Ashley Going to Vet This Morning

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djacks1128

djacks1128

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After a full day yesterday being very uncomfortable, going in and out of the litter box, laying down, getting right back up, changing positions, laying down, getting up, going to the box, and again and again. She was up at 5am doing the same.

We're going to the vet in an hour and I'm hoping it's just a UTI.
 
make sure you get a sample via cytecentisis, and that they run a culture and sensitivity test ....and that whatever antibiotic she gets she stays on for at least 10 days
 
I'm not sure that i feel satisfied with that visit. First of all, her normal doctor was not in, so we saw another one. He seemed very willing to talk, but didn't take Ashley out of the carrier to examine her until i asked him to. He seemed to already make up his mind, based on what I told him, that it was just a GI thing. He gave us Metronidazole in chicken flavored liquid form. They told me it is wretched stuff, as far as taste. I brought Ash home and gave her the 0.7 dose as perscribed and she foamed and drooled from her mouth like a Saint Bernard...no joke...long thick strands of drool coming out of her mouth and landing on the floor. She has done this before from medicine that I've given her by mouth. Poor little girl...i was trying to put the water in front of her, but she didn't understand. I might try a second syringe of water right after.
Doc also wants me to go up to 3 U right away, but i won't be doing that. I do think she's been deprived of Insulin though.

Hopefully she is resting well this afternoon. I had to come in to work :(
 
Metronidazole is more easily given as a Pill.....but you must put the
dose into a small (size #3) gel-cap.

Then, no bad taste...just the usual piling struggle.
 
Just a quick question on the liquid meds - are you drawing them from a bottle then syringing in the mouth? I am used to tiny capsules but I recall when I had to give Shadoe Antirobe after her dental they said it was very bitter, and the suggestion to me was to draw up tuna juice first into the syringe and then the med, so when I squirted that into the side of her mouth, she got the crap but it was followed by tuna juice.

Just a suggestion for future; not sure if it suits what you are giving now.

I have seen that drool; Ollie does that EVERY time he get tramadol, no matter how I try to hide that tiny piece of pill. It's so upsetting to see.

As for the vet not doing what you ask, just who is paying here? Are YOU and ASHLEY the paying client or not? How can a vet just say take this without any tests? If you don't see any results soon, just call to say you are coming back with the cat and the meds that are NOT working, and that you have a list of things that you want done, urine via cystocentesis with C&S so that they know what bacteria if any is happening. I had to try 4 different a/b before one cleared up Shadoe's problems, so don't be timid.
 
The only pill option they had there was a quite large and thick tablet that had to be cut into quarters. I figured that would go down pretty harshly with some sharpish edges, which is why i went for the liquid. Yes, I am drawing from a bottle and syringing into the back of her mouth. That is a good idea with the tuna juice. I'll try that tonight.
 
If you do have to switch to a pill, definitely search for Dr Lisa's post on how to pill a cat...pills absolutely need to be chased with food and/water to reduce the chance of inflaming the esophagus...pill pockets work great
 
Ashley, make sure that you draw the tuna water first and the meds next because you want the lousy taste first to be washed out by the nice tuna juice.

If you want to make lots of tuna juice, you can put a can of tuna into a few cups of water and let the flavor be mixed into the water. If you have 10 days or so of meds to squirt, you will need lots of yummy juice.

Good luck; maybe try giving a treat after too. A bit of tuna or some LC snack.
 
Sheryl & Ashley said:
The only pill option they had there was a quite large and thick tablet that had to be cut into quarters. I figured that would go down pretty harshly with some sharpish edges, which is why i went for the liquid. Yes, I am drawing from a bottle and syringing into the back of her mouth. That is a good idea with the tuna juice. I'll try that tonight.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...don't think the ones you get at an ordinary pharmacy are large.

And putting them into a gel-cap gets rid of the sharp edges.

You can cut into quarters to get the dose, then break each quarter into smaller
pieces to fit it into the gel-cap.
 
You can also put the pill piece into a small piece of soft cheese or a piece of sugar free pill pocket.
 
