Question about sub q fluids | Page 2 | Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

Question about sub q fluids

I recommend these. You may not need any new ones at all (although you do need half unit markings.)
 

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Like I said, if you want to go for the ultra fine 31 gauge then let’s go with U-100s and the conversion chart.

But forget all that for now. How is Stoney tonight?
 
Would any of his labs that I showed you tell if he has pancreatitis? Could that be why he’s turning away from food? He won’t even eat a piece of shredded cheddar cheese. He loves cheese!

I did just give him 2mg of ondansetron. The maropitant really didn’t make a difference other than make him mad. Giving him mirataz now.
 
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McKenzie LaPray said:
Would any of his labs that I showed you tell if he has pancreatitis? Could that be why he’s turning away from food? He won’t even eat a piece of shredded cheddar cheese. He loves cheese!

I did just give him 2mg of ondansetron. The maropitant really didn’t make a difference other than make him mad. Giving him mirataz now.
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Ondansetron should be given at 4 mg. and can be given every 8 hours. I do believe it would be worthwhile to have him checked for pancreatitis, but that would be a specific test called a Spec fPl (feline pancreatic lipase test (not the rapid/snap test, but the one that has to be sent out to the lab.) Still, the treatment for pancreatitis is basically fluids, pain meds, anti-nausea meds like Cerenia or Ondansetron and possibly a reduced fat diet.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Ondansetron should be given at 4 mg. and can be given every 8 hours. I do believe it would be worthwhile to have him checked for pancreatitis, but that would be a specific test called a Spec fPl (feline pancreatic lipase test (not the rapid/snap test, but the one that has to be sent out to the lab.) Still, the treatment for pancreatitis is basically fluids, pain meds, anti-nausea meds like Cerenia or Ondansetron and possibly a reduced fat diet.
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Just gave him the other half. Hopefully that’s okay. So, basically what you are saying is that it is pretty much the same treatment that we are doing now. Maybe it’s the food that he doesn’t like. He’s eating the treats like crazy.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Is he getting pain meds? Maybe that’s the only thing that he would get for pancreatitis that he is isn’t getting now?
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Good morning! No pain meds. He really doesn’t seem to be in any pain but I know that cats hide it well.

Guess who ate all of his breakfast and started eating his siblings food all on his own just now. (It’s the same food he already gets, easier to switch them all) so I gave him a snack. He’s still working on it!
 
@Suzanne & Darcy - are these safe? Our Walmart only has the gerber “beef and gravy” with cornstarch added. I checked the beech-nut and these are all they have. It has broth. I just want to make sure before I send my husband to the store after work to pick some up!
 

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Try the tips here: Suggestions on How to Stimulate Kitty's Appetite

Also this: THE '~LIVER SHAKE~' FOR SICK CATS

FortiFlora almost always works. It's super yummy and gets an inappetant cat to eat. A little sprinkle over food is all you need. Nutritional yeast, the kind sold in health food type stores, has the same effect as FortiFlora.

Does the Mirataz not help?

Did the vet confirm or rule out pancreatitis? If it's a bad pancreatitis flare up, hospitalization may be needed. My cat has needed that before.

Info - A Primer On Pancreatitis
 
squeem3 said:
Try the tips here: Suggestions on How to Stimulate Kitty's Appetite

Also this: THE '~LIVER SHAKE~' FOR SICK CATS

FortiFlora almost always works. It's super yummy and gets an inappetant cat to eat. A little sprinkle over food is all you need. Nutritional yeast, the kind sold in health food type stores, has the same effect as FortiFlora.

Does the Mirataz not help?

Did the vet confirm or rule out pancreatitis? If it's a bad pancreatitis flare up, hospitalization may be needed. My cat has needed that before.

Info - A Primer On Pancreatitis
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Fortflora has not been working. We’ve tried nearly everything on the list. Mirataz has been given everyday since October 24th. Vet didn’t mention pancreatitis. We unfortunately cannot afford another hospitalization as we have paid for numerous emergency care visits since September 25th.
 
Syringe feeding. Have you ever done that before? If not you may not have the supplies. Sometimes syringing in a little food will “prime the pump” and get them to eat more.

Ham baby food is usually the most appetizing.
A sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top will
do it for many cats.
Forti flora sprinkled on food is very exciting for a lot of cats.
The “magic chicken dust (crushed up freeze dried chicken treats) helps a lot of my cats.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Syringe feeding. Have you ever done that before? If not you may not have the supplies. Sometimes syringing in a little food will “prime the pump” and get them to eat more.

Ham baby food is usually the most appetizing.
A sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top will
do it for many cats.
Forti flora sprinkled on food is very exciting for a lot of cats.
The “magic chicken dust (crushed up freeze dried chicken treats) helps a lot of my cats.
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We actually picked up syringes yesterday and he did not like it but I am willing to try again to the baby food. They did not have any ham baby food at our Walmart, so we got turkey and broth and beef and broth. Parmesan hasn’t worked and neither has fortiflora. The magic chicken dust kind of works, but not all the time. I’m really nervous that I can’t help him, and we cannot afford another emergency hospitalization.
 
