Lola 11/11 AMBG 75; PMBG 87

Ok, didn't realize you had a new thread going.

So, bonus day 13 cheering pictures for Lola.

OTJ day 13 bus.png


OTJ day 13 serious cat.jpg

Because you are doing so good, and you need to hear that!
 

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So one more cycle, the AM cycle on 11/1/20, and Lola will be official (anti-jinx).
So since it's only day 13 and a half, one more fun picture to share with you.
OTJ day 13 beach.jpg
The half is under water, since you can't actually see it on the sign. ;)

I'll have to stop by tomorrow evening, and be sure to post the tips for staying OTJ.
 

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PMBG 104.

Poor Lo is not feeling herself today. She's not much interested in food. She won't even look at pate, but fortunately she's still eating the Dr. Elsey's.
 
Lola's BG numbers are creeping back up. But I wouldn't restart the insulin due to the slightly higher BG levels. I'd recommend extending the OTJ trial for a bit longer than the normal 14 days.

Let's see how the vet visit goes tomorrow, 11/2/20.
 
11/3 AMBG 85. :D That's the good news....

The bad: Lola is completely off her food. She acts hungry (she woke me up demanding food this morning), yet she only looks at it and walks away.

Her behavior about water has changed, too. She's no longer drinking directly from the bowl, but instead doing what she has done in the past -- dipping her paw into the water, then shaking most of it off her paw (and all over the floor & walls), then licking her paw. However, after she drinks she looks over her shoulder at me in an accusatory fashion as if to say, "why have you poisoned the water?"

The vet warned me that the zeniquin might put her off food, but said it would happen toward the end of the 14 days. It's only Day 1!

So I syringe-fed her ~1.5ml Friskie's gravy for her pre-fast meal, and syringe-fed her the same amount of Dr. Elsye's kibble reduced to paste after her AMBG. I'll continue to feed her small amounts every hour or so if I don't see her eating from the bowl on her own. I'm hoping as more hours pass from her ingestion of the AB last night that its effects on her appetite will lessen (pleezegodpleezegodpleezegod) and she'll start eating. If not, I'll continue with the syringe-feeding and confer with her vet. I'm not sure such a regime is tenable for 14 days.
 
PMBG 92.

I syringe-fed her 3 times through to +6. Then, at +9 (her pre-PMBG meal) she was ravenous and ate nearly a half-can of Friskies. Now, post-test she's ignoring the Friskies but is snacking on the Dr. Elsye's.

I'll dose her at +1; we'll see what tomorrow brings. At least she's back in the clover today.

I've relayed all this to the clinic and asked my vet to call tomorrow afternoon to see how we want to proceed.
 
Sorry to hear that Lola is not wanting to eat consistently for you.
The turning her head away from the food, sounds like a cat that is nauseous. Does this antibiotic have that side effect?
Perhaps talk to your vet about some anti-nausea meds.

I've hand fed a couple of cats for months. It's tough to do it that long.
 
:banghead::banghead::banghead:
AMBG 91; PMBG 118.

She ate like a horse this morning! Ate well at +9. Eating now. I cancelled the vet consult because it appeared that her loss of appetite was a transient event.

Now I'm wondering if she managed to avoid swallowing the pill last night, but I swear I have 40 years experience pilling cats. I checked the area after giving it to her to ensure that she didn't spit it out. I've checked the room 3 times since, and haven't found the pill. So why is she at 118 tonight?
 
11/5 AMBG 90. Super affectionate this morning, but not particularly hungry. Time to open a 3rd can. I thank the stars that she likes that Dr. E's.
 
Have you tried putting a few pieces of the Dr. Elsey's dry food on top of the wet food, to see if that gets Lola to eat that particular flavor of wet food?

Lola is still low enough BG wise, to hold off on the insulin for a bit longer. So keep the OTJ trial going would be my recommendation.
Keep up the good work and I hope that she eats better for you soon.
 
Pookie said:
PMBG 72.

Salmon is not what's for dinner. She's still sampling the menu....
Click to expand...
Being a bit particular about what she wants for dinner tonight?
I have a friend with a"picky" cat. She says she offers 3 different selections, one after the other and that is it. Her cat will usually eat choice #3.
 
11/7: AMBG 89

Deb & Wink said:
Being a bit particular about what she wants for dinner tonight?
I have a friend with a"picky" cat. She says she offers 3 different selections, one after the other and that is it. Her cat will usually eat choice #3.
Click to expand...

It's MADDENING! She'll gobble one flavor for days, and then suddenly refuse. I know the Friskie's is cheap, but it's so wasteful to open 3 cans a day! None of the other cats will eat it. I miss my (GA) beagles every day. Man, if they were still here they'd be happy, happy (and fat) campers.

I keep telling myself, "she's not on insulin so it's not critical. If she wants to be hungry that's her decision." But it becomes a whole new ballgame if/when she does go back on the juice.

All in all, though, she looks great. She's playful and affectionate -- really, far more affectionate than she ever used to be. She's eating the Dr. E's kibble. (I even went out and bought a few cans of Dr. E's since she likes the kibble so much. Would she eat it? Of course not! Would the others? Of course not! Another $2.xx down the disposal.)

Cats!
 
Looking good Lola!

