Cami spent the day at the vet (Mon). And AGAIN on Weds.

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Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Member Since 2009
She was fine in the morning, cuddled in bed and after my shower, slept on the ottoman after testing and treats. I had noticed that she didn't poop as much yesterday and only one very small piece overnight. Then she suddenly started throwing up and straining to poop, then would lay on her side and push at the air with her back feet. It looked a lot like a seizure or convulsion and she growled at me when I tried to touch her. I was afraid she was dying - like something ruptured inside.

I called the vet she has been seeing and talked to the vet tech (who I have to say was remiss in saying "it could be something fatal" to me on the phone in such a situation). I took her right over. She was able to pass a robin's egg-sized poop on the way there and immediately seemed better. It turns out she was severely constipated. They gave her fluids, anti-nausea meds, did xrays and 3 enemas and started her on lactalose. I brought her home in the evening, somewhat cleaned out, but she didn't pass all the stool that was there.

The vet said she was doing really well with all the other stuff and her resp and heart rates were good when she really expected both to be elevated from the discomfort. I asked about the PD/PU so they were also going to try and get a urine sample to check USG, but I don't know if they were able to. Vet also thinks that she probably doesn't have lymphoma because she has responded so well to the treatments so far.

For now, I have to give her lactalose bid and something ($$ and compounded) for motility and pumpkin if she will eat it. She hasn't passed any more stool tonight yet, but is eating and her BG was 100 tonight.

I really thought she was going to die lying there pushing at the air. It was so much like when my Charlotte died at home a few years ago. It actually was a lot like when they are in labor where they have contractions and sort of straighten their legs to bare down. It really didn't look like she was initiating the "pushing". Very scary.
 
Re: Cami spent the day at the vet (Mon).

((((((Sheila & Cami)))))))

How scary indeed! Poor baby girl she has been through so much, but at least now she has a wonderful momma bean to take excellent care of her. Hopefully they will finally get to the bottom of all the stuff that is going on with her and start getting some of it resolved, so she can finally start feeling better and just get to be a loving kitty that she so wants to be.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Re: Cami spent the day at the vet (Mon).

(((((Sheila and Cami)))))

Reading your post resonated with me in a big way - much of what you and Cami are going through is what I went through with Harley. If you find that Cami needs the lactulose long term, it's available for $4 from Wal-Mart in the 750ml size. Your vet can call in a script. Since Harley needed a large dose, I used the 10mg / 15ml size also from Wal-Mart which I think was about $10ish back in January of 2012. I was going to offer you Harley's last bottle that I still have but it's waaaaay past expiration and has become quite "chunky." Sorry. :sad:

For Harley, I found that lactulose worked best. Pumpkin actually gave him diarrhea. Maybe he was sensitive to the plant fibers and cellulose and they didn't agree with his IBD. Another option is Miralax - if Cami will let you add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp Miralax to her food with 2-3 Tbsp of water BID, that might be less stressful on both of you. Harley refused to let me mix anything in his food so we had to do everything by mouth, if possible, and more often, by injection. (I'm surprised he let me medicate him for as long as he did. cat_pet_icon) Is she getting extra fluids either SubQ or via water along with the lactulose?

Is the compounded $$ medication Cissipride? That's supposed to be a good one for motility. On the holistic side, Slippery Elm Bark can be given as a motility aid. Tanya's CRF site has a write up on it if you are interested on where to buy and dosing.

Hang in there and give each other lots of lovin's.

:YMHUG:
 
Re: Cami spent the day at the vet (Mon).

Poor Cami :cry: It seems she is getting more and more stuff coming up.

Maybe she is trying to pass some more of the plant matter as it seems to still be in her system somewhere.

I give Sneakers the Kroger brand of Mirilax- 1/4 tsp BID.
 
Re: Cami spent the day at the vet (Mon).

I had to take her to the ER vet this morning at 6am for the same symptoms. Much, much more expensive. Sigh. They are doing all the same things, except IV fluids for the day.

Laura, I am kicking myself for not bringing home a bag of fluids on Monday. I think it would have prevented today's visit. Yes, it is cissipride that is being compounded. I hope it helps. Thanks for the tips on Slippery Elm, I know I read that somewhere in my IBD searching for my aunt's cat. Were you ears burning this am? I was telling the tech about you meeting me for Jeddie's biopsy and handing my a large bag saying "you're going to need this" with the fluids, tubing and needles. I was wishing you have been with me Monday! You probable would have told me to get fluids...

