Tucker's belly is aching

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tuckers mom

tuckers mom

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He's so sick today, I feel terrible.

For a few days his BGs have been high (sorry SS not up to date). He brought up a large hairball yesterday, I hoped he'd feel better. Gave him his B12 shot last night.

Today he's had diahrea, AMPS 455, +6 139, that had to feel cruddy just dropping that much. Dose is a fat 2U of Levemir.

So far tonight he vomitted up liquid and wont move, sitting in the meatloaf position on the bed.

I gave him an injection of Pepcid, whatever the script name is, I forget right now.

He looks miserable. I'm hoping this wont affect his potassium level, he takes Tumil-K potassium supplement BID, his highest potassium reading has been 3.9, but if the diahrea continues I'm worried about that.

So, for tonight I will hope the pepcid kicks in and he starts to feel better, but if could send him a few thoughts, it's always made a world of difference, he's a very receptive little man.

Thank you.
 
Aaaww, poor sweetie.
What is it with orange cats and sore tummy's today?!

Feel better soon Tucker. Remember to keep eating!

Sending healing thoughts your way,
Odiesmom
 
Pancreatitis? See Jojo's post here.

The things that helped Gwyn with her pancreatitis attacks were painkillers (absolutely essential, IMO), sub-Q fluids, appetite stimulants, steroids, vitamins and Zantac (we used Zantac instead of Pepcid due to Gwyn's predisposition to constipation).

We also re-designed everything to lessen the amount Gwyn had to move around: every two hours, we brought fresh food and water to her and, when we weren't actively offering it, it was only a few feet away from her. Angled food and water bowls at 45-degree angle so that she didn't need to arch her neck over the edge of the bowl and down to eat, she just needed to ove her head/tongue forward an inch. Brought the litterbox nearby as well, so she didn't have to walk far to use it. Slept right next to her so if wanted to wake us for something, she could, and we could hear/feel her if she moved.
 
JJ, I have a question. Normally during a CP flare I give subq fluids, but since his potassium crash in March he hasn't a CP flare so I didn't think about this. Can I give subq fluids to a cat with potassium issues? I have bags of Lactated Ringers. I suppose that has potassium in it, so it should be okay.

I will give him his Buprenex, I completely forgot about, thank you for reminding me.
 
Just checked his BG is 317, I gave him his pain med, the buprenex. I guess I'll give him his usual dose of insulin. He's looking pale now too, his orange gets a grey tinge to it and loses it's copper.

I hate when he gets sick but since the March potassium crash, I hate it even more.

If he doesn't eat by 10PM I'll be syringe feeding his canned A/D, that's how he gets his potassium, but normally he eats it, without being force fed.
 
Dear Jennifer,

Sending lots of hugs and thoughts and prayers to you and Tucker. I know how worried you are, and these are always the times when we feel that ache in our hearts when our furbabies are suffering so much.

I sure hope he will feel better real soon.

(((HUGS))),
Jean and Charcoal (GA) cat_pet_icon
 
> JJ, I have a question. Normally during a CP flare I give subq fluids, but since his potassium crash in
> March he hasn't a CP flare so I didn't think about this. Can I give subq fluids to a cat with potassium
> issues? I have bags of Lactated Ringers. I suppose that has potassium in it, so it should be okay.

I looked up LRS at the NIH. According to their warnings section,
Lactated Ringer’s should be used with great care, if at all, in patients with [...] conditions in which potassium retention is present.
Click to expand...
I would take that to mean that, because LRS contains potassium, it should not be given to patients who have problems eliminating potassium from their systems. There're no warnings about not using it in patients who have too little potassium, so my guess is that it should be fine. (Though I"m perfectly willing to be corrected on that.)


> I will give him his Buprenex, I completely forgot about, thank you for reminding me.

No problem. If his appetite doesn't pick up, check with the vet about a stimulant (cyproheptadine or mirtazapine; mirtz lasts longer but can can have stronger side effects; cypro needs more frequent dosing).

I hope he feels better soon!! Pancreatitis *sucks*!
 
Thank you JJ, I have cypro on hand, but try to wait until he feels a little better. Maybe just a token dose of subq's would be okay for now.
 
