7/21 Sushi - PLEASE ADVISE AMPS~369|+4~530|+6~584

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Sushi (GA 5/05-3/14)

Sushi (GA 5/05-3/14)

Member Since 2011
Continuing in yesterday's steps, Sushi's eaten even less today. He didn't even touch his AMPS breakfast, so I decided to skip again. Not sure if that was a good idea, seeing as how he's pushing 600 now. :shock:

My first +6 test yielded a 90, so I re-tested a few times and got a Hi & 584.

I've been able to get him to eat a little bit (maybe an ounce) throughout the morning. I tried adding juice from a can of chicken to his food as well. I think he just drank the juice and that was it.

I did bring him to the vet last time this happened. I want to say they gave him a shot of something to increase his appetite. But my vet is also a huge proponent of dry food. Sushi was willing to eat dry food, so that was an obvious solution to my vet. Let me check on that; I'll update in a bit with a definite answer there.

I'm wondering what steps I should take right now. Should I give him some insulin?
Last time his happened he would eat dry food. Though that may be a solution, I don't want to give him some now with his #s being so high. If I give him dry food, what should I kick his dose up to to compensate for it?
Or do I need to go ahead and bring him to the hospital? These super high #s are concerning me!

BTW--Sushi does not have a history of FHL--that's a mistake on my part (long story).
 
The ondansetron is for nausea. The cerenia is for motility and possibly stomach/intestinal pain. We wouldn't give the cypro without the ondansetron. I'm a little fuzzy on all this since Anne is the medical person so forgive me if that isn't quite right.

The cerenia comes in injections or pills. The injections are good if the cat is vomiting. It was about $10/shot and he got one shot a day for 5 days. Then we found the pills that cost about $3 each. Now he gets 1 mg (1/4 pill) every other day.

We had to syringe Zener for about a week after a vomiting episode. The Feline Assisted Feeding yahoo group has a ton of information and a great video. Karrie recommended that to us and we found it extremely useful.

You really do need to get food in Sushi and he needs insulin too. Otherwise, you're going to end up with much worse problems. Hugs to you, Ashley. Sending eating vines to Sushi.
Liz
 
Thank you so much Liz!
I'm assuming I need a prescription for these medicines?

I just tried dropping a few pieces of dry food into Sushi's leftover breakfast. He went for it; picking the pieces out of the wet food.

So now my question is--should I go ahead and give him insulin now? Or wait 5.5 hours until our normal shot time?
 
With those very high numbers and not eating I'd be concerned that something else is going on and it may be best to get him to a vet. Are you testing for ketones? The bad scenario is DKA and hospitalization.
 
You could shoot now but that means his next shot is 12 hrs later. You can adjust the shot time by 30 mins once a day or 15 mins for each shot. How flexible is your schedule?

The ondansetron, cerenia and cyprohexadine are all prescription. The zantac is over the counter - we give Zener 1/8 twice a day.

The fortiflora has flavoring like dry food plus probiotics. You can get that at the vet ($$) or amazon (much cheaper). Zener loves that but our civie cat doesn't. If Sushi is a dry food addict, he might like it. Have you tried freeze dried chicken? That's at the pet store and the dog version is fine.
Liz
 
Thank you both so so much!!

I was willing to go for a 12:30pm/am schedule for the weekend, but it's 1:30 now, and that's just too much. I suppose we'll have to wait. I think I'll try at 5:30; in 4 hours.

My concern with getting these medicines is that it's Saturday & most vets are closed. I need something now. So ordering off of Amazon isn't an option either.
Is there anything I could get at PetSmart that would help? Is fortiflora available there? I use freeze dried chicken as a treat for Sushi; I could use that as an entire meal? I remember a small canister being very expensive; like 16oz for $20+?

I tested for ketones a few days ago, and intend to get another test today.

Thanks again!!
 
