Deanna & Billie
Member Since 2014
Last condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/9-6-billie-pmps-256.164479/
Hello all! I haven't posted in a long time, so Billie and I may be new to many of you. She has been extra sweet and on Lantus since 2014, and everyone here taught me how to care for her.
I'm learning that some of the kitties we knew are GAs now, including some of the legendary kitties who taught Billie and I so much about how to do this dance. I'm so sorry to everyone who has lost a furchild. You're always in our thoughts and prayers
For Billie, I'll start with the good news - although she has had elevated liver enzymes since April, has IBD, and has chronic pancreatitis, she just had an abdominal ultrasound that looked miraculously good. The vet said it was pretty much unchanged since the last ultrasound she had in 2015. Her liver looks good, and no signs of IBD turning to lymphoma. So we're very happy about that. And, in general, she has been doing very well clinically (until the past few days). I had switched her to a home cooked chicken diet with U-Stew or EZcomplete premix, and her appetite has been great overall. Only occasional vomiting or diarrhea.
About a month ago, she had a pancreatitis flare up, and her fPL was 21. She was still eating but seemed very lethargic and uncomfortable. Lots of meatloafing. Also, her BG got very hard to regulate. She was rarely below 250 and we're just now finally seeing some good numbers after multiple dose increases. The flare up may still be going on...she has been having appy issues and nausea for the past few days, or the appy issues could be from new meds she just started (I'll elaborate below).
Now, the scary part...
On Sunday night, Billie had a stroke. It was the most awful and terrifying moment we've experienced. I'm so grateful that DBF and I were both right there. Billie was walking in the kitchen and all of a sudden her back legs got stiff, especially her back right leg, and it seemed like she didn't know what to do. She then started circling to the right, and then collapsed in a sitting position with her back legs stretched out under her. She was open mouth breathing a little and her body felt extremely stiff. It's hard to say how long the whole episode lasted but maybe a minute or less. The stiffness lessened and she was able to walk. Her balance was still off, kind of a drunken walk, but she walked a few feet and laid down. I had never seen anything like this and thought it was a seizure at the time. I checked her BG (233, def not hypo) and we rushed her to the ER. Her vitals were normal, and she was able to walk, so they sent us home and got Billie an appointment with a board certified critical care specialist the following morning (Monday). It's an ER during off hours and a specialty practice during the day which is great.
Monday morning, we saw Billie's new vet (who I love). From my description of what happened and Billie's history, she diagnosed the event as a stroke, not a seizure, caused by a blood clot. She said that both diabetes and pancreatitis can cause hypercoagulation and make cats more prone to clots. She also heard a heart murmur and is concerned about possible heart disease. She did an abdominal ultrasound (mentioned above, everything looked great), echocardiogram, bloodwork, fPL, b12, and urine culture. fPL was 8.5 down from 21 a month ago. B12 was on the low end of normal so we're going to start b12 shots. Bloodwork was unchanged from a month ago, except that her ALT was much higher - in the 600s when it was previously in the 300s. The echocardiogram looked mostly normal but the vet said it looked like her heart was pumping rather hard, like it was working harder than it should need to.
So, the vet put Billie on the following meds and recommended a recheck with her in a month as well as a follow up with a cardiologist.
Plavix (blood thinner to reduce the risk of clots): 1/4 of a 75mg tablet once a day
Metronidazole (as a precaution in case liver enzymes are elevated due to infection): 1/4 of a 250mg tablet twice a day for one month
Denamarin (liver support): one tablet once a day, recommended on empty stomach
Vitamin e: 50IU once a day or 100IU every other day (not started yet)
Billie is also on a maintenance regimen with Cerenia for p-titis/nausea, which the vet recommended continuing at 1/2 tablet twice a week.
Since Monday evening, Billie's appy has been way off with lots of lip licking/nausea, and she has seemed pretty sleepy. I'm not sure if it's the Plavix, some of these other new meds/supplements, pancreatitis flaring up from the stress of Sunday night and Monday, or residual effects from the stroke. I'm currently pulling out all the stops to get her to eat something (rotisserie, deli turkey, ham). She did eat a few bites of deli turkey a little while ago.
Question: As far as the meds go, I have a question for anyone whose kitties are on a lot of meds - do you give some of them at the same time or do you space them all out? Is there an optimal way to avoid stressing her system and upsetting her stomach? The vet recommended giving Denamarin on its own but didn't specify for the others. I do have a call out to her but I'm curious what other people do, as Billie has never been on so many meds at one time. I've been putting the pills in gel caps and that is working well, thank goodness.
We also welcome any thoughts or advice about anything else!! Thank you all for reading
Hello all! I haven't posted in a long time, so Billie and I may be new to many of you. She has been extra sweet and on Lantus since 2014, and everyone here taught me how to care for her.
