5/17 Belle- Update - One Week at Home

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Jason & Belle (GA)

Jason & Belle (GA)

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Hi everyone,

I've been laying low and focusing on caring for Belle in the week she's been home. She had her followup on Friday and although her PCV remains where it was at discharge, 24%, it hasn't gone down any. The doctor thinks there are a number of reasons that she'll take a little longer this time to get back to normal, with the surgery and all, but Belle is still on her doxycycline and I'm hopeful things will improve in the coming weeks. She's doing very well at 24%, so even if she holds that I'm happy. Her bloodwork has improved quite a bit, with everything but her ALT in the normal range. Even that is in the 400's when it was at over 4000 when she went in the hospital. They did find that she has a liver infection that was resistant to some antibiotics, but clindamycin seems to be helping. Her incision is healing very well, and the staples will come out this week.

All in all it's been a very good week. She's eating very well and seems happy. She's on 2u BID and I think she needs an increase, but I haven't wanted to upset her by starting the testing quite yet. I'll probably start testing again on Thursday, and likely increase her then. In the past 3u BID got her in the +- 200 range, so that's likely where she needs to be.

Jason
 
So glad to hear she's doing well, Jason. You must be so happy to have her home! Logan just had three weeks of clindamycin. He tolerated it fairly well (had some liquipoo) and his ALT came back down to normal. 400 is tons better than 4000! Is she still on the prednisolone? I read somewhere that it can cause elevated liver enzymes in dogs - wonder if it could in cats?

So happy she's on the road to recovery!!! :mrgreen:
 
what a great report to read, I'm glad to hear things are looking better for belle! Your such a great bean to take care of her the way you have ..
 
Thanks Kelly.

She is still on the prednisolone, and will be starting Chlorambucil(Leukeran) tonight. The vet thinks inflammation is an issue with her liver numbers as well, but not sure about the pred since she's on it for the inflammation. It's hard to know how much something that helps in some areas can hurt in others. Hopefully she'll tolerate the Chlorambucil and the chronic inflammation can be controlled. I am thrilled to have her home, but I'm sure she'd be happier if I'd stop checking her gums every few minutes. :-D

Jason
 
Jason & Belle said:
Thanks Kelly.

She is still on the prednisolone, and will be starting Chlorambucil(Leukeran) tonight. The vet thinks inflammation is an issue with her liver numbers as well, but not sure about the pred since she's on it for the inflammation. It's hard to know how much something that helps in some areas can hurt in others. Hopefully she'll tolerate the Chlorambucil and the chronic inflammation can be controlled. I am thrilled to have her home, but I'm sure she'd be happier if I'd stop checking her gums every few minutes. :-D

Jason
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Best of luck with the Chlorambucil. It took a few weeks to see a difference in Logan. But, he's doing a lot better now. We're cutting back on the pred - down to 2.5mg once a day - and we're finally seeing his numbers come down a bit. He's at 7.75 units bid! When they're on so many medications (we were up to 8 a few weeks ago) it's hard to say what's causing what. It seems like you help one issue but create 5 more. I'm really happy that we're phasing out the pred. He obviously felt horrible while on the higher doses. He's been a completely different cat these last few weeks. Hopefully, Belle will respond well, too!

And yes, she would probably be happier with fewer gum checks. :lol: There for a while, when Logan wasn't doing well, I would just stare at him while he was sleeping to make sure he was still breathing. And after the abdominal wall infection, I would check the redness of his skin 100 times a day and also feel to see if he was warm. So paranoid the infection was coming back. I did finally realize that he just has pink skin and he was fine. :mrgreen:
 
Jason,
I am thrilled as well to hear such good news on Belle, and while she may act like you are bugging her with all of your fusspot checking on this and that, Belle also knows you care and you are doing all of it for a reason.
I am sure that Kelly can confirm Logan was just as annoyed with her checking him all the time, but I believe they know you care.

I think most people can also relate to your not being around much, but typing online just fades in importance when you have concerns on your kitty's health. Plenty of times, I'll forget to post numbers and even put a post at all - sometimes it is just much more important to sit with kitty.

It sounds like things are coming along pretty well with Belle; she sure sounds like one tough kitty there!
I hope the meds get sorted out and Belle continues in the healing.
 
Hi Jason,
I'm glad Belle is doing well at home. Many more snowflakes and healing vines being sent her way.

If the antibiotics give her liquipoo, you can ask vet about using fortiflora or some probiotic (you probably know this, but just in case). it helped tremendously for my cats.
 
Nice to hear from you and glad that Belle is home and feeling better. They may act annoyed at all the checking, but just try to get way for a little and see what she does to keep you right there by her side. :roll:
 
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