Ladybug surgery

[ladybug991]

I’m so confused. Maybe it’s an off day because I was at work and it was cold and rainy? The elura hasn’t always seemed to affect her that much sometimes it seems to help more than others and one day she ate about 200 cal without it. Maybe I should get the testing? Or just start the steroid and see if that helps and then get testing at primary vet or go back to IM? Lol now she ate a bit of dry. Sometimes it’s like I have to hand feed her like she forgets or is holding out for wet? But shes always liked dry way more? Idk she’s been like this in the past where some days she eats a lot and some days nothing or waits until overnight to eat and won’t eat when I’m not here. She’s so neurotic but I love her. Maybe she’s just been sick longer than I thought

 

[manxcat419]

Thank you! Yeah idk if I should just get everything done here. I’m thinking no gi panel pending what happens when I remove more meds. I can always try the GI med they recommended first too to see if it helps. I will see what doc says tho. Yeah this place is so expensive I’m just like but I know the cardio price is similar to the cardio I saw before and I like the people here better and I just wanna get the acth done at the same time. I think they also wanna do recheck blood work on her too. I’ll know more when I talk to them before the appt. Thanks!!!!!!

I think skipping the GI panel is reasonable at this point. If you can stretch to a full blood work on top of the ACTH and echo, it would be a good idea to see how her other organs are holding up after the surgery. If you can't, then making sure her remaining adrenal has bounced back is a priority...and anything heart-related is, of course, priority too.

Shouldn’t have said anything. Didn’t give her elura today and came home to absolutely nothing but 25 cal of wet food eaten I’m so so upset. Whenever I think she’s getting better she just gets worse

There's going to be ups and downs. She's been through a major surgery - the kind of thing that takes humans months to really recover from. I know cats bounce back fast, but we can't expect perfect after only a few weeks.

 

[ladybug991]

So heart and adrenals and all tests normal other than high end kidney values. I she’s maintained her weight despite the reduced appetite. Heart looks ok minus the enlargement.

So that’s great news but I’m still stressed I didn’t do the GI panel because of the hoarseness in her meow and quietness (only sometimes) and sometimes it seems she has trouble swallowing/food falls out of her mouth. There’s so many symptoms even though I track and write things down I feel terrible that I forget to bring stuff up. There’s just so much going on with her. I might try the GI steroid soon. Maybe on her next visit in a month if that steroid isn’t helping or even if it is I should do a gi panel or imaging, I just don’t want her to have throat cancer or something like that. I just wanna relax but I know that I can’t. Ugh I am still just so stressed about this even though things seem to maybe be going pretty ok? Ugh I just feel now I should have done the GI panel to see if there’s something going on there. especially with that swollen lymph node I totally forgot about from the last visit. Ugh I try so hard to prepare for visits and write stuff down and bring all the symptoms and then I feel like I still can never address everything. But I will reach back out to the IM vet and see what they say I guess.

 

[ladybug991]

I’m so overly anxious but I am just trying to remember I have help and I have a plan. I am worried the vet is going to get annoyed with me for emailing too much or asking too many questions but that’s silly. I think the visit went well overall. I might have put a little too much in the emails I just sent the vet but I think it’s ok. I just am worried they will think I’m paranoid and then ignore all her health problems but I also have to communicate with them and I think at least with this vet that’s not happening. But I have help and have a plan. If she’s still not eating great in a couple weeks off appetite stimulants then I’ll try the gi steroid before the next appointment. If it helps I might not do testing. If it doesn’t help testing might be the best option.

Y’all have been the most help, thank you

 

[manxcat419]

This is honestly all great news. Having all her values come back normal range (even if her kidney values are high-end normal) is exactly what you want. I don't think I've ever heard of a case of throat cancer in a cat - I think she's still in recovery and that can look really quite rough some days. But overall it sounds like she's doing so well. If she's not doing better in a month or 2, then you could absolutely consider the GI panel and/or the budesonide for her to see if you can get her doing even better.

If your vet thinks badly of you for doing everything you can to get enough information to really help her, that would be a huge red flag for me. You, your vet, the IM, and the cardiologist are a team when it comes to Ladybug's health. And you're the only member of the team who sees her every single day. So of course you're going to have more questions than they do. And the best thing they can do is to give you full answers, and explanations of things, so you are better able to assess what's likely to be going on. Whether the vet responds in person, or whether a tech with enough knowledge to talk you through things answers your email, you should always get a full answer to every question.

 

[ladybug991]

This is honestly all great news. Having all her values come back normal range (even if her kidney values are high-end normal) is exactly what you want. I don't think I've ever heard of a case of throat cancer in a cat - I think she's still in recovery and that can look really quite rough some days. But overall it sounds like she's doing so well. If she's not doing better in a month or 2, then you could absolutely consider the GI panel and/or the budesonide for her to see if you can get her doing even better.

If your vet thinks badly of you for doing everything you can to get enough information to really help her, that would be a huge red flag for me. You, your vet, the IM, and the cardiologist are a team when it comes to Ladybug's health. And you're the only member of the team who sees her every single day. So of course you're going to have more questions than they do. And the best thing they can do is to give you full answers, and explanations of things, so you are better able to assess what's likely to be going on. Whether the vet responds in person, or whether a tech with enough knowledge to talk you through things answers your email, you should always get a full answer to every question.

I just feel silly for mentioning throat cancer in my email but I know it’s not a big deal. It’s just hard because I wanna monitor her symptoms but she is aging and does have heart disease. She did say her attitude was great and you’d never know she’s been through all this I just gotta hope she eats more and if not I’ll deal with that as I need to. I do really like this whole team they do know what they are doing and are very complete.

 

[manxcat419]

I just feel silly for mentioning throat cancer in my email but I know it’s not a big deal. It’s just hard because I wanna monitor her symptoms but she is aging and does have heart disease. She did say her attitude was great and you’d never know she’s been through all this I just gotta hope she eats more and if not I’ll deal with that as I need to. I do really like this whole team they do know what they are doing and are very complete.

The only silly question is the one you don't ask. Sure, I might know that it's not really something you see in cats...but I've had the training to know that. You haven't. I have, honestly, corrected so many veterinary staff who complain about owners not knowing enough by pointing out that they wouldn't know how to be a lawyer, a bank manager, a human doctor, an engineer etc. We all only know what we've been taught. And until you have a reason to find out, there should be no expectation from anyone that you might know what cancers are or are not seen commonly in any species.