Introducing Betty White

daftcat75

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She showed up for dinner. But not on the counter. 😔 The urgent care doctor callback interrupted food prep and I got to see Betty get hangry in a tiny little voice. I knew she was hungry. But we were probably also still fighting nausea. I didn’t bother making an I/D A/D mix. This is what A/D is for. I plated a 15 gram (about half a meal or a 50:50 mix without the I/D.) She ate that and then gave me eyes and a weak little mew like she was still hungry. Okay. I gave her 6 more grams. I left a 9 gram portion of naked I/D (the stew chunks she usually enjoys) on a plate in her feeding spot. I basically deconstructed a 2:1 meal for her and served them separately. The A/D is really rich and she’s probably going to hunch this out for awhile. But when she’s hungry again, I want to see if she’ll be open to that I/D. I will definitely try to get one more mini portion of A/D in her before I have to fast her tonight.
 

daftcat75

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I wonder if what I think is nausea (swallow, lick lick) is really just a sore throat from the endo instrument.

Nauseated cats don’t easily put their heads down. Then they pop back up when they feel it again. But Betty seems comfortable enough to go from laying to sitting and back to laying again. But she also seems very weakened from all this business.

Betty has not come to the bed tonight to cuddle. But she did weakly halfway emerge from the poof. I decided to get down to the floor to see how she was doing. Seeing me in bunting range sparked something in her. She did not have any vigor behind it. But she did come up and lay down next to me. We spent some close time, some of it forehead to forehead on the floor while she purred and weakly chirped and enjoyed some petting. And then when she had her fill, she got up and went back to her poof. As long as she’s not laying in her litter box or showing other signs of extreme weakness, I don’t have to run her down to urgent care tonight.
 

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I wonder if what I think is nausea (swallow, lick lick) is really just a sore throat from the endo instrument.

Nauseated cats don’t easily put their heads down. Then they pop back up when they feel it again. But Betty seems comfortable enough to go from laying to sitting and back to laying again. But she also seems very weakened from all this business.

Betty has not come to the bed tonight to cuddle.
But she did weakly halfway emerge from the poof. I decided to get down to the floor to see how she was doing. Seeing me in bunting range sparked something in her. She did not have any vigor behind it. But she did come up and lay down next to me. We spent some close time, some of it forehead to forehead on the floor while she purred and weakly chirped and enjoyed some petting. And then when she had her fill, she got up and went back to her poof. As long as she’s not laying in her litter box or showing other signs of extreme weakness, I don’t have to run her down to urgent care tonight.
Betty is still a trooper and so are you.
Try not to go to 'worst case scenario'...even though I think that all of us here, have 'worry' as our middle names.
If it were a rupture, or tear, then I figure you would see it in her vomiting blood, or dark coloured stools.
Even with Betty on antiemitics...I still think she would vomit blood...if it were serious.

I am a little disappointed that they did not offer you some sort of 'pain meds' for a few days...since Betty seemed to be okay, the day after her procedure,...probably due to the anesthetic effect still in her system,...and also the hydration they gave her.

If they can tackle the 'low grade fever', then Hopefully Betty will start to feel a lot better. :crossfingers:
It's still a good sign, that all this time, Betty was still eating...even if it were not up to her usual amounts.

Sending you and your Betty, the Best for tomorrow, daftcat75 daftcat75 :vibes::vibes::tabbycat: :hugs::grouphug::crossfingers::bluepaw::greenpaw:🙏
 
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daftcat75

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Betty is still a trooper and so are you.
Try not to go to 'worst case scenario'...even though I think that all of us here, have 'worry' as our middle names.
If it were a rupture, or tear, then I figure you would see it in her vomiting blood, or dark coloured stools.
Even with Betty on antiemitics...I still think she would vomit blood...if it were serious.

I am a little disappointed that they did not offer you some sort of 'pain meds' for a few days...since Betty seemed to be okay, the day after her procedure,...probably due to the anesthetic effect still in her system,...and also the hydration they gave her.

If they can tackle the 'low grade fever', then Hopefully Betty will start to feel a lot better. :crossfingers:
It's still a good sign, that all this time, Betty was still eating...even if it were not up to her usual amounts.

