Docusate causing severe nausea?

[Susan & Sheba]

Hi,

I am new here. I just wrote a more detailed email but it got erased. Here is the shorter version:

My diabetic cat has been on docusate for about 5 weeks. She has been having some nausea, coughing and weakness for the last week, but especially in the last day or so. I read that docusate can cause nausea, weakness, lethargy, and throat irritation. I had her at the vet today and she had a chest x-ray which turned up fine and the (newer to my clinic) vet didn't know why she would be having these syptoms, and later I looked it up on the internet. Does anyone have any experience with docusate and/or miralax? Does miralax tend to cause nausea? I am considering trying to reduce her dose of docusate or switching to miralax. She is currently on 50mg/day docusate and she is 5 lbs. She is also getting alot of pumpkin in her food and lactulose 3 times a day. She has been on pumpkin and lactulose for a long time, but recently we have had to greatly increase the amount of pumpkin and start the docusate. She was hospitalized prior to starting docusate for constipation/obstipation. She might not survive another bout like the last one, so my problem is that she definitely needs to have enough of whatever she needs but not too much that it makes her sick. I will discuss any changes with my vet first, but regarding this they seem to know as much as I do, as when I tried to get her off the docusate a couple weeks ago she started having more difficulty pooping again so I started back on the docusate.

I can provide more info tomorrow if necessary, but I just wanted to get this posted as my vet is not open that long tomorrow and I will be calling them to find out what I can try, so any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
Susan & Sheba

 

[Robert and Echo]

Hi Susan; Bummer about the post disappearing. Happens from time to time with me.

If a cat/human/any animal is severely constipated, almost any oral intake of anything can cause nausea.

Do you have any idea why your cat is so constipated? That isn't a typical sign of diabetes although slow stomach emptying can occur.

Looking forward to an update after your vet visit.

_Rebecca

 

[pamela and tigger]

Hi,

I am new here. I just wrote a more detailed email but it got erased. Here is the shorter version:

My diabetic cat has been on docusate for about 5 weeks. She has been having some nausea, coughing and weakness for the last week, but especially in the last day or so. I read that docusate can cause nausea, weakness, lethargy, and throat irritation. I had her at the vet today and she had a chest x-ray which turned up fine and the (newer to my clinic) vet didn't know why she would be having these syptoms, and later I looked it up on the internet. Does anyone have any experience with docusate and/or miralax? Does miralax tend to cause nausea? I am considering trying to reduce her dose of docusate or switching to miralax. She is currently on 50mg/day docusate and she is 5 lbs. She is also getting alot of pumpkin in her food and lactulose 3 times a day. She has been on pumpkin and lactulose for a long time, but recently we have had to greatly increase the amount of pumpkin and start the docusate. She was hospitalized prior to starting docusate for constipation/obstipation. She might not survive another bout like the last one, so my problem is that she definitely needs to have enough of whatever she needs but not too much that it makes her sick. I will discuss any changes with my vet first, but regarding this they seem to know as much as I do, as when I tried to get her off the docusate a couple weeks ago she started having more difficulty pooping again so I started back on the docusate.

I can provide more info tomorrow if necessary, but I just wanted to get this posted as my vet is not open that long tomorrow and I will be calling them to find out what I can try, so any info would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you have tried a lot of things between the lactulose, pumpkin and now with the addition of the docusate. I am so sorry she isn't getting better.

What kind of food does she eat?

Since none of these things seem to be working have you heard of Slippery Elm? Dr. Jean Hofve talks about the benefits here:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/slippery-elm/

Also, switching to a raw diet can do wonders for cats with IBD and other intestinal problems.

I hope you find some answers soon for your little girl.

 

[Susan & Sheba]

Hi,

Thanks for responding. Well here is the more detailed version:

Sheba is about 17 years old and she has had diabetes for about 5 years. She is on Lantus (Glargine), 0.5 units twice a day. She has been given Lactulose (1.5 units 3 times a day) and a small amount of pumkin in her food, for a while now. This seemed to do the trick for quite a while. She was eating Purina DM (diabetic), as anything else seemed to send her blood sugars very high especially dry food - we have never even been able to give her the dry version of her food.

