5/29 Ruby OTJ Day 10 AMBG 81/+7 80/PMPS 88/+4 81

[Katherine&Ruby]

Yesterday on Two or Three Things I Know About Ruby.

BGs came down from yesterday. Thank goodness. Did not wake me up for food this morning. Coaxing to eat. Did not finish before bed meal. Started eating this morning's meal and jumped from the bowl and ran away. Have asked her many doctors over the past few months about her teeth. They say she has "mild" issues but nothing stands out. Maybe time for some bupe, as when I gave it to her last her appetite came raging back. Taking her to the holistic vet on Tuesday to see what she says.

Ruby seems to be fine otherwise. Yesterday there were zoomies with Olive. Coming to me for pets and purry snuggles. Playing with catnip carrot. Today is day 10 of OTJ Trial.

Healing thoughts for all of the sick kitties. Happy Caturday!

 

[carfurby (GA)]

Love the cartoon. I hope Ruby eats better as the day goes on. Happy Day 10!

 

[Tomlin]

Congratulations on Day 10 and the glucose being lower !!

Started eating this morning's meal and jumped from the bowl and ran away.

I have seen this behavior before and yes...typically nausea & pain when they try to eat. Hopefully the Bupe helps again. We use a holistic vet and in addition to acupuncture, she recommended the Assisi Loop years ago. LOVE the loop and still use it now more as a maintenance treatment to prevent inflammation. When we purchased it years ago, it was to help with inflammation and pain. Tomlin would find that loop and lay on it when he didn’t feel well. It’s pretty cool to see something work so well that your cat wants to use it . She also recommended some Chinese herbs, but to be honest, I tried using them for a very brief time and then discontinued them.

Link for info about the loop:

https://assisianimalhealth.com/

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

I have seen this behavior before and yes...typically nausea & pain when they try to eat. Hopefully the Bupe helps again.

Just gave her some bupe. Will put the food bowl in front of her again in a little while. I've noticed Ruby doing the jumping up from her bowl thing for the past few weeks, even before her hospitalization, but all of the vets said her teeth were ok, so have been puzzled. Will have to try to get one of those raised bowls to see if it helps as well.

Thanks for the info on the Assisi loop! I will ask about it. I love acupuncture for myself, and think that Ruby's appy would profit from regular treatments as the results are nearly instantaneous. Chinese herbs on the other hand take a long time to work as they have to build up in the body to address imbalances, and I can imagine it's really hard to gauge efficacy in an animal who can't tell you what's going on. I wouldn't have the patience for it.

 

[Tomlin]

You can always raise the bowl using books or something in the meantime while you wait for a raised bowl to see if it helps.

I have personally had one experience with a GI issue & I can relate to the immediate pain upon swallowing the food when there was the problem—very painful! Of course, it always makes sense to rule out dental issues, but the jump back from the food after trying to eat it is not an unusual behavior with GI problems .

I love acupuncture as well. If I didn’t witness the needles going into T and watch his body just relax I would have never, ever believed it! While I know it works, I was very skeptical about a cat allowing someone to do it. The herbs...supplements...what’s actually in them? Dosing questions? While “natural” can be good, natural can also cause side effects/adverse reactions, so again, not knowing about dosing or side effects is always concerning. In the end, sometimes less can be more so due to the lack of info, I decided I didn’t want to add them to the mix. Just my personal preference. I know some people have shared amazing experiences and swear by Chinese & other herbal based medicine.

 

[Summer and Susie (GA)]

Have a lovely weekend, Katherine. Hope Ruby gets her appetite back. Thanks for always being there for me!

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

The herbs...supplements...what’s actually in them? Dosing questions? While “natural” can be good, natural can also cause side effects/adverse reactions, so again, not knowing about dosing or side effects is always concerning. In the end, sometimes less can be more so due to the lack of info, I decided I didn’t want to add them to the mix.

I'm Chinese American so I grew up with TCM as a supplement to Western medicine. In other words, my Western medicine doctor would give me meds and then my mom would go to the herbalist and pick up other things and brew things for me to drink for any number of ailments (I was a sickly child). I am of a mind that if it worked for thousands of years for innumerable Asians who have longer lifespans than those in the West, they're doing something right, even if the herbs have not gone through the typical testing that say the FDA does. Millenia of trial and error is good enough for me. That's not to say that some of it isn't apocryphal. I just don't have the patience for it.

 

[Emily R]

Good luck with Ruby today, Katherine! Zen totally does the "pop up from the food bowl and walk away frustrated" thing. We often have to chase him around with a food bowl and a spoon held up to his face to get him to eat, I think his legs start to hurt from the neuropathy after a while if squatting at the food bowl. You got this, mama!

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

Bupe worked. Ruby licked her bowl clean. I put it on top of a stack of books. I’m getting the hang of this. Gawd I have learned so much in two weeks. So happy!

 

[Tomlin]

my mom would go to the herbalist and pick up other things and brew things for me to drink for any number of ailments (I was a sickly child).

You had the expert ! She probably knew the organic ways of using it vs some of the more formal training that may rely more on capsules etc ..

