When to increase?

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Julie Sue & Oscar too

Julie Sue & Oscar too

Member Since 2022
Happy 4th y'all!
@FrostD and busy cat parents advice needed.
I want to increase Oscar's dose to 1.75 sometime here soon. The current fat 1.5 made a nice curve shape yesterday but he's still way too high. Prob is, I won't be home after his am shot until about +5 to check on him the rest of the week. I have the weekend off, then next week I won't be home until +8. He runs lower at night so I try to increase on a morning dose but I'm worried I won't be around enough to monitor.
Should I wait until Saturday? I don't want him to get stuck on these reds. Thanks for your help!
 
I'm leaning towards increasing tonight. Even though I try to start in the am.. he's been in the red since yesterday, it seems and he's not dropping today so far.
 
+5 check should be fine, I would go ahead and increase. That's right around nadir for him so will give you good data and also a chance to catch any issues.
 
FrostD said:
+5 check should be fine, I would go ahead and increase. That's right around nadir for him so will give you good data and also a chance to catch any issues.
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He didn't drop at all last night. You think it's a good idea to start tonight? Then I can get a +3 before bed.
 
FrostD said:
Not a bad day at all! Glad to see it.
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Today wasn't bad either. I'm not seeing a bounce, miraculously, but it looks like I might need to go up again in a couple days. I'm seeing my pushing the dose up helping now. I think changing shot times from 5 to 8 helped a little bit too.

He has a vet visit tomorrow morning with a new doc. Just to establish care. I hope she sees the progress we're making. Anything I should be asking??
 
Ah much better! I suspect he is seeing mid to high blue at nadir, so in that case you will hold a dose closer to 5-7 days.

Nothing specific, but I personally would be digging to see how much she knows about FD. I never expect much, but I do care that they're willing to work with me, not just bark orders and dose changes and pet metera at me
 
FrostD said:
Ah much better! I suspect he is seeing mid to high blue at nadir, so in that case you will hold a dose closer to 5-7 days.

Nothing specific, but I personally would be digging to see how much she knows about FD. I never expect much, but I do care that they're willing to work with me, not just bark orders and dose changes and pet metera at me
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New vet thinks I'm doing a great job. She was super impressed with his spreadsheet and being able to see what's going on with him. She had an old diabetic cat herself so she knows what it is like. She sounded MUCH more informed than the previous vets.
His teeth aren't great. He's got a lot of plaque/gingivitis/periodontal disease but she didn't see any infection. He's too high risk to do much about that. She's sending me a list of non invasive treatment options (what do y'all use for teeth btw).
He's also got a growth on his ankle that she suspects might be a mast cell tumor or an old injury but we're gonna keep an eye on it. She said treating with antihistamines if it swells again, but no invasive treatment at his age. It doesn't seem to bother him.
We agree a dose increase would be good soon. I will keep him at 1.75 another week or so and see what that looks like.
She'd like to see him under 250 all day.. but he's doing really well on this current 1.75 so far.
Thank you for that push to go up to 1.75 it was definitely the right choice.
They gave me a gabapentin so he was less anxious on our trip. Wish she'd given me two, one for him and one for me.
 
I hear you, I'm not sure who the trips are worse for :confused:

I'm glad! A good vet makes all the difference in the world.

@Suzanne & Darcy I think I remember seeing you mention some non invasive dental stuff when cats can't go under for a proper dental?

Did they aspirate the lump and check it under microscope? Our dog gets them all over (mix of lipomas and mast cell tumors), shes had surgery twice to remove them. She's had some come back. She's also a senior so we're more selective about what we do. We tend not to touch any that are benign, but some come back potentially very aggressive. The older they get the harder it is to make those decisions :/
 
FrostD said:
I hear you, I'm not sure who the trips are worse for :confused:

I'm glad! A good vet makes all the difference in the world.

@Suzanne & Darcy I think I remember seeing you mention some non invasive dental stuff when cats can't go under for a proper dental?

Did they aspirate the lump and check it under microscope? Our dog gets them all over (mix of lipomas and mast cell tumors), shes had surgery twice to remove them. She's had some come back. She's also a senior so we're more selective about what we do. We tend not to touch any that are benign, but some come back potentially very aggressive. The older they get the harder it is to make those decisions :/
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She did mention the option of aspirating the lump to find out more but considering my likely course of treatment would be to avoid anything invasive, she didn't push it. It's pretty deep in his ankle.. not on the surface like most mast cell tumors so she's really not sure that's what it is and amputating his leg is off the table.
 
For a cat who cannot undergo anesthesia, and I have had several like this with dental problems, I have done pulsed antibiotics (clindamycin/Antirobe, which is the best thing for mouth bacteria) where the cat received one week of the Antirobe and then three weeks off - then one week on and three weeks off. This helps keep the situation under control. Other than that I have used a product called 1-TDC on one of my FIV+ cats. He’s pretty compliant. The little capsule is opened up and the stuff is kind of rubbed on the cat’s gums. I tasted it. Not much flavor. It’s a very good product and is available through Chewy. There are also probiotics that are specific for the mouth. These may be worth looking into. I use one called Entero, which is made by a company called Veterinarian Recommended Solutions. Entero is mixed in with food and it contains strains of probiotic that are specific to oral health.

There’s a lot out there to research. I think there are lot of worthless products too.

Why is Oscar not a good candidate for anesthesia? Is it his kidneys? That’s one of the top reasons for not doing anesthesia. A fine needle aspiration of the thing on the ankle would bot require anesthesia, but the way you’ve described its location, I don’t know that I would do it. Hopefully it will stay stable and not bother him.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
For a cat who cannot undergo anesthesia, and I have had several like this with dental problems, I have done pulsed antibiotics (clindamycin/Antirobe, which is the best thing for mouth bacteria) where the cat received one week of the Antirobe and then three weeks off - then one week on and three weeks off. This helps keep the situation under control. Other than that I have used a product called 1-TDC on one of my FIV+ cats. He’s pretty compliant. The little capsule is opened up and the stuff is kind of rubbed on the cat’s gums. I tasted it. Not much flavor. It’s a very good product and is available through Chewy. There are also probiotics that are specific for the mouth. These may be worth looking into. I use one called Entero, which is made by a company called Veterinarian Recommended Solutions. Entero is mixed in with food and it contains strains of probiotic that are specific to oral health.

There’s a lot out there to research. I think there are lot of worthless products too.

Why is Oscar not a good candidate for anesthesia? Is it his kidneys? That’s one of the top reasons for not doing anesthesia. A fine needle aspiration of the thing on the ankle would bot require anesthesia, but the way you’ve described its location, I don’t know that I would do it. Hopefully it will stay stable and not bother him.
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I like the probiotic idea. He really dislikes people messing with his mouth. Maybe I'll bring up antibiotics if his numbers don't improve.

He's not a good candidate due to his age and the diabetes. He would PROBABLY be ok for dental work but I don't know if I want to take that risk.
His kidneys were fine last time he had blood work. The aspiration could be done but I'm sure it's expensive and yeah, I don't think I would want to do anything about the results. It couldn't be removed without taking his whole leg.
 
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