Sending you and your Betty, the Best for tomorrow, daftcat75 daftcat75 :vibes::vibes::tabbycat: :hugs::grouphug::crossfingers::bluepaw::greenpaw:🙏
Yes that’s true. Through this all, I haven’t seen any vomiting or poop disturbances (except perhaps a diminishing output as one would expect with diminishing inputs.) I asked Dr G’s nurse if there might be pain involved in the recovery, and she dismissed it. I wish I had thought of this earlier. Well, let’s do our diligence and perform the imaging. Then when I speak with the internist before outtake, I can ask him for a few doses of bupe—assuming the imaging doesn’t turn up anything more serious. If she rallies with bupe, great! We can avoid a feeding tube. If she doesn’t, I don’t know how long she can languish on reduced intake before she will need a feeding tube to get her through this.

Her breath is awful. I spoke to her regular vet about it and she said, “I’m in no rush to anesthetize this kitty again. Let’s get her stable again and then we can look at her teeth.” I will pick up a toothbrush and paste tomorrow. I picked up chicken gizzards this weekend. If we can get her eating again, I’d like to see if she might be interested in gizzards for dental health. I have heard anecdotally of gizzards cleaning off the tartar of cats waiting for their dental appointments. I don’t know if I can hope for all that. But if it helps with her dental health and it’s something she enjoys, it’s one less wrestling match we need to have. 🤼😾

If nothing else, she will get more fluids tomorrow which I’m sure she desperately needs.

The IM may recommend intake with IV fluids and possibly antibiotics. I’m going to communicate my preference to avoid antibiotics. But if she needs them, she needs them. We’ll just have to fix up her biome after.
 

daftcat75

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All the imaging and in-house labs and still nothing.

Except… He said “I’m just throwing this out here but it’s exceedingly difficult for us to diagnose and confirm. It may be dry FIP.” He didn’t find any fluid in the X-rays so he’s got nothing to test. He will do the antibody titer test. But he also told me that it doesn’t really mean much. It could be positive without FIP or in some cases negative but still have it. So we’re basically going to shelve this possibility since it’s almost unknowable. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Dr said there may still be an infection that they weren’t able to detect. If we start immune-suppressing steroids, we could make matters worse.

So, as much as we have been trying to avoid antibiotics, we both agree that it’s safer to try them first before the steroids. We’ll just have to clean up the damage to her biome after she finishes the antibiotics. I already dropped my support contact at AnimalBiome an email to discuss whether she’ll need two capsules a day after antibiotics or just continue with the one a day plan.

Dr doesn’t believe she needs to be admitted and a feeding tube is probably not necessary as she’s still eating some food. “Feed her whatever she wants to eat including as much A/D as she wants.”

She’s home. She’s better. But that’s probably the fluids. I almost didn’t want to give her the antibiotic this afternoon as I don’t want to ruin the rest of her night. But we saw this on Monday where she felt better from fluids only to come crashing down again. We only have to seven doses and I’d rather give them during the day. If it’s going to upset her stomach, I’d rather that not be during peak eating hours for her.

Maybe the antibiotics will do something for her mouth bacteria too.

And I got a response from AnimalBiome. They said research shows that s boulardii can help keep the negative effects of antibiotics to a minimum. I ordered their supplement on one day ground. I will pack a few capsules tonight too. These will replace her poop pills until three or four days after we stop the antibiotics. Then we can start the poop pills again. We’re recommended to keep giving the s boulardii for a couple months.

We also got prescriptions for sucralfate since I mentioned she might be having throat irritation. And gabapentin since opioids can cause fever in cats and we’re trying to avoid that. Both have instructions on when to give them that I would need some scheduling software to construct a med schedule for her. I’ll be holding off on the sucralfate and gabapentin for a few days to see if the Veraflox is going to work. If she’s taking three drugs that all list nausea and vomiting as side effects, I think that would be very difficult to gauge a rebound.

She’s had about a 2/3 meal of pure A/D and her antibiotic. I’m going to let her sleep in the sun while I finish up my workday. Then we can give her her regular meds: Cerenia, ondansetron, and s boulardii now.
 

