Krista's Care

The Dr just took her back for blood, urine, and fluids.

Good luck!

I told the Dr that he has to do it without her carrier. If we put her back in the carrier, then she’s going to be twice as mean to anyone who invades that safe space.

I told the vet tech who just came in for her carrier to be certain they are done with her before putting her in the carrier. Once she goes in, they will not be able to get her out again without violent protest.

daftcat75 said:

She had a water barf earlier.

But she drank some more water and she drank about half a teaspoon of stock. That's all I want to give her right now. She looks awful but that's probably what a couple of days of not eating and not drinking enough will do to her. I put out a couple of bites of rabbit Rawz just to see if she was hungry but holding a grudge against turkey. Nope. She keeps looking at the food but not wanting to eat it. So she probably still feels bad even if I don't see crouching and lip licking.

I need to get my own dinner now.

If she's not nibbling by second dinner, I may try a small amount of stock with a small amount of food.

I know I should probably take her to the vet. But she gets angry at the vet's. Mistakes were made (not pointing a finger because there would be three pointing back), and now she's red-flagged in her file. If sedation is the admission price, I want to give her a decent chance to right herself before it comes to that.

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My Salem got an orange sticker on his file too after a hospital stay with crystals and a blocked urethra. He is the sweetest cat ever but he had just reached his limit of being poked, prodded, stuck and having things shoved up inside him. And he learned if he growled or hissed those people standing around him on that metal table backed off, lol.

She’s back home. She was angry but she got through it. Blood. Urine. Fluids. Full body palpating which she was really angry about. Got through it without pooping herself or getting sedated.

So now I don’t have to hold off so long. The price of admission to the vet is no longer sedation.

She looks a lot better with the bag of fluids in her. But she’s still not eating. I fixed Rawz turkey with turkey stock and she licked all the stock and left the food.

Dr says he didn’t see cause for concern in her mouth. I disagree.

She gets a couple hours to chill out at home and relax. I chill out and relax at the taproom. It will be a lot easier to medicate a relaxed Krista.

(I got buy off from vet for the following. Please consult your vet before you medicate your own cat.)

I will give her transdermal bupe in the ear. If she eats food after that, I’ll book the dental appointment. If she doesn’t, she’ll get mirtazapine at second dinner. It may be a long night for us. I have to give the bupe a chance but I can’t wait too long on the mirtz either.

(Privately, I’m kinda looking forward to a mirtz’ed Krista. I haven’t received that magnitude of a bliss bomb from her in a long time!)

daftcat75 said:

She’s back home. She was angry but she got through it. Blood. Urine. Fluids. Full body palpating which she was really angry about. Got through it without pooping herself or getting sedated.

So now I don’t have to hold off so long. The price of admission to the vet is no longer sedation.

She looks a lot better with the bag of fluids in her. But she’s still not eating. I fixed Rawz turkey with turkey stock and she licked all the stock and left the food.

Dr says he didn’t see cause for concern in her mouth. I disagree.

She gets a couple hours to chill out at home and relax. I chill out and relax at the taproom. It will be a lot easier to medicate a relaxed Krista.

(I got buy off from vet for the following. Please consult your vet before you medicate your own cat.)

I will give her transdermal bupe in the ear. If she eats food after that, I’ll book the dental appointment. If she doesn’t, she’ll get mirtazapine at second dinner. It may be a long night for us. I have to give the bupe a chance but I can’t wait too long on the mirtz either.

(Privately, I’m kinda looking forward to a mirtz’ed Krista. I haven’t received that magnitude of a bliss bomb from her in a long time!)

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Will she let you syringe feed her?

Libby. said:

Will she let you syringe feed her?

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Probably not. And I’m not a fan of syringe feeding either. I just don’t believe I can get enough in her that route. If it comes to it, we’ll do a feeding tube again.

But...objectively speaking...she’s had a good day.

She had both her first tuna and tuna flakes in months—since I discovered she had a allergy/sensitivity to them. So maybe the stock actually did its healing and sealing number on her IBD gut.

She is nibbling at her turkey food too!

