Squamee-a different diagnosis???

Status
Not open for further replies.
judy and squamee(GA)

judy and squamee(GA)

Very Active Member
Oh My GOd!!! I have found a description of her symptoms and it gets diagnosed as Feline orofacial pain syndrome. It seems to have something to do with the trigeminal nerve causing neuropathic pain. It is not clear to me what causes it (maybe still could be a tumor???) but I am calling my vet tomorrow. And one of the treatments is gabapentin.
 
I love it
Today I was at the bottom of the bottle and only had half a dose left (was suppose to last til saturday) and he has seemed off all day- kind of a worried look on his sweet little face.

I saw a sharp improvement when he started it, but was wondering if it was still doing something bc it has no other obvious side effects

It was taking it away, to make me see how much it helps....
 
lol, how ironic.

Sorry, I'm super spent - major hike today. When I'm more in this world I'll try to say something more meaningful.

The couple days F has been on it have not really shown any improvement for him - but we really grasping for straws to explain his inappetence. My mother who is currently caring for F told me today she just thinks he is "senile" lol [since the pain meds seem to make no difference]. Maybe she's not so nuts but I've never heard of a senile cat. The gab trial is not over. Judy, I'm happy you might have an avenue for exploration.

Thanks Nancy for continuing to share you experience with it. I'll have to report to moms about the discontinuation idea.
 
what was/is his dose?

i wouldnt quit yet bc a couple people told me it takes 3 days to 3 weeks, so ?? did bupe help?
 
Nancy and Cody said:
what was/is his dose?
Click to expand...
Not sure who you mean.

Squamee is about .5u

F is not a sugar kitty - even with pred and a somewhat mixed diet. We did EDIT: tramadol and it did not mix well with the mirt - potential serotonin syndrome. We have some bup on hand and might try that too.

EDIT: oops you mean dose of gab. Let me find out. Moms is east coast time - she's not the night owl you are :-)
 
Nancy,
did you say bottom of the bottle?--that means it is a liquid dose? My vet had said it would be a problem to use because it was pills. That would be terrific!
 
Judy, Nancy sent me via PM some info she had collected about gab. Hopefully she can share that with you. One was something talking about having it compounded so that it was in liquid form. So you would need to find a local compounding pharmacy - some even do pet specific meds which gab it not. They generally have all sorts of cat friendly flavors too - like tuna etc. They should work with you to find the flavor Squamee likes best.

I'm not sure if there are special considerations with Squamee but pilling cats is pretty easy. You just pop it in pretty far back. I usually use a finger and use a motion resembling spreading peanut butter in the back of their mouth - so almost from the side. I've found that the head on approach which is more of a poke than a swipe is less efficient. Once you are done, then slowly wash it down with 2 3ml syringes filled with water [important step]. It can help to to kind of get on your knees and place them under you so they can't back out - but I got to the point with H where I would just sneak up on him doing his thing & would not have to really hold him. Of all the nursing procedures, oral medications were his least favorite. :sad:
 
I am SOOO happy to have found out what is the actual problem with Squamee (even tho we don't know the underlying cause--could have been infected tooth she had, or still could be cancer--but at least there is treatment for the pain!)--if I could jump high enough I would click my heels in the air!
I can't believe I found this on the internet without all that much effort. You would think the dental specialist I took her to would know about it (or have been able to track it down the way I did)! And that was $1500. (he did take out an infected tooth).

Gator, I have to say I owe you a great big thank you and I'd love to give you a kiss! When I was feeling most hopeless last night (she ate very little yesterday and really struggled whenever she tried to eat) I said to myself, "you know, Judy, it this were Gator, he would not be sitting here and moping. He would be researching everywhere to find out more about this situation". SO I went on-line, and lo and behold, found exactly what I needed to know. EUREKA!
 
Judy,
Heh, not sure what I really did but I'm glad you have something to explore. You are obviously the one doing all the hard work in the trenches.

Nancy,
The recommended dose for F was 25mg twice a day. The observation was that dose seems to make him "shut down" - not sure exactly what that's supposed to mean. So we're trying a lower dose.