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All the imaging and in-house labs and still nothing.

Except… He said “I’m just throwing this out here but it’s exceedingly difficult for us to diagnose and confirm. It may be dry FIP.” He didn’t find any fluid in the X-rays so he’s got nothing to test. He will do the antibody titer test. But he also told me that it doesn’t really mean much. It could be positive without FIP or in some cases negative but still have it. So we’re basically going to shelve this possibility since it’s almost unknowable. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Dr said there may still be an infection that they weren’t able to detect. If we start immune-suppressing steroids, we could make matters worse.

So, as much as we have been trying to avoid antibiotics, we both agree that it’s safer to try them first before the steroids. We’ll just have to clean up the damage to her biome after she finishes the antibiotics. I already dropped my support contact at AnimalBiome an email to discuss whether she’ll need two capsules a day after antibiotics or just continue with the one a day plan.

Dr doesn’t believe she needs to be admitted and a feeding tube is probably not necessary as she’s still eating some food. “Feed her whatever she wants to eat including as much A/D as she wants.”

She’s home. She’s better. But that’s probably the fluids. I almost didn’t want to give her the antibiotic this afternoon as I don’t want to ruin the rest of her night. But we saw this on Monday where she felt better from fluids only to come crashing down again. We only have to seven doses and I’d rather give them during the day. If it’s going to upset her stomach, I’d rather that not be during peak eating hours for her.

Maybe the antibiotics will do something for her mouth bacteria too.

And I got a response from AnimalBiome. They said research shows that s boulardii can help keep the negative effects of antibiotics to a minimum. I ordered their supplement on one day ground. I will pack a few capsules tonight too. These will replace her poop pills until three or four days after we stop the antibiotics. Then we can start the poop pills again. We’re recommended to keep giving the s boulardii for a couple months.

We also got prescriptions for sucralfate since I mentioned she might be having throat irritation. And gabapentin since opioids can cause fever in cats and we’re trying to avoid that. Both have instructions on when to give them that I would need some scheduling software to construct a med schedule for her. I’ll be holding off on the sucralfate and gabapentin for a few days to see if the Veraflox is going to work. If she’s taking three drugs that all list nausea and vomiting as side effects, I think that would be very difficult to gauge a rebound.

She’s had about a 2/3 meal of pure A/D and her antibiotic. I’m going to let her sleep in the sun while I finish up my workday. Then we can give her her regular meds: Cerenia, ondansetron, and s boulardii now.
What a day. *Prayers* continuing. My intuition is on the side of the AnimalBiome. Yours seems to be, too.
 

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All the imaging and in-house labs and still nothing.

Except… He said “I’m just throwing this out here but it’s exceedingly difficult for us to diagnose and confirm. It may be dry FIP.” He didn’t find any fluid in the X-rays so he’s got nothing to test. He will do the antibody titer test. But he also told me that it doesn’t really mean much. It could be positive without FIP or in some cases negative but still have it. So we’re basically going to shelve this possibility since it’s almost unknowable. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Dr said there may still be an infection that they weren’t able to detect. If we start immune-suppressing steroids, we could make matters worse.

So, as much as we have been trying to avoid antibiotics, we both agree that it’s safer to try them first before the steroids
. We’ll just have to clean up the damage to her biome after she finishes the antibiotics. I already dropped my support contact at AnimalBiome an email to discuss whether she’ll need two capsules a day after antibiotics or just continue with the one a day plan.

Dr doesn’t believe she needs to be admitted and a feeding tube is probably not necessary as she’s still eating some food. “Feed her whatever she wants to eat including as much A/D as she wants.”

She’s home. She’s better. But that’s probably the fluids. I almost didn’t want to give her the antibiotic this afternoon as I don’t want to ruin the rest of her night. But we saw this on Monday where she felt better from fluids only to come crashing down again. We only have to seven doses and I’d rather give them during the day. If it’s going to upset her stomach, I’d rather that not be during peak eating hours for her.

Maybe the antibiotics will do something for her mouth bacteria too.