I haven’t medicated her. Medications come with side effects. The new deal I’ve struck with her is that as long as her trajectory is positive, I’ll honor her pace. Between the first tuna in months, the first stock in days, and the first turkey food since Wed night, I have to just nose bump her and call it a night. Let’s let the gut and the butt fire back up before we run the machinery in overdrive.

Speaking of the butt...

I can tell we’re on the right path with the stock. Even her “bad” poops aren’t so bad since we started/resumed the stock.

We have had positive changes since yesterday. Let’s give those a chance to take. I fear if I rush her and she gets sick, we’ll undo her desire to right herself that finally seems to be returning.

Oh no I'm sorry to see Krista back at the vet's again... I hope she's eating again soon! <3

I frequently say that steering a cat is more like an ocean liner than a sports car. She’s doing the slow reboot that I would recommend if it was someone else’s cat. Not too many changes from normal and small amounts until the gut and butt get back up to speed. I have seen her return to the plate a few times since we got back. I am proud of her progress slow and small as it may be and I have faith in her.

daftcat75 said:

Probably not. And I’m not a fan of syringe feeding either. I just don’t believe I can get enough in her that route. If it comes to it, we’ll do a feeding tube again.

But...objectively speaking...she’s had a good day.

She had both her first tuna and tuna flakes in months—since I discovered she had a allergy/sensitivity to them. So maybe the stock actually did its healing and sealing number on her IBD gut.

She is nibbling at her turkey food too!

I haven’t medicated her. Medications come with side effects. The new deal I’ve struck with her is that as long as her trajectory is positive, I’ll honor her pace. Between the first tuna in months, the first stock in days, and the first turkey food since Wed night, I have to just nose bump her and call it a night. Let’s let the gut and the butt fire back up before we run the machinery in overdrive.

Speaking of the butt...

I can tell we’re on the right path with the stock. Even her “bad” poops aren’t so bad since we started/resumed the stock.

We have had positive changes since yesterday. Let’s give those a chance to take. I fear if I rush her and she gets sick, we’ll undo her desire to right herself that finally seems to be returning.

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You don't want her to lose any more weight that might throw her into hepatic lipidosis.

Libby. said:

You don't want her to lose any more weight that might throw her into hepatic lipidosis.

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This isn’t our first sick and it won’t be our last. She’s improving. I want to honor her pace as long as she is improving. If she gets sick and we have to reset because I got too aggressive, it doesn’t help her any. Let’s see what the blood and urine says and I’ll schedule a dental because I’ve thought for a long time that there’s something uncomfortable going on in her mouth.

Following your instincts is a smart move, as I believe we know how our kitties act and behave pretty well. Im glad the vet visit went well overall. Crossing my fingers she continues to make improvements!

How is Krista today?

EDIT: Sorry guys I clicked on the wrong page and didn't see the updates. My bad!

I am sorry that krista isnt well again I guess you know your cat behaviours well as you are with her every day so you will know best. The vet only see the behaviour when the cat is at the vet and at times the cat wont show the same behaviours when being examined especialy if it is something in the mouth.

New rule around here: Meat stock gets treated like raw food. If I put some in or on her food, she gets 30 minutes to finish that portion or the whole thing is taken up and replaced with stock-less food.

I had mixed some stock into last night's second dinner at 10pm. She ate some but saved a lot more. She came back to it around 5am. (Nevermind the feeders were already open.) She took a few bites. A few minutes later she regurg'ed just a tiny stock-smelling food puddle. It was a one-and-done--no after-shocks, or when she has to reach deeper to get it all out. She did have one more small one-and-done regurg' a little bit later but these still weren't like Wednesday where she was reaching as low as she can go to get it all out, turning herself inside out all night long. Nope. This more like cough up the bad and, "oh look! the feeder has more food."

She ate about 7 grams per breakfast and most of a 14 gram portion from an overnight feeder. Generously speaking, she's probably had 1 ounce of her usual 9 daily ounces. Objectively speaking, this is 1 ounce more than she had the day before. I also know she may or may not eat very much during the day shift.

I’m trying to honor the patient. But if her eating doesn’t pick up tonight, we’ll try the medication. Bupe first.

