My first question is -- is it advisable to give a cat a shot if her numbers plummet during a cycle from over 500 to 86 and don't get back to higher than the low 200s by the start of the next cycle?
Second question -- she's thrown up meals twice this evening, and if she starts suddenly having trouble keeping her food down, should I give her shots at all, and is she in danger of dehydration?
I've been treating Pigpen with ProZinc since she was diagnosed over two weeks ago, 3.5 units per dose since the 15th. The curves have been pretty sluggish, lots of bouncing, lows mostly in the low to upper 200s and one reading of 169. The pre-shot numbers have averaged in the upper 400s.
Then, after the Saturday PM shot the numbers took a huge swing downward enough to worry me to the point of taking her over to the emergency vet for a quick eval. It went from over 500 at +1 to 188 at +5, after which I started keeping closer tabs. It went down to 118 a half-hour later, then I coaxed her into eating a meal. The numbers stayed flat for a half-hour, then she threw up the meal and the numbers started going back down again quickly -- 104, to 95, to 86 in twenty minutes, still on a downward trend, at a point in the cycle after which they had begun going up substantially. I guess I panicked a bit.
The numbers rebounded back into the 130s after the emergency vet visit and to 164 after the cat ate another meal. Then she threw that up, too, a half-hour later, and the numbers dropped back into the 130s. It's back up to 201, now at +10.
If the number doesn't get up out of the low 200s at shot time, I'm kinda scared to give her a full dose in light of what's happened today. I'm also kinda scared about the possibility of giving her a shot with her meal and then her throwing that up a half-hour later, in light of the plummet.
The emergency vet said to give her a full dose at shot time unless she doesn't eat anything at all -- then I should still give her a half-dose. This doesn't sound right to me.
But I don't know. Any advice would be welcome.
Second question -- she's thrown up meals twice this evening, and if she starts suddenly having trouble keeping her food down, should I give her shots at all, and is she in danger of dehydration?
I've been treating Pigpen with ProZinc since she was diagnosed over two weeks ago, 3.5 units per dose since the 15th. The curves have been pretty sluggish, lots of bouncing, lows mostly in the low to upper 200s and one reading of 169. The pre-shot numbers have averaged in the upper 400s.
Then, after the Saturday PM shot the numbers took a huge swing downward enough to worry me to the point of taking her over to the emergency vet for a quick eval. It went from over 500 at +1 to 188 at +5, after which I started keeping closer tabs. It went down to 118 a half-hour later, then I coaxed her into eating a meal. The numbers stayed flat for a half-hour, then she threw up the meal and the numbers started going back down again quickly -- 104, to 95, to 86 in twenty minutes, still on a downward trend, at a point in the cycle after which they had begun going up substantially. I guess I panicked a bit.
The numbers rebounded back into the 130s after the emergency vet visit and to 164 after the cat ate another meal. Then she threw that up, too, a half-hour later, and the numbers dropped back into the 130s. It's back up to 201, now at +10.
If the number doesn't get up out of the low 200s at shot time, I'm kinda scared to give her a full dose in light of what's happened today. I'm also kinda scared about the possibility of giving her a shot with her meal and then her throwing that up a half-hour later, in light of the plummet.
The emergency vet said to give her a full dose at shot time unless she doesn't eat anything at all -- then I should still give her a half-dose. This doesn't sound right to me.
But I don't know. Any advice would be welcome.
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