And I got a response from AnimalBiome. They said research shows that s boulardii can help keep the negative effects of antibiotics to a minimum. I ordered their supplement on one day ground. I will pack a few capsules tonight too. These will replace her poop pills until three or four days after we stop the antibiotics. Then we can start the poop pills again. We’re recommended to keep giving the s boulardii for a couple months.

We also got prescriptions for sucralfate since I mentioned she might be having throat irritation. And gabapentin since opioids can cause fever in cats and we’re trying to avoid that. Both have instructions on when to give them that I would need some scheduling software to construct a med schedule for her. I’ll be holding off on the sucralfate and gabapentin for a few days to see if the Veraflox is going to work. If she’s taking three drugs that all list nausea and vomiting as side effects, I think that would be very difficult to gauge a rebound.

She’s had about a 2/3 meal of pure A/D and her antibiotic. I’m going to let her sleep in the sun while I finish up my workday. Then we can give her her regular meds: Cerenia, ondansetron, and s boulardii now.
How does a Specialist go from IBD to FIP...based on fever of unknown origin...(FUO)...when this fever started after his endoscopic procedure??
(god, my head is spinning,...so I can only imagine the day you've had, daftcat75 daftcat75 :frustrated::disappointed: :alright::hugs::grouphug:)

It would make more sense, if the Specialist mentioned that perhaps somehow bacteria got into Betty's bloodstream, during the endoscopy/biopsy...but it's not yet at the levels...of showing up on normal bloodwork.) :stars:

Good that Betty was given fluids, and ate, and hoping that the antibiotics knock out any secondary infections...and yes, it would be a bonus...if it knocked any bacteria around the teeth/mouth, too. :crossfingers:

Is there any chance that the Animal Biome people,...would give you some sort of 'discount'...on sending in a 'tomorrow sample of poop'...so they could analyze it...for potential 'gut biome/bacteria'...that is currently present?
Just thinking that if you could know where her 'gut biome' is today....then comparing it...to an after sample...of when the poop pills are restarted and finished...then somehow that would help in 'helping to soothe the inflammation that is happening in Betty's intestines'...due to the IBD.
(of course, this would not potentially work,..since the antibiotics will 'reset'..and potentially 'wipe out all the good bacteria', too. )
Okay, never mind...I was just 'thinking out loud'...again.

Still continuing to Send you the Best Health Thoughts, for Betty. :vibes::vibes::tabbycat:
And that she recovers from this 'feeling lousy'...quite quickly. :crossfingers: :bluepaw::greenpaw: :catrub:
 
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daftcat75

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How does a Specialist go from IBD to FIP...based on fever of unknown origin...(FUO)...when this fever started after his endoscopic procedure??
(god, my head is spinning,...so I can only imagine the day you've had, daftcat75 daftcat75 :frustrated::disappointed: :alright::hugs::grouphug:)

It would make more sense, if the Specialist mentioned that perhaps somehow bacteria got into Betty's bloodstream, during the endoscopy/biopsy...but it's not yet at the levels...of showing up on normal bloodwork.) :stars:

Good that Betty was given fluids, and ate, and hoping that the antibiotics knock out any secondary infections...and yes, it would be a bonus...if it knocked any bacteria around the teeth/mouth, too. :crossfingers:

Is there any chance that the Animal Biome people,...would give you some sort of 'discount'...on sending in a 'tomorrow sample of poop'...so they could analyze it...for potential 'gut biome/bacteria'...that is currently present?
Just thinking that if you could know where her 'gut biome' is today....then comparing it...to an after sample...of when the poop pills are restarted and finished...then somehow that would help in 'helping to soothe the inflammation that is happening in Betty's intestines'...due to the IBD.
(of course, this would not potentially work,..since the antibiotics will 'reset'..and potentially 'wipe out all the good bacteria', too. )
Okay, never mind...I was just 'thinking out loud'...again.