The ER vet started talking about mega colon, so I have to go look that up.

I just hope she is going to be ok. They may still have to give anesthesia and manually extract the stool. Motility won't help if the stool is hard and too big to pass.

Please keep good thoughts for her. She is being such a good girl about all this even in as much pain as I am sure she was in.
 
Oh Honey!!!!

Tons of prayers on their way for our most special girl...Come on Cami you just have to get better for momma. But Sheila have to say that with all that is going on with her I am so glad she is in your hands, I can only imagine how much she would have been allowed to suffer if you hadn't adopted her and she would have stayed with her original people. She couldn't have landed more softly. Now I just pray that she has enough strength to pull though all this and you two have so many more healthy, happy years ahead together.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Awwww, thanks, Sheila, I'm blushing. :oops:

You know the best site for feline constipation/mega-colon is Pat Erickson's bible: www.felineconstipation.org. It's where I learned how to treat Harley.

I'm at work until 5 PM, but if you want I can get you a care package of 2 bags Lactated Ringers, 1 bag of 0.9% Sodium Chloride, 3 admin. lines and a handful of 20 and 21 gauge needles. Plus I have an unopened bottle of Super Vitamin B Complex (which if you read on Pat's site, the gut needs B Vitamins for nerve function and a severely constipated cat isn't absorbing any B vitamins in their gut from their food which takes a bad problem and makes it progressively worse). In the interest of full disclosure, this bottle expired January 2013 but has the seal still intact so it's still good. If you don't want to take a chance on the IV B's you can buy Jarrows low odor B-Right Vitamin B complex on Amazon or iHerb and use 1/10 of a capsule daily.

In addition to fluids, Cissipride, and lactulose you are going to need more buprenex. I wish I had some to give back to you but my cupboard is completely bare. Poor baby girl has got to be hurting and if she's hurting she won't be able to pass any stool and then you'll be back at the vet again. If they are thinking mega-colon, I have my doubts that pumpkin is going to do any good. It works great for dogs though. The Slippery Elm Bark is great for soothing an inflamed and upset GI tract but is not good enough to be a stand-alone treatment for severe constipation/mega-colon.

Sorry this is so short and terse, I've got to get back to work but will keep checking this thread. If you still have my number, please call me if you want any of these thing I mentioned.

(((Hugs))) and hang in there!
 
Laura, you are an absolute angle!

Right now I am trying to talk them out of the rest of the IV bag (and tubing) that they started her on there (at $90 flicking dollars!). I mean, I bought it, I own it, right? That will get me through a while as I am sure they won't use more than 200-300 IF she stays overnight. I still have some #20 needles from your care package last year. But I will let you know if this is going to be ongoing - and will take you up on the offer. Maybe we can meet for coffee again too.

I actually have some bupe from my sister. I was trying to find it a good home through DCIN, but my sister never mailed it and gave it to me instead. It's not much, but might be enough for several days.

And I have been giving her (and Beau) B12 shots since January, once a week. Subq is absorbed better than oral forms.

The only update I have is that she passed a large piece of stool after the first enema, but nothing since. They were going to take an xray to see what's there.
 
Sheila,

Let me know as well if this is going to be on going with the sub-q fluids because I have about a dozen needles here as well leftover from both Musette and Autumn and would be more than happy to donate them to Cami to get her feeling better.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Thanks, Mel.

Just spoke to vet. Xray shows (possible) some fluid in her abdomen and a lot of stool in the colon that looks softer, but nothing in the rectum itself. She will get another enema and then some gentle massage to try and break things up and move them along.

This vet seems good, but she also seems to want to spend my money on things like ultrasound to see it it IS fluid and then aspirate some and test it if it is and staying overnight tonight. And she is already talking like this is definitely megacolon and will need ongoing management and possible surgery. And that she has renal insufficiency and possible heart disease and those will need ongoing management. While those things may/may not be true (too soon to tell on most of them, I think), they aren't the priority today.

On top of all of this, I am worried about Beau, who I think needs his methimazole dose adjusted, a check up with full blood work and might be showing signs of IBD as well. He vomits foam every few days and occasionally an entire meal. I need to get him to a vet.
 
Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
Right now I am trying to talk them out of the rest of the IV bag (and tubing) that they started her on there (at $90 flicking dollars!). I mean, I bought it, I own it, right? That will get me through a while as I am sure they won't use more than 200-300 IF she stays overnight. I still have some #20 needles from your care package last year. But I will let you know if this is going to be ongoing - and will take you up on the offer. Maybe we can meet for coffee again too.
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Didn't you know? $90 is how much it costs to "rent" a bag of IV's at an ER vet. :shock: Not funny, I know. Here's hoping you can get them to agree to let you take the bag home. Tell them you can buy a whole case of 10 bags from Costco for less than $30 which is 1/3 the price of that one bag and you are unemployed...

Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
I actually have some bupe from my sister. I was trying to find it a good home through DCIN, but my sister never mailed it and gave it to me instead. It's not much, but might be enough for several days.
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I guess things work out for a reason, you were meant to have the bupe because now you need it. Silver linings...gotta find them where you can.

Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
And I have been giving her (and Beau) B12 shots since January, once a week. Subq is absorbed better than oral forms.
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B12 is good and for kidney/mega-colon issues, B Complex has the whole range of water-soluable B vitamins. D'oh, thank you for reminding me that vitamin B adsorption is better via SubQ than the oral route. See how much I forget when I'm not caring for a diabetic/heart/kidney/IBD (maybe cancer)/constipated/pancreatitis kitty anymore? ;-) :razz:

Sheila & Beau & Jeddie (GA) said:
The only update I have is that she passed a large piece of stool after the first enema, but nothing since. They were going to take an xray to see what's there.
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Just spoke to vet. Xray shows (possible) some fluid in her abdomen and a lot of stool in the colon that looks softer, but nothing in the rectum itself. She will get another enema and then some gentle massage to try and break things up and move them along.

This vet seems good, but she also seems to want to spend my money on things like ultrasound to see it it IS fluid and then aspirate some and test it if it is and staying overnight tonight. And she is already talking like this is definitely megacolon and will need ongoing management and possible surgery. And that she has renal insufficiency and possible heart disease and those will need ongoing management. While those things may/may not be true (too soon to tell on most of them, I think), they aren't the priority today.
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Hooray for poo and it's good that they are X-raying to make sure it's actually clear, and making sure she poops before sending her home. Sounds like this vet is being thorough which is good but they don't know which kind of client you will be - the one who has deep pockets and will say "Yes" to all the things they suggest because you need to know what's going on right now, or the more methodical owner who wants to take one thing at a time. When they throw all that information at me like that I have to ask the vet to prioritize which items are needed to solve the problem I came in for and which can wait until I can follow up with my local vet.

Whatever you decide to do, Cami is lucky to have you as her mom!
 
Cami is staying overnight. She is doing much better and passed a good quantity of stool at about 6pm, but still has some in there. She is eating and is better hydrated, but still not fully hydrated. It seemed like a safer bet to leave her there for continued IV fluids, probably another enema and pain meds if needed - and let me get some sleep. I'll pick her up at 9am tomorrow.

I visited with her for about a half hour, brought her food and the cisapride so they could start that tonight. She was alert, a little fussy, a little anxious about the noises in the hallway (A bird was raising a ruckus), but finally settled on my lap and purred. She likes to put her face in the crook of my elbow and purr - always starting on the exhalation of a big sigh - so she did that. The vet was very happy with how she has responded to treatments today.

So, fingers crossed for my little spitfire. cat_pet_icon
 
Party for poop!
party_cat

What a great update, except for the part where she has to stay the night, but it's understandable why. IV's are like magic and will really perk her up. When she comes home tomorrow you might find a completely different cat.

The description of how she hides her head in your armpit brought tears to my eyes. Gouda (GA) used to do that too when he was scared, at the vet, wanted to snuggle, or just because.

Sleep well tonight and sweet black kitty dreams.
cat_pet_icon cat_pet_icon
 
I, too, have some Bupe. I got it from another FDMB person for Sneakers to test but the gaba is doing great so haven't needed it. It is 15-20 pre-loaded syringes.

Let me know.
 
Wow, Heather that's a fortune in bupe!

Right now I don't think that I need it. She is not in pain and they didn't recommend pain meds for her. Of course, that could change if she gets "clogged" again :roll:

I'll let you know. Definitely hold on to that stuff until you can find a good home for it.
 
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