6/14 Zeus AMPS 387 Pancreatitis PMPS 203

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knolet

knolet

Member Since 2012
6/13 Condo

Morning all, ~O)

We got up early this morning so that I could give Zeus some Pepcid. He was confused because I usually TFS immediately after we get up, but today we needed to wait, so he sat in the kitchen staring at me in the living room. He finally did come to get some loving and sat down beside me on the couch. Pee and poo are in place already. He ate a little breffis, and has moved over to Smokey's dish.

So today I wait to see what our vet wants to do with Zeus. My guess is that we'll treat for IBD, but I don't know.

Thanks to everyone for the support and kind words and prayers the last couple of days. I so appreciate it, you guys are the best!

Kathie

This is what I posted last night about the ultrasound:
We survived the ultrasound. Dr. said kidneys and spleen were fine. Didn't see much with the pancreas. Said that Zeus' liver was bright and said it wasn't uncommon to have a fatty liver with diabetes. She said that his intestines were inflamed, and talked about inflammatory bowel disease or lymphoma. Talked about biopsies, and that they don't always go deep enough into the cells. She is sending it all to our normal vet so that we can decide how to treat. She did also say that we have to weigh the expected outcome, and if we get to the same spot either way, do I want to put Zeus through something more invasive or do we just treat with meds as if we know For sure what it is. I can't recall the name of the drug that she talked about.

Zeus was 72 before we left for our hour and a half long drive, so no insulin. After the ultrasound, the doctor stepped out of the room, and I decided to sneak in a BG test. She came back in as I was testing and was amazed, she asked me all kinds of questions about it, about how to get the right spot on the ear, and not getting the vein, and whether the ears bleed better the more you test, and my meter (she agreed that the human ones that we use are great and that we don't have to use an alpha trak, she even said that they sometimes use them instead because of the cost and because you can't get the strips quickly when needed). Then she asked me if I would do it again and if she could video tape me while I did. So I tested again. Good thing Zeus is so mellow :smile: afterwards as we were checking out, the technician came out and said that the Dr. showed her the video, and told me what a great job I did, and that I made it look so easy, that I did a better job than she did, and then she said I should put it on YouTube (I said that's where I learned how) :lol: have to admit it made me feel good that I can do something right :lol:
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387

I just finished reading through your yesterday's condo. What a day, huh? I wish you the Best Of Luck whatever you decide to do.
I hope Zeus eats well today, is comfortable, comes down from that pink floor, and you have a good wise vet to discuss this all with.

Have a good day, both of you. ;-)
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387

I hope you and your vet can find a good course of treatment to help Zeus feel better. That's so neat the vet wanted to film you testing Zeus.
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387

Hoping you and your vet come to the best decision on how to treat Zeus. How cool that they wanted to film you :-D :-D Hope Zeus comes down a little, and he and you have a wonderful, calm Friday!
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387

Morning Kathie ~O) ~O) ~O)

Bummer on that amps, probably expected with no shot last night. Back down you go Zeus. Funny how they get used to the routine, I can so see Zeus sitting there wondering "where is my breffis?" :-D

I wish you the best of luck with the medical issues on your plate now, and hope that your vet and you can come up with a decision/plan that works for you. I am sure you will. For me I preferred the treat with meds rather than the surgical exploratory one. The results were/would have been the same, for us, without the trauma involved. Both me, my vet, and Mannie's IM specialist felt that way too. It proved to be the best course for us, and for Mannie. Good luck, go what what you know will be best for Zeus. Hugs to all.

Have a good one today - enjoy!
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387

Kathie, I read over the last couple of days of Zeus's condos so I don't know his whole story. I do know he is very lucky to have your for his bean. :-D Zener has eating/digestion/motility/appy issues too. We didn't do the surgery for IBD diagnosis but US showed thickening of intestinal walls. We are treating with meds: Zantac (like Pepcid but helps with motility), ondansetron (anti-nausea), and Cerenia (vomiting, and seems to help with GI pain, there are injections that can help right away and pills that we use, much cheaper and easier than those harpoon needles). We also give miralax. And we use cyproheptadine for an appy stimulant as needed. I don't know if any of these would help Zeus but I wanted to give you some ideas. We also give Zener regular tummy massages that seem to help with cramping and bloating. We noticed that his appy would always be really good after a vet visit and realized it must have been from the palpitations that the vet did. :lol:

That is very cool about showing the vet how to do testing. Yes, you are an expert. :-D
Liz
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387 Pancreatitis

Hi all,

Thanks again for all the advice and support, and words of encouragement. I got a message from the vet today, he wanted to do a feline specific pancreatic lipase test, and he wanted it done today, so I took Zeus on my lunch. He said if it was normal he wanted to start Zeus on leukeran (chlorambucil) which would help with IBD or low grade lymphoma, but that it takes 21 days to work so "we have to keep him alive for for three weeks." What? I sure as heck want to keep him healthy and alive longer than that! But, in the end the test was not normal, and he does have some level of pancreatitis. I don't know where we go from here. The vet is actually out of town, but had checked his email, and also forwarded it to the office. When I was talking with the technician, she said that the dr. might want to put a feeding tube in on Monday. I want to do the absolute best that I can for Zeus, while minimizing his stress and discomfort.