Still continuing to Send you the Best Health Thoughts, for Betty. :vibes::vibes::tabbycat:
And that she recovers from this 'feeling lousy'...quite quickly. :crossfingers: :bluepaw::greenpaw: :catrub:
Re: FIP, he said, I’m only throwing this out because it has similar non-specific symptoms. But it’s extremely difficult to diagnose without a fluid sample. He also said, it could be another viral infection. It could have been latent and the stress of the whole experience woke it up and activated it. But he also didn’t give this one much credence. He said these are not diagnoses and I can’t say with any degree of confidence that one of these may be happening. But I also cannot say with any degree of confidence that this is not the case.

In any case, we took the titer test but neither one of us are putting much stock in its results.

He said he didn’t see any scarring or lesions on the ultrasound that would indicate a tear or rupture or injury from the scope tube itself.

Personally, I’m leaning towards irritation and inflammation from the scope tube and the pinch biopsies. They are not supposed to irritate or inflame. But every cat is different and I think he’s being too prideful to entertain that possibility. He said he looked for evidence of it and didn’t see it. But I’m sorta thinking that doesn’t show up very clearly on an ultrasound and I’m not letting him stick another endo down her throat to confirm or refute this theory. Regardless, he did send me home with sucralfate (for irritation) and gabapentin (for pain) to allow me to see if these provide her relief. I’m going to give the antibiotics a dose or two before I start that since they all seem to have nausea and vomiting in their side effects.

I thought about freezing a poop sample to send off to AnimalBiome for “before antibiotics” test. But she had a poop this morning and probably won’t have another until tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to wait for a poop sample to start the antibiotics. The two test results I already have will have to be good enough.

I know you wanted Betty to be an AnimalBiome pioneer. But this is where best intentions meet the reality of the situation. As my AnimalBiome contact reminded me about pred, none of this has to be forever. We try something and see if it works. Whatever the antibiotics might do to her gut can be corrected with Gut Restore at a later date. And if she needs steroids now, that doesn’t necessarily mean she will need them always and forever. It may be that the combination therapy of steroids and FMT will help Betty into the 25% who can get off of them.

She had two mini-meals of A/D—22 grams where a regular meal of hers is usually in the 32-37 gram neighborhood. But that’s partly her choice right now. She isn’t eating more than 20 grams at a time. That’s okay. Exceptional times require exceptional measures and I’ll put out as many mini meals as she wants. She’s off her diet plan and feeding schedule right now. I’m also going to let her sleep as much as she wants during the day as that’s prime time for her to hopefully fight the fever. Nighttime is her prime eating hours. I will keep putting out second dinner and overnights. In a day or two, I’ll see if I can mix the tiniest amount of Rawz into her A/D to see if she will eat more if it’s not so rich.

Right now though, I bought another fountain for her and I’m going to the store to pick up a sample of different bottled waters to see if it’s our water that she really doesn’t like. I filter it with Brita. But cats! That may not be enough for her discerning tastes. And she seems to rally with fluids. So whatever it takes to get her drinking!
 

daftcat75

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I’m not certain that I’m ready to learn how to give fluids at home or if we are ready for that. But she does rally with hydration. Maybe I’ll proactively make a tech only fluids appointment with my regular vet (save myself $1000 by not going to the emergency hospitals) for Friday or Saturday in case this fluids rally is short-lived.

When I came home from my water errand (which yielded only two brands in a gallon size: Crystal Geyser and the store brand), Betty got out of her poof and slinked over to greet me at the door with the longest meow.
🙀🎶🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵

Maybe her throat isn’t that irritated after all. Or maybe she was just that hangry! 😾 She joined me on the counter during prep. But then she didn’t touch it when I set the plate down. I think she just wanted to know it would be there.

But first…
😽🥰

She waited patiently for me to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Then she joined me for a smelly breath snuggle. She made up for lost snuggles last night when I got to wear the Betty bib for a few moments. That’s when she’s fully riding my belly and chest. Whereas Krista used to just fit, Betty seems to have a leg that slides off. Maybe I need to install a safety rail. 😹 Then she moved off into her normal pit sitting position for awhile. And finally she climbed over my chest because all paths must cross my chest even if there’s a less challenging path available 🐐🏔. She summited Dad Mountain on her way to the Valley of Good Eats. She didn’t eat much. But I’m trusting her former nibbler nature to get through this plate by morning for 90 calories on the day. Or about 50% of what she should be eating. Which is not bad for having fasted half the day. And if she gets through this plate before the overnight alarm, I’ll be happy to set out another.

