Cami: AC Dawn Allen and T4 results

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Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Member Since 2009
Her T4 was slightly low (0.7). My vet said they don't normally do anything about that with cats. I guess it's more necessary with dogs, but I do know that when Beau's T4 goes low on his medication, he gets grumpy. So I need to look into this further.

Cami did not seem to have pain in her paws when the vet used aggressive palpitation, however, Dawn said that Cami does feel pain in her paws (like nerve/phantom pain) and is uncomfortable (physically) in general and feels stiff (more so than she did before coming here). She suggested homeopathic remedies like hypericum for the paw pain and perhaps a chiropractic adjustment for her spine. She did not sense any other health issues.

Additionally, Dawn said that Cami feels "hassled" by me when I test her BG and give shots, but tried to communicate to Cami that these things are necessary. Cami does not have any particular issues with the other cats and she loves me as much as she is able to love anyone currently after what she has been through.

So, I am not sure that any of this stuff actually changes anything - although I am going to look into the hypericum and do some research on using it for this purpose. I think hypericum is St John's Wort. Maybe if that pain is dealt with Cami will feel better and more confident - and will use her LB more.

Starting yesterday she is leaving food in her dish, so I guess she is getting "sated" finally.
 
Sheila, when Ebony first adopted me it was after many months at the Humane Society in a cold metal cage. Before that I know she wasn't too well cared for. The HS staff told me the woman who surrendered her had "issues."

Dawn told me that Ebony was as happy as she could be, that she really didn't know how to be happy. It was heartbreaking to hear, but that was a year and a half ago. Today Ebony is off insulin and she is truly happy. She lays on the bed with her belly exposed. I swear I can see her smile when she head butts me for kisses.

I know Cami had it rough, but in time, once she learns to trust you, I think things will be great.

One of my own DCIN adopted kitties also has paw pain, or had. He sometimes has some difficulty but most of the time he's fine. Oddly, he loves cardboard scratching posts even though he's declawed. Perhaps being able to stretch out his paws helps. I wonder if something like glucosamine or Dasequin might help Cami. I believe hypericum is used for depression in people. Have you seen IVAPM? http://www.ivapm.org/
From their site "The International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management is a unique organization dedicated to advancing the field of pain management in animals."
 
So Cami is in good health, overall? That is great news! Leaving food in her dish is also great news because she's not only feeling sated but she's trusting that there will be more food when she wants it! Yea!

I don't know what kind of litter you're currently using, but have you considered switching hers to something else? If you use scented, try unscented. If you use unscented, maybe some baking powder added to the litter would help keep odors down. Maybe find out what kind of litter her previous owner used so she feels more at home in the litter box? I'm lucky that my boys aren't terribly picky about what litter I use.

As for Cami feeling "hassled" by testing and shooting, tell her to join the crowd! *LOL* I'll bet Pumbaa would give an AC an earful!

Since I started giving Beck fish oil about a year ago, her signs of arthritis have disappeared. It also helped that I put her on a totally different diet and she's lost over 5 lbs. since May.

That's sad about the late-in-life declawing and the phantom paw pain. Hope you find something that helps.

Suze
 
Poor Cami!

At least you know what is going on with her now and can work on how to fix it.

The rest will just take time.
 
Jennifer, thanks for sharing about Ebony - that gives me more hope that, in time, Cami will be able to enjoy her life and just be a cat.

Hypericum is used for depression in humans - as well as animals, but there is some evidence that it has analgesic qualities and anti-viral qualities in animals. However, I am having trouble finding the "science" behind those statements. There was a paper published, that everyone either copies or quotes, by a DVM, but tracing back to the original doesn't reveal studies or footnotes, so I am leery.

Since this is nerve pain, not actual mechanical pain, I wonder if M b12 would help? She doesn't seem to have the standard diabetic neuropathy symptoms (as I know them) like walking on her hocks, but her back legs are stiff and she walks gingerly on her front paws. She does jump up on things. I think that is easier/more comfortable than jumping down. I was watching her get down from the testing table and she seemed hesitant and landed a bit awkwardly. Up till now, she has flown off the table as soon as I release her and run into the kitchen for more food. I think that food drive overrode the discomfort.

She did something cute this morning, which I think is a bit of her normal personality coming out. She came up to the bed when I woke up and meowed so I reached down and patted her and she purred, but then turned and walked toward the kitchen and meowed. When I didn't immediately get up, she came back and repeated the process - and kept doing it until I actually went into the kitchen and got her food ready.

It does seem like she is otherwise healthy - other than untreated FD for months, declaw pain and emotional issues, that is.
 
Just take it in baby steps hon and Cami will turn around again. Autumn has been with us about 7 months now and she is just really starting to show her true personality, and I can still look at her chart and see every upheaval in our household. From every minor disagreement with raised voices to the loss of Onyx. When the household is calm and smooth sailing she runs low, but the moment there is the slightest upset she shoots for the moon. Her personality runs the same way, the slightest upset in the energy in the house and she is growly and hissy but let everything be calm and she is coming for headbutts and wanting to sit on our laps.