I don`t know how much of what is going on now is my fault or this just being a difficult thing to deal with, and alot of professionals don`t have personal experience with managing a diabetic cat...but right now I really am thinking that I have not done enough and someone better than I could have done a better job with her and maybe she wouldn`t be sick right now.

Anyway, the Christmas before last we went away and she was really sick and almost died twice (once from being ketoacidosis and once from too much insulin). I got her back to normal and I think a full recovery, or so it seemed.

Then we went away for 5 days in August, this time I hired someone to look after her and to stay here, who reported she was doing great. However she was not so great when we got back - she was far better than the previous time, but she wasn`t doing well. The girl hadn`t paid enough attention to me when I showed her everything (her mind was elsewhere and I knew that and I should have done something about it, but somehow I could never have believed what happened would ever happen with a trained professional, a lengthy list of instructions and about 8 numbers where I could be reached). She couldn`t find the insulin. Even though it was in a container at the front of the fridge, and she dug around and dug around until she found the caninsulin that my vet gave me from the Christmas before - it was in the far back behind everything and under something (I had hidden it back there so there wouldn`t be any mistake. She phoned my neighbor to ask if she knew where the insulin was and neither of them phoned me, so she used the glargine needles with the caninsulin, which luckily was too little of a dose, otherwise she possibly would have been dead.

So once again I nursed her back to health. I did not go home to see my family as I was going to, due to this I postponed my trip, and finally decided to go at the end of November (my husband would be here with her and we had planned for someone to come and check on her at lunch, because I was just so frightened to leave her for any length of time by this point). The day that I was leaving I took out my suitcase to pack and she saw it and not too long after there was red pee (pee with blood in it) on the floor by the litter box. We really did not know what to think. I left and called the vet the next day, they said to keep an eye on it. While I was gone, Sheba had blood clots in her pee and sometimes blood spots, on and off and when she had them she would pee often but not much, they would pass and everything would be fine, but Jason reported that otherwise she was fine and looked great, he took her to the vet twice, but they could not understand what was going on.

When I got back they continued on and off and we actually thought it might be stress related as we also had a cat that was being dominant and aggressive the previous months also the stress of seeing the suitcase after everything - so I thought, so she went on amitriptyiline which really seemed to help for a while then she had the blood clots again every now and then I noticed her straining to poop. The newer vet at my clinic thought we should do an ultrasound and the two more senior vets thought that it very easily could be related to constipation and thought we should get that under control first. So I increased the lactulose (hindsight - I probably should have increased the pumkin as well), and then one Saturday in January she suddenly mid-day got very sick and would not eat. I wanted to bring her to the vet but it was the newer one on and she said that there was not much she could do over the weekend unless we wanted her to stay, so to give her until Monday and bring her in then if no change.

Monday I brought her in and the newer vet stated that instead of the ultrasound she wanted to do an x-ray as she thought she was constipated. I said do the x-ray and the ultrasound if you really think it must be something in her bladder, we should just get it all figured out now. The ultrasound came back okay except there was some thickening of the tissue (nothing that would explain the blod clots) but she was constipated. She had to stay there all week and one morning they said she looked so bad that they thought she was not going to get through this, but then she was doing much better throughout the day (not sure why they did not call me immediately). They also figured that because she was so high at shot time that that meant that they did not have to worry about hypoglycemia, but I know that is not how she is, and after that they started only giving her shots when she reached a certain blood glucose level (not often at night, she was hardly eating anyway) I figured that morning could have been due to the insulin, but who knows.

The vets are not sure what is causing the constipation but believe it to be one of two things. One (the one that one of the senior vets explained to me), as pockets that go in and out in the bowel that could make it more difficult for the poop to get past, so we were to try to get the poop loose enough to get through. The other was that there could be a tumor there. They would not know unless they did a very invasive biopsy which they felt she was in no condition to go through and they did not feel was necessary, and did not even think it to be a good idea as they did not even think her to be a good candidate for anaethesia, let alone surgery, and also they figured that it could likely be the pockets and we could likely get her stool loose enough for it not to be a problem.

The Thursday of that week, our cat Kano (the one who had been aggressive) was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The only treatment - radiation and the closest treatment centre that was within our budget were currently without a machine as they had a bid on another, better one. They recommended Colorado which would have been a 20 hour drive with two cats if we were to do it as I could not leave Sheba...just a whole lot of turmoil.