And now she’s back in her poof. Sleep well. This was a rough day for us both. But she’s such a trooper! Per usual, the vet staff all love her. I guess she does well with them all.
😘😻
 

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I am so sorry you and Betty are going through all of this.. I really have not thoughts.. except to hug you and say that you are being such a good Dad...

Did you get the biopsy results from the scope? Just wondering.

Dry FIP does seem kind of far fetched.. FUO is so hard to pinpoint. It could be that something was brewing, and the stress of the scope, just brought it out. I wonder if it could be related to her teeth?? Periodontal disease, with an underlying abscess can do a lot of damage.. even causing bacteria into her blood stream.. Wondering...

Yes, I think the antibiotics and steroids are the way to go.. to treat this.. and the probiotic.
I am feeling the poop pill should wait, until Betty gets through this episode.

Sub Q fluids are really not difficult to do. I think Betty would be good at it. I had to give daily sub-q's to Artie. He was an absolute terror at the Vets.. but allowed me to do it, with ease.

Also; speaking from my own personal, professional experience-- I was an x-ray tech and then went on to be an ultrasound tech... It is hard to find the source of an FUO.. You are looking for a tiny abscess somewhere, in the body.
X-rays can only should so much.. Ultrasound can be hindered by bowel gas, poop, etc.. and interpretation of results.

Since Betty cannot tell us if or where she is having pain, it is a huge jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes it is trial and error.

I still wonder about her teeth/gums.. If her breath is that bad.. something is causing an infection-- think periodontal disease.
Perhaps some bacteria got into her blood stream? Can they do a blood culture looking for it.. or somehow a swab of her mouth?/gums?

I am not saying she does not have IBD.. but, I think there is more to it..

Just my thoughts...
 

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Sub Q fluids are really not difficult to do. I think Betty would be good at it. I had to give daily sub-q's to Artie. He was an absolute terror at the Vets.. but allowed me to do it, with ease.
Yes to this, we gave fluids to our previous cat (she was old and frail but still very, hm, very insistent on having her way!) and it wasn't too difficult. It really helped, though, that we put a hook into a beam so we could hang the fluid bag from the ceiling.

I still wonder about her teeth/gums.. If her breath is that bad.. something is causing an infection-- think periodontal disease.
Perhaps some bacteria got into her blood stream? Can they do a blood culture looking for it.. or somehow a swab of her mouth?/gums?

I am not saying she does not have IBD.. but, I think there is more to it..
I always feel like there's always more to these stories, too. Another possibility for bad breath is a food that doesn't agree with Betty. Edwina had that with potato when we first adopted her: some of her Weruva foods had potato in them but her bad breath went away when I realized potato was making her barf. We were very fortunate to figure that out early on through dumb luck -- as you say, artiemom artiemom , trial and error is key.

daftcat75 daftcat75 , here's wishing you and Betty a good Thursday.
 

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Agree with artiemom artiemom and lisahe lisahe and I KNOW that if I could learn to administer sub-Q, you can, too. Any hesitancy you may have re: squeamishness or causing pain will most likely be overridden by the knowledge that you are helping Betty and that she *and you* doesn't have to go through two car journeys to get that help.
I like the idea of possibly her oral health being the reason for some of the other problems she is having. Since the mouth is the gateway to health in general, this makes a lot of sense to me.
 

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Unless anyone can help us rule in or rule out dry FIP, we’re done with that option. He said it was a long shot. But he mentioned it because FIP can be a fever that waxes and wanes with elevated globulins in the blood. But those aren’t specific to FIP only.

Her teeth definitely need to be addressed. But my regular vet says, “I’m in no rush to anesthetize her again. Let’s get her stable once more and then we can talk about her teeth.” I hope this isn’t where reality trumps best intentions once more. But I do think we may be able to get back to good if yesterday and this morning holds. I sure hope I’m not simply seeing the waning of a cyclical waxing and waning fever.

