Beau went to specialist today - not doing great

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Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Member Since 2009
He has been having some neurological symptoms like twitching, feet splaying out, loss of balance and has been very grumpy and quick to lash out at me an the other cats - especially Cami. I thought that the adjusted thyroid med might help some of that, but it hasn't. Last week I was explaining his symptoms to the vet tech when I picked up some ABs for Cami and she said "that isn't normal aging". Since my regular vet has just shrugged their shoulders after getting good blood tests I decided to bring him to the specialist. He hadn't seen her for 10 years (she dx the HCM). Plus he has lost so much weight and is not gaining it back now that his thyroid is back down to normal.

Anyway, his blood pressure is normal, but he does have neurological issues in his walk, and other movements. She did a thorough exam testing his reflexes, eyesight, hearing and balance on both sides. His left side is a bit worse. She did an xray and it looks like everything inside is normal except he has mid to moderate arthritis in his lower spine. She thinks he has a degenerative brain disease of some type - something akin to Parkinson's or possibly a slow growing brain tumor of some kind. The only way to know for sure would be an MRI of his brain under anesthesia which is something I don't want to do (put him under anesthesia at the age of 15) plus I can't afford it and there really isn't anything that would change his treatment anyway. It would be the just knowing what is going on (maybe).

We are going to try pepcid in case he has low grade pancreatitis all the time causing pain and decreased appetite. He may have low grade IBD with mal-absorption. He is already getting enzymes and probiotics added to his food.

And we are also going to try gabapentin to see if a low dose will help his pain and maybe the neurological signs like twitching if there is some kind of electrical issue in his brain. He has not had a full blown seizure, but the jerks and head twitches could be related to petit mal seizures and gabapentin is used to treat seizure disorder in cats. I have no experience with this med - so I have to do my research on it now.

I just want him to be "happier". He just isn't himself a lot of the time.
 
Hope you can figure out what is going on with Beau. It can't be easy for you right now, with Cami not wanting to eat much either

Sending {{{{{{hugs}}}}}} your way and healing vines to Beau, better eating vines to Cami.
 
Poor little Beau :sad:

I hope the gaba help him to feel better. I know it helps Sneakers with her pain- she is much better on it than off it.
 
Heather, where do you get the gaba and in what form - and what dose does she get? (sorry - lots of questions)

The vet Rx'd 100mg tablet and 1/4 tab bid, but it looks like it doesn't come in a 100 mg tab, only a capsule. And the dose is supposed to be 1-2mg per pound for pain 2-3X daily. For Beau that would be 12-18 mg (yes, sadly, he only weighs 6 lbs now), which is way less than a 1/4 tab anyway.
 
Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
He has been having some neurological symptoms like twitching, feet splaying out, loss of balance and has been very grumpy and quick to lash out at me an the other cats - especially Cami. I thought that the adjusted thyroid med might help some of that, but it hasn't. Last week I was explaining his symptoms to the vet tech when I picked up some ABs for Cami and she said "that isn't normal aging". Since my regular vet has just shrugged their shoulders after getting good blood tests I decided to bring him to the specialist. He hadn't seen her for 10 years (she dx the HCM). Plus he has lost so much weight and is not gaining it back now that his thyroid is back down to normal.

Anyway, his blood pressure is normal, but he does have neurological issues in his walk, and other movements. She did a thorough exam testing his reflexes, eyesight, hearing and balance on both sides. His left side is a bit worse. She did an xray and it looks like everything inside is normal except he has mid to moderate arthritis in his lower spine. She thinks he has a degenerative brain disease of some type - something akin to Parkinson's or possibly a slow growing brain tumor of some kind. The only way to know for sure would be an MRI of his brain under anesthesia which is something I don't want to do (put him under anesthesia at the age of 15) plus I can't afford it and there really isn't anything that would change his treatment anyway. It would be the just knowing what is going on (maybe).

We are going to try pepcid in case he has low grade pancreatitis all the time causing pain and decreased appetite. He may have low grade IBD with mal-absorption. He is already getting enzymes and probiotics added to his food.