Sheba came home on docusate and I nursed her back to health (she was hardly eating at the vet), and when she came home the main objective was to get her to eat and poop....we had about 7 different foods on the go and she ended up liking Sensitivity VR (Medi-cal) the most, although maybe not the best for a diabetic, but we were working with it and we started to see better blood glucose levels and it seemed like it would work. We also have a cat Zowie who has IBS or IBD (or so we think), he has problems with diarrhea it seemed to be doing well with both of them, and things started looking up. Then we get a case and the formula had changed, even though the vet assistant assured me it had not - but I know if it looks completely different and her glucose levels are now high and his diarrhea was awful.

So then I started trying to mix back in the diabetic food and slowly ween out the sensitivity that she liked (guess I forgot to mention that after being at the vet she did not want to eat the diabetic food at all and I figured there may be a good reason for that). I increased the pumpkin by ALOT so as not to have her constipated. One vet wanted us to switch to a fibre formula but eventually she wanted that sometimes only and other food as well. She is still eating it sometimes but I think I will be limiting it to at shot time only.

Then last week my husband was gone away for work for a few days, her shot times changed (as he gets up very early and I have a sleep disorder and had not slept the previous week for more than 3 hours a night, some nights not at all). During this time I started a new sleeping pill and I really should have waited until he got back but I was so sleep deprived by that point. I missed her shot the next morning - Wednesday of last week (well I could, and probably looking back on it, should have gave it to her late, but I thought it would mess everything up, and just gave it to her early that night).

Well in the previous weeks I had seen her lick her lips sometimes which I know is a sign of nausea but I did not see it too often and I figured that the docusate was making her feel ill sometimes (she hated so much it being given to her - as it is the 100 mg capsules and the dose for a cat is 50mg and the first half you give them via syringe and they foam etc, she hated it so much after it she would be afraid to be on the island for other medications). I decided that week (last week) that I was going to give her only the capsule half from then on and it was not worth giving it to her by syringe). The previous few days she had been coughing - a new thing that seemed to be getting better, she also had been sleeping in the cat house (on top of scratching post) occasionally, for the past week or two and it was a new thing I noticed and worried about (I was worried there may be a reason...as this was not like her, but it was infrequent enough). She had also seemed like she was swaying a bit every now and then the previous week or two. Wednesday and Thursday I noticed her getting up and down a couple times more slow than usual. Thursday night she was in the cat house for hours and seemed quite nauseous. Friday she seemed quite week, nauseous, coughing occasionally, seemed to be uncomfortable when picked up, and wanting to avoid it. It did not seem to be due to blood glucose levels as she felt that way when they were good as well. She was not eating as much as usual (still enough though).

I was worried she might have pneumonia and I brought her in Friday to be seen and the newer vet thought she heard something but an x-ray showed nothing was wrong. The newer vet did not know what was causing this, but she suspected there could be neuropathy (diabetic) and that we should try to get her to eat the purina DM more than other stuff if possible, even if it meant that she would be eating less.

Friday night I read that docusate can cause nausea and weakness and lethargy and throat irritation, so I called our vet, one of the senior ones was working, and I asked about the docusate being a possible reason as the other vet really did not know for sure, and he stated that we could try taking her off of it for a few days and see if it improves, but to give her tonic lax instead. Well me not wanting her to get constipated I not only gave her tonic lax but also started olive oil, just to be sure. The last time she had docusate was Friday at supper time. She is still weak and nauseous and laying down a lot. Last night I looked up diabetic neuropathy and actually came across Jaspers story, it states that the people from this site helped her make it. Well the weakness makes sense and the swaying and other signs, but not really for the nausea. However she is still sick and not on docusate, so now I am really confused as to what is going on. I am thinking she should probably start vitamin B12 (as recommended on Jaspers story), and I somehow have to get this cat eating properly to have decent blood glucose levels again. It probably is neuropathy, but why the nausea (can not do a question mark right now - must have hit a key that gives me this - É - also apostrophes do not work, sorry). I do not even know what to do at this point...I need her better fast! Does anyone have any knowledge of these things that they can help me (question mark). I saw her poop on Thursday and Saturday, and she may have pooped the other days that we did not see (there are other cats using the litter box as well).