But for last night and this morning, she seems to be rallying once more. She ate 115 calories yesterday. Over half her calories and she was fasted half the day. But we’ve seen this before. It could certainly slow again as the hunger isn’t so intense. Her irritations and pains could come back and regulate her input. She had a couple tiny regurgs last night. I mean tiny. One was just too much food swallowed in one bite and that one and half bites worth of food came back up. The other was largely the same. She threw up just a tiny bite or two in her mouth, caught it, and swallowed it again. It was kinda gross. But what a trooper. That was her medicine meal and I didn’t want all her meds coming back up.

I think she’s having trouble chewing her food and I think she’s having trouble swallowing. The swallowing is probably endo irritation. The soft pate of A/D is helping here. The chewing, I think she’s getting food caught up somewhere. She will pull up and spend a fair effort trying to dislodge something in her mouth. At this point, it’s 50/50 chance whether she’ll continue eating or walk away. The soft pate of A/D should also help here. I don’t know about the teeth. But I think the throat is getting better. She’s certainly giving me full-throated sass once more.

Let me see another good day or two of eating. Then we need to get back to something more sustainable. We can start with a 10% rabbit to A/D mix.

We’ve stopped the poop pills. She’s doing really well at taking the s boulardii rolled into A/D balls. She doesn’t love the yeast like Krista did. But she loves the A/D and finds the yeasty balls acceptable with enough A/D.

She had a 💩 this morning. It was mostly normal. It looked like it may have had a softer patch. But it all scooped with ease. It’s probably too soon in the antibiotics for that to go to mush. But she is also taking almost a full s.boulardii capsule in her yeast balls.

Encouraging signs. But we’ve seen rallies fade before. Guarded optimism. 🤞
 
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tarasgirl06

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Unless anyone can help us rule in or rule out dry FIP, we’re done with that option. He said it was a long shot. But he mentioned it because FIP can be a fever that waxes and wanes with elevated globulins in the blood. But those aren’t specific to FIP only.

Her teeth definitely need to be addressed. But my regular vet says, “I’m in no rush to anesthetize her again. Let’s get her stable once more and then we can talk about her teeth.” I hope this isn’t where reality trumps best intentions once more. But I do think we may be able to get back to good if yesterday and this morning holds. I sure hope I’m not simply seeing the waning of a cyclical waxing and waning fever.

But for last night and this morning, she seems to be rallying once more. She ate 115 calories yesterday. Over half her calories and she was fasted half the day. But we’ve seen this before. It could certainly slow again as the hunger isn’t so intense. Her irritations and pains could come back and regulate her input. She had a couple tiny regurgs last night. I mean tiny. One was just too much food swallowed in one bite and that one and half bites worth of food came back up. The other was largely the same. She threw up just a tiny bite or two in her mouth, caught it, and swallowed it again. It was kinda gross. But what a trooper. That was her medicine meal and I didn’t want all her meds coming back up.

I think she’s having trouble chewing her food and I think she’s having trouble swallowing. The swallowing is probably endo irritation. The soft pate of A/D is helping here. The chewing, I think she’s getting food caught up somewhere. She will pull up and spend a fair effort trying to dislodge something in her mouth. At this point, it’s 50/50 chance whether she’ll continue eating or walk away. The soft pate of A/D should also help here. I don’t know about the teeth. But I think the throat is getting better. She’s certainly giving me full-throated sass once more.

Let me see another good day or two of eating. Then we need to get back to something more sustainable. We can start with a 10% rabbit to A/D mix.

We’ve stopped the poop pills. She’s doing really well at taking the s boulardii rolled into A/D balls. She doesn’t love the yeast like Krista did. But she loves the A/D and finds the yeasty balls acceptable with enough A/D.

She had a 💩 this morning. It was mostly normal. It looked like it may have had a softer patch. But it all scooped with ease. It’s probably too soon in the antibiotics for that to go to mush. But she is also taking almost a full s.boulardii capsule in her yeast balls.

