6/17 Binx AMPS 293

[Briana + Binx]

Last post

Hope everyone's doing well!

I've been distracted worrying about Binx, but the update is: we still don't know what's going on. The Proviable didn't deliver until yesterday and he continues to have diarrhea. However, I started him on the Proviable Forte kit yesterday and they say to give it 48-72 hours to start seeing improvement. I've also ordered 100% pure psyllium husk (Now brand, which I've seen others here use) and that should be delivered today.

We also saw the internist on Monday and as expected, generally very frustrating. She scolded me again for using a human meter and said we can't truly know how Binx's diabetes is unless I use the AlphaTrak - I'm going to humor her and do a curve with that after Proviable. I took one comparison Monday and to no surprise, 119 Freestyle was 158 AT (about 15% difference). She also yet again suggested switching his diet, this time to a renal/hydrolyzed diet that's a dry food!! Any dry food at this point seems wild, regardless if it's specialized or not. I just nodded and said okay (nope).

The last thing that was interesting is the internist thought maybe Binx might have an allergy and specifically mentioned the coating on the Felamizole pill. Some might remember my frustration with the sugar coating on the pills, which I tried several times to switch but to no avail, so I accepted the coating because his BG stabilized. NOW she's suggesting the generic, non-coated pill... how ironic. We could've been doing that this whole time!

Anyways, Binx has been up and down generally. Monday night he was bad, I've never seen him turn away food and he threw up after I got him to eat. Since starting Proviable (whether related or not) he's seemed a bit more himself, but a little lethargic. I'm worried something more sinister is happening, but will try what's available to me now and go from there. Next steps would be to book an ultrasound and another exam. Very difficult to switch internists now, but something I'm considering.

Safe surfing on this Wednesday

Side note: we need pet pharmacies like human pharmacies!!! Still blowing my mind that 5 vets didn't have Proviable available. I saw there actually is one "Pet Pharmacy" around me, if around me counts as a 1 hour drive without traffic! Uh!

 

[Connie & Moonie]

Last post

Hope everyone's doing well!

I've been distracted worrying about Binx, but the update is: we still don't know what's going on. The Proviable didn't deliver until yesterday and he continues to have diarrhea. However, I started him on the Proviable Forte kit yesterday and they say to give it 48-72 hours to start seeing improvement. I've also ordered 100% pure psyllium husk (Now brand, which I've seen others here use) and that should be delivered today.

We also saw the internist on Monday and as expected, generally very frustrating. She scolded me again for using a human meter and said we can't truly know how Binx's diabetes is unless I use the AlphaTrak - I'm going to humor her and do a curve with that after Proviable. I took one comparison Monday and to no surprise, 119 Freestyle was 158 AT (about 15% difference). She also yet again suggested switching his diet, this time to a renal/hydrolyzed diet that's a dry food!! Any dry food at this point seems wild, regardless if it's specialized or not. I just nodded and said okay (nope).

The last thing that was interesting is the internist thought maybe Binx might have an allergy and specifically mentioned the coating on the Felamizole pill. Some might remember my frustration with the sugar coating on the pills, which I tried several times to switch but to no avail, so I accepted the coating because his BG stabilized. NOW she's suggesting the generic, non-coated pill... how ironic. We could've been doing that this whole time!

Anyways, Binx has been up and down generally. Monday night he was bad, I've never seen him turn away food and he threw up after I got him to eat. Since starting Proviable (whether related or not) he's seemed a bit more himself, but a little lethargic. I'm worried something more sinister is happening, but will try what's available to me now and go from there. Next steps would be to book an ultrasound and another exam. Very difficult to switch internists now, but something I'm considering.

Safe surfing on this Wednesday

Side note: we need pet pharmacies like human pharmacies!!! Still blowing my mind that 5 vets didn't have Proviable available. I saw there actually is one "Pet Pharmacy" around me, if around me counts as a 1 hour drive without traffic! Uh!

Ugh I am so sorry Briana. This whole experience sounds very frustrating. Many vets aren’t well educated on feline diabetes to begin with, but it sounds this internist is somehow convinced that she’s right on something she clearly doesn’t know a whole lot about whereas this is something you live and breathe day in and day out for Binx

I hope you can find another internist who might be more open minded or knowledgeable and I hope Binx feels better soon. It’s always scary when we don’t know why our babies are sick. I’ll be keeping you both in my thoughts today and sending you lots of love and healing vines

 

[Briana + Binx]

Ugh I am so sorry Briana. This whole experience sounds very frustrating. Many vets aren’t well educated on feline diabetes to begin with, but it sounds this internist is somehow convinced that she’s right on something she clearly doesn’t know a whole lot about whereas this is something you live and breathe day in and day out for Binx

I hope you can find another internist who might be more open minded or knowledgeable and I hope Binx feels better soon. It’s always scary when we don’t know why our babies are sick. I’ll be keeping you both in my thoughts today and sending you lots of love and healing vines

Thanks so much, Connie It really is so scary, if only they could tell us what's wrong.

 

[Sara & Khloe]

Alpha Trac must have one really good marketing team with how hard the vets push it on caregivers. But then they turn around and say Freestyles Libres are fine, make it make sense lol.

