For a couple of weeks, Xuxu has had about an 18 hr curve on PZI and has been feeling pretty well. But I ran out of Zithomax for 2 days and his URI started coming back, we got him back on Clavamox, but it doesn't seem to have cleared it back up as fast or as completely. His curve seems to be back to less than 12 hrs, he's burning up the insulin more.
I took him to the vet Fri and he's lost another .25 pounds, even though he's eating well. So as BJ explained to me, he can eat all he wants but if it's not getting into the cells, he's still starving. He's so responsive to insulin, in fact supersensitive, so it isn't that his insulin receptors aren't working. So I was talking with the vet and her techs in between her other appts. (I'm in there so much, I have the run of the back of the clinic. I go on in, do his temp, weight, etc myself before she checks him. She's the go to vet for emergencies, so is always busy.)
Anyway, we went back to the pancreas. It seems like someone here mentioned Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI), and my vet is sure she mentioned it to me before, but I just don't remember it. The Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity (PLI) Serum trypsin-like immunoreactivity (TLI) tests will apparently tell us if his pancreas is functioning and if he is getting the enzymes he needs to digest his food. The symptoms are loosing weight while still eating, diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting, lethargy, dehydration. He has all but the vomiting and diarrhea, but not all cats have that. He does have huge stool, and my vet said that was a sign that less of the food was being digested. Even when he's drinking a lot, I have to keep giving him fluids every night. So a lot of it fits. The TLI and PLI tests are very expensive, so perhaps I turned then down in the beginning and just don't remember. My vet swears she mentioned them, but maybe I was just more concerned with getting his bg stable rather than trying to figure out what the problem was. At that time, I didn't know he would be so hard to regulate.
It's too bad the test have to be 12 hr fasting, the poor boy was famished before he could eat and starting to look really weak a couple of hours before. If these tests are positive, then perhaps the supplement of digestive enzymes will help.
We talked with yet another specialist at ANTECH who said we should start him on steroids as well. Other vets had said don't touch steroids, but that was earlier in the situation. This guy said there is a lot of contention about it, but we are going into 8 months of this yo-yoing, so maybe it's time to try it. So we may try that after the test results come back.
He's a 10.5 pound cat that is now down to 5.75 pounds while eating 2 6 oz cans of frisks a day. Somethings got to give here before he gives out.
I took him to the vet Fri and he's lost another .25 pounds, even though he's eating well. So as BJ explained to me, he can eat all he wants but if it's not getting into the cells, he's still starving. He's so responsive to insulin, in fact supersensitive, so it isn't that his insulin receptors aren't working. So I was talking with the vet and her techs in between her other appts. (I'm in there so much, I have the run of the back of the clinic. I go on in, do his temp, weight, etc myself before she checks him. She's the go to vet for emergencies, so is always busy.)
Anyway, we went back to the pancreas. It seems like someone here mentioned Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI), and my vet is sure she mentioned it to me before, but I just don't remember it. The Pancreatic Lipase Immunoreactivity (PLI) Serum trypsin-like immunoreactivity (TLI) tests will apparently tell us if his pancreas is functioning and if he is getting the enzymes he needs to digest his food. The symptoms are loosing weight while still eating, diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting, lethargy, dehydration. He has all but the vomiting and diarrhea, but not all cats have that. He does have huge stool, and my vet said that was a sign that less of the food was being digested. Even when he's drinking a lot, I have to keep giving him fluids every night. So a lot of it fits. The TLI and PLI tests are very expensive, so perhaps I turned then down in the beginning and just don't remember. My vet swears she mentioned them, but maybe I was just more concerned with getting his bg stable rather than trying to figure out what the problem was. At that time, I didn't know he would be so hard to regulate.
It's too bad the test have to be 12 hr fasting, the poor boy was famished before he could eat and starting to look really weak a couple of hours before. If these tests are positive, then perhaps the supplement of digestive enzymes will help.
We talked with yet another specialist at ANTECH who said we should start him on steroids as well. Other vets had said don't touch steroids, but that was earlier in the situation. This guy said there is a lot of contention about it, but we are going into 8 months of this yo-yoing, so maybe it's time to try it. So we may try that after the test results come back.
He's a 10.5 pound cat that is now down to 5.75 pounds while eating 2 6 oz cans of frisks a day. Somethings got to give here before he gives out.
