6/28 Tessa AMPS 337 +3 213 +5.5 137 +7.5 163 PMPS 338 - won't eat, giving insulin 1 hour late

We're already 15 minutes past her insulin time. She does not want to be touched and is inside a kitty condo so I'll have to drag her out if we do need to give insulin.
 
30 minutes past. I guess we're skipping this morning. Another dose reset day.

She is very clearly in pain today, very vocal if I try to touch her and her saliva is more red tinged today so I am stressed that she pulled a stitch overnight. Going to call the vet as soon as they open for advice. I feel like I'm failing her by allowing her to be in pain. We gave her gabapentin a few minutes ago but I don't think she's going to take her Onsior later if she won't eat. I never imagined that we would have these issues because she's always been so easy after surgery.
 
Got advice on the Facebook group to go ahead and give insulin an hour late so that's what I did. My husband is calling the vet to discuss what is going on.
 
Sorry no one got back to you sooner. She is high enough to give insulin and you can try feeding small teaspoons for the next couple of hours. Glad you're consulting with the Vet. Hope she feels better soon. Keep us posted.
 
Angela & Cleo said:
Sorry no one got back to you sooner. She is high enough to give insulin and you can try feeding small teaspoons for the next couple of hours. Glad you're consulting with the Vet. Hope she feels better soon. Keep us posted.
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Thanks and no worries! I know that everyone has a life of their own and can't be on here 24/7 to answer questions lol.

She did eat a little bit after I gave her the insulin but not much. I'll keep a close eye on her today. My husband spoke with the dentist who did the surgery (2.5+ hours away from our house) and said is going to talk to our local vet about what they have in stock for us. They're going to try to get a better version of gabapentin (the one we got from CVS has peppermint flavoring in it which I doubt Tessa likes very much), an appetite stimulant, and maybe another application of Zorbium. When our vet calls I'm going to ask about an anti-nausea medication as well because I think that may be why she isn't eating.

I am definitely feeling some regret about where we chose to have the surgery not because they did a bad job or anything but just because they're soooo far away and having to go back and forth between them and our local vet is frustrating and confusing.
 
She ate some more food at around 11am (3 hours after insulin) and her BG was 213 at that time. The vet is prescribing some liquid buprenorphine, replacing our gabapentin with something that is flavored better for pets (CVS gave us one that has peppermint in it!), and she will get a Cerenia shot today at 4pm. They gave us the option to do an anti-nausea pill instead but since she is hesitant to eat and doesn't want us touching her mouth, I think a shot is a better choice. I do not look forward to giving the bupe and gabapentin but I hope they help to relieve her pain.

The Zorbium was supposed to last 4 days but I did some reading on various forums and apparently it's not uncommon for it to stop working on day 2 or 3. I don't think I'll let a vet give that medication again. It worked great at first but it definitely stopped working early.

She is flinching every time I prick her ear for a test despite me doing it the exact same way I always do (and checking to ensure the bevel is facing up). I think she is just extra sensitive to touch. She makes a vocal chitter noise when I go near her face even if I'm just offering a treat. She isn't hiding from me though and does seem to enjoy me petting her as long as I stay away from her head.
 
I preferred buprenorphine for pain relief. Glad you are getting some of that. Cats actually do fairly well on sweet flavourings - go figure! An internal medicine vet on one of my other lists recommends marshmallow flavour. I've seen numerous cats here like bacon marshmallow.

I like ondansetron better for nausea, it also comes in injectible, though I've heard some cats think it stings. Best if cold.

Poor Tessa - the chitter sound is a mouth pain sound. :( I hope you get the bupe soon.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I preferred buprenorphine for pain relief. Glad you are getting some of that. Cats actually do fairly well on sweet flavourings - go figure! An internal medicine vet on one of my other lists recommends marshmallow flavour. I've seen numerous cats here like bacon marshmallow.

I like ondansetron better for nausea, it also comes in injectible, though I've heard some cats think it stings. Best if cold.

Poor Tessa - the chitter sound is a mouth pain sound. :( I hope you get the bupe soon.
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Yeah, I've heard that marshmallow hides the bitter flavor the best. I think the peppermint just seems like a bad idea for cats, my cats won't even get near me if I'm chewing a minty gum because they dislike the scent.

We got bupe but are not allowed to start it until tomorrow because the Zorbium is technically still in her system even if it's not working and giving her more before the 4 days is up risks a chance of opioid overdose. I will NEVER let a vet use that garbage on my cats again. It does not work for 4 days despite what the manufacturer says. We started seeing signs of pain after about 48 hours.

I just gave her some gabapentin and she was ANGRY about it and foaming at the mouth. Her saliva is tinged red, more red than I would have thought it should be by this point but we asked the vet about it this morning and they said they weren't concerned about it. They said the gabapentin was likely mixing with all the saliva that has been hanging around in her mouth and coming out all at once instead of bit by bit. I bet swallowing this much blood is probably heavily contributing to her nausea. I wish there was something I could do about it.

She won't eat again this evening but I gave her insulin anyway because her number is so high. I gave it at +11.5 so we can give tomorrow night on time. I gave insulin and then gave gabapentin. If this morning is any indication, she might feel up to eating in about an hour, once the gabapentin has kicked in. I hope she will eat something at least.
 
She also has 1 Onsior tablet left but I cannot get her to take it. I even got desperate enough to try it inside part of a Pill Pocket and she refused that. It's more of an anti-inflammatory than a pain reliever but it did seem to help her when she had it yesterday and the day before.
 
Finally got her to eat some food this evening!!! I had tried all sorts of fishy flavors of Tiki Cat and Fancy Feast as well as FortiFlora and even Gerber meat baby food and she turned her nose up at all of it. I decided to try another flavor of her normal Fancy Feast food and she immediately ate it. I wonder if she is associating the fish smell with medicine since that's what we tried to use yesterday to get her to take the gabapentin. Lesson learned for the future. Hopefully she will eat some more overnight like she did last night. It's possible that her sister ate the food overnight but I kinda doubt it since she's a picky girl and doesn't normally eat Tessa's food.
 
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