Introducing Betty White

[daftcat75]

ConCATs! Excellent result!
I'd go for the dental; but then again, I'm pretty obsessive about oral health.

I'm leaning towards the dental anyways because with tooth resorption in an older cat, you may not get a whole year between dentals. Also, because I max out one of the payroll taxes each year being a high earner, I get a tax holiday towards the end of the year. That means I'm much more able to afford a dental towards the latter half of this year rather than waiting until the 1 year mark early next year. Another reason why I'm leaning towards the dental is that it will be much easier to get an ultrasound appointment. The IM is basically waiting for me to make that call. I should probably get on the dental appointment as soon as new doc assures me her current lab work and cytology hasn't pushed something new to the top of our list.

On the food front, Betty was underwhelmed by the Lotus Raw. She thankfully ate a little bit. But that's an unsustainable amount. I may offer her nibbles just to get the most out of this tub. But I think we have to look at something else. It is entirely possible though that the texture is simply wrong for her sore teeth if there are sore teeth in her mouth. She may give it a more earnest chance when we've addressed whatever is causing her to leave remainders again. She also seems to be souring on the Mouser, not finishing the whole portion whether it's fresh or reheated. Today we're going to switch it up and offer her a little turkey Mouser and a bit more I/D just in case the turkey Mouser is a dud with her. I know she likes the rabbit Mouser. But I don't want her eating rabbit on the regular just yet if she hasn't shown an intolerance to chicken. We may need a novel protein down the road and I don't want to burn the rabbit option prematurely.

 

[daftcat75]

Turkey Mouser was a bust. Duck may have been a hit. Makes sense the way she quacks at me sometimes. I have one more can of duck to try fresh. If she likes it, I’ll buy more.

I’ve taken to bribing her. I’ll stuff a Greenie and sometimes some of her cake frosting (A/D) to make sure she at least takes a first pass.

She may have been just as blah about this weekend’s weather as I was. But as the sun started to come out today, it seems so did her appetite.

I’ll still bribe her with Greenies because they are a fiber supplement she enjoys eating.

Just waiting for docs to come back from holiday and let me know about the cytology and lab work. As long as they don’t turn up any new priorities, I will schedule her dental next. I’d rather be early and wrong than late and right.

 

[daftcat75]

Got a call back from Betty's new doc. Cytology was negative. Just fat. All labs look great. Doc said, "looking at the labs, you have a healthy cat." I suggested we should proceed with a dental because it just feels like she might be having some dental pain again the way she waits for her meds to kick in before eating her meals. And I told her that I'd rather be early and wrong than late and right and she definitely agreed with me there. We have her dental scheduled for October 18. I'm so glad I scheduled it now when she still seems able to eat a sustainable amount rather than waiting for those remainders to get out of hand and still be faced with a six week wait time. She may be just a good weather eater. My Garfield barometer. Second dinner and breakfast this morning are in the books like nothing was bothering her. We'll start the LumaSoothe sessions tonight.

 

[daftcat75]

We started the LumaSoothe sessions last night. I wasn’t sure if she’d sit through them. For lack of a better word, they are “loud”. Not audibly but visually. If I don’t press the head directly against her (which is safe to do), all those pulsating lasers create quite the distracting light show. Thankfully it only took me one session to figure out that pressing the head flat against her coat cuts down all that visual noise greatly.

So the next challenge I have is that the head is small relative to the areas I want to treat. Because it’s only a class 1 or class 2 laser, I have to keep it on the spot for longer than a stronger laser. So I have to use it multiple times to treat her. We’re only a handful of starter sessions into this. Starter sessions are five minute treatment times to get us both used to this. We will need to get up to fifteen minute sessions to provide the full effect. Maybe next week I’ll imagine I’m seeing a slightly less stiff kitty?

As my arm is getting tired holding this here, I’m thinking if this is helpful, I’ll definitely spring for a more powerful device. Possibly something we both can use.

 

[daftcat75]

Poor Betty is having a hairball day. Not anything massive or violent like it used to be. But I'm worried that this is how it started and it's only going to get worse. She had a very small spit up of food tinged hair. Then she slept it off for a few hours before producing a couple of saliva spit ups. No yowling. So that's a huge improvement already. But I can tell she's not happy. And her lunch remains untouched. That's fine by me if her stomach is still in spasm. I just hope she'll be alright for dinner.

