Steph & Cuddles (GA)
Very Active Member
Bandit had her vet appointment today for the stomatitis that hasn't been getting any better. I thought it had after her full mouth extraction last Sept.. and it HAS a bit.. but still really angry red, and hurting I'm sure. They didn't do x-rays, because, like I thought, it was more for the asthma. I think her asthma is fine.. it's the stomatitis that's really bothering her. She's still on pred.. but the vet wants to go back to pred every day for now, while also giving antibiotics. Every other day pred, has her doing that gagging/gurgling sound a little more often than while on it every day. (If she ever gets off pred, I do plan on giving her Flovent for the asthma. No use if she's still on pred tho.)
So... vet looked in her mouth & cringed. Says it still looks like hamburger back there. :sad: I can't imagine how that feels to swallow. & the fact that she's eating fine too. We talked about all the options, and she also has another kitty patient with bad stomatitis like Bandit.. and the extractions didn't do anything either. She said the only thing that's controlling it right now, is the depo medrol shot every 3 months. If that's what it takes to get her better, and pain free.. I'll do it! But not before exhausting all the other options. (she also said medrol pills would be another option too. said a higher chance of diabetes than the pred, but the depo medrol SHOT had an even higher chance of diabetes than the medrol pill.) My old vet had put Cuddles on the medrol pill for her allergies. She was on the pill every day for a good 1-2 years I believe, before becoming diabetic. Even tho my old vet didn't know what he was doing, and put her on W/D & insulin.. she did come off insulin with a diet switch.. even after getting insulin for almost 3 years.
She even went to the back, and searched on the VIN to see if there was any updated information about stomatitis. While she did that, I pulled up Lynette's stomatitis site on my phone (I printed it out, but forgot it at home!). http://www.felineoutreach.org/Education/Stomatitis.html when she came back in the room, I showed her the 'treatment' part, about using:
The most used meds for that, is doxy, or zythromax. I know the shelter uses doxy a LOT! If kittens get an infection/URI, they give doxy first, and most of the time it knocks it out. But if it doesn't, I believe they move onto zythromax, or more expensive antibiotics then. (shelters gotta do what's cheaper & works) I asked her which she thought would be better.. the doxy or zythro. She said it really didn't matter, but she thinks the zythro is a little easier on the stomach, and is SID, whereas doxy is BID. I know zythro's not that expensive, so I went with that. She gave me a prescription that I took into Costco, and had filled. She gave me 5 tablets, and Bandit gets 1/10 of a tablet, SID. :razz: LOL I'll be using the pill splitter in VERY good light tonight to get that figured out!
Meanwhile, she wants to continue the pred every day, to help with the inflammation. She even showed me under her lips, where her teeth used to be, there's still a thin line of bright red there. :sad: UGH! NO TEETH! Just very frustrating. It was hard for her to get in there & see, so there's no wonder why I didn't see it. (Has anyone tried to look at the gums of a toothless cat? There are lips, cheeks, tongue everywhere. LOL)
My question is..... while I was at Costco (wasting time, wandering around.. pharmacists all went to lunch at the same time & closed the pharmacy :roll: ) I was wandering around in the supplements/vitamins aisles, picking up some more allergy pills & such since I was there.. & saw CoQ10. I remembered seeing that on Lynette's site.. so I pulled it up again on my phone, and checked it out. Seemed like the same stuff.. so I bought a bottle. (nearly $20 for a bottle. eek) The stuff I got is 100mg, and 130 softgels. The brand is TruNature. They had another bottle that was something like 300mg! But it only came with 75 softgels! (& were way bigger) I wasn't sure the dose, so I got the smaller ones, and can always double up if I need to.
But does anyone know if the CoQ10 shouldn't be given while I'm trying the pred & zythro? I'd hate to make it less effective, or interact with something. She does want to see Bandit again in a week.. so I think I'll give the pred & zythro a try for a week at least.. then if that's not working, then go on to the CoQ10.
She saw the part where she talked about pain management, and anti inflammatory.. and said just to keep her on the pred, and that should be enough. Said pred is anti-inflammatory.. so we'll keep her on that, while we give the zythro a try. She did mention clindamycin for a month, then clavamox for another month.. but that was before she talked to Dr Dutton about that hemobartonella stuff.
I know there's not lots of info out there, or even much known about stomatitis... but I'm desperate here, and you never know what might spark someone's memory or who may see this who didn't see the updates before.
OH! & sorry for adding this if it doesn't have anything to do with this.. but being jobless, and flying through my severance pay.. I was thinking about changing at least most of my cats to dry Wellness CORE, or some other non-grain (lower carb) food. At least until I get another job. I have 4 cats that are eating over a case of Friskies a week! :shock: & I've tried going cheaper with the wet.. believe me. :/ Sophistacat, 9-Lives, Special Kitty, etc.. they won't touch it. grrr! I asked the vet about the dry vs the wet w/ Bandit, and she said if she'll eat it, then not a big deal. I know she will, because I've run out before, and gave some CORE (that I'm feeding a stray right now) and they all went NUTS over it! Especially Bandit! Didn't seem to slow her down.. she obviously didn't chew it, but didn't seem to bother her throat any more than wet does. (she seems to LICK the wet food more, and takes longer to eat it.. I wonder if that's more painful since she has to swallow so often while licking the wet food?) I may still have to buy a case here & there of the Friskies for Cher. I don't want her to balloon up again. But thinking of giving the other 3 some dry/grain free food for now, to save money.
