Rain - 5/14 - Rollercoaster Day - AMPS 211 to 44 @ +4.5 - Note: No Longer in Danger!

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Wulfwin

Wulfwin

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Rain took us on a rollercoaster today! Her AMPS was 211 so I gave her a drop of insulin when I ran home on an early lunch break from work. When my mom checked her at at +4.5, she was at 44! Still being at work, I talked my mom through giving her honey, food, and testing until her numbers were back up she was safely past her nadir. She had a big BG spike because I purposely told my mom to give her way more honey than I would have if I'd been home since my mom has never given a cat anything orally and I wanted to err way on the side of caution (it had already taken me several minutes to convince my mom that I didn't care if she thought the meter must not be working right, she needed to treat it as if that 44 was absolutely correct!). Thankfully my mom and Rain were troopers and got her safely through the low numbers.

I'm going to skip tonight's dose (there's no way I'll be able to stay awake to monitor her tonight, and I don't think she should have a dose after a drop like that this morning, right?) and tomorrow morning's dose (I have to work again tomorrow, and I think Rain, my mom, and I all need a break after today's adventure). I'm wondering if I should give her a few days without insulin to see how she does since I can't really reduce the dose she's on any further (she's one 1 drop) - does that make sense?
 
My mom's awesome :) She didn't believe me at first when I told her that she literally saved Rain's life today. And on only her third day of testing Rain while I'm at work on the weekend!
 
Wow! Your mom was truly a lifesaver! So grateful she was there. Looks like Rain really wants off the juice (anti jinx!).
 
Wow! Scarey day for all! Mom definately deserves a hug, she did great :bighug: So glad you got her on the testing team :) Hope you all can have a quiet day tomorow :cat:
 
Hi Sarah - I looked at Rain's SS and noticed what sounded like nausea on 5/7 - (interest in food, but won't eat) are you giving an anti-nausea drug? Zolfran works so great and so quickly -- Murphy is on 4 mg cerenia 5 days on - one day off and zolfran when he seems nauseated (like tonight)
 
Hi Carol! Rain got a dose of Cerenia (16mg) on 5/6 as well as a dose of mirtazapine, and we diagnosed her with chronic pancreatitis on 5/7 once the Spec FPl test came back. She got a dose of bupe (extended release) on 5/7. Her eating really kicked in on 5/8. Right now my vet and I are trying to see what kind of maintenance medication regimen she'll need to be on. She seems to have done great with the medications she got last week until this morning (she vomited food and hair, acting less peppy, seemed nauseous). I gave her another dose of Cerenia this morning, and she seems to have perked back up tonight (eating well, acting more comfortable).

Is the 4mg Cerenia more of a lower level maintenance dose? The dosing my vet has is 16mg if the cat is 8.9 lbs or more, 8 mg if under 8.9 lbs. I'm ordering Cerenia (injectable and tablet form) and injectable B-12 so that I both on hand and can give as needed (my other cat Jason also has chronic pancreatitis and had a flare this weekend, requiring Cerenia and B-12). I've never tried Zolfran - only just got Rain diagnosed with the pancreatitis, and Jason only last December.
 
Hi Sarah - With that history, vets pretty commonly prescribe daily or near daily cerenia - it acts both as an anti-emetic and has inflammatory properties as well It can work amazingly well in decreasing vomiting - yes, the 4 mg is the maintenance dose - Murphy is on 5 days on, one day off - again, it's amazing how much this regimen has helped him vomiting and pancreatitis wise. The symptoms you have described (interested in food but not eating it) are spot on for nausea and anti nausea drugs are extremely effective - zolfran is a human drug (used for chemotherapy patients) - I always forget the generic name You need a prescription for a human pharmacy - the dose is 1/4 pill twice a day as needed - again it acts quickly and is very effective. Whenever Murphy is off his food at meal time, I waste no time in giving him the zolfran and also cyproheptadine (1/4 tab) - it is an antihistamine but acts an an appetite stimulant for cats. I find it more effective than mirtazipine and less side effects. He almost always eats within the hour Beside the pain meds, subQ fluids are frequently given during a pancreatitis flare. There is a pancreatitis primer somewhere on this site (I'll find it and post) also go to IBDkitties.net where there is alot of great info on pancreatitis.

By the way, I think that the 16 mg dose of cerenia is quite high - that's the dose for a dog - before Murphy was on maintenance, I gave him 8 mgm during a flare (but I am not a vet ) just something you might want to double check
 
Hi Carol - when Rain's Spec FPl came back last weekend, my vet did mention doing Cerenia for maintenance for those reasons (anti-emetic/anti-inflammatory). We hadn't started it yet as we wanted to see how she responded to the bupe dose and what kind of relief she got from that (my vet didn't want to do both at the same time at first so that we could be more confident which drug provided which kind of relief if that makes sense). I think Rain will really benefit from the Cerenia regimen - I have the feeling that she's had chronic lowgrade nausea/inflammation most of the time. I'll have to ask about the Zolfran and Cypro. I do keep subQ fluids on hand - never given them to Rain, but Jason's needed them a number of times over the years. I've bookmarked both the pancreatitis primer and the IBDkitties.net page as well - yes, lots of great info!

I did double check the 16mg dose before I gave it both times - 2 different vets (my main one, and another one at the practice) confirmed that dose. I'm not sure if that's the protocol they use at my practice during flares/acute episodes (I know the tablets are off-label), but I'll talk with my vet about dosing.
 
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