Just stepped out of the room for a pee and she started in on lunch. I wish us both the best of luck for the rest of the afternoon and tonight.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Poor Betty is having a hairball day. Not anything massive or violent like it used to be. But I'm worried that this is how it started and it's only going to get worse. She had a very small spit up of food tinged hair. Then she slept it off for a few hours before producing a couple of saliva spit ups. No yowling. So that's a huge improvement already. But I can tell she's not happy. And her lunch remains untouched. That's fine by me if her stomach is still in spasm. I just hope she'll be alright for dinner.

Just stepped out of the room for a pee and she started in on lunch. I wish us both the best of luck for the rest of the afternoon and tonight.

A lot of cats are like a lot of humans (not us, but a lot of others) in that they like variety and refuse the same thing when they tire of it. So I would go for a good amount of different selections, just to be on the safe side. Elvis is picky. He's been doing an excellent job lately, but I'm not surprised when he doesn't, especially when it's hot.
Is Betty getting her brushies?
Good on ya for booking the dental!
Hope that LumaSoothe works well. Is there a way Betty would tolerate having a oneside or something on top of the unit to hold it in place so you don't have your arm getting sore? Just a thought.
Sorry for late replies -- I had to look you up because once again, I'm not getting your updates.

 

[daftcat75]

A lot of cats are like a lot of humans (not us, but a lot of others) in that they like variety and refuse the same thing when they tire of it. So I would go for a good amount of different selections, just to be on the safe side. Elvis is picky. He's been doing an excellent job lately, but I'm not surprised when he doesn't, especially when it's hot.
Is Betty getting her brushies?
Good on ya for booking the dental!
Hope that LumaSoothe works well. Is there a way Betty would tolerate having a oneside or something on top of the unit to hold it in place so you don't have your arm getting sore? Just a thought.
Sorry for late replies -- I had to look you up because once again, I'm not getting your updates.

I'm thinking having us start on the starter sessions is to build up my endurance for this as much as hers.

I'm thinking Betty is probably getting too much "cake frosting" (A/D) in tempting her to eat. That's what the little bit of food in her hairball looked like. Let me see if I can back off some of that.

Curiously, her hairballs seem to correlate with days that I pulled a lot of hair off her with the glove. I'm thinking the glove loosens up too much hair and she has to ingest what's not pulled off. She got a good gloving yesterday. She got another good gloving the day before her last hairball. Perhaps I hold off on the glove and try something else when she wants her brushies.

Betty is stubborn about her food. But she does seem to enjoy the duck over the chicken Mouser. Maybe it's the Greenie I stuff into it. But she does eat more than she has to. If she has mouth pain, she may become more adventurous after her next dental takes care of that.

She slept hard through all the dinner-making rumblings. I finally shook her Greenies bag and that woke her up. But I still had to wait her out until she finally decided to come down from her cave. She took her meds like a fluffin' pro. Didn't even want the starter strip of A/D on her dinner. That's fine. She did just eat an hour before. Last I left her, she was enjoying the PetsPEMF mat immensely. I'm sure once her meds, especially the ondansetron, kicks in, she'll be feeling much better.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I'm thinking having us start on the starter sessions is to build up my endurance for this as much as hers.

I'm thinking Betty is probably getting too much "cake frosting" (A/D) in tempting her to eat. That's what the little bit of food in her hairball looked like. Let me see if I can back off some of that.

Curiously, her hairballs seem to correlate with days that I pulled a lot of hair off her with the glove. I'm thinking the glove loosens up too much hair and she has to ingest what's not pulled off. She got a good gloving yesterday. She got another good gloving the day before her last hairball. Perhaps I hold off on the glove and try something else when she wants her brushies.

Betty is stubborn about her food. But she does seem to enjoy the duck over the chicken Mouser. Maybe it's the Greenie I stuff into it. But she does eat more than she has to. If she has mouth pain, she may become more adventurous after her next dental takes care of that.

She slept hard through all the dinner-making rumblings. I finally shook her Greenies bag and that woke her up. But I still had to wait her out until she finally decided to come down from her cave. She took her meds like a fluffin' pro. Didn't even want the starter strip of A/D on her dinner. That's fine. She did just eat an hour before. Last I left her, she was enjoying the PetsPEMF mat immensely. I'm sure once her meds, especially the ondansetron, kicks in, she'll be feeling much better.