Ask the vet if a feeding tube would be helpful to get much needed calories into your cat to try to prevent fatty liver disease on top of everything else. There info here on the different types of feeding tubes: Feeding Tubes For Cats

You can make your own baby food. Just poach some meat, put it into a food processor and blend with the cooking liquid to the consistency you need. Slightly warmed up food may be more appealing than cold or room temperature food.

Are you using Cerenia? That's available as in injectable which you can give as is or through the fluid line to lessen the sting.

You may want to also post in Health to get more tips on how to get food into your cat and general support 🤗
 
squeem3 said:
Ask the vet if a feeding tube would be helpful to get much needed calories into your cat to try to prevent fatty liver disease on top of everything else. There info here on the different types of feeding tubes: Feeding Tubes For Cats

You can make your own baby food. Just poach some meat, put it into a food processor and blend with the cooking liquid to the consistency you need. Slightly warmed up food may be more appealing than cold or room temperature food.

Are you using Cerenia? That's available as in injectable which you can give as is or through the fluid line to lessen the sting.
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We are using Ondansteron. Cerenia did not work for him at all
 
Sometimes the juice from some tuna in water will help. In fact, you can take tuna and dump it in a bowl with some water and refrigerate for a day and make a lot of tuna water to drizzle on food.
 
McKenzie LaPray said:
We actually picked up syringes yesterday and he did not like it but I am willing to try again to the baby food. They did not have any ham baby food at our Walmart, so we got turkey and broth and beef and broth. Parmesan hasn’t worked and neither has fortiflora. The magic chicken dust kind of works, but not all the time. I’m really nervous that I can’t help him, and we cannot afford another emergency hospitalization.
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How about asking for some Gabapentin in case he has pancreatitis and has some level of discomfort. Gabapentin can come in liquid form or small compounded tablets. You can try 50 mg or 25 mg if that seems too much. One positive side effect of Gabapentin is that it also stimulates appetite.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Sometimes the juice from some tuna in water will help. In fact, you can take tuna and dump it in a bowl with some water and refrigerate for a day and make a lot of tuna water to drizzle on food.
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We actually haven’t tried the tuna yet. The smell makes me violently ill! Lol. But I’ll try it for him. I’ll grab some tomorrow.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
How about asking for some Gabapentin in case he has pancreatitis and has some level of discomfort. Gabapentin can come in liquid form or small compounded tablets. You can try 50 mg or 25 mg if that seems too much. One positive side effect of Gabapentin is that it also stimulates appetite.
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I’ll call the vet tomorrow morning and see if they can prescribe it. Every time we ask them to prescribe anything, they make us come in. It’s kind of a pain and an expensive one at that.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
McKenzie, how much would you say he has eaten today… the total amount?
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I have not been counting calories. It’s honestly too difficult when switching through several types of food. He ate at least 2 cans of FF. And just now about half a jar of baby food. I’m worried I gave it too fast and he may vomit. He hasn’t yet, since we brought him home from the vet, so I’m paranoid.
 
Fancy Feast Savory Salmon Feast will do it for a lot of cats.

I really think he could be a candidate for having pancreatitis. With my cat who was recently diagnosed with pancreatitis via the fPL test, he seems to have good days and bad days— even good mornings and bad afternoons (or more likely bad mornings and good afternoons). He waxes and wanes through the day. Some days he needs Zofran (Ondansetron) and Gabapentin and other days he seems to need nothing.
 
McKenzie LaPray said:
I have not been counting calories. It’s honestly too difficult when switching through several types of food. He ate at least 2 cans of FF. And just now about half a jar of baby food. I’m worried I gave it too fast and he may vomit. He hasn’t yet, since we brought him home from the vet, so I’m paranoid.
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Cerenia may not help for nausea/appetite but it’s great to prevent/reduce vomiting.
 
McKenzie LaPray said:
You’re right, it’s not too terrible, but I know he needs more to keep the ketones at bay. Luckily, he went down from 4.00 to 1.4. I will be checking them again in about 25 minutes which is +2 PMPS
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I saw that. I was disheartened by the high ketones, but then kept reading your notes and was encouraged by the lower readings later in the day. It’s good that he goes down and is not perpetually in high ketones.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Because of his high ketones, I believe we need to increase his dose tomorrow as long as you can monitor his cycles as you normally do.
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I can monitor him tomorrow until +9. I absolutely have to leave the house and run errands. I haven’t left the house since we took him to the ER on Monday evening. I have been cooping myself up to monitor him, which I know isn’t healthy, but I suffer from severe anxiety, so it’s hard to leave him.
 
McKenzie LaPray said:
I can monitor him tomorrow until +9. I absolutely have to leave the house and run errands. I haven’t left the house since we took him to the ER on Monday evening. I have been cooping myself up to monitor him, which I know isn’t healthy, but I suffer from severe anxiety, so it’s hard to leave him.
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He will be okay. By +6 you should have already a good idea of what’s happening so you would not have to worry.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
He will be okay. By +6 you should have already a good idea of what’s happening so you would not have to worry.
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Guess who ate nearly 75% of a can of FF?! I saw him licking the table and thought hmm maybe he’s hungry. We are trending down! He’s at 251 at +5. 😁 I hope we can keep this up. We have a 4:30am alarm set to give him anti nausea meds before he eats.
 
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