Krista's Care

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daftcat75

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Fasting this cat for the vet this morning is bonkers! She woke me at 4 and has been pestering me for food ever since. She’s only pestering me because I keep the bupe flowing for her. She just got her 6am dose and now I have two more hours before the vet office opens.
 
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daftcat75

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This morning's nonsense shows me that she's still a feisty, adorable, hungry, affectionate ball of mischief. She even played with her Cat Dancer for the first time in a couple of months. She still has a sassy walk and the occasional messy landing. But aside from that, the Horner's looks almost gone. Her pupils are almost the same size again.

So the bloodwork from Sunday came back all out of whack.

But here's my theories:

1. Major dehydration. I overdid the seaweed calcium trying to dry up her stools. Between this electrolyte imbalance and the voluminous watery barfs, I'm going to chalk up the BUN, ALB, SDMA irregularities (mild elevations) to dehydration. We can re-test next month.

2. For elevated ALT, my theory is that her dental problems have both been the initial insult/injury that causes ALT to rise. Add onto that the crap food I feed her when she needs to eat something over nothing. The dental injury plus the gut inflammation that comes with this "anything goes" diet is probably why we can't bring ALT back to range yet. I sort of knew when I brought Krista home last time that there was still something going on in her mouth. She was still wincing when she ate and wincing when she licked. Hopefully we finish the job this time.

3. For GGT, I'm not sure. I think maybe if there's gut inflammation and a stressed out liver, that could certainly cause the common bile duct to back up.

In other words, I really want two or three weeks without dental injury, without meds, and with her normal diet to hit the reset button before we re-test again. Aside from the teeth, she's not acting like a sick cat. Sometimes I feel like the treatments have been worse than the illness.
 

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This morning's nonsense shows me that she's still a feisty, adorable, hungry, affectionate ball of mischief. She even played with her Cat Dancer for the first time in a couple of months. She still has a sassy walk and the occasional messy landing. But aside from that, the Horner's looks almost gone. Her pupils are almost the same size again.

So the bloodwork from Sunday came back all out of whack.

But here's my theories:

1. Major dehydration. I overdid the seaweed calcium trying to dry up her stools. Between this electrolyte imbalance and the voluminous watery barfs, I'm going to chalk up the BUN, ALB, SDMA irregularities (mild elevations) to dehydration. We can re-test next month.

2. For elevated ALT, my theory is that her dental problems have both been the initial insult/injury that causes ALT to rise. Add onto that the crap food I feed her when she needs to eat something over nothing. The dental injury plus the gut inflammation that comes with this "anything goes" diet is probably why we can't bring ALT back to range yet. I sort of knew when I brought Krista home last time that there was still something going on in her mouth. She was still wincing when she ate and wincing when she licked. Hopefully we finish the job this time.

3. For GGT, I'm not sure. I think maybe if there's gut inflammation and a stressed out liver, that could certainly cause the common bile duct to back up.

In other words, I really want two or three weeks without dental injury, without meds, and with her normal diet to hit the reset button before we re-test again. Aside from the teeth, she's not acting like a sick cat. Sometimes I feel like the treatments have been worse than the illness.
I don't know what to comment on blood test result but ... did Krista allow Vet to check her teeth today? I feel the same, it will be nice if it is possible to give her a break from treatments, just good rest, good food and nice cuddle with Daddy :catlove:

I've been wondering - is raw goat milk/kefir/yogurt is something she might be able to try? If not please just skip from here. When I bought one at store, nice lady explained to me that it will coat sensitive gut and helped her older kitty. She also said it firms up stool (opposite to cow milk) so watch out giving too much. I bought Primal one, but honestly don't excited about ginger and turmeric in it. She said I can mix into food. Saf liked as it is, Pila sniffed and walked away :cringe:
 
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daftcat75

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No word yet from the Dr yet. The suspense is killing me!

Krista hasn't cared for any of those and she's holding a grudge against her medicine meal (tuna with pumpkin.)

I can't put her through another round of antibiotics. I will be getting chamomille (nature's antibiotic) tea into her one way or another.

I'm so frustrated with food, teeth, meds, lab results. I want no more meds, and just eat your favorite foods again! She's definitely still got a lot of spirit in her as evidenced by this morning's song and dance. Fix her mouth so she can eat herself back to health again.
 