How about baby food? I think Sienne suggested that yesterday.
Have you ever tried baby food? If not, you want food that's only a protein and broth -- no onions, garlic, or veggies. Gerber Stage 2 is good although it's about 7% carbs due to the cornstarch.
Click to expand...
The freeze dried chicken is ok short term but it's not a complete diet for cats so it's not good long term. Is there an emergency vet? Our vet has walk-in hours on the weekends and they have a pharmacy on-site.
Liz
 
I just looked through all the paperwork I have for Sushi, and the vet receipt from the last time this happened is not very descriptive. It doesn't list an injection, though that doesn't mean he wasn't given one. I want to say that the vet thought dry food was a good solution. I know that's what I did for a bit.

I have used baby food in the past, but only added to Sushi's wet food. He liked it, but it didn't get him to eat again long term. I even tried microwaving it...sheesh.

So right now I'm deciding between feeding dry food (Science Diet m/d) or baby food & freeze dried chicken.
If I went with baby food & freeze dried chicken, how much should I give? (Shoot, I can't even remember how much dry food I used to feed Sushi!)
 
If you can get him to ANY wet food or baby food, I'd avoid the dry.

Do you know how many calories/day he should be having or normally eats to maintain his weight? That would be where I'd start....look how many calories are on the baby food jar and see if you can get the equal number in him with the baby food. Remember to only get baby food that has the meat but no onion, garlic, thickeners, broth, etc. I think I buy Beech Nut.

You might also want to get him a smorgasbord of Fancy Feast varieties and see if he'll eat any of them. I would not let him go very much longer without eating .....I'd get him to a vet. A healthy cat should not be anorexic.
 
Ashley --

If this has been going on for more than a day or two, I'd be thinking vet visit. I'd like to say it's just Sushi being stubborn, but I don't think that's the case. Is Sushi refusing his favorite foods?

FWIW -- I've never seen FortiFlora available in a store. I've always purchased it on-line.
 
Thanks for all the advice!

I just gave him some canned chunk chicken breast with rib meat in water and that's going well. It doesn't have any carbs, and has 270mg sodium
Is that an okay option?
 
as long as there is no onion or garlic in the broth, i would think it's ok.

really important to get him to eat. have you tried warming the food? that increases the smell and can make it more appetizing. you can put a fingerful into his mouth to "prime the pump" - you can also syringe feed. you water down the low carb food and use a syringe to help him eat. here is a youtube on how to assist him to eat. if he's not constipated, i'd skip the pumpkin.

[youtube]U6o17wH6ujk[/youtube]

you're describing a really serious situation. he's got to eat. check for ketones throughout the day and perhaps shoot early if at all possible. he needs the food and the insulin, especially with his background of FHL.

the trouble with the dry food is he has to have more insulin to compensate, and right now he has none in him. the carbs added to his already high #s . . . well, i'd hate to go there. those carbs would stay in his system for another day, too. what about pulverizing the dry food and sprinkling it over the wet food? sometimes that will work.
 
Right now, the only thing he won't eat is is usual canned 9 lives. He will eat dry, freeze dried chicken, the canned chicken, and probably baby food.
I know the 9 lives is fine, because his sister (who is way more picky than he is) is eating it just fine.

In the past, anything I've mixed in or sprinkled on top of his food (baby food, chicken broth, tuna water, crushed dry food, crumbled treats (freeze dried chicken), etc.) is eaten and the wet food is not. He'll either lick it off the top or pick it out of the wet food.

I'm thinking I'll feed him freeze dried or canned chicken and/or baby food for the next 2 cycles, along with insulin, and then move to dry food.
 
The freeze dried foods and the canned chicken don't have enough calories.

Please read again Julie's thoughts. I'm not sure I understand why you aren't trying a variety of low carb canned foods and opt to go back to dry instead.
 
Feeding dry is not optimal. It will also make it harder to get Sushi back to canned food.

I'm really think you need to get your vet to take this seriously and not just dismiss the issue with the suggestion to feed your cat dry food.
 
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