Anyways, wishing the best for Binx!

 

[Karolina & Nestle]

Hi Briana,

I'm sorry Binx isn't feeling well. Sending PAWsitive thoughts and vibes your way.

I'm wondering if you ever checked out petsdrugmart.ca
I took a quick look and saw they have proviable available. I used to order my syringes with them.
Search: 3 results found for "Proviable"

This is kinda like a pet pharmacy

️️

 

[Briana + Binx]

Alpha Trac must have one really good marketing team with how hard the vets push it on caregivers. But then they turn around and say Freestyles Libres are fine, make it make sense lol.

Anyways, wishing the best for Binx!

OMG!!! This is so true She literally mentioned the Libre 3 as being pretty good... how is that any different than my Freestyle Lite!! Ugh

Thanks, Sara

 

[Briana + Binx]

Hi Briana,

I'm sorry Binx isn't feeling well. Sending PAWsitive thoughts and vibes your way.

I'm wondering if you ever checked out petsdrugmart.ca
I took a quick look and saw they have proviable available. I used to order my surringes with them.
Search: 3 results found for "Proviable"

This is kinda like a pet pharmacy

️️

Thanks, Karolina

Yes! You'd recommended it once before and it's been my go-to now. I just wish there was an storefront option. That's where I ordered the Proviable, but it took 4 business days, which is fine, but the weekend was in between. Felt like precious time to wait

 

[Karolina & Nestle]

Thanks, Karolina

Yes! You'd recommended it once before and it's been my go-to now. I just wish there was an storefront option. That's where I ordered the Proviable, but it took 4 business days, which is fine, but the weekend was in between. Felt like precious time to wait

Ok good.
Yes I remember their shipping is not super fast. My syringes took over a week to be delivered. But it's a good website to use if you have the luxury of time.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Sending healing vines to Binx. Has his B12 levels ever been tested? Kitties with low B12 don't process food well - which could mean diarrhea, and also s. boulardii won't work if B12 is low.

Ugh on the internist. They definitely are not all created equal. Neko had an awesome one. Told me her raw diet was the best thing for her diabetes and CKD. . We did have one discussion early on about Neko's inappetance being possibly caused by too much insulin. . But a quick look at her spreadsheet, plus I authorized them to do one BG test while she was there for an ultrasound and told them it would be blue (in Canadian speak of course). Neko was a good girl and was mid blues several hours later. Thank you Levemir. After that, he left diabetes treatment to me and focussed on what I wanted him to look at. The internist was trained in Europe (Belgium) and I know that back then they had more training on acros due to the research done at the Royal Vet Clinic. If you look around at different internists, take a look to see where they got their training. Internal medicine covers a very wide range of conditions. Some training in endocrinology would be ideal, but hard to come by.

 

[Sara & Khloe]

OMG!!! This is so true She literally mentioned the Libre 3 as being pretty good... how is that any different than my Freestyle Lite!! Ugh

Thanks, Sara

I’d be tempted to do a curve using both and ask my vet to spot the difference lol

 

[Briana + Binx]

Sending healing vines to Binx. Has his B12 levels ever been tested? Kitties with low B12 don't process food well - which could mean diarrhea, and also s. boulardii won't work if B12 is low.

Ugh on the internist. They definitely are not all created equal. Neko had an awesome one. Told me her raw diet was the best thing for her diabetes and CKD. . We did have one discussion early on about Neko's inappetance being possibly caused by too much insulin. . But a quick look at her spreadsheet, plus I authorized them to do one BG test while she was there for an ultrasound and told them it would be blue (in Canadian speak of course). Neko was a good girl and was mid blues several hours later. Thank you Levemir. After that, he left diabetes treatment to me and focussed on what I wanted him to look at. The internist was trained in Europe (Belgium) and I know that back then they had more training on acros due to the research done at the Royal Vet Clinic. If you look around at different internists, take a look to see where they got their training. Internal medicine covers a very wide range of conditions. Some training in endocrinology would be ideal, but hard to come by.

Thank you, Wendy

Of course, I had to be the one to bring up B12 to the internist and they said we could test for it and mentioned both the oral and injectable options. From what I've read, I would prefer oral if needed. However, I opted to hold on a B12 test for now until we saw what happened with the probiotics/psyllium. Also, I'd rather get my own vet to do the test but perhaps that was unwise. Better to be equipped with more knowledge.

Glad you were able to have a productive/positive relationship with Neko's internist. I did preemptively get some other IM recommendations from my vet, so I'll look into their training to help inform a switch, appreciate you flagging that.

The strangest thing is that this internist apparently has had a FD kitty that also had acro, but when talking about it I remember her saying she ultimately chose to focus on prioritizing the cat's IBD. Perhaps the personal experience doesn't necessarily indicate full knowledge on the subject.

 

[Briana + Binx]

I’d be tempted to do a curve using both and ask my vet to spot the difference lol

Might actually take this idea and run with it when I do the AT curve

 

[Kat & Trixie]

Sending vines Binx's way and big hugs to you, Briana

Really hope he feels better soon and so sorry to hear about your visit with Internist. So disappointing to think you're finally going to get some support and answers and then they scold you.