Almost time to test. I did give him the Pepcid again tonight. Hopefully it will help him to eat tonight. I'll be back in a bit.
 
Re: 6/14 Zeus AMPS 387 Pancreatitis

Thanks Sienne. No appetite stimulant yet. I asked for one at the end of May, but the dr. (We have only seen her a couple of times) didn't want to give him one.
 
It you're giving a med to combat nausea/vomiting and Zeus still isn't interested in food, you might ask the vet what her rationale is for not prescribing an appetite stimulant. Zeus has to eat.
 
Hi Kathie - sorry for the latest DX. I will give my two cents as well, having gone through this with Mannie back in January. IMHO: I think alot depends upon the degree of severity of the p'titis. With Mannie, he was moderate to a little above that. We never did have the test done (feline specific pancreatic lipase test), as the U/S was more than clear. His pancreas was lit up like a christmas Tree. For him, appy was a huge issue, as was the pain level that comes with P'titis. Pain management is critical, as is eating. For Mannie he received bupe for pain, a cobalamine injection (b12) for gastro health, and an appy stim when needed. For him once the pain level was under control, the appy improved. I also threw the "has to be LC" out the window, he got what he would eat. Once that improved the LC fuds were brought back. We were able to do all of this without a feeding tube. IMHO: vets are too quick to insist that they have one. I fought my vet on it, simply told her no. That was something that I knew would not work for Mannie, but that's just Mannie being Mannie.If I had to syringe food then so be it. I never did. All of the above is just my opinion..... as I'm no too sure how the possible IBD would fit onto that. I wish you much luck.

Hugs to you, and many healing vines for Zeus. hang in there, it is all treatable, and Zeus can live a full and meaningful life.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about the diagnosis, but at least you know what is going on now. Sending prayers for healing for Zeus.
 
Kathie

Are you able to assist feed with much luck? One of the members of the Yahoo CRF group made this video some time ago and i still think it's a really good one for assist feeding.

[youtube]U6o17wH6ujk[/youtube]

If you can't get enough calories in him through assist feeding, a tube might be the best way to go. Tanya's CKD website has some great info on Persuading Your Cat to Eat; it also has a section on feeding tubes. The esophageal tube is the preferred type of tube for assist feeding.

Sending Zeus many healing vines.
 
Mr. Zeus ate a little wet food plus a whole little jar of baby food before bed. I tested a little while ago, +8/153. There was a little pile of vomit in the kitchen which I think was the baby food. I tried to get him to eat more food just now without luck, but he did eat another couple of spoonfuls of the baby food. Need to get some more tomorrow. I haven't tried pureeing his food yet, I'll have to try that as well.

Sienne - I think the vet's rationale for not giving us an appetite stimulant was that we didn't yet know what was wrong with Zeus and she said that would just mask it's symptoms. At that point, she just thought I should try to get Zeus' numbers under control. This was a vet that we don't usually see, I think we saw her one other time, so she isn't familiar with us... I have to say that I'm not too happy with her because I asked for that pancreas test then, and she didn't want to do that either because the results of the blood test were OK.

Michelle - thank you :smile: the vet did mention doing a TLI/cobalamin blood test.... But only if Zeus started to have diarrhea, which he hasn't, he still has normal poos every day. I don't know if that has anything to do with the cobalamine shot that you mentioned for Mannie? As for the feeding tube, I think now that we know what at least part of the problem is, I'd rather start trying to start out with a less invasive approach such I as getting him something for the pain, something for the nausea, and an appy stimulant if needed. Zeus seems like he wants to eat, he does still run to his dish and will eat some, just not enough. So I think if we could address those other issues he might eat more on his own. In the meantime, he did good with the BF tonight, and I can work with syringe feeding.

Thanks Carla :smile:

Marje - thanks for the video link, that was really helpful. I haven't tried syringe feeding yet, will be trying it tomorrow. That other website was great too, so much good info. I went to read the persuading your cat to eat section that you linked and found lots of other good info too.
 
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