I will check that site out right away and already have seen slippery elm mentioned elsewhere and was thinking of trying to find some, so now I will.

Please help,

Susan and Sheba.

 

[Pam and Layla]

Susan, I'm sorry you and Sheba are having so many issues. I'm not sure I can help, but noticed you are feeding DM food, is that right?

If you are, many cats that might eat it turn away from it quickly, and to be honest, it isn't the highest quality food you can give her. It has a lot of fillers and a fair amount of carbs.

Will she eat Fancy Feast (pate varieties) or Friskies, etc.? Try some food with lower carb content than the DM. Read http://www.catinfo.org/
for information on feline nutrition.

Also check Janet and Binky's food tables to get values of the different food available.
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html


I hope you find an answer.

Best,
Pam & Layla

 

[Susan & Sheba]

Hi Pam,

I did read the binky's page and it said purina diabetic is low in carbs? Anyway I did read about the fancy feast and the friskies. I have to feed friskies to my other cat who hates all the vet foods, and now another cat of ours is turning in that direction. I would love to switch her to one of those, but am worried if now is the right time or not, due to the possible/probable neuropathy, I was just thinking maybe the best thing I can do is to get her back on the purina diabetic right away and get her glucose levels down again, and maybe start B12. Then after I see improvement look at switching to one of those foods or even a raw diet.

Or do you think the switch to another food would be easy and that I would quickly be able to get her blood glucose levels good with friskies or fancy feast? She does have some friskies after I read on Binky's page that it was an accepted food for diabetics.

She did poop after I posted so that is really good, and she is sitting on the couch beside me now (first time on the couch in a couple days), so that is also good.

How do you think it would work switching to frikies or fancy feast, would her insulin levels likely need to be raised?

Thanks,
Susan

 

[Pam and Layla]

Susan,

If you keep the carb count in a similar range switching food should not make a difference.

I think I misread your post thinking you were feeding the DM dry, but see that the wet has fewer carbs. I guess when changing food just look at the ingredients and compare the different foods - and see which Sheba prefers.

Are you hometesting Sheba's glucose levels? If you aren't testing get a meter (human glucometer) and test her blood glucose. It will help you get the levels within better ranges. This should also help with the neuropathy issues.

Best,
Pam & Layla

 

[KarenRamboConan]

Hi and welcome ... so sorry about the circumstances.

My Conan had problems with constipation/obstipation and diabetes ... I know too well what you are going through.

In all those trips to the vet, was she put on IV fluids? Dehydration and constipation can go hand in hand, and one can cause the other. These laxatives (lactulose, docusate, etc.) work by softening the stool. They pull fluids from tissues, and this can lead to dehydration. Dehydration, in turn, leads to constipation. See the nasty vicious circle? Regular fluids (either by IV to start, and then maintenance with SubQs) can make a huge, huge difference. The nausea and staggering, etc. can be a sign of dehydration, as well as other things, of course.

The problem doesn't really sound like neuropathy, although the constipation may be (diabetics can also get neuropathy in the bowel). Either way, the Methyl B12 won't hurt (and please remember that it's not B12, it's Methyl B12 - the difference is significant.)

If it's a motility problem with the bowel, perhaps Cisapride would help. Conan did well with lactulose, Cisapride and fluids.

As for the food, I'm thrilled she is smart enough to avoid dry food! Not only will dry food increase the dehydration, the carb count of dry plays havoc with her BGs. Good girl, Sheba! ;-)

Pam is right, changing to Friskies (pate varieties only) with the same (or lower) carb percentage as DM should not affect the BGs at all. You can also add water to her food to increase hydration.

By the way, these symptoms can also indicate kidney problems ... may I assume that a full kidney panel was run? If not, perhaps one should be ... soon.

And your petsitters scare me. A lot. :sad:

Please keep us updated.

 

[Susan & Sheba]

Hi Pam and Karen,

Thanks for your reply.

Pam: It is good to know that keeping the carb count the same should mean everything will be fine...that makes me feel alot better about changing her food. Yes she is on the diabetic canned food, however lately we have to mix some Medi-cal sensitivity VR with it in order for her to eat it, so you are right it probably would be much better to switch to a better quality food, and one that she likes, especially considering how costly the food is. I happen to have friskies and fancy feast, maybe tomorrow night I will give it a try.