My cat is on Metronidazole and they are tiny little round bluish pills. He loves cheese, so I wrap them in a wee piece and he swallows the whole thing without even noticing that there is a pill inside. I let him smell first and lick my fingers and then he has lots of saliva so I don't have to worry about the pills sticking anywhere. Sometimes with liquid its hrd to know how much of the medication the cat is getting, especially when she drools like that.
 
i have to say i'm not too happy with the diagnosis either, mainly the methods i guess. i mean, it may be GI but without some tests to rule other things out, how can they say for certain?

has Ashley produced anything in the litterbox in the last 24 hours? if not, i'd be concerned about blockages? maybe she ate something she shouldn't have? or constipation? etc.....

if she hasn't produced anything for the last 24 hours I'd be back at the vet first thing in the morning.

mind you, my Yoda recently did something similar.....frequent trips to the box, producing little if anything, and even making herself vomit from straining. x-rays were the first thing my vet did to make sure she wasn't blocked in any way. after ruling out the basics, yes she was diagnosed with a GI problem, given a battery of drugs and sent home on metronidazole and a nice big feeding syringe to sustain her with but i'm just saying, if it's not that and kitty is constipated or blocked for whatever reason, that can get dangerous very quickly. keep a close eye on that litterbox.
 
Ashley doesn't seem to be blocked as she is still peeing and pooping. Her poop is not loose, but soft and pasty. She's been making one larger poop, then leaving the box, then couple of minutes later, back in the box and then a little bit comes out, sometimes she does this cycle again. She wasn't really drinking last night and i was afraid she was getting dehydrated. DH came home as I was going to bed and he did not like the way she looked. She's very weak and frail right now. He said her breathing looked labored. She was also just laying around...she'd just plop down wherever and not move. We made a little Zantac mixture with some cat food behind it and shot that down. She did the drooling thing again. She seemed to feel better this morning, a bit more on her feet and not laying around as much. She ate and drank nicely. I upped her dose again to 2.4 this morning.
 
And expressing those anal glands were something that my Shadoe DID NOT LIKE!
But after the indignities were over, she had like springs on the bottoms of her feet back at home.... nothing like cleaning out the poop chute for feeling better.

The vet visit did not sound like you got much of an exam out of the deal; did the vet at least examine the cat and poke around at all? Feel for stool or gas or something at all?
 
He poked around a little bit, but no findings. He based everything on what i told him and he also looked at her numbers, which i had with me. He told me to go up to 3U.

I also left the Metro out on the counter overnight. I'm on the phone with the vets office right now and they said it should be ok. I also told them about the Zantac mixture and the girl just told me to NEVER SELF MEDICATE an animal. She just put me on hold and i guess is checking into this. Ok, they told me that this was ok (about 1/8th of a 150mg pill), but not to do it again. YIKES!

I'm going home for lunch now to check on her.
 
Sheryl,

when I used that metro stuff, my cats drooled like crazy because it's nasty stuff.

I don't like that she didn't get a real exam or what seems like a cursory exam. You know if you want to go where I go, you will won't be treated like this - it's a bit up Rte 1 in Edison, but maybe worth the drive?

http://www.raritananimalhospital.com/index.html

I've seen Dr. Mason and Traurig and like them both.
 
Hi Hillary,

I know exactly where that is, just about on the corner of Plainfield Ave. & Rt. 27, right? That's not far for me at all. A bit less convenient and a longer car ride for Ashley, but i'm willing to sacrifice that for better treatment. I will look into going there next time.

Ashley, seems to be feeling better today, but still not great. I decided to go back to their original original food, which was for Dudley's crystals. It's the Royal Canin/Waltham Urinary SO cans. I was looking at one of the charts that Gator sent me and discovered the nutritional values are good for Ashley too. This should be much better because they both like it and it didn't hurt her belly. She gobbled it down tonight at dinner. Hopefully, the change won't make her feel worse...i just don't know how much worse it could have gotten...well i do actually, and hope it doesn't get to the explosive level. I'm feeling hopeful about this! Her numbers are still high though :sad: We'll see how the next few cycles go.
 
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