Please Advise - Dosing

[Scratchie'smom]

Hello, been a while since I have posted, but I have been lurking daily.

Need your advice on Scratchie's dose. The vet on Friday wanted me to increase his dose to 2u since he was in 400's and high 300's. I didn't want to do that drastic a change so increased to 1.5u as I felt he was still suffering the effects of the topical steroid. Don't have a lot of PM numbers, but do have some from last night - his lowest point on PM was 202.

Do I need to keep at the same dose or should I drop a bit? I slept through the 1:30am alarm and got up with him at normal time 4:30 this morning. Home today as have a horrible head cold.

August was not a good month for us as he was on AB's for diarrhea, then the infection in his bottom. They expressed his anal glands - then the steroid. He only had a total of 2 treatments as I thought it was horrible the way it increase his numbers! Infection is now gone. Changed litter to an all natural wheat one, which I think greatly helped. Plan is to get at least a +3 and +6 tonight after his PMPS. He's on the run today when he sees me coming so it's going to be a challenge! ;-)

Any advice is welcomed.

Thanks!

Jo

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

Hi Jo,

I took a look at Scratchie's SS and profile and saw that he's on Lantus. I'm glad you went with your gut and didn't double the dose like the vet suggested. They tend to be pretty heavy-handed when it comes to dose adjustments. This is his 3rd day on this dose, so you might still be seeing him adjusting to it. It can take a few cycles for that to happen.

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. I like your plan to try to get some tests after his PM shot tonight. Any blank spaces that can be filled in are helpful when trying to figure this stuff out. I understand from the profile that it's hard for you to get mid-cycle tests with the hours you work. I know a thing many "L" users do is to get a test right before going to bed. Not sure when that is in relation to his shot schedule, but if you are able to do that, it would also help when trying to figure out if the dose is right.

Carl

 

[Scratchie'smom]

Thanks Carl. I thought since the increase is new that I needed to wait a bit just don't want him to go too low.

I'll work on getting more PM numbers. I'm usually in bed between 9-10 as get up at four and out the door by 5:30.

Thanks for the response. Have a great day!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Your gut instinct was right on target! When Scratchie's nadirs are mostly above 300, you can increase by as much as 0.5u. If you increase in larger amounts, you risk missing what could be a good dose. Given your schedule, if I were in your shoes, I don't know that I would have been comfortable raising Scratchie's dose by 1.0u, either.

It looks like you are seeing more movement with the 1.5u dose and Scratchie is seeing numbers in the 200s at nadir. When numbers are below 300, you would increase the dose by 0.25u. I don't know that I would reduce Scratchie's dose. Rather, it looks to me more like you need to increase to get his overall level in a better range.

The notes on your spreadsheet indicate that Scratchie isn't eating well. I don't know if you've tried any of the following, but this is a compilation that a member put together of "enticements" to encourage a kitty to eat.

Enticing a Cat to Eat
(Cheryl & Winnie)

Here are some things you can do do entice your cat to eat:

-sometimes in order to get a cat to eat you even have to resort to dry it is more important that they eat. there are a couple low carb / grain free brands -- EVO and wellness core.

-making a buffet to give him choices
- heating food

sprinkle food with :
- FortiFlora -- a probiotic you can get at vets or online. is very smelly and cats love the taste of it.
- parm. cheese
- smashed crumbles of dry food
- bonito/tuna flakes
- halo chicken treats -- crumble into dust over food -- my Wolfie loves this stuff. (Any freeze dried chicken or other protein is good!)
- poor a little water from tuna in water over food ( I use low sodium/no sodium added as other kinds in water has veg. broth in it and I assume that means onions, which are toxic to cats-- check labels). Also, make sure there's no soy in the tuna.
-powdered oregano. yep sounds weird . but some cats like it and it will entice them to eat.

other ideas of foods to offer your kitty to stim appy:
- trader joe tuna for cats
-baby food -- beechnut turkey and broth or chicken and broth. they have no onions or other additives. some babyfood has onions . please read labels if you can't find beechnut. Gerber Stage 2 is also only meat and broth.
- kentucky fried chicken
- deli turkey /chicken
- plain cooked (boiled or baked) chicken breast
-canned chicken for people (watch the label that there are no onions)
- chicken broth -- low sodium

If enticements don't work, you should consider:
-assist feeding (syringe or make little meatballs and place in mouth)
-and/or talking to your vet about appetite stimulants (mirtazapine or cyproheptidine)

The FortiFlora may have the advantage of not only encouraging Scratchie to eat, it may help in the poo department, as well.

I hope this helps.

 

[Scratchie'smom]

Sienna,

Thank you for the advise and comments. I am giving him FortiFlora each day - its just that normally he eats 4 small meals per day and he hasn't done that the last 2 days. He did finish his dinner tonight so I am less concerned.

I'll watch and as soon as he is down in his numbers make the increase you suggest.

Thanks!

Jo