Allie & Gen
Member Since 2025
Yesterday
Gen is home! I'll try and get a photo later, but right now he's very active and not sitting still for one.
They gave him liquid mirtazapine at the hospital, and I imagine that's part of why he's wandering around the house like he's exploring a new setting.
He didn't eat anything at the hospital, apparently, even after they gave him the drug (which was only a couple of hours ago; they held off prior to that so he could be fasted for the ultrasound, apparently). However, once home I set out a can of FF and a quarter-can of Recovery, and he's eating with enthusiasm in between bursts of wandering around. (He's not vocalizing, for the record.)
So, the quick version of their findings: they re-confirmed the likely diagnosis of either IBD or SCL. Apparently he's not experiencing a pancreatitis flare, though; his values for the fPLI were low/barely clinical at all (they haven't sent me the detailed labs yet, so this is how I remember it being explained on the phone). The vet he was seeing thinks the inappetence is either part of his IBD(?) symptoms, or he disliked the Rayne rabbit so much it put him off eating at all (that last is really inconsistent with any behavior I've ever seen from him, so I'm rather dubious).
I've been given a prescription for budesonide, which has been ordered from Wedgewood and is expected in the mail tomorrow or Monday. I haven't decided if I'm going to start him on that as of yet.
Then there's what they said about his diabetes. I'm a bit agog about it all. The vet I spoke to on the phone insisted that BG much lower than 100 is unsafe for cats, that she was very concerned that he was spending a lot of time in the 50s and even dipping into the 40s, and that they don't advise giving insulin if a cat is under 200. What??
She emphasized his experience with hypoglycemia back in November and claimed that he was at high risk for another such episode. (Nevermind that that happened because I'd been confused about dosing and had given him 5 units of insulin for several days when I'd been supposed to give him 1, a mistake I will certainly never make again.) She also said that, because his BG was apparently between 140-166 while he was in hospital (not eating at all, mind you), she thinks he may be in remission. Um. Again, what?
She was not interested in hearing about TR or any of what I've been doing, and generally presented as authoritative and confident with a lot of experience with diabetic patiences. Okay ...
(I had to finally ask that we let the subject go for the timebeing and talk about his GI stuff, which is what I came to them for. We were starting to raise voices with each other, and I happened to have paused to take her call while on my bike, pulled over on a major road. The sensory overstimulation was really not helping.)
The official instructions I was given around insulin, specifically, in the discharge notes:
I'm ... flabbergasted. Obviously.
Anyway, I'm so glad to have him home, and he seems pretty happy, if rather restless. He's eating. I don't really want to put him through either a poke or a Libre installation tonight after everything he just went through, and while the instructions above seem crazy to me, I am going to hold off on insulin tonight as well. He'll be okay for one night even if he goes high. Tomorrow, we can start fresh with daylight savings.
I need another sleep to process everything. But I figured I'd share as much as I could now.
Do me a favor, folks? Be gentle if you decide to give me advice or recommendations tonight. I know how strongly we all feel about our protocols and our own research and experience. I don't think the vet is making sense. But I need a little bit of a break from being insistently told what to do, if that makes sense? I welcome everyone's thoughts, just please try not to phrase them prescriptively. I would take that as a kindness.
Gen is home! I'll try and get a photo later, but right now he's very active and not sitting still for one.
He didn't eat anything at the hospital, apparently, even after they gave him the drug (which was only a couple of hours ago; they held off prior to that so he could be fasted for the ultrasound, apparently). However, once home I set out a can of FF and a quarter-can of Recovery, and he's eating with enthusiasm in between bursts of wandering around. (He's not vocalizing, for the record.)
So, the quick version of their findings: they re-confirmed the likely diagnosis of either IBD or SCL. Apparently he's not experiencing a pancreatitis flare, though; his values for the fPLI were low/barely clinical at all (they haven't sent me the detailed labs yet, so this is how I remember it being explained on the phone). The vet he was seeing thinks the inappetence is either part of his IBD(?) symptoms, or he disliked the Rayne rabbit so much it put him off eating at all (that last is really inconsistent with any behavior I've ever seen from him, so I'm rather dubious).
I've been given a prescription for budesonide, which has been ordered from Wedgewood and is expected in the mail tomorrow or Monday. I haven't decided if I'm going to start him on that as of yet.
Then there's what they said about his diabetes. I'm a bit agog about it all. The vet I spoke to on the phone insisted that BG much lower than 100 is unsafe for cats, that she was very concerned that he was spending a lot of time in the 50s and even dipping into the 40s, and that they don't advise giving insulin if a cat is under 200. What??
She emphasized his experience with hypoglycemia back in November and claimed that he was at high risk for another such episode. (Nevermind that that happened because I'd been confused about dosing and had given him 5 units of insulin for several days when I'd been supposed to give him 1, a mistake I will certainly never make again.) She also said that, because his BG was apparently between 140-166 while he was in hospital (not eating at all, mind you), she thinks he may be in remission. Um. Again, what?
She was not interested in hearing about TR or any of what I've been doing, and generally presented as authoritative and confident with a lot of experience with diabetic patiences. Okay ...
(I had to finally ask that we let the subject go for the timebeing and talk about his GI stuff, which is what I came to them for. We were starting to raise voices with each other, and I happened to have paused to take her call while on my bike, pulled over on a major road. The sensory overstimulation was really not helping.)
The official instructions I was given around insulin, specifically, in the discharge notes:
I'm ... flabbergasted. Obviously.
Anyway, I'm so glad to have him home, and he seems pretty happy, if rather restless. He's eating. I don't really want to put him through either a poke or a Libre installation tonight after everything he just went through, and while the instructions above seem crazy to me, I am going to hold off on insulin tonight as well. He'll be okay for one night even if he goes high. Tomorrow, we can start fresh with daylight savings.
I need another sleep to process everything. But I figured I'd share as much as I could now.
Do me a favor, folks? Be gentle if you decide to give me advice or recommendations tonight. I know how strongly we all feel about our protocols and our own research and experience. I don't think the vet is making sense. But I need a little bit of a break from being insistently told what to do, if that makes sense? I welcome everyone's thoughts, just please try not to phrase them prescriptively. I would take that as a kindness.
