Excellent news!
By the way, I give B12 injections at home, too. It's far easier and faster than doing subq.
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I did it!! Sub-q'ed my kitty
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Once I get more comfy with sub-q, I'll bring it up at the office. But right now I'm still peeved at them, so I just gave them the "whatever" last night and left. It could be a prescription thing in my state.Excellent nes!By the way, I give B12 injections at home, too. It's far easier and faster than doing subq.
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I'm so glad it worked out so well tonight!When I was finished, she looked at me like "really? That's it?" and started grooming herself.
I was worried tonight was going o be a "bad night" since she looked frail when i got home, but she looks better already.
We are both very happy.
You're becoming a pro!
Fantastic update! So exciting that you're getting some experience under your belt. I'm sending lots of positive vibes that you have more good sub-q days than not so good ones!
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She was a model patient tonight, one stick of the needle, she sat and purred and let out a little mew when the needle was becoming dislodged.
I was a the end of the bag so both my hands were squeezing out the last 200, but I didnt have to hold her still. She even told me when the needle needed attention. OK, I'll stop with the updates - I think we are good.
She is trembling a little though, off to Tanya's site, I saw this addressed at some point. If I recall, it's under the 'really bad news category"
'Nite all.
I was a the end of the bag so both my hands were squeezing out the last 200, but I didnt have to hold her still. She even told me when the needle needed attention. OK, I'll stop with the updates - I think we are good.
She is trembling a little though, off to Tanya's site, I saw this addressed at some point. If I recall, it's under the 'really bad news category"
'Nite all.
That's a great relief, Wasabipea.
Your story has brought me to shivers and reminded me of the ordeal my wife and I had the first time we needed to do sub-q fluids. I have a needle phobia (much improved now) that would have me sweating in mid-afternoon, knowing I'd have to hold our cat while my wife jabbed him. (I couldn't do it because even opening the box of needles freaked me out.)
In time, we found he'd tolerate up to an 18 gauge needle, as long as we warmed the bag and hung it up HIGH to maximize the flow rate. We had a little ritual: we'd warm the fluid every night, and he'd hide every night, and he'd give up as soon as we found him, and we'd set him on a table facing the wall so he couldn't bolt and hold him gently, but firmly, and give him 100-150 ccs, and then relax the grip and watch him jet off that table and out into the dining room. We didn't leave home for more than 48 hours for a couple of years because local vets would not do house calls. Finally, we found a vet tech who would.
If you ever need house calls contact vet offices and local petsitters to see if anyone does special-needs cats. It has become much more common in the past 15 years or so.
Based on our experience, my wife founded a special-needs catsitting business and frequently does fluids-only visits, as do several of her employees. I even coached one cat-parent through the learning process, making lunchtime home visits from my office.
As long as you keep trying and have compassion toward your cat and yourself, you can do what's best for both of you.
Al
Your story has brought me to shivers and reminded me of the ordeal my wife and I had the first time we needed to do sub-q fluids. I have a needle phobia (much improved now) that would have me sweating in mid-afternoon, knowing I'd have to hold our cat while my wife jabbed him. (I couldn't do it because even opening the box of needles freaked me out.)
In time, we found he'd tolerate up to an 18 gauge needle, as long as we warmed the bag and hung it up HIGH to maximize the flow rate. We had a little ritual: we'd warm the fluid every night, and he'd hide every night, and he'd give up as soon as we found him, and we'd set him on a table facing the wall so he couldn't bolt and hold him gently, but firmly, and give him 100-150 ccs, and then relax the grip and watch him jet off that table and out into the dining room. We didn't leave home for more than 48 hours for a couple of years because local vets would not do house calls. Finally, we found a vet tech who would.
If you ever need house calls contact vet offices and local petsitters to see if anyone does special-needs cats. It has become much more common in the past 15 years or so.
Based on our experience, my wife founded a special-needs catsitting business and frequently does fluids-only visits, as do several of her employees. I even coached one cat-parent through the learning process, making lunchtime home visits from my office.
As long as you keep trying and have compassion toward your cat and yourself, you can do what's best for both of you.
Al
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Thank you aloddcats, I do have a petsitter for the rare occasions I have to leave home - and she used to be a vet tech, so she's probably charge more to sub-q, but I could count on her, most likely. It's whether Roni would appear when a stranger comes in the house. She's a "one woman" cat, and that woman is me.
