoughts, too. I know I'm the only one who posts here, but my dh would be at least as devastated as me if something were to happen to Charlie. So I didn't want to leave your dh out.
 
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