Goblincatgrotto
New Member
Hello all!!
My name is Louise but I picked the username Goblin cat Grotto because, I do live amongst goblin cats. Four, to be precise. I also foster bottle baby kittens from time to time - I'm that crazy cat lady. But enough about me.
My favorite little guy of the bunch is Salem, neutered male, approx 11.5 year old. This is his "saga" so sorry for the long story. We adopted Salem back in 2018, when he was estimated to be 7-8 years old (he was at the shelter for 4 months so this next part is CRAZY to me that it happened so soon after I adopted him, I'm so glad he was with me crazy coincidence or not). It was 2 days later that I walked into the room and he was falling over, feverish, head tilting, and his eyes were showing a third eyelid. I thought he was having a seizure and rushed him to the ER. After lots of testing, fluids, etc, they guessed he may have Toxoplasmosis.
We were referred to a specialty clinic that set him on a course of clindamycin and prednisolone for 3 wks, and cerenia transdermal gel for appetite issues. He got better from the illness, and panels confirmed (as best as they can) that he had Toxoplasmosis, and likely that is what made him sick.
He did continue to have on and off issues with appetite and his liver enzymes remained elevated. His liver has also remained enlarged, though aspirate did not lead the vet to feel that anesthesia was worth the risk of the biopsy when she didn't see anything alarming via ultrasound/aspirate. We still has nausea and though maybe he had a motility disorder, went on metoclopramide since he would regurgitate sometimes but I fixed this with very limited ingredient diet like Stella and Chewy and for a time I mixed my own raw cat food when I had the energy and a good source. Came off the metoclopramide but still needed something to solve the nausea issue, and the vet didn't want to do mirataz long term.
We ran more tests and determined that he is B-12 deficient so we completed a course that now has him on (I believe?) .25 ml once monthly. We determined, through trials, blood tests, ultrasounds, etc. that Salem is an IBD kitty. He gets nausea, whether this is from the liver issues or some other sort of damage isn't clear.
So the specialist recommended a long term dose of prednisolone, which we had compounded (he hates pills) at 3mg/ml and have been giving .4ml once per day, which is the lowest we've been able to get it to. We have tried taking him off of it previously, but he stops eating. He has been on the pred since August of 2020.
I honestly hadn't been worried about the hunger because I had brought it up to his specialist, his blood work was still good, and we attributed it to steroid hunger. I was happy he was finally willingly eating, even if he sassed me when I told him he'd had enough!! I did bring up the extra drinking/peeing to his vet but he has always loved his water fountain so we thought it may be normal.
Salem was sick with a URI on Halloween and received an antibiotic injection, convenia, and eye drops. He started to do better but I took him back on 11/17 because I was noticing rear leg weakness, lack of appetite, and lethargy. He was officially diagnosed diabetic and went on 1 unit of PZI twice daily (started 11/18 PM), and vet is okay with frequent meals. His Fructosamine came back @ 614 and I was called with that info today.
I found this site over the weekend and got a relion classic meter today to test him more accurately.
Since Salem eats primarily a very hydrated Stella and Chewy's freeze dried turkey (and ocassionally I and love and you chicken de lish stew which his 3 fellow cats eat) I don't necessarily think his diet is the issue just based off of protein/carb content, but I am definitely open to suggestions. I am very overwhelmed and I just want my little soul cat to feel better!!
My name is Louise but I picked the username Goblin cat Grotto because, I do live amongst goblin cats. Four, to be precise. I also foster bottle baby kittens from time to time - I'm that crazy cat lady. But enough about me.
My favorite little guy of the bunch is Salem, neutered male, approx 11.5 year old. This is his "saga" so sorry for the long story. We adopted Salem back in 2018, when he was estimated to be 7-8 years old (he was at the shelter for 4 months so this next part is CRAZY to me that it happened so soon after I adopted him, I'm so glad he was with me crazy coincidence or not). It was 2 days later that I walked into the room and he was falling over, feverish, head tilting, and his eyes were showing a third eyelid. I thought he was having a seizure and rushed him to the ER. After lots of testing, fluids, etc, they guessed he may have Toxoplasmosis.
We were referred to a specialty clinic that set him on a course of clindamycin and prednisolone for 3 wks, and cerenia transdermal gel for appetite issues. He got better from the illness, and panels confirmed (as best as they can) that he had Toxoplasmosis, and likely that is what made him sick.
He did continue to have on and off issues with appetite and his liver enzymes remained elevated. His liver has also remained enlarged, though aspirate did not lead the vet to feel that anesthesia was worth the risk of the biopsy when she didn't see anything alarming via ultrasound/aspirate. We still has nausea and though maybe he had a motility disorder, went on metoclopramide since he would regurgitate sometimes but I fixed this with very limited ingredient diet like Stella and Chewy and for a time I mixed my own raw cat food when I had the energy and a good source. Came off the metoclopramide but still needed something to solve the nausea issue, and the vet didn't want to do mirataz long term.
We ran more tests and determined that he is B-12 deficient so we completed a course that now has him on (I believe?) .25 ml once monthly. We determined, through trials, blood tests, ultrasounds, etc. that Salem is an IBD kitty. He gets nausea, whether this is from the liver issues or some other sort of damage isn't clear.
So the specialist recommended a long term dose of prednisolone, which we had compounded (he hates pills) at 3mg/ml and have been giving .4ml once per day, which is the lowest we've been able to get it to. We have tried taking him off of it previously, but he stops eating. He has been on the pred since August of 2020.
I honestly hadn't been worried about the hunger because I had brought it up to his specialist, his blood work was still good, and we attributed it to steroid hunger. I was happy he was finally willingly eating, even if he sassed me when I told him he'd had enough!! I did bring up the extra drinking/peeing to his vet but he has always loved his water fountain so we thought it may be normal.
Salem was sick with a URI on Halloween and received an antibiotic injection, convenia, and eye drops. He started to do better but I took him back on 11/17 because I was noticing rear leg weakness, lack of appetite, and lethargy. He was officially diagnosed diabetic and went on 1 unit of PZI twice daily (started 11/18 PM), and vet is okay with frequent meals. His Fructosamine came back @ 614 and I was called with that info today.
I found this site over the weekend and got a relion classic meter today to test him more accurately.
Since Salem eats primarily a very hydrated Stella and Chewy's freeze dried turkey (and ocassionally I and love and you chicken de lish stew which his 3 fellow cats eat) I don't necessarily think his diet is the issue just based off of protein/carb content, but I am definitely open to suggestions. I am very overwhelmed and I just want my little soul cat to feel better!!