I've never had a glove, but I absolutely agree with your hypothesis. Since you both enjoy the gloving, by all means, glove her to her heart's content -- but then, after the gloving (post-gloving, you might say) if you do a quick pass with a real brush, you may see good results. It's worth a try, yes?
And yeah, creative strength training!

 

[daftcat75]

I've never had a glove, but I absolutely agree with your hypothesis. Since you both enjoy the gloving, by all means, glove her to her heart's content -- but then, after the gloving (post-gloving, you might say) if you do a quick pass with a real brush, you may see good results. It's worth a try, yes?
And yeah, creative strength training!

She left a forgivable remainder on dinner last night. And a less forgivable remainder on the overnight. But it's better than bringing stuff up. She put away breakfast and it will probably take a few hours for me to know what she did with lunch today. I put a second lunchtime Greenie in her duck portion. If nothing else, she'll probably eat about half that plus her usual junky I/D pile. And because that Mouser is at least 1.5 times the nutrition of I/D (no carbs, all good stuff), I don't mind if she only eats half the Mouser portion. It effectively displaces 1/3 of her junky lunch portions. It would be nice if I could get her lunch fully transitioned to Mouser. But I'm not sure she wants to go there yet.

I'm just going to hold off on the glove. She has several other brushes she enjoys. If we can get through the rest of the month without the glove and without another hairball, we can retry the glove and some post-gloving loving from another brush. But the glove kind of reminds me of the Furminator. It seems to be able to pull hair out that had no intention of shedding.

Our hemp oil from Vitality Science arrived yesterday. As hemp oil goes, I'm highly suspect of this one. Not because of quality or purity, but the dose seems impossibly small to be effective. It says 1 or 2 drops for cats. Now I'm not complaining. I put a drop on a Greenie. Betty was initially suspicious. But her love for Greenies outweighed that curious hemp oil smell. I spoke with the vet about this and while she toes the standard vet line ("no FDA approval", "no good studies", "dosing questions", etc), she didn't object to my idea of using the hemp oil with her lunch meal to see if it gives her some bridge relief between gabapentin doses.

I emailed LumaSoothe support to ask about how much I can move the device during a treatment, e.g. how many treatments it will take to treat my cat. I'm still waiting on that response.

For what it's worth, all this tummy grief has brought her back to the water fountains. She is now drinking from both fountains. And it still makes me so nervous when she does because I think she's only doing it because of an upset tummy. So far no water pukes like before. I stopped using filtered water, and just wash and fill them up once a week (on "Thirsty Thursdays") with tap water. I still like drinking filtered water. But Betty perhaps has a preference for tap.

 

[tarasgirl06]

She left a forgivable remainder on dinner last night. And a less forgivable remainder on the overnight. But it's better than bringing stuff up. She put away breakfast and it will probably take a few hours for me to know what she did with lunch today. I put a second lunchtime Greenie in her duck portion. If nothing else, she'll probably eat about half that plus her usual junky I/D pile. And because that Mouser is at least 1.5 times the nutrition of I/D (no carbs, all good stuff), I don't mind if she only eats half the Mouser portion. It effectively displaces 1/3 of her junky lunch portions. It would be nice if I could get her lunch fully transitioned to Mouser. But I'm not sure she wants to go there yet.

I'm just going to hold off on the glove. She has several other brushes she enjoys. If we can get through the rest of the month without the glove and without another hairball, we can retry the glove and some post-gloving loving from another brush. But the glove kind of reminds me of the Furminator. It seems to be able to pull hair out that had no intention of shedding.

Our hemp oil from Vitality Science arrived yesterday. As hemp oil goes, I'm highly suspect of this one. Not because of quality or purity, but the dose seems impossibly small to be effective. It says 1 or 2 drops for cats. Now I'm not complaining. I put a drop on a Greenie. Betty was initially suspicious. But her love for Greenies outweighed that curious hemp oil smell. I spoke with the vet about this and while she toes the standard vet line ("no FDA approval", "no good studies", "dosing questions", etc), she didn't object to my idea of using the hemp oil with her lunch meal to see if it gives her some bridge relief between gabapentin doses.

I emailed LumaSoothe support to ask about how much I can move the device during a treatment, e.g. how many treatments it will take to treat my cat. I'm still waiting on that response.