Encouraging signs. But we’ve seen rallies fade before. Guarded optimism. 🤞
So far, so good, and yes, guarded optimism. Slow and steady, Betty.:hearthrob::lovecat3::hearthrob::bunnydance:
 

daftcat75

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She has most of a first breakfast in the books. The A/D is a rich food. I don't fault her if she's only eating 20 grams at a time. I left a second breakfast out for her in case she gets hungry before lunch. Because it's a rich food and she's not eating whole meals at a time, I'd rather just keep the mini-meals coming until I'm feeling more confident that she's turned the corner. At that time, I can start mixing Rawz into the A/D to dilute it (much more slowly than 1/3 new food this time.) The A/D seems to hold up better outside the fridge than the I/D or A/D:I/D mix. I'm thinking we'll also get similar longevity from A/D:Rawz mix. Rawz rabbit held up a long time on a plate (or in a feeder)--if Krista allowed it.

Alright then. Second breakfast is mostly in the books. "Give me an hour and I'll give you another." I want to make sure she's taking time to digest these. She is also back on the hairball treats which is a good sign. When she didn't even want to eat the hairball treats on Tuesday, I knew she really wasn't feeling well.

And so it begins...

First squishy antibiotics poop. Maybe she needs an extra yeast ball. But we'll wait on that. Don't want to rush too many things in her at once.
 

tarasgirl06

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She has most of a first breakfast in the books. The A/D is a rich food. I don't fault her if she's only eating 20 grams at a time. I left a second breakfast out for her in case she gets hungry before lunch. Because it's a rich food and she's not eating whole meals at a time, I'd rather just keep the mini-meals coming until I'm feeling more confident that she's turned the corner. At that time, I can start mixing Rawz into the A/D to dilute it (much more slowly than 1/3 new food this time.) The A/D seems to hold up better outside the fridge than the I/D or A/D:I/D mix. I'm thinking we'll also get similar longevity from A/D:Rawz mix. Rawz rabbit held up a long time on a plate (or in a feeder)--if Krista allowed it.

Alright then. Second breakfast is mostly in the books. "Give me an hour and I'll give you another." I want to make sure she's taking time to digest these. She is also back on the hairball treats which is a good sign. When she didn't even want to eat the hairball treats on Tuesday, I knew she really wasn't feeling well.

And so it begins...

First squishy antibiotics poop. Maybe she needs an extra yeast ball. But we'll wait on that. Don't want to rush too many things in her at once.
A lot of people do better with several small meals rather than 1 or 2 or 3 major meals every day. All of the cats in my life have grazed, coming back multiple times to eat, except for one, my roomies' cat, who snorked 2 big meals every day and became obese, sadly.
If you work at/from home, you're in a much better position to keep Betty healthier by offering the small meals. Sounds like she's doing better already!
 

daftcat75

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A lot of people do better with several small meals rather than 1 or 2 or 3 major meals every day. All of the cats in my life have grazed, coming back multiple times to eat, except for one, my roomies' cat, who snorked 2 big meals every day and became obese, sadly.
If you work at/from home, you're in a much better position to keep Betty healthier by offering the small meals. Sounds like she's doing better already!
I don't know if you remember this. But Betty came to me as a free-feeding nibbler. Probably a leftover from her kibble-addict days. It's been a huge deal that I was able to get her onto a schedule. She's always needed at least five meals a day to get enough calories. Right now, while she's either not able or not willing to eat enough in one meal, I'm basically refreshing her plates as I see them empty. With all that fat in the A/D, she must be brewing quite the hairball. I haven't been adding the Optagest because I don't want anything to get in the way of her eating right now. We'll just have to use hairball treats for now until I can get her back to a more normal diet. It is entirely possible that the A/D is making her breath worse than usual.

Second breakfast is in the books and lunch is set out. I think that will be it for her day meals. Assuming she finishes lunch, that will put her at 80 calories for the day already. Assuming last night's pace holds, she should finally reach full calories for the first day this week.

Hopefully by next week, I will have the unenviable task of trying to get her off A/D. At least the pure stuff. I need her eating it diluted once more. Because if she gets fussy again, where do we go from here? Maybe I should wait until she finishes the antibiotics first. Just in case its appeal is piercing through antibiotic-related nausea.
 
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