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daftcat75

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Sounds like a couple more root extractions. Didn't sound like she had anymore teeth removed. Hopefully this does it for a good long time. Maybe if we can catch a good month or three break, I can schedule an appointment with a specialist to put together a plan for the rest of her mouth. See if we can get proactive. But for now, let me run back to the pet food store for more of her Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna and she can try Rawz tomorrow.
 
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daftcat75

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She was seriously hissing, spitting, growling, swatting mad tonight when they tried to bring her out to me. She once again pooped her carrier. I should just have that carrier on Autoship. I think her hindquarters are really bothering her; arthritis or something else. I managed to dump her out of her poop carrier into a cardboard carrier and the vet office once again gets a pooped carrier donation.

I have her in quarantine and timeout in my bathroom. I put in a litterbox, her cat rock, and a camera so I can sort of see her. Okay, not really. I can only see her on the camera if she's pawing at the door. I did manage to successfully use the the Cat-In-The-Bag on her. I mean as successfully as she was going to tolerate. I got out a fair amount but she's still wearing poop chaps. When I tried to gently work out the mattes, first with a pet wipe, then with my fingers, she cried bloody murder like I was tearing the flesh off her bones. I left her alone and she actually groomed a bit. She's still smelly though.

My other idea was to bring food in to her because perhaps she'll get another groom on after eating. And eat she did! I put out both Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna and Rawz Turkey--about a tablespoon of each--and she finished both. I checked in on her and she's settling down. Maybe another hour and she'll let me finish the booty duty on her. Pet wipe is too gentle. I think I'm going to have to go nuclear with a warm, wet washcloth.

Oh wait! That's my only bathroom. Maybe we won't be waiting another hour....
 
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daftcat75

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Poop chaps aside...

I'm happy to report that she's already had a couple of tablespoons each of Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna and Rawz Turkey. Fingers crossed that this lasts a good long time before any teeth start bothering her again.

Poor girl! I let her out of solitary in the bathroom. But we're still in lockdown in the office. At least she's not hissing mad anymore but she won't let me anywhere near her back legs or bottom. I have been fired from her booty duty. But she's finally getting her groom on. Every so often she pulls up with a stink face. "I tried to help you. Now you're on your own. But there will be another plate of food in it for you when you're done."

Oh she's getting her revenge. She's got the scoots! Omg! Well, at least I don't sleep in the office. And this is why we're still on lockdown.
 

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sidneykitty

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I really hope she is back on the road to recovery and eating her regular food again soon! It sounds like its been a long couple of months for you both.

Oh poor munchkin with the poop ... I hope she's feeling better soon! Cleanup duty on the poopy legs/behind is never easy even when they're feeling their best. I commend you for your efforts.
 
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daftcat75

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We spent the night in lockdown together. I refreshed her plates and her medicine a couple of times. She got an extra bupe dose this morning as I moved her from an 8 and 2 schedule back to a 6 and 12 schedule. Her 6am dose overlapped her 2am dose by a couple of hours, and she's been especially out of it this morning. But that's okay by me. She had a rough day and a long night.

She ate almost half a can of Rawz last night! It's been almost a week since she ate the good stuff. Hopefully we can finally stabilze her gut and butt and there will be no more poop chaps. She's not quite so smelly this morning. I think she'll be picking it out of her for another day or two (I tried to help you!) but it doesn't seem like quite the transfer risk like it was last night. I suppose I'll know for sure after I've left for meeting at remote office and come back home. Because I'm afraid I've probably gone nose-blind to it by now. And more importantly, hopefully we can put weight back on her. She lost half a pound to antibiotics and the mouth pain. :(

I think she'll be singing the feed me song and doing the bonkers dance at 4 am probably in time for the weekend. I'd better enjoy the one or two mornings she'll let me sleep in.
 
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I’m trying not to upload a crotch shot but that’s where Krista loves to half-Sphinx. I think she sees in infrared and seeks the warmest part of the body. Since pits aren’t practical, crotch wins. She hasn’t done this in a long time!

Also she put away an ounce of the good food Rawz (no more Canidae!) like it was no big deal. “Do you realize there were days last week when we struggled to get to an ounce on the whole day?” I’m not going to push her stomach too fast but I’m excited to feed this cat again. Go on girl, get fat and happy! You’ve earned it!
 

