The situation: In November, 2023, I had my A/C unit fail and it had to be ripped out of my 950 sq ft. place. They had the front door open for 7 hours to the pouring rain whilst they removed the 20 yr old air handler, and stirred up dust, mold, and god knows what else.
Immediately thereafter, my then-13 yr old Maine Coon mix started coughing. I had inflamed corneas in both eyes and couldn't wear contacts or see, even without them. My car was in the shop 9 days over the week of Thanksgiving and the first thing I did when I got it back was go to the eye doctor for steroid drops. As soon as I could see, I took him to his usual vet at "Big Name Chain" conveniently across the street. They did a blood test with my report of coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, lethargy, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. The blood test came back alarming with nearly every level out of range, especially RBC, liver, kidneys etc. I was panicked. They said to come back in 48 hours to check if his RBCs were crashing and whether he needed a blood transfusion. Did that and his test WAS NORMAL. Even kidney function was "as usual" for Stage 2. They explained there must have been "artifacts in the vial" or some BS after charging me $450 for the bogus test and $150 for the re-test. I was so upset I just wanted to get out of there, not even argue it all. They said he was fine. Probably allergies. No meds, nothing.
Over the holidays he seemed stable, just with an occasional sneeze/cough and needing a crumb of mirtaz to keep eating. After the holidays, I decided to switch vets and immediately took him to a vet a further drive away but one that was highly recommended. They did an X-ray and saw some bronchial pattern but it didn't look bad. They said if he's only coughing once a day, just keep an eye on him for a week or two and see if he's any better or worse.
He got worse. The croupy. deep cough was loud enough to wake me up at night. Took him back again. A different vet said he has bronchitis...probably had it for 3 months!. Gave him Convenia, and a take home prescription for prednisone and metronitazole. The problem was, with his picky eating there was no way to put it in his food and guarantee he would ever eat it. So I crushed the pills, mixed with juice from his wet food, and put it in a syringe. Even so, he was drooling like mad and puked 50% of the time within minutes/hours. I think he might have gotten 50% of the meds over a 7 day period.
So I called and asked what to do. Since he was diabetic once (in remission with diet) I had all the stuff to do a blood glucose test. They asked what his levels were at 7 days of prednisone and I got 141, 65 and 127 on three strips. I always take a few just because of the variables between the sample, strip, meter etc. The vet said she was not too concerned that his levels were "only" that high on the prednisone and that she was OK with giving him a steroid shot to make sure he kicked this cough.
So I took him in today and they gave him Depo. I plan to test him again tomorrow. They said if he's over 300 to take him in again. I don't have any insulin left since that was 2021 and he hasn't needed it since.
QUESTION IS: Will one Depo shot possibly send him back into diabetes? I know that stuff can last weeks or months. Is it possible we may have to go back on insulin again and if so, would it be permanent?? We've done so well with a wet food/no carb diet. I hope this steroid doesn't send him over the edge again.
Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't expect he will need another shot or regular shots. It's just a one-time thing to kick this lower respiratory infection thanks to other vets who charged me $$$ for no answers.
Thanks in advance!
Today is Romeo's 14th birthday...February 14th!
Immediately thereafter, my then-13 yr old Maine Coon mix started coughing. I had inflamed corneas in both eyes and couldn't wear contacts or see, even without them. My car was in the shop 9 days over the week of Thanksgiving and the first thing I did when I got it back was go to the eye doctor for steroid drops. As soon as I could see, I took him to his usual vet at "Big Name Chain" conveniently across the street. They did a blood test with my report of coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, lethargy, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. The blood test came back alarming with nearly every level out of range, especially RBC, liver, kidneys etc. I was panicked. They said to come back in 48 hours to check if his RBCs were crashing and whether he needed a blood transfusion. Did that and his test WAS NORMAL. Even kidney function was "as usual" for Stage 2. They explained there must have been "artifacts in the vial" or some BS after charging me $450 for the bogus test and $150 for the re-test. I was so upset I just wanted to get out of there, not even argue it all. They said he was fine. Probably allergies. No meds, nothing.
Over the holidays he seemed stable, just with an occasional sneeze/cough and needing a crumb of mirtaz to keep eating. After the holidays, I decided to switch vets and immediately took him to a vet a further drive away but one that was highly recommended. They did an X-ray and saw some bronchial pattern but it didn't look bad. They said if he's only coughing once a day, just keep an eye on him for a week or two and see if he's any better or worse.
He got worse. The croupy. deep cough was loud enough to wake me up at night. Took him back again. A different vet said he has bronchitis...probably had it for 3 months!. Gave him Convenia, and a take home prescription for prednisone and metronitazole. The problem was, with his picky eating there was no way to put it in his food and guarantee he would ever eat it. So I crushed the pills, mixed with juice from his wet food, and put it in a syringe. Even so, he was drooling like mad and puked 50% of the time within minutes/hours. I think he might have gotten 50% of the meds over a 7 day period.
So I called and asked what to do. Since he was diabetic once (in remission with diet) I had all the stuff to do a blood glucose test. They asked what his levels were at 7 days of prednisone and I got 141, 65 and 127 on three strips. I always take a few just because of the variables between the sample, strip, meter etc. The vet said she was not too concerned that his levels were "only" that high on the prednisone and that she was OK with giving him a steroid shot to make sure he kicked this cough.
So I took him in today and they gave him Depo. I plan to test him again tomorrow. They said if he's over 300 to take him in again. I don't have any insulin left since that was 2021 and he hasn't needed it since.
QUESTION IS: Will one Depo shot possibly send him back into diabetes? I know that stuff can last weeks or months. Is it possible we may have to go back on insulin again and if so, would it be permanent?? We've done so well with a wet food/no carb diet. I hope this steroid doesn't send him over the edge again.
Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't expect he will need another shot or regular shots. It's just a one-time thing to kick this lower respiratory infection thanks to other vets who charged me $$$ for no answers.
Thanks in advance!
Today is Romeo's 14th birthday...February 14th!