You probably have more history on Cami than I do on Autumn but I have to suspect that at some point at least in Autumn's life she was in a home where nothing was stable and the energy was always chaotic so she goes into fight mode out of self protection. Cami will also settle down once she relearns to relax and that she has nothing to defend herself against...She just needs to learn to love and be loved again...trust can be a hard fought battle with these babies, but it is so worth it. :-D

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
It took me over 5 months to "break" Bo after he returned (2 weeks later) after being trapped and neutered. Now he comes in the house, rubs on my legs, hops on the bed... as much freedom as I'll allow. Any time one of our babies comes from either a shelter or the wild, that trust issue is a huge hurdle. Give yourself plenty of time - they eventually come around. You're doing a great thing... just remember, baby steps.
 
Mel, did you do anything for Autumn's paw pain (I think I remember you saying that Dawn said it was an issue for her)? I am trying to find a treatment that is safe and effective.

Lu Anne was Bo a growler and hisser at first? It took a long time with my Beau too, but he never growled or hissed at me or the other cats. He actually hissed at toys a few times when he was playing with them - still does.

Cami is making progress. She did that "wake up and feed me" call and purring this morning and then, after she threw up the strange object (see other thread with link to health post and photos), I was scratching her neck and asking if she was OK and she started purring. I sat down next to her and tried to coax her onto my lap, but she just head butted my arm. I ended up putting her on my lap and she stayed and purred for 10 mins.

She did, however, pee on my LR rug tonight right before shot time. And then her BG was 106 at pmPS.
 
Sheila,

We really haven't done anything special for Autumn's phantom pain in her paws because it doesn't seem to matter that much to her, her biggest concerns at the time was not so much that she has twinges in her paws from time to time but that she was shaved. She equated not having her pretty fur to not being pretty at all and that if you weren't pretty you get hurt. When she spoke with Dawn she told her that because she wasn't the pretty one that the beans made her feet hurt because she had been playing with the "pretty one" and scratched her so because she wasn't pretty and the other one was they made her paws hurt. Autumn even made a point of asking Dawn who the new pretty one was here, and when I had Dawn tell her that I thought that they were all beautiful in their own special ways that noone was prettier than anyone else, Autumn just couldn't understand that...she felt that someone had to be the prettiest and thus receive special treatment. (Just so sad for her to feel like that).

Autumn also worried that without her front claws she wouldn't be able to stand up for herself with all the other cats, thus her initial aggression to everyone. She tried to buffalo them all away from the resources before they realized she couldn't really hurt them. Once she realized that not only would the other cats not attack her, that if they tried to crowd her off her food mom would step in she has relaxed remarkably. Autumn still even after 7 months has some of those aggressive tendencies but I see them more now when she is startled or surprised by something. Like last night Autumn came in to the livingroom from the kitchen and didn't realized that Duvessa was laying on my desk chair. (Now Duvessa and Autumn often snuggle together) So Autumn went to jump on the chair and Duvessa simply raised her head and Autumn hissed, slapped and ran the off. Same thing happened the other night with Arabella and Autumn when Autumn got on the bed and Arabella was under the covers, when Arabella poked her head out from under the covers Autumn freaked out and hissed and growled, then slapped. At least with Autumn it seems like her Fight or Flight responce is stuck on Fight. She backs down to nothing, but often she goes into fight mode over something that should either not provoke a response at all or over something that simply leaving would settle. It is slowly reverting back to normal cat behavior but she still has her moments when she is still a hissy, growly, slappy demon.

She is a very slow work in progress and losing Onyx has been a set back for her, he was her champion and the one that she was the closest too, I think mostly because they were the closest in age as well. Because there is no way in the world that she is the 5 years old that she was listed as, I'm betting she is closer to 16 or 17 just by behavior and other health issues, like her bowed spine. Now the Cosamine (sp?) that we give her for her back may also be helping with her paws but that isn't why we started her on it in the beginning.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Thanks, Mel. Yes, I remember the "pretty one" story about her declaw episode. When I told Dawn that Cami had been declawed a year ago she said her heart stopped for a second. It is the one thing that makes me so angry about her original people.

Do you mean Cosequin? That's what comes up when I search "cosamine". I wonder if that would help with Cami's "stiffness" that Dawn said she felt? I think arthritis is really common in declawed cats because of the change in joint alignment to compensate for the loss of their natural balance. Also, with the cold coming on and no body fat she has no warmth or padding. I was envisoning knitting her a little sweater yesterday...
 
Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
Do you mean Cosequin?
Click to expand...
Yep that is it, I had to go grab the bottle to check. But that is what Autumn gets when she gets really stiff. I also have one of those heated desk chair thingys that I turn on for Autumn on really cold days and lay it on the couch for her. It seems to help her alot. I can tell when she is really stiff because she walks like an old woman. :roll: Although body fat/padding isn't Autumn's problem anymore.. :lol: :lol: She has plenty of padding now. I need to get new pictures of her but she disappears on every piece of furniture around here..as she has natural camo on now that her fur has grown back. :lol:

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
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