I read up on the www.catinfo.org site and I still have a lot to read, but what a great page to refer me to, thanks so much. Alot of the food they discuss is available at my pet salon/store and I have heard great things about them but always thought switching her to one of them would be very difficult if not impossible.

We have been home testing almost since she was diagnosed even though we were told it wasn't necessary...it just drove me nuts not knowing what was going on with her, and I researched it on the web and people stated it as a must. Truly, although I home test many times throughout the day I still don't understand how some people are able to get their cats "tightly" regulated. Have you ever read YourDiabeticCat.com ? Is that how its done? Maybe she whould be on PZI, right now she is on Lantus. Her fructose tests have always come back good except for a long time ago, but I know that it can be better than that but somehow I have never been able to acheive the always at a good blood glucose level thing, I'm just not sure how it's done. Is your cat tightly regulated?

We have a cat with an ongoing diarrhea issue (I think it's IBD). He seems to do well on food that she does well on so hopefully a switch would work for both of them.

Karen: Sheba was put on IV only the two times that she has needed to be hospitalized. Once was the Christmas before last and once was the end of January 2011. Both times she did much better once she got home...lol. I will look in to the SubQs we have never done that but I have heard of it. Is it easy to do? Do they mind? What kind of a needle do you use? I stopped the docusate (Friday night was the last time she had it) I wanted to see if it was causing the nausea. She seems to be doing a bit better today but I have no idea if it is due to that. So she wouldn't get constipated I have replaced the docusate with tonic lax and olive oil, and it seems to be working for now, Pamela and Tigger wrote about slippery elm and I was thinking of checking it out as she probably shouldn't be on olive oil for too long. I will also check cisapride.

The purina DM is canned, she hasn't ever been able to eat dry food without her blood glucose sky rocketing so we rarely give her any - sometimes a couple pieces as a treat maybe once every couple of months. We add water already to all their food and also add pumpkin.

I spoke to my vet about getting some Methylcobalamin today, and have put another post about it. She said they tried and can't get it and that the veterinary nutritionists are recommending cyanobalamin and that they don't recommend methyl B12 for cats and that is only stated as good for humans and that is why they can't get it - they tried. She said it will convert to Methyl B12 in the body. I even brought her in a copy of Jasper's story and she looked into it, but still says this. What do I do now? This is very distressing and I only want to do the best for Sheba.

I know the people that have looked after them in the last year have really drove me to drink! The one has been caring for diabetic animals for a long time - she has her own business caring for animals. I just wonder why me? Is it me? My sister is getting married in June and I am not sure if my husband can go because of this, and having no one I feel that can adaquately look after her. My husband really wants to go - it's awful. Of course it happens to be across the country as well so he would like to stay for at least a week. I have thought about staggering our trips so he left before me and I stay after him and then we would only need someone for a few days, and I was thinking of asking one of the vet techs I know very well at our clinic...but now with all this going on I wonder if it is even feasible to consider being able to go away for a few days? It's really tough.

Thanks for everything all,

Susan & Sheba

 

[pamela and tigger]

We have been home testing almost since she was diagnosed even though we were told it wasn't necessary...it just drove me nuts not knowing what was going on with her, and I researched it on the web and people stated it as a must. Truly, although I home test many times throughout the day I still don't understand how some people are able to get their cats "tightly" regulated. Have you ever read YourDiabeticCat.com ? Is that how its done? Maybe she whould be on PZI, right now she is on Lantus. Her fructose tests have always come back good except for a long time ago, but I know that it can be better than that but somehow I have never been able to acheive the always at a good blood glucose level thing, I'm just not sure how it's done. Is your cat tightly regulated?

Susan, what sort of numbers are you getting on the .5 units of Lantus. What are your preshot numbers and do you get spot checks during each cycle?

Lantus is an excellent insulin, it just has to be used properly.

Yes, we are familiar here with the YDC site. But that protocol is really better suited for PZI, not a longer acting insulin like Lantus. We have on this forum a different protocol using Lantus. You will find the forum under the Insulin Support Groups here. It is explained pretty well in the Stickies there.

But I know you have your hands full as well trying to get her constipation under control. Here is a great site on constipation and some remedies. It is long and involved but hopefully you will find it helpful:

http://www.felineconstipation.org/introduction.html

I do hope the slippery elm works. The author of that article mentions it as well.

