Krista's Care

[daftcat75]

They originally wanted to charge me for the tube re-placement: the sutures, the gas, and the x-ray. I said, "not to point a finger too hard at the other doctor, but I didn't pull the sutures out." They won't charge me for the X-ray which makes up about 40% of the cost. That's fair enough for me. Still waiting on the call to pick her up. She must be so discouraged having to spend all that time back there again. And she must be starving. I can't wait to bring her home and get a can of food in her.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You are the best dad a cat could ever have! Krista knows this for sure, and will be so happy to be back home with you (especially when you give her that can of food)!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Wow! I'm surprised they are charging you anything except perhaps an office visit. I'm sure they are already making a fortune off you. Here's hoping she returns home today with no further mishaps. AND that she'll be ok to eat tonight. I guess that depends on how deep they needed to put her under to switch out the tube and stitch it in place. I think I read somewhere it's just about a 15 minute "operation". That's for an initial E-tube so maybe a replacement is even less time

 

[daftcat75]

I think the bill will come out to about $125-150. It's the office visit, the procedure, and materials, minus the X-ray. The dislodgement happened with her regular Dr. There are two cat docs that split the week. The other Dr is the one on staff today. I'm not on her schedule. This is something she needs to fit in for me on top of other emergencies that may come her way (like the two that pushed Krista's procedure this far into the afternoon.) This is the other Dr's time and materials, and I respect that. If there's anyone I should be talking to about any further discount, it would be her regular Dr which we see on Sunday. I also look at it this way. I'm getting a free cleaning of the stoma site. That right here saves me a tech visit of $54.

Just got the call from them. They had a couple of emergencies before Krista. They are starting her very soon and she should be done by 4 or 4:30. They will have to re-sedate her so I should plan on picking her up between 6:30 and 7 to give her time to come around.

 

[daftcat75]

And she's home! The bill was right about $125. $90 for the sedation and $35 for the tube. The X-ray was comp'ed. Take $54 out of that for the stoma clean I don't have to do today and that's a steal.

She came home perky and food motivated. Now she's sort of food-stoned, possibly weighing the pros and cons of barfing. She's not crouched though. I think she's still just "off" from the sedation. She's sitting on her haunches rather than cat loafed and just staring off at nothing in particular. On advice from the tech, I only gave her about a half portion and we'll make sure she's not nauseated from the sedation before I offer more.

 

[daftcat75]

Someone is hungrier than her stomach is large. I’m going to have to pace her tonight. She’s probably already had over 2 oz which is the usually the size of her stomach. It’s all been Rawz so it better stay down. That’s expensive barf.

 

[daftcat75]

 

[daftcat75]

She's ate herself into a food coma last night and never came around for her midnight, 2am, or the mystery feed she no longer wakes me for. She slept well past my wake-up time. This morning she's in a mood. When I replaced her food dishes, she seems only mildly interested in food today and not so much about what I put out. This is why I leave the feeding tube in. I'll give myself a chance to eat, and then we'll do a tube feed with meds. She may be in a no-food mood but she still needs meds.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

What meds is she on now? I know she was doing better (mood wise and maybe overall wise except for bloodwork) without prescription meds, so just curious as to what she's taking now. A different antibiotic?

 

[daftcat75]

What meds is she on now? I know she was doing better (mood wise and maybe overall wise except for bloodwork) without prescription meds, so just curious as to what she's taking now. A different antibiotic?

Trying her back on ursodiol. I would also like to phase out the Fancy Feast. My new theory is that the FF only mostly agrees with her and that it still may be causing inflammation or leaky gut that carries over to the liver. I do have a different antibiotic (Veraflox.) Though I want to see if the ursodiol and the food change is going to be enough. Her levels aren't so elevated yet that we can't try a few things first.

 

[daftcat75]

I hope I don't have to use the tube for actual feedings beyond the "take with food" food for her medicines. The dilution to get it down the tube is brutal. 1 tsp of Rawz expanded to 15 cc of "food". I don't know how many cc I could give her before trying her or her stomach's patience. She took her 15cc of soupy Rawz and her ursodiol like a champ. She sat up for a few moments probably wondering what to do about it. She didn't look distressed or nauseated so I guess giving with food actually did the trick. Now she's back to sleeping the morning away and her food dishes still barely touched. But she took her medicine and that's all I need out of her today. She can have a fast day if she wants it. Her stomach was making all sorts of noises last night.

 

[daftcat75]

Just as a tech called to follow up with me about Krista today and I'm telling her that, "she ate herself into a food coma last night, and isn't eating today", that's when Krista decides to get off her rump, and eat half a plate. I think it was a plate of FF though. I got desperate and gave in, and one of these plates is more FF (or all FF) than the other.

 

[daftcat75]

Bring Your Cat To Work Day.

Directly after this, she walked across the desk into my lap where she is now.

With cat in lap, my super villain work today can now proceed.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Is her eye and ataxia still improving daily?

 

[daftcat75]

Is her eye and ataxia still improving daily?

It’s hard to see in these because she’s getting tired of the phone in her face and she often has a downward gaze. I don’t know if that’s mood or the Kollar or simply, “no pictures!”.

First one can’t see anything. But second one, the third eyelid has retreated to the corner but it’s still slightly present. The pupil is still more contracted than the other. She doesn’t walk like a cowboy anymore but her landings are still a little unsteady. But not as many belly flops.

There’s still a bit of lethargy to her that I’m not sure if it’s the Horner’s or the liver or what.

She’s nibbling today. It’s not a fasting day like it was looking but she’s also not mowing down the plates like earlier this week.

 

[CL56]

She is such a pretty girl !

 

[daftcat75]

She is such a pretty girl !

Yes she is. She has such a wonderful, affectionate, perky personality too when she’s feeling well. Which makes it very hard to see her “off” for so long.

 

[daftcat75]

Rawz duck is a big hit with her. I guess she just got bored of the turkey and rabbit. I’ll feed her duck long enough to forget about the Fancy Feast and rotate back to rabbit when she gets bored of duck. So she’s doing well there. And I caught her counter surfing last night. I can no longer slack on the dishes now that she can reach them again.

But...

Her ear really started bothering her yesterday. She is shaking her head a lot. We already have a vet appointment tomorrow morning. Her regular Dr is on duty tomorrow. Other than the head shaking, she’s doing alright. I think she can make it one more day. We can finish the food plus ursodiol trial with a retest tomorrow. Then start her on antibiotics for the ear. And in the meantime, if she needs it, I have transdermal bupe to help her get comfortable.

 

[daftcat75]

She's the best! We did both a tube feeding plus medicine and a stoma site cleaning. I think 15cc is too much food to go down the tube at once or I pushed it too fast. Poor girl. I'm regurgitating her out the tube onto her kollar and back. I hope her medicine stayed down. She took both the feeding and the cleaning like a pro and then finished the last of last night's duck can. Sleep it off girl. Do your thing. I'm done molesting you today.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Yes, with tube feeding you do need to go slowly or it will come right back out . 15 cc doesn't really seem like too much, so I'm guessing it was just too fast. Was it cold? That can sometimes cause the regurgitation too.

Glad the cleaning of the stoma site went well at least.