She did such a great job on the feeders this afternoon and finished second breakfast which was heavily bribed with tuna flakes. Now I am seeing head shaking and ear itching. So the stock didnt work a miracle as much as it took enough tuna to trigger the response.

Fortunately she’s eating more readily now. It looks like I won’t have to resort to fish flake bribes anymore. I believe once she shifted the machinery to food vs body mass she has started to feel better and more like eating again.

It’s one of Newton’s Laws that fasting cats will remain in fast unless an external force is acted upon them.

Is she going to finish her 3/4 portion before the meat stock counter runs out? She might.

She did not finish the ounce. She did eat half an ounce. I took up the remainder when the stock clock ran out. I replaced it with a stock-less half ounce. She still has another two hours to finish that. It’s a stretch goal and even another 1/4 ounce would be progress. There’s a decent chance that she can finish the day at half her normal intake. That’s also a stretch goal but not totally out of the question. I have her at about two to two and half ounces right now. She has another half out right now, and another half coming at next dinner. That would put her at 3 to 3.5. If she eats a half ounce from each feeder on the overnight, that would get her there. Even if she only gets to 3, that’s 3 more than the last 5 days. I’ll take 1/3 portions on first day back to eating.

First dinner, I offered an ounce. This is actually a 2/3 portion. Her normal portion is 42 grams or 1.5 ounces. Of this, she managed to get through 24 grams (or a bit more than half portion) over the next four hours until her second dinner. Her second dinner, another ounce, she's nearly finished it. My little fur pig is coming back to me. She's figuring out she likes eating after all. I should still book her dental sooner than later. But if she's willing, I'd like to put some of her lost weight back first. Every set of extractions has come with a recovery period that isn't just the extractions itself but her figuring out her new mouth.

First breakfast was a full portion, 42 grams. Of which, she ate 36 grams. However, she must have food coma'ed herself out because second breakfast is, so far, untouched. I dusted a couple of fish flakes across the top in the hopes of getting her attention whenever she does want to eat again. At this point, I'm guessing she may not come down to eat until the first feeder opens. At that point, the food in the feeder will be fresher than the food that's been sitting out for four hours. If we look at this another way, she only needs to eat 6 grams of it to be on pace for a half day. I would like her eating better than half but half is not bad for second day back to eating after almost five days of anorexia. Half her normal food is not ideal but it's not so urgent that I can't wait for blood and urine to come back today or tomorrow.

She finished second breakfast. She finished a feeder and a half. She’s about halfway through first dinner. She’s maybe a half ounce behind pace. That’s spectacular! But she still shows signs of weakness from this all. She needs to keep this up. And I’ll sneak her stock where I can. Good stock. Not old stock or stock left out too long. I haven’t heard back from the vet about blood tests yet. But yeah. I think she’s on the right trajectory and I’m impressed with how close to full portions she’s getting to already.

Blood and urine results came back. Multiple markers of dehydration leading to worrying but inconclusive kidney numbers. SDMA elevated but creatinine remained the same. SDMA has elevated before with dehydration to return back to range on a better test day. We would like to re-test in a month when she's not dehydrated. She may have/had a UTI as white blood cells were seen in the urine. A culture is being performed. Liver looks better than before. Pancreas though was slightly elevated. Somewhere between the bad stock, the vomiting, and maybe the "will you eat something already?" tuna, she is showing mildly elevated fPLI of 4.8 with high range at 3.5. This is still not nearly as bad as her first pancreatic flare up of 35(!) last summer. But this makes me feel better about not rushing her. I've been giving her a couple of teaspoons of stock beside her meals rather than in her meals. She's also starting to perk up in activity level and vocalization volume. Her eating, while not at the same pace as before ("some other cat" has been keeping her distance), has for the most part returned to normal. She is finishing her full portion meals and eats about half of the feeder meals. I'm okay with that. Her feeder meals are meant to keep her happy between meals and not replace her real meals. I'd say that she's not out of the woods yet but things are returning to "normal" again rather quickly.

This is really good!! Its so important to get something more than nothing in her, and she's doing that which is encouraging! Sending you both love!