I know the people that have looked after them in the last year have really drove me to drink! The one has been caring for diabetic animals for a long time - she has her own business caring for animals. I just wonder why me? Is it me? My sister is getting married in June and I am not sure if my husband can go because of this, and having no one I feel that can adaquately look after her. My husband really wants to go - it's awful. Of course it happens to be across the country as well so he would like to stay for at least a week. I have thought about staggering our trips so he left before me and I stay after him and then we would only need someone for a few days, and I was thinking of asking one of the vet techs I know very well at our clinic...but now with all this going on I wonder if it is even feasible to consider being able to go away for a few days? It's really tough.

I know it is tough being able to go out of town sometimes especially if your cat is not doing well health-wise. If it was just the diabetes it would be a little easier.

Where are you located, approximately? Maybe one of our members is nearby that can help or give you an idea of pet-sitters?

Does she still have blood in her pee occasionally. It really does sound like it is stress related which could indicate cystitis. Dr. Lisa talks about this on her website as well:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

 

[Susan & Sheba]

Susan, what sort of numbers are you getting on the .5 units of Lantus. What are your preshot numbers and do you get spot checks during each cycle?

Lantus is an excellent insulin, it just has to be used properly.

Hi Pam,

Prior to the food changes when things were going well, her BG levels at shot time would be anywhere from 17 to 24, with a norm around 18 - 21. Her lows would be anywhere from 6 - 12, with a norm of around 8 - 12 (that I caught by doing spot checks), as she was doing well I haven't charted or logged in a while. Now with the food changes it has been more unpredictable, however it has been getting alot better (highs not so high and better lows more regularly).

Interestingly enough I incorporated some friskies into her diet today, and I'm not sure if it was just today or not, but I did see a change in her levels. For instance - she has her shots during the week at 5am and 5 pm, at 12:30pm she was 18, and she wanted food at 2:30 which I was reluctant but decided to try friskies (I was worried about feeding her that late in the day), however at 4:22pm she was only 14.9. I had expected her to be at least 24, although I know that sometimes it is less, but that number is pretty unusual with her eating and all. So at about 4:45pm she had her shot (instead of her half diabetic, half sensitivity mixture, I gave them half diabetic and half friskies).

I checked her at 5:55pm and she was 14.8, again at 8:03pm 7.7, 8:35pm 6.8, then at about 9 she had a little chicken and fish and pumpkin (almonature brand - no additives), then very surprised to see at 10:15pm she was 20.8, and at 12:23am she was 27.1! Now I realise that without the bad carbs in the sensitivity, her insulin may need to be reduced a little, but is that why I got these highs, or is it due to the little bit of protein she had? I have seen it on here that a protein snack shouldn't make a difference?

Anyway I plan to try it again tomorrow with maybe a slight decreas in insulin (she had a slight increase since the other food began), so I will put it back to what it used to be and try it if all goes as planned. Unless you have any better suggestions.

I have looked a bit on the lanus forum, I would really love to know the protocol and the do's and don'ts about food (haven't found it yet but will look again tomorrow)

We almost always get spot checks during each cycle, and lately it has been much more than before due to the changes. I didn't realise that PZI wasn't a longer lasting insulin.

I know it is tough being able to go out of town sometimes especially if your cat is not doing well health-wise. If it was just the diabetes it would be a little easier.

Where are you located, approximately? Maybe one of our members is nearby that can help or give you an idea of pet-sitters?

Does she still have blood in her pee occasionally.

Prior to this it was just the diabetes, it's just been impossible here (hopefully by then it will all be under control). We are in High River, Alberta, Canada - just outside of Calgary (20 minutes). Any help or pet-sitter recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

She hasn't had any blood or blood clots in her pee since January when she was hospitalized for her constipation/obstipation. I am wondering if it was constipation that was causing it?

What I'm really wondering at this point is what is wrong with her? Is it mainly constipation? She seems to be pooping okay. She seems nauseous, weak, lays down and sleeps alot, seems like it is taking more out of her to get around, usually walks slowly, sometimes when she is drinking water her front paws slide down a bit in the front. When she is feeling worse it does not seem to be due to high BG levels. The last time I gave her docusate was last Friday night, but I replaced it with tonic-lax and olive oil.