And we are also going to try gabapentin to see if a low dose will help his pain and maybe the neurological signs like twitching if there is some kind of electrical issue in his brain. He has not had a full blown seizure, but the jerks and head twitches could be related to petit mal seizures and gabapentin is used to treat seizure disorder in cats. I have no experience with this med - so I have to do my research on it now.

I just want him to be "happier". He just isn't himself a lot of the time.
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Sheila,
Has the vet mentioned phenobarbital for the seizures? I does help a great deal. I don't know of gaba being used for more than a chronic pain med, and I know that several acros and many older cats are getting gabapentin for pains and aches.

One acro that I was petsitting had a seizure that I captured to show the vet, and the cat was also twitching to certain sounds... he had issues when hearing crinkles from noisy bags like for potato chips. After the pheno was started, he did not have the twitches.

I'll ask the acro owners if they had gaba mentoned for seizures.

Gayle
 
Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
Heather, where do you get the gaba and in what form - and what dose does she get? (sorry - lots of questions)

The vet Rx'd 100mg tablet and 1/4 tab bid, but it looks like it doesn't come in a 100 mg tab, only a capsule. And the dose is supposed to be 1-2mg per pound for pain 2-3X daily. For Beau that would be 12-18 mg (yes, sadly, he only weighs 6 lbs now), which is way less than a 1/4 tab anyway.
Click to expand...

I don't think gaba is dosed on weight, at least it has not been for Oliver and a few other cats, but they get it for pains.

Oliver gets 25mg BID and he's around 21lb. A couple of Patti's cats get gaba but higher doses and the cats are smaller. Miss Nellie is teetery and gets 35mg BID. Other acros are getting higher doses.

I first got my gaba for Shadoe and Ollie in toronto and it was mixed in a syrup, but later just capsules.

Gayle

ETA: I would not go with a liquid mix because you can't be sure of an exact dose each time.
 
Charlie is on gabapentin, too, for his pain related to arthritis and spondylosis. It seems to take the edge off. We get it from our local pharmacy (just in a grocery store), it's on the "cheap list", so I get 60 pills (100mg each) for $4.95. I divide the powder into 3 servings of approximately 33 mg and give it BID. I started with about 50 mg but he seemed sleepy and drugged, so I dropped to about 25 mg, which didn't seem to do much at all. So we settled for the 33 mg. I hope this helps Beau feel more comfortable!
 
I got the 100mg capsules and get it from the vet- 500 capsules for $60. You can get it at petmeds.com but my vet doesn't like to go through them and I get a better deal at 500 than at 100. I think you can also get it at the pharmacy- I haven't checked to see if it would be in the $4 range drugs with the pharmacy card but I don't know if that would be just for a months worth of pills. It is considered a controlled narcotic in AR so a prescription is needed.

I don't think it is based on weight but level of pain. I started at 1/3 capsule BID (I open it up and use a razor blade to cut it and divvy it up into her medicine boxes like a druggie :roll: :oops: ) and during the winter I was giving her 1/2 capsule along with two capsules a day of cosequin to help against the pain of arthritis and the cold. I have backed her down to 1/3 capsule BID again with no ill effects (and cosequin down to 1 capsule a day) for the spring and summer.
 
Claudia and Heather, how do you "give" the divided powder? Do you mix it with something, sprinkle of food, or put it into another, smaller capsule? It is really looking like I need to go that route.

Gayle, Beau is not having seizures yet, or not at least major ones. The vet is unsure as to whether he is having very small ones, but I have not witnessed anything I would call a seizure. Mostly he has jerks and twitches of his head and front paws. The vet's thinking is that he has some pain and he has some neural "mis-firing" and that gaba might help with both of those.

Thanks for the information, everyone.
 
I mix it in her food- along with her cosequin and her mirilax.

She gets about 1 oz of food at shot time and that is when I dose her with her oral meds as well- the water helps dissolve it. After she finishes that I give her the rest of her food.
 
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