For what it's worth, all this tummy grief has brought her back to the water fountains. She is now drinking from both fountains. And it still makes me so nervous when she does because I think she's only doing it because of an upset tummy. So far no water pukes like before. I stopped using filtered water, and just wash and fill them up once a week (on "Thirsty Thursdays") with tap water. I still like drinking filtered water. But Betty perhaps has a preference for tap.

Good girl betty!
My review of the Furminator would echo yours. Our angel Sammi came with one as one of his accessories -- I never would have bought one, but I thought, okay, well, he's a Mainey man with a massive coat including a cottony undercoat that has a strong tendency to mat, so let's use it. CLOUDS of fur wafting through the air! And yeah, did all of that really NEED to come out? I've never used it since he left us. I'll keep it "just in case" but really, I wouldn't recommend them. A good slicker brush and a good flea comb are my tools of choice, along with my little cat claw clippers, waiting here on my desk for an opportune moment. Elvis needs an appointment with them again.
I'm a tap water drinker and so is Elvis. He has his charcoal fountain filter. I tough it out.
Hoping Betty stays hydrated and happy. In this (hopefully) last gasp of summer heat, we all need some extra water before coat-growing season

 

[daftcat75]

10.74


I’ve said she has the weight to lose. But this feels too quickly. I think I’ll ask the vet for a trial prescription of buprenorphine. We should know quickly enough if it’s pain or something else.

On the other paw, she does seem to be moving a little easier. Probably because she’s lost half a pound already.

 

[tarasgirl06]

10.74
View attachment 459163View attachment 459164

I’ve said she has the weight to lose. But this feels too quickly. I think I’ll ask the vet for a trial prescription of buprenorphine. We should know quickly enough if it’s pain or something else.

On the other paw, she does seem to be moving a little easier. Probably because she’s lost half a pound already.

Hmmm. In how long?
She looks very lovely.

 

[daftcat75]

Hmmm. In how long?
She looks very lovely.

Looks like July 16 she was peak chonk at 11.24. So she’s lost about a half pound in about two months.

 

[daftcat75]

Changes made in the last two months:

a. She went off pred in early August.
b. She's on about week three of trying to get her lunch to Mouser. That's only going so-so. She eats about half the amount (which is 1.5 times the calories of I/D) and about half the reduced I/D portion.
c. She stopped Dasuquin. I ran out and I wasn't seeing a huge difference anyway. She was also getting reluctant about eating them.
d. We started Greenies for hairball control. She gets between six and eight a day. It's obvious I'm not spoiling her weight with these. But maybe I'm spoiling her appetite. She does seem especially thirsty after she's eaten one. On the other paw, I do bribe her to revisit a portion by making sure she sees me stick a Greenie into the remainder mound on the plate.

She's been leaving remainders on most meals. This is unlike how she was on pred. Increasing her gabapentin doesn't seem to have had the effect I was hoping for. She's drinking more water lately too. This makes me think she's probably not passing hair as easily. She wasn't drinking water the whole time she was on pred. This is why I think this water drinking is a nausea/discomfort sort of thing. Her Greenies stools have been huge. But I haven't picked through one lately to see if there's hair in them. I figured Greenies are a fiber supplement. It tracks that her poops would grow. But if it's not pushing hair out of her stomach, then she's just driving me crazy about them for nothing.

Put another way, I would celebrate her weight loss if we were actively and positively doing something to encourage weight loss such as exercise or diet modification (her lunch modification these days is probably more portion reduction through remainders than changing to a sustainable amount of an alternate food.) But this seems like she's struggling to get through the same amount of food that she had no issues with before her inde-pred-nence day. I'm hoping she stabilizes soon and we don't lose another quarter or half pound before her dentist appointment. But if this weight loss and remainders persist, I may get her into the IM and back on steroids sooner. I just don't want that to sidetrack her dental once more. But also perhaps I'm being stubborn still hoping this isn't IBD with her and that a dental is simply all she needs. A few days of buprenorphine should be able to convince me that her remainders are pain related or not. Still won't cancel her dental appointment even if the bupe doesn't work because six weeks is a long wait time. I don't want to put that wait time off to another time where she's really struggling to get through meals.