Yesterday she seemed a bit better and even today, but tonight she isn't doing well again. She is eating a good amount of food still (Thank God). But I feel I'm not doing enough for her. The vet gave me some anti-nausea pills she said I could try, but I don't want to cause any other problems, especially not really knowing what is going on.

She also hasn't been on amitriptylline since her hospitalization (she was getting about a quarter pill per day) it did really seem to relax her. I have thought about trying the anti-nausea pill to see if I can give her some relief (you can only give it for a few days in a row, then you need to give them a break), I have also thought about starting her amitripyline again (although we thought she had cystitis and now she doesn't seem to). Just not sure what to do, I was really hoping to just be able to get her better. Does she need a specialist or something? Maybe I should bring her in to her vet again, but this time make the appointment with the more senior vet there (last time was a rush visit so we got who we were given).

I will get to work reviewing these sites and information.

This is really the first time I have ever (in all 5 years), ever had the opportunity to speak with anyone that was knowledgeable and experienced on this issues. Thank you very much Pam, Karen and Rebecca and thanks to FDMB. I guess I really should have joined and posted a long time ago. Thanks so much.

Susan & Sheba

 

[pamela and tigger]

Hi Susan, before I address some of the issues in your last post can you try to do a profile for the people here. There is so much information to take in for your sweet girl and it just makes it easier for folks to not have to go back and read a lot of posts to get the information.

The instructions are in the Tech Forum. If you have questions you can start a new post there and ask them.

ETA - I can't seem to post the link. Sigh. The post is by Squeem3 and is titled: "Updated Profile Instructions".

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36698

Also, I know it is a lot to ask but it would be really helpful to have a spreadsheet of Sheba's numbers. Also if you can convert her numbers over to US mg/dL since most members here are more familiar with those. The instructions are in the Stickies on the Tech Forum also. It is by Cyn and Cosmo and is towards the top, "How to Create your own SS and publish it in your signature".

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17766

In the meantime you can also just post Sheba's numbers like this in your posts:

3/16 - Preshot BG 265 - .5 units
+1 140
+4 120
+5 370
+7 380
Preshot BG etc.

These numbers above are close to what I think you posted in your last post. Which aren't that bad at all. Looks like the Friskies was having a good effect.

Here is some info on the amitriptyline. It says here and in another site I saw that it should not be used for diabetics(?) It also causes some of the side effects you have listed previously plus dry mouth among others. So I wonder if there is something else your vet could suggest or ???

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_amitriptyline.html

We have lots of Canadian members. Please put that in the subject line of a new post where you live and if someone has suggestions for a good vet in your area and/or pet sitters.

Also have you checked out the ingredients in the Medi-cal sensitivity VR cat food? It looks like they aren't the greatest:

http://petfoodtalk.com/catfoodreviews/m ... -cat-food/

Keep coming back and ask questions. Also it will be easier for people to get caught up with what is going on after you make up the profile. After you do that you can start a new post letting everyone know you have a profile and with further questions. Hang in there okay?

 

[Susan & Sheba]

Hi Pam,

Also have you checked out the ingredients in the Medi-cal sensitivity VR cat food? It looks like they aren't the greatest:

http://petfoodtalk.com/catfoodreviews/m ... -cat-food

I seem to be getting more confused by the minute. According to this review site Medi-cal isn't that good and Friskies is even worse! Is it? Alot of people here have highly recommended it and I was starting to try to switch my cats over.

Susan & Sheba

 

[pamela and tigger]

Hi Pam,

Also have you checked out the ingredients in the Medi-cal sensitivity VR cat food? It looks like they aren't the greatest:

http://petfoodtalk.com/catfoodreviews/m ... -cat-food

I seem to be getting more confused by the minute. According to this review site Medi-cal isn't that good and Friskies is even worse! Is it? Alot of people here have highly recommended it and I was starting to try to switch my cats over.

I agree Friskies may not have the best ingredients either, but the reason you might see a lot of people here feed it is because of the cost factor (especially in multiple cat households) and the low carb content. I am sure a lot of people stay away from it though if their cats have allergies especially to wheat gluten which is in most of the varieties. Also, I think in that article they are mainly talking about the dry food formula of Friskies.

Were you able to get hold of some slippery elm?