Budesonide, was going well, now not so well?

Merfles

Merfles

Member Since 2025
Alright, update on Bee, since being on budesonide for about 3 weeks now. It took a bit to make a difference, but seemed to be working. I had to be gone for a trip, and when I got home his poops were much improved, and he seemed pretty perky. I knew he needed his insulin raised, but didn't do it before the trip, because I had a friend watching him that couldn't deal with that.
So I raised him to 1.5u when I got home, it's been a few days, and it's like the insulin is doing virtually nothing. He's back to feeling bad again, lowered appetite, soft stool, vomited bad smelling bile and pooped while laying down on the bathroom floor last night.
There's two things I did that I did that may have contributed; I gave him chicken pate one time, and I tried crushing his budesonide to make it easier to dose him. The chicken might have upset his guts (he'd been getting turkey and giblets, or whitefish and tuna pate), and crushing the pill might have messed up how it works maybe? I went back to turkey, and gave him his pill whole again, but ugh.
Do I need to give him more time? Do I need to raise his dose again? Maybe his pancreas is flaring up? He's been running so high, the insulin isn't taking it down, it's really worrying me. I don't want him to end up with ketoacidosis. I just tested ketones, and it's at .5 currently...
 
I do think Bee needs more insulin so it was good that you raised the dose. Since you're following SLGS (or at least that's what's on your spreadsheet), you need to give the insulin a chance to work. It takes a minimum of 3 days for the depot to catch up with a dose change. Also, if there's any sort of inflammation or infection, it tends to raise blood glucose levels.

Forgive me for not remembering but is the budesonide prescribed for IBD? Whatever it's prescribed for, it's helpful to have the information in your signature. If it's for IBD, have you tried novel proteins? My IBD kitty has problems with all poultry. Poultry, beef, and fish can all be sensitivities for IBD kitties. I'd consider venison, rabbit, or other proteins.

If pancreatitis is the issue, can you tell if Bee is in pain? Pancreatitis can be incredibly painful so you may need to get a pain med from your vet.

One other thought, is there any chance the friend who was cat sitting was over doing it with treats? This happened to me at the vet's office. One of the techs was being very generous with treats for my IBD kitty. She hadn't noticed the note in the chart about no chicken. The treats were chicken. Needless to say, Gizmo was not a happy camper for a couple of days.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I do think Bee needs more insulin so it was good that you raised the dose. Since you're following SLGS (or at least that's what's on your spreadsheet), you need to give the insulin a chance to work. It takes a minimum of 3 days for the depot to catch up with a dose change. Also, if there's any sort of inflammation or infection, it tends to raise blood glucose levels.

Forgive me for not remembering but is the budesonide prescribed for IBD? Whatever it's prescribed for, it's helpful to have the information in your signature. If it's for IBD, have you tried novel proteins? My IBD kitty has problems with all poultry. Poultry, beef, and fish can all be sensitivities for IBD kitties. I'd consider venison, rabbit, or other proteins.

If pancreatitis is the issue, can you tell if Bee is in pain? Pancreatitis can be incredibly painful so you may need to get a pain med from your vet.

One other thought, is there any chance the friend who was cat sitting was over doing it with treats? This happened to me at the vet's office. One of the techs was being very generous with treats for my IBD kitty. She hadn't noticed the note in the chart about no chicken. The treats were chicken. Needless to say, Gizmo was not a happy camper for a couple of days.
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I raised his dose at his 3pm shot on the 2nd, so it could need more time, but it's reaaaally not looking like it's working so far. The budesonide is for IBD yes, I updated my signature, thanks for reminding me!

I can put him back onto venison Tiki pate (if he doesn't refuse it), but I haven't been able to get him on anything but the chicken Dr. Elsey's kibble. I tried adding (turkey, salmon, or duck) to the mix, and it caused severe bowel upset immediately 😑 I don't imagine my friend gave him anything extra. Guess I'll run to the store for more Tiki venison (also has beef liver though), and see if amazon has the Elsey's rabbit kibble back in stock yet but that also has some chicken in it. Seems like everything has something in it that isn't novel...

He isn't hiding, but I can't rule out pain, he definitely didn't feel good last night.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
How's he doing?
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Thanks for checking on him...
He's all over the place still *sigh*. Now I'm dealing with a nightmare with the vet and his refill. They use a third party pharmacy that I had to get his first fill from, it was extremely overpriced, and I found it for less on Chewy. I ordered it Sunday, so they would have the request first thing Monday (I had 7 days of meds left, cut it too close I guess), it's been four days and the vet hasn't responded to Chewy, and he's going to run out of budesonide. I started giving him a half pill yesterday to buy some time, which is going to mess him up. I'm freaking out. His glucose was freaking 112 this morning, I assume from giving him half a pill yesterday, but who knows with this cat. I gave him a reduced dose this morning because he was so low *sigh*. His stool has been all over the place, his insulin still doesn't seem to be doing hardly anything, I don't know what to do at this point. I was going to raise him again this PM shot, but now I have to hold off again until the vet authorizes the effing refill. I'm sitting at my desk at work, trying not to cry, worrying about him...
 
I would keep calling and bugging the vet and their staff about the refill. Most vets seem to default to Wedgewood Pharmacy for compounded medicine. They may not be aware of Chewy's pharmacy. A local compounding pharmacy may be an option. I get Leroy's budesonide from a local veterinary compounding place.
 
squeem3 said:
I would keep calling and bugging the vet and their staff about the refill. Most vets seem to default to Wedgewood Pharmacy for compounded medicine. They may not be aware of Chewy's pharmacy. A local compounding pharmacy may be an option. I get Leroy's budesonide from a local veterinary compounding place.
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Yep, it's Wedgewood that they use. I wouldn't mind paying the $36 from them, but then they tack on a $10 'handling' fee, and $9.50 for shipping 30 pills. Chewy is $21 for 30 pills. They're definitely aware of Chewy, as they charge $5 for filling through them 🙄 Uuugh. It's almost like they're trying to force me into using Wedgewood...
 
My vet finally responded to Chewy today, not sure how long shipping will take, so I'm going to do a full pill today, then a half tomorrow, then a full one...
But I'm not sure wtf is going on with him today, he was only at 112 this morning (gave him a reduced dose), and as of 3pm he's at freaking 93! What in the world is going on!? 😳 I feel like I should give him a tiny dose still?? He hasn't been going below 200 for a while now, I do not know what to make of this, I'm very concerned!
 
Those are great numbers! Please do what you can to get some tests during the cycle -- not just your pre-test numbers. You don't know if your kitty will need a dose reduction based on only your pre-shot numbers. Also, changing doses in the way you're doing so may result in wonky numbers. With Lantus, you need to let the depot stabilize.
 
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