Ibd / Digestive Issues

[artiemom]

Dear Leroy, Be good and stop driving your Mama crazy.

She is trying to make you feel better.
If you take your medicine really well, Mama will give you a really good treat!
I promise.. shush.. she told me.. shush.. it is a secret....

Your mama loves you so much.. please be good to her..

love,
Artie...

 

[artiemom]

Leroy took Cerenia just fine today but later spit out the prednisolone after holding it in his mouthI put it back in his mouth and he swallowed it. He got dinner right afterwards. Then he started crouching but in a weird way. He had his face flat on the floor He does seem in a bit of pain, even now 2 hours later. He's on the counter chair not quite meatloafing and doesn't seem to want to do anything. He was fine after the Cerenia but somehow after getting prednisolone, this weird crouching thing started. I can't find anything about odd behavior being a side effect of prednisolone. Most side effects occur after long term use. Leroy has only had 3 pills so far. Off to write an email to the vet.....

Wonder if the pill kind of got caught in his throat.. kind of scratching it or it caused a weird last in his mouth. Or it just did not go down the right way.. and it is too far down for him to vomit it up.. or spit it out. Were you able to give a bit of syringed water, after giving him the pills?

I do not think this behavior is a side effect of the steroid. Perhaps his feelings were hurt also.. I mean, he thought he had you faked out..

Artie does that sometimes.. but not putting his head on the floor.

What protein/food did you give him? Could it be a reaction to the food?
Things occur at weird times.

This IBD is so frustrating..

So glad you can e-mail the Vet...

 

[LTS3]

Leroy got fed dinner right after taking the prednisolone. The food would have helped pushed the pill down.

Leroy has been eating just one thing since Jan. 29: NV rabbit medallions with a spoonful of ground meat / pre-mix. It was HT rabbit with Alnutrin until Feb. 7 when I ran out of the HT and fed Oma's Pride venison with EZComplete. I doubt the strange crouching is from the food.

 

[artiemom]

How is Leroy today? Did anything happen as a result of his weird body stance, from last night? Has the Vet contacted you about this?

Just sending

Artie had a cow patty last night... poor baby. I always feel bad when he has them..

​

 

[LTS3]

I have not heard back from the vet or the secretary yet.

The one response I got so far from the Yahoo Group was unhelpful It basically said that it was the Cerenia causing ataxia and it would be best to stop giving it. Um, thanks for the response but no

Leroy was more normal by bedtime. Well his "new" normal since starting this IBD journey. He had more normal poop last night. This morning is was slightly softer and just two pieces.
Leroy tried fake swallowing the prednisolone again this morning I had to check his mouth three times before he gave up and swallowed it.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Glad he's a bit more towards his new normal now. I worried. I will continue to worry. It's one of my best things.

 

[artiemom]

Sounds as if Leroy is way, too smart--for his own good.

I never found the Yahoo Groups to be helpful. Just my opinion. Got more help from FB and from here.

I had to as the Vet a question, and did not get an answer until this afternoon. Nothing urgent, and I was not concerned.

Well, sounds as if Leroy is slowing adjusting to the meds, in his system--Not in his demeanor towards meds... silly boy... and his 'new' normal...

Yup, Artie swallowed his steroid so well this morning, I had to think really hard to remember if I put a capsule in the pill gun, before I gave it to him. It was just, tap his mouth, open up, shoot it in, swallowed.. no issues..no movement , just a perfect pilling.... really weird..

Hope your doctor's appointment went well.. Now on to the long week-end!!

 

[LTS3]

I got another completely unhelpful reply from the Yahoo Group I asked specific questions about prednisolone in my post. This newest reply has nothing to do with any of my questions

I have not heard back at all from either the vet or his secretary Leroy is fine now so I'm not worried, just want some reassurance from the vet.

 

[artiemom]

Not getting a reply is weird. That did happen to me once. I asked about that the next day. I think it was a Friday, also. I was told the Vet was strung out all day.

I guess if it were serious, then I would have gotten a rapid response.

At least Leroy is semi stable; however, last nights episode would have worried me.

In my opinion, the Yahoo groups are not helpful. Actually, I deleted my Yahoo account.

 

[LTS3]

Leroy spit his pill out and I didn't realize it until after right he ate breakfast I found the pill on the bathroom counter when I went to get a tissue. I got Leroy back into the bathroom and put the pill back in, clamping his mouth shut quickly so he wouldn't spit the pill back out. I had to give him a few treats to help push the pill down. Sneaky cat

Yes, it's odd that even the secretary didn't respond Maybe they were really busy yesterday. I'll check in on Tuesday. Vet wants weekly check ins but it may be more often than that depending on Leroy.

