Introducing Betty White

daftcat75

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She's a nibbler and a grazer.
If she’s a finisher, that’s great. But last night she turned in two remainders and this morning I had to bribe her with more A/D (and some dry food at the weigh-in) into finishing breakfast. And I’m not sure I’ll get any more from this plate before I return. 🤷🏼‍♂️😔

I think she’s slurping up the moisture and leaving behind the chewier parts. Unfortunately, it’s the chewier parts that have more protein. And more fat. And more food in general. Hopefully a richer mix of A/D will provide her more nutrition if she’s going to leave the chunkies behind. And maybe the Cerenia will get her eating the chunky bits again too. Maybe the heat is giving her nausea besides run of the mill appetite reduction.🤷🏼‍♂️
 
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tarasgirl06

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If she’s a finisher, that’s great. But last night she turned in two remainders and this morning I had to bribe her with more A/D (and some dry food at the weigh-in) into finishing breakfast. And I’m not sure I’ll get any more from this plate before I return. 🤷🏼‍♂️😔

I think she’s slurping up the moisture and leaving behind the chewier parts. Unfortunately, it’s the chewier parts that have more protein. And more fat. And more food in general. Hopefully a richer mix of A/D will provide her more nutrition if she’s going to leave the chunkies behind. And maybe the Cerenia will get her eating the chunky bits again too. Maybe the heat is giving her nausea besides run of the mill appetite reduction.🤷🏼‍♂️
Have you thought about blending/food processing? Or wouldn't that do it?
 

daftcat75

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Oh it’s too hot and she’s not rallying. She ate half of lunch. And she ate half of dinner. But only as carpet morsels. But I’m pretty sure we’re going in for fluids and blood work tomorrow. With this heat and how she’s not eating enough, fluids alone may make the difference. It’s like she wants to eat and she wants to interact but she just feels too weak for much of any of it. Instead of joining me on the counter during meal prep, she weakly croaked from below. Instead of coming to the edge of the kitchen instead, she just flopped on her side. Instead of making solid contact with me when I’m on the floor with her, she just bounces off me. So yeah. She’s going in for at least fluids tomorrow.

This all said, she did just climb out of the poof to lay in my lap. That’s better than breakfast.
 

daftcat75

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Internist wrote an email saying the biopsies suggest IBD rather than lymphoma. But the two are on a spectrum and he doesn’t want to let one become the other. I hope we can agree on a treatment plan that allows for the poop pills to do their thing without interfering with what the specialist wants to try (pred) and vice versa. I didn’t want to pred and pray. But I’m not sure she’s leaving me much choice. Especially because the vet wants to try a novel diet with her. Maybe she’ll want to rally tomorrow with a bit of new food. It will be a sad day if I can’t feed her A/D anymore.
 

daftcat75

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She left my lap and ate more of dinner. Eyeballing it, I would say that’s a 7 or 8 gram remainder putting her at approximately 24 grams of 32 plated. Not bad. But chronic under eating will leave her losing weight and becoming dehydrated. After that second round of first dinner, she moved onto the bed. So I’m pretty sure that’s the last of this plate. I’ll plate second dinner before lights out at 9 pm. Let’s hope the Cerenia and the Mirataz encourage her to keep eating even if she doesn’t much feel like it. But yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s going for fluids tomorrow.
 

tarasgirl06

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She left my lap and ate more of dinner. Eyeballing it, I would say that’s a 7 or 8 gram remainder putting her at approximately 24 grams of 32 plated. Not bad. But chronic under eating will leave her losing weight and becoming dehydrated. After that second round of first dinner, she moved onto the bed. So I’m pretty sure that’s the last of this plate. I’ll plate second dinner before lights out at 9 pm. Let’s hope the Cerenia and the Mirataz encourage her to keep eating even if she doesn’t much feel like it. But yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s going for fluids tomorrow.
Hoping the fluid therapy puts Betty back on track and that she perks up!
 

daftcat75

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We’re at the urgent care vet waiting for fluids. Because I don’t even bother calling regular vet anymore for same day appointments. 🤦🏼‍♂️😔 We got into an exam room quick enough. But the queue for the rounds is moving slowly.

She eventually ate all of second dinner last night and about 2/3 of overnight. But it took 100% enrichment to get her to eat about 2/3 of breakfast this morning. But before I even plated it, she was laying on her side weakly mewing in a really scary way. I mean she did eventually big stretch, roll, get to her feet, and start a light dehydrated kitty opera. I almost took her down right then. But I wanted to give her her meds and one more chance to show me how she’s doing. Also I just couldn’t shake off the sleepies and get my morning face on that early. So back to bed we both went and she sat with me with the enriched mix burps. She gets more burps when the A/D mix is richer. On the one hand, I could probably get her through this with more A/D. But we run the risk of the wet burps or the other end. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Hoping for prompt and effective treatment.
 

daftcat75

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Her physical was fine except that she has a low grade fever. I explained to the doc that I didn’t want to just give antibiotics for the fever given the work we’re doing with her gut. So she will get a shot of onsoir, assuming nothing else stands out in the bloodwork. So she’s seen the doc now. Now we’re waiting for a tech to collect her for the fluids and blood work.
 

daftcat75

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One of the times I had her here or another place, I remarked how pink her beans were looking. I was told that they get engorged with blood during times of stress.

Here’s another one of her stress beans.
6A7BD65B-9811-4339-81C0-217A8E6EBFA7.jpeg
 

cat nap

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Her physical was fine except that she has a low grade fever. I explained to the doc that I didn’t want to just give antibiotics for the fever given the work we’re doing with her gut. So she will get a shot of onsoir, assuming nothing else stands out in the bloodwork. So she’s seen the doc now. Now we’re waiting for a tech to collect her for the fluids and blood work.
Maybe I should ask the doc for a prescription for the mirtazapine pills to give her poor irritated ears a break.
View attachment 424618
Forgive me for asking again,...but can you ask the Vet to also check Betty's B12 levels, pancreas, and thyroid levels,...just in case...as not sure if this is normally done in routine blood work?

Could her throat/esophagus be inflamed from the anesthetic and endoscopic procedure?
And could you ask the Vet if there is anything for this, to soothe her throat?

I came across this "Hydra Care" supplement, and something like this may be beneficial.
PURINA PRO PLAN VETERINARY DIETS Hydra Care Liver Flavored Liquid Supplement for Cats, 3-oz pouch, case of 12 - Chewy.com
Although it does contain 'guar gum'...so not really sure how good it is, and if something like unflavoured pedialyte would be better.

Sending Mega Health Vibes to your Betty...for a speedy recovery. :vibes::vibes::tabbycat:
(ps. definitely ask for the mirtazapine pills, versus gel...to give her ears a rest)
 

daftcat75

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Waiting for her discharge. It’s basically going to go down as FUO (fever of unknown origin.) She’ll get the anti-inflammatory shot and fluids. Keeping her warm and hydrated is what I see for fever treatment. Keeping her warm won’t be an issue between the poof and the weather. Expected to be in low 80’s now. That shouldn’t be too hot for either of us. I might give her watered down morsels of A/D throughout the day to get more moisture into her. A little A/D soup to slurp up. 👍
 
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