PLEASE.. any insights/suggestions welcome!
So... vet looked in her mouth & cringed. Says it still looks like hamburger back there. :sad: I can't imagine how that feels to swallow. & the fact that she's eating fine too. We talked about all the options, and she also has another kitty patient with bad stomatitis like Bandit.. and the extractions didn't do anything either. She said the only thing that's controlling it right now, is the depo medrol shot every 3 months. If that's what it takes to get her better, and pain free.. I'll do it! But not before exhausting all the other options. (she also said medrol pills would be another option too. said a higher chance of diabetes than the pred, but the depo medrol SHOT had an even higher chance of diabetes than the medrol pill.) My old vet had put Cuddles on the medrol pill for her allergies. She was on the pill every day for a good 1-2 years I believe, before becoming diabetic. Even tho my old vet didn't know what he was doing, and put her on W/D & insulin.. she did come off insulin with a diet switch.. even after getting insulin for almost 3 years.
She even went to the back, and searched on the VIN to see if there was any updated information about stomatitis. While she did that, I pulled up Lynette's stomatitis site on my phone (I printed it out, but forgot it at home!). http://www.felineoutreach.org/Education/Stomatitis.html when she came back in the room, I showed her the 'treatment' part, about using:
She said there wasn't much more on the VIN (veterinary information network), but talked with another one of the vets (Dr Dutton for those who knows Blue Cross. I saw Dr Bennett today.) Dr Dutton was telling her about the thinking that it could be something in the bloodstream that causes this kind of reaction.. I put it in my phone so I'd remember! LOL Hemobartonella?? She said it's also called something else, but couldn't remember it. I haven't googled much yet (just got home a bit ago & ate).. but will start researching it.
The most used meds for that, is doxy, or zythromax. I know the shelter uses doxy a LOT! If kittens get an infection/URI, they give doxy first, and most of the time it knocks it out. But if it doesn't, I believe they move onto zythromax, or more expensive antibiotics then. (shelters gotta do what's cheaper & works) I asked her which she thought would be better.. the doxy or zythro. She said it really didn't matter, but she thinks the zythro is a little easier on the stomach, and is SID, whereas doxy is BID. I know zythro's not that expensive, so I went with that. She gave me a prescription that I took into Costco, and had filled. She gave me 5 tablets, and Bandit gets 1/10 of a tablet, SID. :razz: LOL I'll be using the pill splitter in VERY good light tonight to get that figured out!
Meanwhile, she wants to continue the pred every day, to help with the inflammation. She even showed me under her lips, where her teeth used to be, there's still a thin line of bright red there. :sad: UGH! NO TEETH! Just very frustrating. It was hard for her to get in there & see, so there's no wonder why I didn't see it. (Has anyone tried to look at the gums of a toothless cat? There are lips, cheeks, tongue everywhere. LOL)
My question is..... while I was at Costco (wasting time, wandering around.. pharmacists all went to lunch at the same time & closed the pharmacy :roll: ) I was wandering around in the supplements/vitamins aisles, picking up some more allergy pills & such since I was there.. & saw CoQ10. I remembered seeing that on Lynette's site.. so I pulled it up again on my phone, and checked it out. Seemed like the same stuff.. so I bought a bottle. (nearly $20 for a bottle. eek) The stuff I got is 100mg, and 130 softgels. The brand is TruNature. They had another bottle that was something like 300mg! But it only came with 75 softgels! (& were way bigger) I wasn't sure the dose, so I got the smaller ones, and can always double up if I need to.
But does anyone know if the CoQ10 shouldn't be given while I'm trying the pred & zythro? I'd hate to make it less effective, or interact with something. She does want to see Bandit again in a week.. so I think I'll give the pred & zythro a try for a week at least.. then if that's not working, then go on to the CoQ10.
She saw the part where she talked about pain management, and anti inflammatory.. and said just to keep her on the pred, and that should be enough. Said pred is anti-inflammatory.. so we'll keep her on that, while we give the zythro a try. She did mention clindamycin for a month, then clavamox for another month.. but that was before she talked to Dr Dutton about that hemobartonella stuff.
I know there's not lots of info out there, or even much known about stomatitis... but I'm desperate here, and you never know what might spark someone's memory or who may see this who didn't see the updates before.
OH! & sorry for adding this if it doesn't have anything to do with this.. but being jobless, and flying through my severance pay.. I was thinking about changing at least most of my cats to dry Wellness CORE, or some other non-grain (lower carb) food. At least until I get another job. I have 4 cats that are eating over a case of Friskies a week! :shock: & I've tried going cheaper with the wet.. believe me. :/ Sophistacat, 9-Lives, Special Kitty, etc.. they won't touch it. grrr! I asked the vet about the dry vs the wet w/ Bandit, and she said if she'll eat it, then not a big deal. I know she will, because I've run out before, and gave some CORE (that I'm feeding a stray right now) and they all went NUTS over it! Especially Bandit! Didn't seem to slow her down.. she obviously didn't chew it, but didn't seem to bother her throat any more than wet does. (she seems to LICK the wet food more, and takes longer to eat it.. I wonder if that's more painful since she has to swallow so often while licking the wet food?) I may still have to buy a case here & there of the Friskies for Cher. I don't want her to balloon up again. But thinking of giving the other 3 some dry/grain free food for now, to save money.
PLEASE.. any insights/suggestions welcome!