I'm learning that some of the kitties we knew are GAs now, including some of the legendary kitties who taught Billie and I so much about how to do this dance. I'm so sorry to everyone who has lost a furchild. You're always in our thoughts and prayers
For Billie, I'll start with the good news - although she has had elevated liver enzymes since April, has IBD, and has chronic pancreatitis, she just had an abdominal ultrasound that looked miraculously good. The vet said it was pretty much unchanged since the last ultrasound she had in 2015. Her liver looks good, and no signs of IBD turning to lymphoma. So we're very happy about that. And, in general, she has been doing very well clinically (until the past few days). I had switched her to a home cooked chicken diet with U-Stew or EZcomplete premix, and her appetite has been great overall. Only occasional vomiting or diarrhea.
About a month ago, she had a pancreatitis flare up, and her fPL was 21. She was still eating but seemed very lethargic and uncomfortable. Lots of meatloafing. Also, her BG got very hard to regulate. She was rarely below 250 and we're just now finally seeing some good numbers after multiple dose increases. The flare up may still be going on...she has been having appy issues and nausea for the past few days, or the appy issues could be from new meds she just started (I'll elaborate below).
Now, the scary part...
On Sunday night, Billie had a stroke. It was the most awful and terrifying moment we've experienced. I'm so grateful that DBF and I were both right there. Billie was walking in the kitchen and all of a sudden her back legs got stiff, especially her back right leg, and it seemed like she didn't know what to do. She then started circling to the right, and then collapsed in a sitting position with her back legs stretched out under her. She was open mouth breathing a little and her body felt extremely stiff. It's hard to say how long the whole episode lasted but maybe a minute or less. The stiffness lessened and she was able to walk. Her balance was still off, kind of a drunken walk, but she walked a few feet and laid down. I had never seen anything like this and thought it was a seizure at the time. I checked her BG (233, def not hypo) and we rushed her to the ER. Her vitals were normal, and she was able to walk, so they sent us home and got Billie an appointment with a board certified critical care specialist the following morning (Monday). It's an ER during off hours and a specialty practice during the day which is great.
Monday morning, we saw Billie's new vet (who I love). From my description of what happened and Billie's history, she diagnosed the event as a stroke, not a seizure, caused by a blood clot. She said that both diabetes and pancreatitis can cause hypercoagulation and make cats more prone to clots. She also heard a heart murmur and is concerned about possible heart disease. She did an abdominal ultrasound (mentioned above, everything looked great), echocardiogram, bloodwork, fPL, b12, and urine culture. fPL was 8.5 down from 21 a month ago. B12 was on the low end of normal so we're going to start b12 shots. Bloodwork was unchanged from a month ago, except that her ALT was much higher - in the 600s when it was previously in the 300s. The echocardiogram looked mostly normal but the vet said it looked like her heart was pumping rather hard, like it was working harder than it should need to.
So, the vet put Billie on the following meds and recommended a recheck with her in a month as well as a follow up with a cardiologist.
Plavix (blood thinner to reduce the risk of clots): 1/4 of a 75mg tablet once a day
Metronidazole (as a precaution in case liver enzymes are elevated due to infection): 1/4 of a 250mg tablet twice a day for one month
Denamarin (liver support): one tablet once a day, recommended on empty stomach
Vitamin e: 50IU once a day or 100IU every other day (not started yet)
Billie is also on a maintenance regimen with Cerenia for p-titis/nausea, which the vet recommended continuing at 1/2 tablet twice a week.
Since Monday evening, Billie's appy has been way off with lots of lip licking/nausea, and she has seemed pretty sleepy. I'm not sure if it's the Plavix, some of these other new meds/supplements, pancreatitis flaring up from the stress of Sunday night and Monday, or residual effects from the stroke. I'm currently pulling out all the stops to get her to eat something (rotisserie, deli turkey, ham). She did eat a few bites of deli turkey a little while ago.
Question: As far as the meds go, I have a question for anyone whose kitties are on a lot of meds - do you give some of them at the same time or do you space them all out? Is there an optimal way to avoid stressing her system and upsetting her stomach? The vet recommended giving Denamarin on its own but didn't specify for the others. I do have a call out to her but I'm curious what other people do, as Billie has never been on so many meds at one time. I've been putting the pills in gel caps and that is working well, thank goodness.
We also welcome any thoughts or advice about anything else!! Thank you all for reading
. It has only taken Gixmo one dose per episode to get him started eating again. Another thing that has worked with Gizmo is Canna (cannabis). I use the capsules and just mix it in some yummy food (fish) and I can usually get it into him that way. I have also emptied out a bit of the powder and added the Cerenia into the empty space and given both in the capsule. 
Someone here pointed out that I had changed too many things all at the same time and I was like duh 