It is a great relief to finally have gotten to the point where I can do it, I've tried a few times over the years - but I think what I was doing wrong was trying to isolate her by putting her in a box or whatever. Now that she is free, maybe in her mind she knows that she can bolt when she wants(?) she is no trouble at all. I think the warmed fluids also help, she actually seems to like it - as much as she can. She purrs and hangs out and I get lap loving later in the evening.
I have a mild needle phobia (tattoos don't count - lol), but my fear was more along the lines of me feeling incompetent, and mistakenly hurting the cat. Those needles are sharp and big and accidentally hitting a muscle by accident with those 18G... she'd hit the roof.
That's a great idea to supplement income to do fluids-only visits for folks on vacation or whatever. With my schedule, I don't think I could - but when you have a pet that needs daily attention of a specialized variety... unless you have trustworthy backup, you are bound to the house. I have to say, at 18 yrs, I have no delusions that Roni has too much longer - so I'm preparing myself for the inevitable. And it may sound horrible, but first thing I'm doing once I feel better is taking a weekend away. Then rescuing a handful of cats from a shelter! Mommy-time first though.
And a big congratulations and
to you and your wife for conquering what is a really scary thing to get the hang of. I know what it feels like to be petrified and feel gulity, etc - when all you want to do is help your loved pet. So good for you (and all you lurkers, you know who you are
) -- if I can do it, and aloddcats can do it -- you can too!
I truly give most of the credit for finding and tapping into my confidence from the support I received here at TCS. I received more support here than at my vets office! (even though they did "walk me" through my fist solo poke, it does help the fear level to have an experienced person with you the first time)
It is a great relief to finally have gotten to the point where I can do it, I've tried a few times over the years - but I think what I was doing wrong was trying to isolate her by putting her in a box or whatever. Now that she is free, maybe in her mind she knows that she can bolt when she wants(?) she is no trouble at all. I think the warmed fluids also help, she actually seems to like it - as much as she can. She purrs and hangs out and I get lap loving later in the evening.
I have a mild needle phobia (tattoos don't count - lol), but my fear was more along the lines of me feeling incompetent, and mistakenly hurting the cat. Those needles are sharp and big and accidentally hitting a muscle by accident with those 18G... she'd hit the roof.
That's a great idea to supplement income to do fluids-only visits for folks on vacation or whatever. With my schedule, I don't think I could - but when you have a pet that needs daily attention of a specialized variety... unless you have trustworthy backup, you are bound to the house. I have to say, at 18 yrs, I have no delusions that Roni has too much longer - so I'm preparing myself for the inevitable. And it may sound horrible, but first thing I'm doing once I feel better is taking a weekend away. Then rescuing a handful of cats from a shelter! Mommy-time first though.
And a big congratulations and
I truly give most of the credit for finding and tapping into my confidence from the support I received here at TCS. I received more support here than at my vets office! (even though they did "walk me" through my fist solo poke, it does help the fear level to have an experienced person with you the first time)
My wife doesn't supplement her income with the visits; it's a full-time job! She has about 10 employees, too. Left home at 7:30 a.m. today and will get home at 9:30 p.m. (summer vacation season!).
I don't know if it's OK to mention business names here. Hers is Twenty Toes Catsitting, Albany, NY.
Al
I don't know if it's OK to mention business names here. Hers is Twenty Toes Catsitting, Albany, NY.
Al
I've had a lot of catching up to do, @Wasabipea. I'm so glad you're doing sub-qs!
Is Roni still trembling?
Is Roni still trembling?
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first to aloddcatscongrats for not only getting over your fear but going out and making a business of it!
GoHolistic, thank you for thinking of us. The trembling was only that once and went away after her fluids, she may have been cold since she was sitting by the open window and mornings and evenings are darm cold around here (??? why ???). after I gave her her fluids and she went out for her walk, I stuck a heating pad under the towel she sits on by the window. But I think that I read somewhere on the 'net that head shaking could be indicative of low calcium levels (?).
Bottom line is that we went to a new vet yesterday, he was excellent and she was treated to a full exam an was taken very good care of with lots of testing involved. The bloodwork I provided him for the old vet did not include calcium, potassium, phosphorus. He confirmed a lot of the feelings I had in my gut that things were wrong. He put her on a different fluids solution, said the saline could be doing more damage than good because it could be lowering her potassium (her back legs have been weak and a bit wobbly lately), he doesn't think she had stomach cancer either (we could both be wrong), and he thinks her elevated white cell count - which is really high - could likely be due to a kidney infection, not cancer. He also gave be a bunch of B12 to take home - why the othe vet required ne to come in for it is beyond me.