This article by vet Dr. Lisa Pierson was truly what helped me to get my dry food addict Wink off dry and eating wet food. Took a while.

https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

Hope something in there helps you with Lola's appetite. I used every single tip and trick in there. Some worked better than others. Like the "chip and dip" method. Maybe try that with a few pieces of the dry kibble dipped in the wet Dr. Elsey's.
 
141 at 3.5. Sigh..... Wrong way, Lola.

I wonder if hunger stress played any part in this. (Is that a thing?) After reading the Dr. Lisa tips I decided to pull her food from her after after 30 minutes post AMBG. She spent the next 1.5 hours pawing at me, looking for food. By +3.5 she'd given up looking for food.

She ate decently well after her +3.5 test -- about 2 tsps of Friskie's and 8-10 Dr. E's.

I'll test again at +6.
 
PMBG 105

I don't understand what's going on. Could it be that the antibiotic is not controlling the infection?

ETA: I think that is the reason. I ran a 10 parameter urinalysis strip and it shows leukocytes as "high." It was "moderate" a few days ago. (And it was "high" last weekend before starting the Zeniquin.)
 
Last edited:
Antibiotics sometimes need to be very specific, to control the particular bacteria causing the infection.
A C&S (culture and sensitivity) may be needed.
 
11/9 AMBG 116

Deb & Wink said:
Antibiotics sometimes need to be very specific, to control the particular bacteria causing the infection.
A C&S (culture and sensitivity) may be needed.
Click to expand...

If my vet can't see her today then I'm taking her to the e-vet. Poor Lola :(

ETA: Thank you @Deb & Wink for all your support and guidance. This would have been a lonely, scary trial without you.
 
PMBG 77!

Lola had a tough morning. Turns out our vet, who had just returned last week from 6 weeks medical leave, is now out for another 2 weeks of medical leave and the other vets were now overbooked, so we spent 3 hrs at the e-vet. Being at the e-vet is never a pleasant experience. This one was just long (not traumatic like other e-vet visits I've had) because she wasn't really an emergency patient so any animal that was admitted in worse shape than she - which was all of them -- meant they got attended to before her. Still, better that than being one of the truly emergency patients.

Pre-fast snack was at +8 instead of +9 because she was hungry and I was eager to get her first dose of Clavamox into her (and it has to be administered with food). Henceforth I'll give it to her after her +9 meal.

C&S results should be in within 5-7 days.
 
Clavamox is a good broad spectrum antibiotic. Hope the C&S finds something to explain why Lola is still in higher BG numbers than she should be.

The low of 77 may have been because Lola had not eaten normally in the morning.
 
11/10 AMBG 118

Poor Lola. She vomited all night. First bout looked like a hairball. Fur pulling is her stress response (her belly is bald, a longstanding issue), so I think she spent those 3 hours at the e-vet pulling out fur. Vomiting continued periodically all night. She seemed hungry in a.m., ate a little Friskie's and promptly vomited. I gave her 1/4 tab of Pepcid, waited 15 minutes and ultimately syringe-fed a couple of teaspoons of mashed up Dr. E's with a little Friskies. Then administered Clavamox. No vomiting in subsequent 2 hours, but no appetite after AMBG. She is drinking the broth from soaking Dr. E's.

We're going to take a nap. If she's not eating on her own at that point I'll probably syringe feed again and throughout the day.
 
Her AM +4 was 79; PMBG 94.

No recurrence of the vomiting so I didn't repeat the Pepcid. I've been syringe-feeding her throughout the day, 6mls at a time. I didn't want to stress her stomach given her recent vomiting, but it's clear that if I have to assist feed tomorrow I'm going to have to get more food into her. She'll have had about 1/2 can of Dr. E's chicken flavor today, and no kibble, after tonight's dinner. She hates the syringe feeding so I'm going to try hand-feeding her tonight.

As for demeanor, she's pretty much Lola. Perhaps a little subdued but still spunky enough to go eyeball to eyeball with the other cats. Her water consumption is down markedly.
 
Some cats accept hand feeding better than others. You have to feed really small amounts at a time, like the size of a kernel of corn or a green pea, get it far back in the throat, and let them swallow. Sometimes rubbing their throat helps. Doing that 6-8 times a day is VERY time consuming. I did this hand feeding with 2 cats in the past.

It's a bit like giving a cat pill, after pill, after pill. Most cats hate pills and so they hate the hand feeding too.

Syringe feeding is easier, if a cat won't eat.

Perhaps an anti-nausea med like ondansetron would help Lola.
 
11/11: AMBG 75

She vomited in the night so I gave her Pepcid ac. She acts hungry but usually turns away from food, so I'll try to get some ondansetron today. She did eat some Friskie's with parmesan cheese sprinkled over it, but she didn't eat much. Demeanor-wise, apart from hating me and my feeding syringes, she's playful and content.
 
PMBG 87

She did eat independently this morning. Unfortunately, she vomited it up, so I syringe fed her throughout the day. I just administered famotidine and now she's eating a little Dr. E's kibble on her own. I'm going to wait to ensure that she keeps it down, and then syringe feed her again later tonight.

I was disappointed to learn just now that the clinic hadn't even printed out my pre-dawn request for anti-nausea meds! I love my vet, but the rest of the clinic gives me a bad feeling.
 
Were you able to get the anti-nausea meds from your vet? Turning her head away from the food is a classic sign of nausea.
It's possible that Lola could have pancreatitis. That is the other possibility I thought of.
 
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