Laura and Harley (GA)
Very Active Member
Hi everyone,
Thank you to all who have asked and PM'd to ask after Harley! I'm so sorry, I've not had a chance to post much these last few weeks. Virtually all of my spare time has been spent in caring for Harley and trying to stabilize him. Those who know us, need no introductions, but for those who are new to the story, here's a link to my first long post on Harley's diagnosis of pancreatitis.
Although Harley was feeling good on my birthday, snuggling and purring, this did not last long. On Thursday night 3/31 he violently vomited his dinner and meatloafed in pain. He made little kitten crying noises and would yow in pain when I touched him. I gave my last dose of buprenex that I'd been saving and gave him 100ccs of fluids. We sat up all night together because neither one could sleep. The next morning he gave me a scare by lying on the floor playing "dead or comatose cat." I tested him and he wasn't in hypo (340 and 355) so I ran him to my vet just in case something else was wrong. She was a lot more attentive this time and ran the full GI bloodwork panel and CBC. Despite the fluids, we was still dehydrated and his spec-fPLI which was at 20 two weeks before was now 40. The high end of normal is 5.4 So she gave me more buprenex, fluids, clavamox, renewed my prednisolone prescription, and gave him a Cerenia shot.
The Cerenia helped for 24 hours but then with no anti-emetic it was a struggle to get him to eat anything. She'd called in a prescription for chicken flavored cyproheptadine to the compunding pharmacy and I tried it on him but it tasted so be he frothed and foamed at the mouth and spit it out. I felt so horrible for doing that to him. It helped and he ate a little, but that came at a price - he developed a food aversion to chicken. Same thing happened with chicken compounded odansetron. Things were bad for a few days with me trying to alternately coax him to eat and syringe feed him foods he did not want to eat. Finally on Monday night I called up the second vet and he told me to come in (they were still open) and he gave Harley an Anzemet injection. By the time we got home, Harley was ready to eat. That night he ate about one 3 oz can of food. So I got more of the Anzemet and injectable bupe this time and at last Harley has started to turn a corner.
I'd been telling my vet I wanted to switch insulins for several weeks now but hadn't made it a high priority with Harley's illness. I'd printed all the Lev info. and left it with her and surprisingly she read it and also made a few phone calls to her contacts at Cornell University. The end result is that today she gave me the go-ahead to switch to Lev with a few conditions: 1) we start at 0.5u bid (which is what I wanted) 2) hold the dose for the first week unless he goes too low and 3) dose changes will be decided on by both of us together. I made the bargain and will stick with it (for now anyway :mrgreen
Part of me is sad for this change because I feel at home here in PZI, but Harley needs this and that has to come first. But we won't be far away and I'll keep checking in on all my kitty and bean buddies. Sue, Judy, Joanna, Gator, Holly, Donna, Kim, and Angela - thank you so much for all your love, help, guidance, inspiration and just plain patience in putting up with me!
Lori, Kelly, Marcy and Beth - brace for impact 'cause here we come!
Love and purrs to all! cat_pet_icon
Thank you to all who have asked and PM'd to ask after Harley! I'm so sorry, I've not had a chance to post much these last few weeks. Virtually all of my spare time has been spent in caring for Harley and trying to stabilize him. Those who know us, need no introductions, but for those who are new to the story, here's a link to my first long post on Harley's diagnosis of pancreatitis.
Although Harley was feeling good on my birthday, snuggling and purring, this did not last long. On Thursday night 3/31 he violently vomited his dinner and meatloafed in pain. He made little kitten crying noises and would yow in pain when I touched him. I gave my last dose of buprenex that I'd been saving and gave him 100ccs of fluids. We sat up all night together because neither one could sleep. The next morning he gave me a scare by lying on the floor playing "dead or comatose cat." I tested him and he wasn't in hypo (340 and 355) so I ran him to my vet just in case something else was wrong. She was a lot more attentive this time and ran the full GI bloodwork panel and CBC. Despite the fluids, we was still dehydrated and his spec-fPLI which was at 20 two weeks before was now 40. The high end of normal is 5.4 So she gave me more buprenex, fluids, clavamox, renewed my prednisolone prescription, and gave him a Cerenia shot.
The Cerenia helped for 24 hours but then with no anti-emetic it was a struggle to get him to eat anything. She'd called in a prescription for chicken flavored cyproheptadine to the compunding pharmacy and I tried it on him but it tasted so be he frothed and foamed at the mouth and spit it out. I felt so horrible for doing that to him. It helped and he ate a little, but that came at a price - he developed a food aversion to chicken. Same thing happened with chicken compounded odansetron. Things were bad for a few days with me trying to alternately coax him to eat and syringe feed him foods he did not want to eat. Finally on Monday night I called up the second vet and he told me to come in (they were still open) and he gave Harley an Anzemet injection. By the time we got home, Harley was ready to eat. That night he ate about one 3 oz can of food. So I got more of the Anzemet and injectable bupe this time and at last Harley has started to turn a corner.
I'd been telling my vet I wanted to switch insulins for several weeks now but hadn't made it a high priority with Harley's illness. I'd printed all the Lev info. and left it with her and surprisingly she read it and also made a few phone calls to her contacts at Cornell University. The end result is that today she gave me the go-ahead to switch to Lev with a few conditions: 1) we start at 0.5u bid (which is what I wanted) 2) hold the dose for the first week unless he goes too low and 3) dose changes will be decided on by both of us together. I made the bargain and will stick with it (for now anyway :mrgreen
Part of me is sad for this change because I feel at home here in PZI, but Harley needs this and that has to come first. But we won't be far away and I'll keep checking in on all my kitty and bean buddies. Sue, Judy, Joanna, Gator, Holly, Donna, Kim, and Angela - thank you so much for all your love, help, guidance, inspiration and just plain patience in putting up with me!
Lori, Kelly, Marcy and Beth - brace for impact 'cause here we come!
Love and purrs to all! cat_pet_icon
! 
Hopefully things will continue to improve and the Lev will be helpful to you. 