And really, dry food??? blows my mind I'm somewhat in that same boat, Trixie's kidney values have come up and her vet wants me to add a renal food to her meal plan. She understands my fear of throwing Trixie out of remission and now I have to try to weight out the lesser of 2 evils. Ugh...

You are doing an amazing job managing all these different things and doing your very best for sweet Binx

 

[Briana + Binx]

Sending vines Binx's way and big hugs to you, Briana

Really hope he feels better soon and so sorry to hear about your visit with Internist. So disappointing to think you're finally going to get some support and answers and then they scold you.

You are doing an amazing job managing all these different things and doing your very best for sweet Binx

Thanks, Kat. That's very kind it's so tough when they have multiple things going on! I do hope he feels better soon, I hate seeing him like this

I'm somewhat in that same boat, Trixie's kidney values have come up and her vet wants me to add a renal food to her meal plan. She understands my fear of throwing Trixie out of remission and now I have to try to weight out the lesser of 2 evils. Ugh...

Ugh!! That's an impossible decision, I'm so sorry. You know Trixie best and I'm sure you'll make the decision that works the best for the two of you. Good luck with the choice

 

[Karolina & Nestle]

@Briana + Binx I also found this website.

https://pets.beampharmacy.ca/search?q=Proviable&type=products

 

[kitten68]

Last post

Hope everyone's doing well!

I've been distracted worrying about Binx, but the update is: we still don't know what's going on. The Proviable didn't deliver until yesterday and he continues to have diarrhea. However, I started him on the Proviable Forte kit yesterday and they say to give it 48-72 hours to start seeing improvement. I've also ordered 100% pure psyllium husk (Now brand, which I've seen others here use) and that should be delivered today.

We also saw the internist on Monday and as expected, generally very frustrating. She scolded me again for using a human meter and said we can't truly know how Binx's diabetes is unless I use the AlphaTrak - I'm going to humor her and do a curve with that after Proviable. I took one comparison Monday and to no surprise, 119 Freestyle was 158 AT (about 15% difference). She also yet again suggested switching his diet, this time to a renal/hydrolyzed diet that's a dry food!! Any dry food at this point seems wild, regardless if it's specialized or not. I just nodded and said okay (nope).

The last thing that was interesting is the internist thought maybe Binx might have an allergy and specifically mentioned the coating on the Felamizole pill. Some might remember my frustration with the sugar coating on the pills, which I tried several times to switch but to no avail, so I accepted the coating because his BG stabilized. NOW she's suggesting the generic, non-coated pill... how ironic. We could've been doing that this whole time!

Anyways, Binx has been up and down generally. Monday night he was bad, I've never seen him turn away food and he threw up after I got him to eat. Since starting Proviable (whether related or not) he's seemed a bit more himself, but a little lethargic. I'm worried something more sinister is happening, but will try what's available to me now and go from there. Next steps would be to book an ultrasound and another exam. Very difficult to switch internists now, but something I'm considering.

Safe surfing on this Wednesday

Side note: we need pet pharmacies like human pharmacies!!! Still blowing my mind that 5 vets didn't have Proviable available. I saw there actually is one "Pet Pharmacy" around me, if around me counts as a 1 hour drive without traffic! Uh!

vets can be a waste of time.. but theres the hope u just come across one who helps and knows something. we’ve had that over here.. too many times

why difficult to switch internists tho?.. know there arent many tbf..

hoping Binxy feels better asap and things get clearer..

 

[Briana + Binx]

vets can be a waste of time.. but theres the hope u just come across one who helps and knows something. we’ve had that over here.. too many times

why difficult to switch internists tho?.. know there arent many tbf..

hoping Binxy feels better asap and things get clearer..

Thanks, Yasmin

Just difficult because you have to start from the beginning and it might take time for them to become familiar with Binx's cocktail of illnesses, but not a hard deterrent

 

[Tim & Pookey]

Ugh I’m sorry Briana. How frustrating! This is for the internist I really hope you can get it figured out soon I’ll be thinking of you two

 

[Mary & Jude]

Hi Brianna! I'm so sorry Binx is still not 100% himself. Just a thought: I know that tightrope that you have to walk when a cat is suffering from CKD and FD is a challenge. Renal food is low-protein and high-carbohydrate, making it unsafe for Binx. Jude is in a similar dilemma with his FD and UTI issues--the UT food is also high carb, so I try to avoid it, but many cats do so well in terms of their UT issues when on it. What I've been trying to do is find some way to balance the two by isolating the ingredients or remedies in the UT food that make it good for the UT. For us, some of it is supplements that I've tried to introduce into his diet. Are you trying anything like this for Binx (and I'm sorry if you have written about this--I looked back a few posts, but I didn't see anything). I had a cat with CKD, and I remember trying fluids, a phosphorous binder, omega 3s, and we kept an eye on his potassium/b-vitamin levels and supplemented when necessary. I know you do such a good job being on top of everything, but I thought I'd mention it.