Anyway, more info than you asked for - but yes we are still trying, she was excellent for two days, totally uncooperative the next. I finally got my terumo needles, but the flow on the 20G UTW is slower than I was hoping for. We are working on it, still in the learning curve. Unfortunately I blew my stack on the night that she was uncooperative (she was so bad)... so I'm afraid I set us back a bit - but we made up and are getting back on track.
I have high hopes for this new vet to get her back on track. He's a little more costly, but I guess you get what you pay for - right?
Thanks again for thiking of us
GoHolistic, thank you for thinking of us. The trembling was only that once and went away after her fluids, she may have been cold since she was sitting by the open window and mornings and evenings are darm cold around here (??? why ???). after I gave her her fluids and she went out for her walk, I stuck a heating pad under the towel she sits on by the window. But I think that I read somewhere on the 'net that head shaking could be indicative of low calcium levels (?).
Bottom line is that we went to a new vet yesterday, he was excellent and she was treated to a full exam an was taken very good care of with lots of testing involved. The bloodwork I provided him for the old vet did not include calcium, potassium, phosphorus. He confirmed a lot of the feelings I had in my gut that things were wrong. He put her on a different fluids solution, said the saline could be doing more damage than good because it could be lowering her potassium (her back legs have been weak and a bit wobbly lately), he doesn't think she had stomach cancer either (we could both be wrong), and he thinks her elevated white cell count - which is really high - could likely be due to a kidney infection, not cancer. He also gave be a bunch of B12 to take home - why the othe vet required ne to come in for it is beyond me.
Anyway, more info than you asked for - but yes we are still trying, she was excellent for two days, totally uncooperative the next. I finally got my terumo needles, but the flow on the 20G UTW is slower than I was hoping for. We are working on it, still in the learning curve. Unfortunately I blew my stack on the night that she was uncooperative (she was so bad)... so I'm afraid I set us back a bit - but we made up and are getting back on track.
I have high hopes for this new vet to get her back on track. He's a little more costly, but I guess you get what you pay for - right?
Thanks again for thiking of us
I'm assuming the new vet gave you antibiotics.
What form is the B12 and how are you supposed to give it?
Hoping the new vet is correct.
What form is the B12 and how are you supposed to give it?
Hoping the new vet is correct.
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I'll have to check the bottle of the B12 and I give it sub-q with a tiny needle. It's in a brown bottle so it's probably the kind that can't be exposed to light that also doesn't sting. Hopefully.
Correct or not, he was very thorough and took every aspect of her multi-ailments into consideration of how one might affect the other. He called and said her blood numbers were much better than he anticipated, even though I was unhappy with her creatinine which was 2.7 - high for her, considering she has been getting daily sub-qs, which she usually responds well to for lowering the numbers.
The vet is waiting on anti-biotics since he aspirated a urine culture and we are seeing which AB to use, if the problem is coming from her bladder. Preliminary reports say no bacteria in the urine, which he said was very good news. But they are going to try to "grow" something in a broth and then a petri dish to see which ABs will most effectively treat what is causing the high WC numbers (23K). He also said it could be from inflamation in her kidneys... maybe something else (he bombarded me with info).
For now, until the urine tests are complete, we are keeping her on her regimine with her new fluids and status quo meds and hopefuly she keeps on eating like a little piglet. Even though her potassium was normal in her bloodwork, he said blood tests for potassium arent always thorough for a whole-body reading, and these new fluids have potassium in them so she will get some extra.
If the urine culture tells nothing, he did suggest an ultrasound which I was initially against, but he said it could tell a lot about in the inner and outer workings of not just her kidneys, but her tummy, liver, colon, intestines... I don't know, too much to think about at the moment. I'm happy most of her numbers were relatively good though.
Seeing how thorough this vet is, and how not-thorough my other vet is ("she has stomach cancer, when do you want to euthanize?") now I'm second guessing if this new guy could have done something for Len, who my other vet was quick to put down. I guess I can't second guess that now. Poor Len.
Correct or not, he was very thorough and took every aspect of her multi-ailments into consideration of how one might affect the other. He called and said her blood numbers were much better than he anticipated, even though I was unhappy with her creatinine which was 2.7 - high for her, considering she has been getting daily sub-qs, which she usually responds well to for lowering the numbers.