 

[Tomlin]

Burp worked. Ruby licked her bowl clean. I put it on top of a stack of books. I’m getting the hang of this. Gawd I have learned so much in two weeks. So happy!

Burp or Bupe... I’m guessing Bupe but feline burps also help !

Awesome that she licked her bowl clean ! I hope you have an easy time of it the rest of the day and weekend!!

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

Burp or Bupe... I’m guessing Bupe but feline burps also help !

Awesome that she licked her bowl clean ! I hope you have an easy time of it the rest of the day and weekend!!

Autocorrect! Thanks for the always helpful chat, Amy! Hope you have a great weekend as well!

 

[Tomlin]

You are too kind....I’m not so sure about always helpful ...but thank you for the kind words !
This stuff is like trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube some days—they are a living FUR puzzle !!

Enjoy your long weekend!

 

[tiffmaxee]

Happy day 10!

 

[Our Dolly Girl (GA)]

Yesterday on Two or Three Things I Know About Ruby.

BGs came down from yesterday. Thank goodness. Did not wake me up for food this morning. Coaxing to eat. Did not finish before bed meal. Started eating this morning's meal and jumped from the bowl and ran away. Have asked her many doctors over the past few months about her teeth. They say she has "mild" issues but nothing stands out. Maybe time for some bupe, as when I gave it to her last her appetite came raging back. Taking her to the holistic vet on Tuesday to see what she says.

Ruby seems to be fine otherwise. Yesterday there were zoomies with Olive. Coming to me for pets and purry snuggles. Playing with catnip carrot. Today is day 10 of OTJ Trial.

Healing thoughts for all of the sick kitties. Happy Caturday!
View attachment 61088

That is Dolly exactly. Thanks for posting a cartoon of her. Happy Day 10 Katherine and Ruby, after all it is a joint effort. Hope she eats well today. Have a great weekend.

 

[JOJI and Kit]

love the cartoon

 

[Pamela & Amethyst]

 

[Butters & Lyla]

Yay for day 10!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi Katherine, I'm so happy her numbers came back down and that the bupe worked and she cleaned her bowl. Just keep using the books to put her bowl on.
Happy Day 10 Miss Ruby. I hope you have a nice night Katherine ♥

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

his legs start to hurt from the neuropathy after a while if squatting at the food bowl

Awww, poor guy! He looks like he's on the up and up these days, though. Super happy for you all! Still haven't quite figured out what Ruby's issues are, so I'm just trying to manage it every way I can right now. These cats are so lucky to have attentive staff!

 

[Emily R]

Awww, poor guy! He looks like he's on the up and up these days, though. Super happy for you all! Still haven't quite figured out what Ruby's issues are, so I'm just trying to manage it every way I can right now. These cats are so lucky to have attentive staff!

My God, I think the same thing everyday. Every person we tell about our journey tells us that they're just not sure they would be able to do the same for their dog/cat. We're so incredibly fortunate to be in a place where we can, so I try not to discount that, but I can't even imagine a world where we wouldn't do this for our little furball family.

Baby steps for Ruby; that's the only way we got to make any amount of progress with Zen so far. I've lurked here since MARCH, and we've been trying to regulate Zen for MONTHS before I even made my first post. Never forget that the love you give Ruby goes a long way toward healing. I feel like, if the babes didn't have incredibly loving families to live for, they may not try as hard. So never discount the power of the sheer level of effort you put into Ruby's health. She knows.

 

[JaxBenji]

I was scrolling to see if @JOJI and Kit made a ten-frame and since they didn't quite, I shall



It's my personal favorite OTJ day (well, right behind 14) - Happy day 10! Go Ruby She's so very lucky to have you tending to her

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Just had to show DH that cartoon, so true! Happy day 10.

Good to hear the burp/bupe worked and got Miss Ruby eating. Now if only the vet team could figure out why she needs the bupe.

Neko loved the acupuncture, well to a point. She only tolerated the first couple needles, then the vet did the acupuncture laser for the rest of the points. After the first couple sessions she got what it meant to go to acupuncture vet. The vet and I would be chatting away and Neko would go over to the sofa/bench where treatment was done and give us the look "get on with it!". She leaned into the vet during treatments. She realized how much it helped. I did try some of the TCM for my civvie, who also had GI issues - didn't do much for him but vetty did say it really varies by cat.

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

Never forget that the love you give Ruby goes a long way toward healing. I feel like, if the babes didn't have incredibly loving families to live for, they may not try as hard. So never discount the power of the sheer level of effort you put into Ruby's health. She knows.

That's incredibly sweet of you to say, and an important reminder to me on days like this when I've been struggling to encourage her to eat and I feel like I'm at the end of my rope. Thank you so much, Emily.

 

[Katherine&Ruby]

Now if only the vet team could figure out why she needs the bupe.

An endoscopy seems inevitable now. I have thrown everything at her today that I am able to do and I'm not sure I am helping. If she's not better by Tuesday (it's a long weekend here) I am going to talk to her IM and work on getting her an appointment for scoping at AMC.