We finally today got the word [after about a month of begging the neurologist at a certain institution who did his MRI to produce the write up and explanation of the problem grr_red ] that they think F likely has degenerative myelopathy [or ironically "DM" for short]. DM is a degeneration of the spinal cord which most frequently happens in German Sheppard dogs and is somewhat rare in cats. In fact, this board does not have one reference to "myelopathy." The neurologist said that DM is typically not considered to be painful which might explain his lack of response to pain meds. The symptoms appear look similar to diabetic neuropathy - by myelopathy is a different beast. Anyway, as far as I understand the prognosis for myelopathy is not good. But following Judy's example, I'm hitting the Interents for research. This DM may not be the only thing he has going on but at least it might explain his weakness in his legs which might contribute to his innapetance, I don't know.
 
FWIW Cody is on 30mg. 1x/day (pain is usually 1x/day, seizures 2x/day is what I read somewhere) I have it compounded at a local mom and pop pharmacy. It is a compounding powder they mix with water and TUNA yum flavor, to work out to 30mg/1ml. Shake well, before breffis, no probs.

It is a human drug so it comes in large pills- 100mg is the smallest pill so not really helpful, and there is a human liguid, but it contains zylitol which is toxic for dogs and ? cats, so it must be compounded from powder.
My pharmacy charges about $9.50 / 14days.

Ele & Blackie was on 25mg 1x/day then upped to 33mg 1x/day for arthritis.
 
Gator,
I read it can make them sleepy .
50 mg /day sounds like a lot, unless its for seizures. F is big, I bet,
wasn't H BIG at one time- main coon?
 
F is a bit smaller than H was. I think he is 11 and something lbs. So it probably is too much. I think he is currently getting 1/3 of the recommended 25mg twice/day.
 
Gator,
I wonder if methyl b12 could help like it does for diabetic neuropathy? it's a water soluble B vitamin so excess is excreted and I've heard of some BIG doses being given without apparent problem.

The reason I asked about bupe, is that since cats hide pain well, vets will do a bupe trial. If they seem better on bupe, you can assume they are in pain, and then use something else to help them, because since bupe is a narcotic, it not for chronic use.
 
Yep we're doing Methyl-B12 on my recommendation as well as regular B12. I asked in Health about doing both and one person replied that she had done that. They are very much alike in their symptoms.

The narcotic trial was EDIT: tramadol. We alter learned that EDIT: tramadol and Mirtazapine can interact and cause serotonin syndrome - an issue sometimes with mirt. F supposedly also has arthritis - some vet determined this a while ago. But I just read that myelopathy can be mistaken for arthritis. Of course that does not mean he does not have arthritis too. We do have bup on hand and may try it but wanted to try to work though the gab first. I'm actually off to see F and be in Indy for much of October. So I will have a better idea on what his status it. The prognosis for myelopathy is poor really.
 
maybe giving 1/2 of the prescribed dose of gab, 2x/day (12.5mg BID); or 25mg 1x/day, might be a way to get close to the dose Blackie and Cody are doing well on.
It does seen to interact with Cody's aspirin (in a good way)- didn't one of those articles say it's effect is magnified when given with other pain meds/nsaids? Blackie is also getting other nsaid type meds for arthritis-(I forget what) so maybe that relates to its success for us.
 
Hi All,
Blackie is still on Gab and doing quite well on it. He gets 1/3 of a 100mg capsule once a day mixed with food. Any more than that and he's just too sedated. We did have it compounded at one time into smaller dose capsules that I mixed with his food, but it was much more expensive that way.

Judy, I hope this is the solution for Squamee. It would be awesome if this just took the problem away.
 
oops, mistake [I've been informed] it was NOT Torbutol after all. It was tramadol. I'm editing my earlier posts to reflect this. anyway... sorry. Thanks Ele for your input.
 
Saw the vet this morning and he agreed with the diagnosis (Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome) and put her on phenobarbital. I successfully gave her my first pill tonight! (Thanks for the video, Gator) He is following the treatment protocol, and if this doesn't work he will move on to gabapentin. I am thrilled. It doesn't explain the seizure, but so far she does not seem to have had another one, so who knows. And this horrible symptom of her struggling to eat should be gone in 3 to 7 days! THis also means that she will not have to stay on steroids, so I think when the current shot wears off she will also stop being diabetic.
She is doing ok on .5 and I am not concerned with improving her numbers, since I think this is very temporary. I know I have to be careful, because eventually she should not even need the .5---so, obviously, I will keep testing (although less frequently).
 
Sunday Oct 3
Her eating problem is not toatally gone, but she is able to eat significantly more. Thank god for the Internet! (and for all of you, too! All the talk about gabapentin was a significant factor in getting me to start searching.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top