The vet is waiting on anti-biotics since he aspirated a urine culture and we are seeing which AB to use, if the problem is coming from her bladder. Preliminary reports say no bacteria in the urine, which he said was very good news. But they are going to try to "grow" something in a broth and then a petri dish to see which ABs will most effectively treat what is causing the high WC numbers (23K). He also said it could be from inflamation in her kidneys... maybe something else (he bombarded me with info).
For now, until the urine tests are complete, we are keeping her on her regimine with her new fluids and status quo meds and hopefuly she keeps on eating like a little piglet. Even though her potassium was normal in her bloodwork, he said blood tests for potassium arent always thorough for a whole-body reading, and these new fluids have potassium in them so she will get some extra.
If the urine culture tells nothing, he did suggest an ultrasound which I was initially against, but he said it could tell a lot about in the inner and outer workings of not just her kidneys, but her tummy, liver, colon, intestines... I don't know, too much to think about at the moment. I'm happy most of her numbers were relatively good though.
Seeing how thorough this vet is, and how not-thorough my other vet is ("she has stomach cancer, when do you want to euthanize?") now I'm second guessing if this new guy could have done something for Len, who my other vet was quick to put down. I guess I can't second guess that now. Poor Len.
Glad that the trembling was only that one time.
I'm also glad that you had a good experience with the new vet. It is very interesting when different vets give completely different opinions. But try not to second guess yourself.
We're all inclined to trust our vets, for the most part, until we have a reason not to.
I remember Dr. Kris mentioning pyelonephritis (kidney infection) in a thread once, but I don't think it was the expert forum.
I'm also glad that you had a good experience with the new vet. It is very interesting when different vets give completely different opinions. But try not to second guess yourself.
I remember Dr. Kris mentioning pyelonephritis (kidney infection) in a thread once, but I don't think it was the expert forum.
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I'm thinking kidney infection too, I guess you have to treat them with specific antibiotics for a lengthy amount of time. At this time of many questions, I'm leaning away from the ultrasounds and saying to asume this is a kidney infection, but I think he wants to ultrasound for that which is costly since someone has to come in to do it. I guess CKD kitties are prone to kidney infections. I never considered her one, but I guess she is now.
Glad that the trembling was only that one time.
I'm also glad that you had a good experience with the new vet. It is very interesting when different vets give completely different opinions. But try not to second guess yourself.We're all inclined to trust our vets, for the most part, until we have a reason not to.
I remember Dr. Kris mentioning pyelonephritis (kidney infection) in a thread once, but I don't think it was the expert forum.
I do think the trembling could have been that she was chilly, because when she went outside, she laid out on the pavers which were still warm from the sun, and she rarely does that - if ever.
And she has fleas goshdarnit. she just *has* to hang out under the neighbor's huge, low japanese maple. Flea central I'm sure!
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I just have to say a quickie. I'm so proud of my little girl and her fluids, we had a rough start but she's doing very well right now.
Plus I think getting off the plain saline and onto a solution that has some electrolytes has given her a lot more energy and spunk.
We are getting it down, first fluids, then pill, then dinner. She's not happy about the fluids but they're going much easier now.
And now she's washing her little face. I think they're so cute when they wash their faces :heart2:
And a big thank you again for the TCS cheerleading team
Plus I think getting off the plain saline and onto a solution that has some electrolytes has given her a lot more energy and spunk.
We are getting it down, first fluids, then pill, then dinner. She's not happy about the fluids but they're going much easier now.
And now she's washing her little face. I think they're so cute when they wash their faces :heart2:
And a big thank you again for the TCS cheerleading team
Great news, I hope it continues to go so well!I just have to say a quickie. I'm so proud of my little girl and her fluids, we had a rough start but she's doing very well right now.
Plus I think getting off the plain saline and onto a solution that has some electrolytes has given her a lot more energy and spunk.
We are getting it down, first fluids, then pill, then dinner. She's not happy about the fluids but they're going much easier now.
And now she's washing her little face. I think they're so cute when they wash their faces
And a big thank you again for the TCS cheerleading team
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Yup, well down 
- getting the routine. I wish I were a bit more efficient with speed, but that will come in time
Down well? Whatever the grammar, its working.
- getting the routine. I wish I were a bit more efficient with speed, but that will come in time Down well? Whatever the grammar, its working.
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So glad to hear the fluids are going well!
