8/6 Lucky PMPS 279 Neuropathy, shot and supplement advice?

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Luckyducky

Member Since 2012
Hi again everyone! It's been a crazy week for Lucky, and very challenging for me, but I'm hoping things will start looking better for us both soon. Here's a link to Lucky's spreadsheet, and here are his numbers for yesterday and today:

Readings for 8/5 and 8/6
AMPS 356
+10 72
+11 47
PMPS 46
+1 53
+2 54
+3 67
AMPS 471

Lucky came back from the dental appointment Tuesday okay (they wound up removing an incisor that apparently was already very loose). When he got home he was having a lot more difficulty walking on his back legs at first (which really worried me) but he seems to be at about the same walking level now as he was before the dental appointment, though he's still not walking very much I'm afraid.

The neuropathy in his back legs has unfortunately been challenging in ways I didn't expect, as he's been sitting down to poop in his litter box and its been getting caught on his leg hairs. He's been on Clindamycin since before the appointment, which compounded the problem by giving him diarrhea (but no worries, as I've been giving him a tsp. of pumpkin with his evening meals which seems to have helped). All the same, having to clean the poop off of him and everything else in the house is exhausting and time-consuming, and is part of the reason I haven't had as much time to write on these boards recently. If anyone has any experience dealing with this kind of problem it would be a huge help... having to keep track of him throughout the day to catch him after he's pooped is wearing me down, and cleaning up afterwards too is really... ugh. :sad:

In the past couple of days I wound up skipping Lucky's shot twice, since his numbers were low in the PM cycles (54 on 8/3 and 46 on 8/5), and his dose is now down to 2.5u as of this morning. It was making me wonder, do you all think the skips were okay, and is it alright to skip shots so close to one another? I considered delaying his shots, but when I did it in the past I found that moving all of his meal-times was a big headache (he still eats 6 small meals throughout the day, since it's been difficult getting a schedule where he eats everything he's given and doesn't beg for food between cycles). It also messed up my sleeping schedule, and in the long-run I don't think it will be possible once I start working again. I'm also worried that I'm going to wind up skipping his shot again tomorrow evening (it seems like every two days Lucky's reading drops low right before the PM cycle).

I'm considering purchasing some Zobaline soon, so hopefully it helps out. I was talking to my Dad the other week and he mentioned that he saw a story on Animal Planet that said fish oil supplements were also helpful for cats with neuropathy, which I've seen some people mention in other articles online. Do you all have any experience with that? I started giving Lucky some cat-specific Salmon Oil that I bought from PetCo the other day, and I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts about that.

Any thoughts and advice, as always would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again you guys! :smile:
 
Re: 8/6 Lucky PMPS 279 Neuropathy, shot and supplement advic

I don't know about the effect of fish oil for neuropathy. Zobaline (methylcobalamine) has a good deal of information to support it's being able to help with neuropathy and there are a number of people here who can vouch for its effectiveness. Fish oil can help with inflammation so it may have some use. If you are thinking of getting the Zobaline, I'd encourage you to get it sooner than later. It takes a while to work -- a month or two.

It looks like Lucky is bouncing. Hopefully, the bounce will clear quickly.
 
Re: 8/6 Lucky PMPS 279 Neuropathy, shot and supplement advic

Thanks for the information Sienne, I decided to buy some Zobaline right away, so hopefully it'll get here soon. The fish oil seems to be making Lucky's coat a lot smoother than usual, and his eyes also seem more alert, so I guess we'll see if it helps any with his neuropathy while I'm waiting for the Zobaline to come in the mail.

As for the bouncing, lol, I guess I wrote such a confusing wall of text that it might not have been clear what's going on with his shots the past few days. I've actually skipped two of Lucky's shots in the past 4 days, and was wondering if anyone had advice on if it was okay (I'm actually faced with the possibility of skipping Lucky's shot again right now as we speak, so any advice from anyone would really be appreciated). He seems to have gotten into this weird pattern where his numbers start high and then continue a very slow drop downward to the 40's at the end of 4 cycles, and I'm not sure what to think of it.

Here's a listing of his numbers the past few days to help show what's been going on (and his spreadsheet again for reference):

  • Readings for 8/3 (3u)
    AMPS 350
    +5 223
    +11 42
    PMPS 54 (***NO SHOT GIVEN***)

    Readings for 8/4 (2.75u)
    AMPS 412
    PMPS 289
    +6 189

    Readings for 8/5 (2.75u)
    AMPS 356
    +10 72
    +11 47
    PMPS 46 (***NO SHOT GIVEN***)
    +1 53
    +2 54
    +3 67

    Readings for 8/6 (2.5u)
    AMPS 471
    PMPS 279
    +7 244

    Readings for 8/6 (2.5u)
    AMPS 251
    +10 109
    PMPS 41 (***SHOULD I GIVE A SHOT?***)
 
Re: 8/6 Lucky PMPS 279 Neuropathy, shot and supplement advic

You can't shoot a 41 so your choices really are to stall until it comes up or skip and since you can't stall, you don't have a choice but to skip. If you have to skip because the number is below 50 (in a newly diagnosed cat), then you need to reduce the dose again by .25u as you have been doing when you've skipped.

So....here's my thoughts, FWIW. Lantus likes consistency and so he needs to be on a dose that is low enough that you can shoot those PSs every day twice a day. Unfortunately, we don't know what that is, do we? ;-) Lucky did not leave the "All You Wanted to Know About Lucky's FD but Were Afraid To Ask" booklet lying around :-D

If you can't stall tonight until he comes up or even if you can, I'd take his dose down to at least 2.25u. You can take it lower...say to 2u if you want to try it but it could be one dose reduction too many and he could stay in high numbers. eta: if that happens, you can always take him back up a bit But the goal is a dose that you can safely shoot twice a day.

Also eta: Lucky reminds me very much of Gracie on lantus. She loved to clear her bounces so the lowest number in her cycle was at +12 and was dropping. I started feeding her later in the cycle...+9 or +9.5 to slow the drops so I could shoot a PS number that was above 50. I didn't do this if she had a normal cycle....only on those days she was clearing bounces. Every time you've gotten those low +12 numbers on Lucky, that's what he's doing...clearing the bounce.
 
Re: 8/6 Lucky PMPS 279 Neuropathy, shot and supplement advic

Thank you so much for the insight and humor Marjorie, it really helped to put things into perspective and to lighten my spirits a bit (I wish Lucky did leave an "All You wanted to Know About Lucky's FD but Were Afraid To Ask" booklet, it would make things easier :smile:). I decided to skip his shot last night, and dropped his dose down to 2.25u for this morning's shot. Next time he gets a low pre-shot reading, though, I'm definitely going to work out delaying his shot --- this morning, Lucky's reading jumped up to 536, the highest reading he's ever had, which really worried the heck out of me (his neuropathy seems worse this morning too, unfortunately :sad: ). I'll try to feed him at the +9 like you suggested so that it hopefully keeps him high enough to give his PM shot on the upcoming 4th cycle, we'll see. Thanks again for the help, it's much appreciated and I'm so thankful for the insight and guidance.
 
Re: 8/6 Lucky PMPS 279 Neuropathy, shot and supplement advic

Zobaline will definitely help. Racci had terrible neuropathy until she started taking it. It's much better now. The recommended dose worked but I doubled it after a while because every time Racci's bg went up the neuropathy came back. Since doubling the dose, it's much more stable help for her. I hope you received yours already and started it.

Melanie & Racci
 
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