14/3/13 Angie Trial Day 5 -am+3=88 +9=86

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GraceAndAngie

GraceAndAngie

Member Since 2013
Good morning everyone,

I slept in again this morning - missed the 3 am wake up for +9, the 6 am wake up for ambg and finally managed to get up for +3. I'm still giving them 3 breakfasts but they'll just have to start later.

Angie has improved slightly. She's talking to me now when I go in to check on her. She's getting up and gingerly walking around at meal times. She's pooing, peeing, preening, purring (not as much as normal though), and eating almost as much as normal. She still looks like she's in pain though.

These are her symptoms:
- lying on the floor (instead of in a box/sofa/favourite chair/on a lap)
- she doesn't want to be picked up or cuddled (very unusual - she normally won't take no for an answer and insists on sitting on your lap)
- she's hiding in out of the way places (normally she's where the action is)
- she looks like she's in pain when she sits down - she sits down very slowly and gingerly - she doesn't have a limp but seems a bit stiff when she gets up (she is lying still on the wooden floor for hours at a time though and that can't be good for her arthritus)
- she has big frightened eyes
- she seemed to have some abdominal pain at the vets yesterday.

Yesterday I fired my vet. She put Angie on anti-biotics for a possible UTI, wants her to go back on insulin to "stabilise" her BG levels, said that she might just be uncomfortable because she's not on insulin, wants me to watch her for a few days to see what happens, is happy to keep giving her pain injections until she gets better. She was holding my spreadsheet and I had walked her through the low numbers Angie was getting. She said it was great I could home test (especially as Angie started refusing to let them test her) but she wouldn't think carefully about the results I was getting.

I'm not happy with this because Angie's behaviour is so unusual. I would like to know what's going on.

We're leaving for the new vet in half an hour. Does anyone have any suggestions of things to ask the vet? Do her symptoms ring any bells to anyone?

Thanks for your help.

Yesterday's condo is here.
 
Re: 14/3/13 Angie am+3=88 Trial Day 5 - what to ask new vet?

Has litter box action improved? If she's not pooped, that's a BIG concern. X-rays would be in order.

I'd get a test for pancreatitis. The test(s) that are used here are called a Spec fPL or Snap fPL. I don't know if they are called the same thing Australia. You don't want amylase or lipase values -- they're unreliable in cats. You might want to read over this primer on pancreatitis that Marje put together and see if it fits with Angie's symptoms.
 
Re: 14/3/13 Angie am+3=88 Trial Day 5 - what to ask new vet?

Sorry - I should have been clearer. Her full blood screen and pancreatitis tests came back normal. She's also pooing normally (after her enema).
 
Re: 14/3/13 Angie am+3=88 Trial Day 5 - what to ask new vet?

She had eaten a little bit of breakfast before the blood tests though. Could that have given a false negative? I don't know which test they did but it was a blood test. Is there more than one type of blood test?
 
Re: 14/3/13 Angie am+3=88 Trial Day 5 - what to ask new vet?

Usually food will produce a false positive on the pancreatitis test. One thing to know about the pancreatitis tests is if it's too early or late in the episode, you may get a negative reading.

What I'd ask the vet is if s/he supports home testing, follows the Roomp & Rand Tight Regulation Protocol and if not, if s/he'll work with your to manage Angie's diabetes using that protocol, encourages your feeding a low carb diet, and essentially will work with you (vs. tells you what to do and expects you to not ask questions).
 
Re: 14/3/13 Angie am+3=88 Trial Day 5 - brilliant new vet!!!

Hi everyone,

The test we did for pancreatitis was the "feline pancreatitis specific lipase" test. That sounds the same as your Spec FPL.

I'm so excited after our trip to our new vet. She was fantastic. She got really excited about home testing, thanked me for all the convert-a-vet print outs I brought and came out to tell the vet nurses about home testing afterwards. She was very interested in each of the articles that I printed for her. She knew about low carb diets already and said that Dr Lisa's chicken recipe that I'm giving my cats sounded good to her.

She asked me lots of questions about Angie's history, her previous personality and how she's been acting since she got sick. She had a look at Angie's teeth and eyes while I was holding her and then asked me to put her on the floor for her to explore and get comfortable in the room. She looked at Angie's movement and thought that generally she was moving normally. Then she spotted that Angie's tail looked a bit funny. Angie has an injury right at the base of her tail near her bum - its swollen and her tail is on a bit of an angle. Perhaps cat/kids/door combination?

I don't know if that happened before constipation and she didn't want to lift her tail to go to the toilet? Or after? She gave us a German trauma remedy which is homeopathic. This vet is German and said that treating homeopathicly is standard there.

I'm willing to give it a shot - there's no side effects and I got amazing pain and inflammation relief from homeopathy when I had sever meningitis.

Injuries I can deal with. I'm glad it's not something very serious.

Thanks for your help and support though this.
 
Angie is doing better since her new medicine. She seems more relaxed and has hopped into her cat bed instead of lying on the floor.

My partner gave me a champagne sunset yacht cruise for my birthday. I'm off for the evening to sail on Sydney Harbour. I've lived here two years now but I still feel like a tourist. It's too bad rain and thunderstorms are forecast! Hopefully the rain will hold off for another 3 and a half hours! We won't see much sunset though.

See you tomorrow! :-D
 
Grace, I hope you have a lovely evening on the harbour. I spent a whole summer in Australia (well, technically it was your winter) when I was 20, and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I stayed with my partner (at the time) in Melbourne. We didn't spend much time in Sydney, but traveled a bit around Vic and SA. The Great Ocean Road is just stunning, and I fell in love with all the little seaside port cities. Lorne, Port Fairy, Angelsea, Warnambool... incredible. I would love to go back someday with DH who has never been. My first night there, we went for a stroll on St. Kilda Pier, and we saw fairy penguins!!! We went down to Philip Island later, but I will never forget that night on the pier and seeing those little guys hopping along the rocks.

I am so happy to hear Angie is doing better! Happy Day 5, guys! :mrgreen:
 
Congratulations Angie and Grace!

UncleSamphoto2.jpg

I will send you more info in a PM. :mrgreen:
 
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