I was just so hopeful that there was an end in sight to her big health struggles. Or at least a plateau that we can start descending from.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Changes made in the last two months:

a. She went off pred in early August.
b. She's on about week three of trying to get her lunch to Mouser. That's only going so-so. She eats about half the amount (which is 1.5 times the calories of I/D) and about half the reduced I/D portion.
c. She stopped Dasuquin. I ran out and I wasn't seeing a huge difference anyway. She was also getting reluctant about eating them.
d. We started Greenies for hairball control. She gets between six and eight a day. It's obvious I'm not spoiling her weight with these. But maybe I'm spoiling her appetite. She does seem especially thirsty after she's eaten one. On the other paw, I do bribe her to revisit a portion by making sure she sees me stick a Greenie into the remainder mound on the plate.

She's been leaving remainders on most meals. This is unlike how she was on pred. Increasing her gabapentin doesn't seem to have had the effect I was hoping for. She's drinking more water lately too. This makes me think she's probably not passing hair as easily. She wasn't drinking water the whole time she was on pred. This is why I think this water drinking is a nausea/discomfort sort of thing. Her Greenies stools have been huge. But I haven't picked through one lately to see if there's hair in them. I figured Greenies are a fiber supplement. It tracks that her poops would grow. But if it's not pushing hair out of her stomach, then she's just driving me crazy about them for nothing.

Put another way, I would celebrate her weight loss if we were actively and positively doing something to encourage weight loss such as exercise or diet modification (her lunch modification these days is probably more portion reduction through remainders than changing to a sustainable amount of an alternate food.) But this seems like she's struggling to get through the same amount of food that she had no issues with before her inde-pred-nence day. I'm hoping she stabilizes soon and we don't lose another quarter or half pound before her dentist appointment. But if this weight loss and remainders persist, I may get her into the IM and back on steroids sooner. I just don't want that to sidetrack her dental once more. But also perhaps I'm being stubborn still hoping this isn't IBD with her and that a dental is simply all she needs. A few days of buprenorphine should be able to convince me that her remainders are pain related or not. Still won't cancel her dental appointment even if the bupe doesn't work because six weeks is a long wait time. I don't want to put that wait time off to another time where she's really struggling to get through meals.

I was just so hopeful that there was an end in sight to her big health struggles. Or at least a plateau that we can start descending from.

I know we non-NTs can be like 2-year-olds *or Einsteins?* wanting to know the WHY of everything and the equations thereof. But IMHO not everything has an answer. I don't think 8 oz. loss in 2 mos. is outlandish given everything you've just supplied info-wise. Bottom line, I wouldn't worry *but I know you do* if Betty seems well otherwise, which, again, given everything you've written, she basically seems to be. An occasional puke, regurge or lack of finishing a plate wouldn't set off alarms here.
Yes, the Greenies are fibrous and yes, I would think they would induce some thirst. Drinking water is good. It's still summer, and it's still hot, at least here in la-la land, so I know I drink more water and I think Elvis does, too. I'm happy when he does. His output is beautifully regular and though he did have a little 2-day episode of "lucy" he's otherwise right on target. All in all, this adds up, to me, to a very healthy 16-year-old mancatto who rarely finishes every bite but generally eats most of his food, even now, when most of our appetites are a little light.
I'd of course monitor Betty, but nothing you've said adds up to a reason for stress IMHO.
She looks great.

 

[daftcat75]

I know we non-NTs can be like 2-year-olds *or Einsteins?* wanting to know the WHY of everything and the equations thereof. But IMHO not everything has an answer. I don't think 8 oz. loss in 2 mos. is outlandish given everything you've just supplied info-wise. Bottom line, I wouldn't worry *but I know you do* if Betty seems well otherwise, which, again, given everything you've written, she basically seems to be. An occasional puke, regurge or lack of finishing a plate wouldn't set off alarms here.
Yes, the Greenies are fibrous and yes, I would think they would induce some thirst. Drinking water is good. It's still summer, and it's still hot, at least here in la-la land, so I know I drink more water and I think Elvis does, too. I'm happy when he does. His output is beautifully regular and though he did have a little 2-day episode of "lucy" he's otherwise right on target. All in all, this adds up, to me, to a very healthy 16-year-old mancatto who rarely finishes every bite but generally eats most of his food, even now, when most of our appetites are a little light.
I'd of course monitor Betty, but nothing you've said adds up to a reason for stress IMHO.
She looks great.