Someone on the Yahoo Group mentioned BCP Vet Pharmacy for compounding medicine. http://bcpvetpharm.com/ They don't have the 4mg strength of prednisolone Leroy needs. They do have a tuna flavored 5 mg Cisparide if Artie needs that artiemom

 

[artiemom]

Thanks for the links..I will check them out.

Currently, I am ok with Artie's meds. I do have a semi-local privately owned, compounding pharmacy, where I pick up his cisapride. Artie has stopped fighting me. I get the Pred at the Vet hospital.. a 90 day supply.

The Gel caps really come in handy. I could give you a few, to try.. and the regular pill gun is great.. very fast, and easy..

I used to find the pills all over the place, until I discovered my solution.

The problem is the 1/4 tablet of Cerenia, which Leroy is getting, is so tiny.. and the steroid is small also..

I left my question with the Sec around 10AM yesterday, voice mail. I did not get a voice mail reply, until around 2pm. If it took that long for an answer, I know the Vet was very busy..or perhaps he was not in?? do not know about that.

Vet's Secretary will be in on MONDAY. She is off the rest of the week. She is so nice, and caring. She really insists on an Artie update-- daily..
Vet thinks it is a bit overkill, but has come to realize that is kind of a 'jinx' not to give daily updates- He kind of chuckled when he said, "We are kind of superstitious"
Artie can change within a few hours... he has so many things going on.

Try calling on Monday. She will make sure the Vet gets the message.

 

[LTS3]

The gel capsules will arrive tomorrow with the "liver" flavored pill dough.

Vet probably won't be in the office next week. It's school vacation week and he usually takes the week off to be home with the kids.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Yahoo groups are VERY "hit and miss." I've belonged to a few that were excellent, but you have to wade through a ton of dross to find a gem. Generally not worth the bother. You CAN post questions on Quora, be sure to add subjects (on twitter, they would be hashtags) to get better responses. There are a lot of very knowledgeable folks there...and quite a few who just think that they are!

 

[artiemom]

Oh, too bad.. both of them will be off... I know there is someone covering for him..

sigh...

I just hate when 'certain', important to me, people take vacations...

 

[LTS3]

Not all Yahoo Groups are bad. I used to be on the American Gerbil Society one and that was very active and helpful. I even found a breeder who had a young male available to keep my newly pet store bought male gerbil company (pet store didn't have two and gerbils are rare at the shelter).

With my luck, Leroy will have issues next week when the vet is on vacation
I need a vacation myself. Between worrying about Leroy and dealing with at work, I'm exhausted I have to take March 7 off for an appointment so I might as well take a few more days after that as well.

 

[artiemom]

I usually feel that way about Artie.. every time the Vet goes on vacation, or is not there..that is when something comes up with Artie.. I hate it.. it is called: Murphy's Law..

Yes, you really do need a vacation. Do you have any vacation time, which you can use.
Personally, I used to take vacation during the summer.. but one year, I was fortunate enough to have saved up enough vacation time so that I could take a week off,
every 3 months.. it was wonderful.. perfect timing..

Then I changed jobs, and was able to take 2 weeks off at a time. I took them in July.

 

[LTS3]

I get 4 weeks of vacation time every year plus the 5 days I roll over from the previous year. So basically 5 weeks I try to spread out the vacation time over the year so I'm not using them up all at once. Mostly I just take a day off here and there but in the past year or so I've been taking several days off at once. I haven't used any vacation time so far this year, just one day of personal time to take Leroy to the vet for the possible FORL which turned out to the IBD.

 

[jcat]

Can you get all-veal liverwurst? Can Leroy tolerate a little bit of mozzarella? Both would be cheaper than pill dough, and you wouldn't have to worry about any chicken being in them. If he can eat fish, you should be able to find (Norwegian) salmon paste in well-stocked supermarkets/delis.

 

[LTS3]

Vet did call back yesterday. I found the voicemail message this morning. I didn't realize my phone was off Vet said it was odd crouching but wasn't sure if it was from any of the meds. He said to keep an eye on Leroy and try syringing water after giving the pills.

 

[LTS3]

I don't think we have salmon paste in the US Maybe an international grocery store would have it? I know Asian markets have shrimp paste but those have other stuff in them besides fermented shrimp.

I wonder if something like this would work? KONG Easy Treat Salmon Recipe - KONG Or flavored hairball gel.

Found this that sounds promising: Home - GooFurr A pill has to be crushed and then mixed with a small amount of the product.

I'll see how Leroy does with the pill doughs first. It's really just the Cerenia that is a problem. If I have a crushed up Cerenia, no thanks to the "pill cutter", I just mix it with food. Prednisolone isn't too hard to give as long as Leroy doesn't spit it out.