(((((((((Tucker)))))))))) I hope you feel better soon baby boy. Sending a truckload of feel better vines and snowflakes your way!!!!!!!!!!!!

(((((((Jennifer))))))) Please keep up updated. Poor baby. Positive vibes and thoughts sent to you too. :YMHUG: :YMHUG:
 
(((Jennifer))) I hope (((Tucker))) feels better soon!
Poor little guy.

Doodle has been getting fluids once a week at the vets,( to help with constipation) and as you know he also is dealing with low potassium.
My vet said she didn't believe it would be a problem and if fluids are needed more regularly I could always give a bit more potassium on the day he gets the fluids or even the day after. She said that there was no way it would drive his potassium too high to give him a bit more... and that if it would alleviate my worry of the fluids flushing out too much... that I should just do it.
I can't imagine the same wouldn't apply in your case.
 
I spoke to an ER vet who's seen Tucker too many times in the past. He said it was safe to give him the LRS and since he's so down right now I gave him 100 ccs. This is one of his worst flares yet.

He vomitted shortly after giving him the buprenex but I don't feel safe giving him more. I hope that he got some. It was given between the gum and lip, so maybe he got some.

As you all know, there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing our little ones in pain and feeling helpless.

So far he's been given insulin, pepcid, fluids, pain relief and I will be giving him some A/D canned syringe fed shortly.

Thank you all.
 
Since the bupe is supposed to be absorbed through the cheek pouch, I wouldn't worry too much about what he may or may not have vomitted. I'd keep an eye on him in the later hours of the dosing (for Gwyn, that would be hours 8-12), and see whether the dose appears to be wearing off. If it seems to be, you might give him his next dose early.

You might check Tucker's regular foods on the food charts and seeing what the fat percentage is. I know some cats have flare-ups when they're on a higher-fat food so, if Tucker's regular food is high in fat, you might consider switching him to one that's lower in fat; IIRC there are some high-protein foods that are comparatively low in both carbs and fat. Anyway, just a thought.

Give some cuddles to Tucker from us --

Jean and her Gwyn
 
Thank you. I just syringe fed him some canned A/D with his potassium. He's not too happy with me right now.

He can't have high fat foods, Wellness and Evo make him sick, he stays mainly with FF Beef, a little salmon and some beef and liver.

I believe this flare may have been caused by the hair ball, it came up yesterday but it was about 3 inches long and thick. No idea how long he had that sitting in his belly causing trouble.

I hope tomorrow to have better news.

Again, thank you all so much. It's such a relief to be able to just write it out sometimes and even the basics that I know, if JJ didn't remind me about his Bupe, I don't know how long it would have taken me to remember. Many hugs to everyone.
 

((((((Tucker)))))) & ((((((Jennifer))))))

Hope your little boy is feeling better...
I’ll be keeping both of you in my prayers tonight

-Chrystelle
 
Thank you all so much.

Things are much better this morning. He's hungry, his color is back, he's no longer lying flat on the bathroom floor. BG still high, 306. I will update his spreadsheet today.

I gave him subq fluids this AM and insulin, no pain meds yet as he seemed okay, but will give more pepcid around lunch time, just in case.
 
Yay, Tucker!! I'm so glad you're feeling better! And well done, Jennifer, for catching and treating this so quickly! (Also, bonus points for having a complete set of all needed medications on hand ;) )
 
JJ & Gwyn said:
Yay, Tucker!! I'm so glad you're feeling better! And well done, Jennifer, for catching and treating this so quickly! (Also, bonus points for having a complete set of all needed medications on hand ;) )
Click to expand...


Thank you, but I swear I was blanking out last night. Since his potassium crash I've been so involved in just watching for signs of hi/lo potassium that his normal pancreatitis issues didn't even creep into my mind. So I will probably say this to you a hundred times, but thank you for bringing up CP last night.

At lunch today he was again very energetic, ate his lunch and checked on Lilly Grace's for leftovers, he looks like a million bucks :mrgreen: I will do one more round on Subq, a token 50cc and then leave him be.
 
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