It hasn't been that hot up here since before her vet appointment two or three weeks ago. I just checked the camera and at 3:30, she still hasn't touched her lunch set out at noon. I might pause on the Mouser for a week here to see if the extra fat is gumming up the works binding up hair and making her feel too full to eat. She may also get extra Greenies to see if we can't force it down rather than have it come back up. I'd hate to add more capsules to her regimen. But we may also try egg yolk powder or egg yolk lecithin if I can pack a useful amount into a capsule. I would love it if she loved egg yolk as much as Krista did. That would make all of this hairball business so much easier.

 

[tarasgirl06]

It hasn't been that hot up here since before her vet appointment two or three weeks ago. I just checked the camera and at 3:30, she still hasn't touched her lunch set out at noon. I might pause on the Mouser for a week here to see if the extra fat is gumming up the works binding up hair and making her feel too full to eat. She may also get extra Greenies to see if we can't force it down rather than have it come back up. I'd hate to add more capsules to her regimen. But we may also try egg yolk powder or egg yolk lecithin if I can pack a useful amount into a capsule. I would love it if she loved egg yolk as much as Krista did. That would make all of this hairball business so much easier.

YES! Sounds like a good plan and I hope she does, too! Quality protein.

 

[daftcat75]

Well that was gross. But also, I am very impressed with Bounty's absorbency!

Detective Scoopie de Poopie was on the case looking for evidence of hair in Betty's massive stools. Fortunately, she was all too eager to provide this afternoon. There was one waiting for me when I got home from the taproom. I removed two and half logs into a sandwich baggie, added some water from the sink, sealed it, and squished it up like the grossest wine grapes. Then I thought, I'm going to regret this but I'm going to make the grossest drip coffee now. I poured out this poop wine and remainders into a Bounty paper towel over the garbage disposal. Yeah, that was not a brilliant idea--should have had something more disposable underneath it than my disposal. And in no time, there it was. A big old chunk of hair amongst it all. Satisfied, I grabbed a freezer quart bag and started to carefully fold this all up from the corners. And wow! None of it was leaking through the Bounty. I know I'm probably sounding like a Bounty commercial now. But I also know that Seventh Generation never would have performed this well. If you need to do poop separation experiments in your kitchen sink, Bounty has your cat's backside!


It seems that pooping and sleeping was all she did this afternoon as her lunch remained untouched when I came home. She also didn't make it past the cake frosting with her meds and starter strips on the first can from a new case at dinner time tonight. That's how I know something isn't right with her. Just a month ago, she would have polished that plate on a first can from a new case portion.

 

[daftcat75]

As I was starting to worry about her apparent lack of appetite today, I realized I already have an emergency food. So after picking up half her dinner as a remainder, I served her second dinner a sweaty mess of cake frosting (A/D) and her stew (I/D). 1:3 proportions like she used to eat way back before steroids. So yeah. I think that’s where we’re probably going again. But maybe she just needs a sweaty mess on the backend to get her over this hump. No more Mouser this week. And I’d like to cut back her Greenies if she’ll let me. Let’s see if we can’t unwind some of these changes if they aren’t for the better.

 

[daftcat75]

Shoot! I thought mixing a little A/D into her I/D would get her eating her meals again. And it did. She finished her second dinner and made a decent first pass on breakfast. But all that fat in the A/D must have gummed up her works.

Around 6:30 this morning when she would have been thinking about a second pass on breakfast she instead went to the office to bring up a gross food and hairball. And two spits after. Three site cleanup. Quiet hours be damned I’m bringing out the Bissell. I get halfway through the second site before I realize the Bissell itself is having a massive hairball. So I had to pull out its cleaning tool and pull all the hair out of the cleaning heads.

This may be common among cats. But it’s not normal. We’re at hairball/spits every couple of weeks. It will only get worse from here if I remain stubborn. I’m calling up her IM today and getting her reevaluated. Probably means another ultrasound. (Still haven’t finished paying for her cytology last month.) Then she’s probably going back on pred. Neither of us can keep going on like this. Pred worked well for her. And maybe we don’t have to go all the way back up to full dose. Or maybe we do. But she also responded well at lower doses. So maybe we knock this down with an initial high dose and then we don’t spend nearly so long on cruise control and try to get her down to something small and sustainable like a 2.5 mg every other day.

At this point, my fear is that this only gets worse over the next month and jeopardizes that dental appointment we were trying to put first. Getting her back on steroids is probably the single best way to ensure that we don’t have to cancel or reschedule that dental. I don’t want to worry about her bringing up a hairball before, during, or after dental surgery.