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missy&spikesmom

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Aaaaaawwwwwww……..what a bad few months you both have had!!! Did they do a stool culture just to be sure nothing like a bacteria/germ was going on in the GI system? I am betting though, it was the stress and the food changes and the medicines/antibiotics etc...… Sigh. Poor little girl and you ARE trying so, so diligently too!! I hope her mouth and teeth feel so much better really soon. I always wondered when my KatyDid Kitty and my Little Bean Kitty were ill and being fussy about their food, If their teeth were hurting, but didn't LOOK like anything was wrong (yet)?? I mean, my teeth sometimes are sensitive, but look fine. Then, I go to the dentist after awhile and find out I will need a crown or something else like that. But to the casual eye---the teeth look fine..... Arrrgggg….I just wish our kitties could just tell us what they are feeling!!!
 
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daftcat75

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Cats have no concept of dentistry and that tooth pain can be taken away. They soldier on until the pain is greater than the hunger. How do I know? I started giving Krista bupe last week and her eating resumed. For now, I’m keeping the bupe flowing until Caturday. By then, she should be healed up. But if she still needs it, I just got her transdermal refill. Plenty to get her through next time. Hopefully there won't be a next time.

I think the soupy poops were both the antibiotics themselves and the garbage food I had to feed Krista to keep her eating when she went off the good stuff on Thurs. How do I know? Because Wed or Thurs night had a perfect Rawz poop in the box. And then while I was cleaning that out of the box, poor girl had to soup my floor. Now I try to give her a minute to see if she still a soup round in the chamber before I clean up. She had a Baytril shot yesterday so tonight's poop may still be soupy. Then again, there might not be a poop tonight since she probably cleaned herself out in the carrier and fasted much of yesterday.

I'm thinking as long as she's eating good and feeling good, I'm not going to sweat the liver numbers. Give her a month to eat the inflammation back down. Sneak her bone broth whenever I can. Try to get her back on raw at least occasionally. And in a month, we can retest her numbers to see if my theory holds true. That means next week when her B-12 is due, I either do it myself or bring a tech in for a house call. I want her to have a vet-free month. I think she's earned that.
 
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daftcat75

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I think she's feeling better. We finished a 5.5 oz can on the overnight and she still has another breakfast coming and probably a lunch or afternoon snack. So it looks like we'll be hitting 7 or 8 oz on the day. That is how my fur pig gains back lost weight.

If I thought one ounce of food every three hours was an aggressive schedule, Krista doesn't agree with me. A couple of times I found her cleaning the carpet eager for her next plate. This latest meal, I woke up to her sitting on my chest (ahead of my alarm) purring and trilling, "I'm ready when you are." We will settle into a more sustainable schedule soon enough. But for a kitty who was barely eating this past week, I didn't want to give her any more than one ounce per meal.
 
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daftcat75

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She's just putting away the food again. 7 oz yesterday. She's already 2 oz into today's feeding shift and we're only two hours in. She'll likely make 6 or 7 oz again. It's so much easier having a cat that eats! I would just like to engage the cruise control now clear back up to 8.5 or 9 lbs before anything new happens. Maybe I can finally get a new bed. Or lose the stress weight. My weight gain is inversely proportional to her weight loss.
:doh2:
 

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Awww yay!!! I'm so happy to hear this. Go Krista, you good girl!! And dad for all your effort and patience! :cheerleader:
 

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Wonderful news all around :cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader:

Sorry I missed all the excitement here. (don't know what happened....suddenly I stopped getting any updates on this thread, but not to worry, I figured out I was missing something and found it!)
 
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daftcat75

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I was just about to comment on the poop perfection that she achieved. They haven't been this good since she was eating Rad Cat exclusively. Thank you, Rawz!

But then...

Another? Can't be! Show-off! Bonus sticky bun. A little soft but it still didn't smell as bad as it looked. So thank you again, Rawz!
:yess:

I wonder if that's a rebound from coming off the bupe last night. Or maybe she just needs another day to regulate.

Having completed last night's eating shift with a clean plate, she can spend her first med-free, vet-free, hopefully pain-free Caturday in a long time however she wants to. So far, that's under the bookcase. I'd probably spend my morning under the bookcase after two breakfasts and two poops too.
:chessirecat:
 
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