Krista's Care

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daftcat75

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Going to need to step up my pilling game. We wrestled over several attempts until I was pretty sure she had finally swallowed the pill and not just held onto it until I let go to spit it out. That was traumatic for both of us. I found my pill shooter and hopefully tomorrow will go smoother. Thank goodness it’s only once a day with this.
 

daftcat75

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Ugh, pilling is the worst. Glad you have the shooter to help, and also hope that maybe Krista puts up less of a fight about it tomorrow.
The crumb of mirtazapine I used to give her was a lot easier. This pill is just big enough that she can immediately start pushing it back out her mouth with her tongue even as I try to hold her mouth shut and encourage her to swallow. The hard part wasn't getting the pill in her mouth, or even to the back of her mouth since she's toothless. It was that final inch, getting her to swallow. I wonder if a little squirt of water to go with it might help her out. Let's watch some youtubes today and try the shooter tonight.

I'm also going to see about weaning her off the Mirtaz since she's already taking only a half dose. After skipping two days for the fasting before the ultrasound and the vet day yesterday, I am restarting her on a quarter dose. If pred becomes long-term, I'd like to free up her ear to switch to transdermal pred. I say ear, because she has a definite aversion to having the left ear handled while she will tolerate dosing in the right ear. I think the left one was the one that had the infections and ruptured eardrum this time last year.
 
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Rylka

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From everything I read when I was pilling Frida, following up with liquid makes it easier and less likely for the pill to stall on its way to her stomach. Assuming you don't end up with said liquid all over her front and none in her mouth like I did when I tried it.
 

daftcat75

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From everything I read when I was pilling Frida, following up with liquid makes it easier and less likely for the pill to stall on its way to her stomach. Assuming you don't end up with said liquid all over her front and none in her mouth like I did when I tried it.
I have plenty of syringes from when she had a feeding tube.

The video I just saw showed the chillest cat not even resisiting getting pilled. If my cat was that easy, I wouldn't need to watch that video. She squirted a small amount of water into the side of the cat's mouth after dropping the pill in from above with a wide open, not resisting cat. 🤦‍♂️

I also wonder about sticking it in her food since she doesn't have teeth and presumably won't be biting into it. But she also may just spit it out since it has little appeal and she can't bite it smaller.
 

Rylka

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Lol, yeah those videos seem made for cats that don't care about the pills in the first place or when you have another person to help hold them.
The only way I could get Frida to willingly take the pill (prednisone) was to encase it in the smallest amount of pill pocket that would coat it, then roll that in crushed up freeze dried rabbit topper. It was still small enough to swallow without her trying to chew it, and she loved the rabbit enough to deal with the pill pocket underneath. This also only worked when she was already waiting for dinner.
Maybe if you encase the pill in a small amount of food before you plate her dinner you can get the same trick to work for you and she won't think her regular meal is "contaminated"?
 

daftcat75

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I gave her 5 grams of the Alnutrin rabbit batch. It was a hit! Now we wait a day to make sure it treats her right on both ends.

I’m thinking because this is such a high value food to her, I will probably make pilling the entry fee to getting her raw portion. But that has to start tomorrow after I’ve seen what the raw does to her.

Because I gave her even a little bit of the raw, she was hovering for more food. So I gave her a spoonful of her rabbit pate and now she's happily sleeping both off under the bookcase.
 

Twylasmom

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If you can get in the "pill and reward" cycle it might make the pilling easier over time. It helps me if I kneel on the floor behind my cat because that way she can't back away. Some days she's an angel and the other times she gets pretty squirmy.
 

daftcat75

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This is my furry cockroach, waiting til I poop, destabilizing her poops when I’m unavailable to discourage her. Smart cat!

That’s cream cheese she’s most likely licking from my breakfast bowl that I thought was on an end table she doesn’t go on. Apparently nowhere is off limits now. At least it’s not the whipped cream cheese with xanthan gum. I don’t think she got very much. But still probably enough to make next 💩 exciting. 🤦🏼‍♂️
09CF7FA2-6040-4B65-B5EF-3A8FE159FD1B.png
 

daftcat75

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Because I don’t know how much of the cream cheese she did lick before I got to her, she gets a smaller lunch. I want it to have a good chance to stay down.

I’m hopeful that as the pred does its thing, I can grow her portions once more and not have to feed her so often.

Also, I think we’re both looking forward to the benefits it should have for her arthritis. I’m glad I can finally give her something that won’t soup her poops like glucosamine-chondroitin supplements.
 

daftcat75

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An interesting point on her weight.

The Dr insists that last week she recorded Krista's weight as 6 lbs 10 oz. But they record it as decimal. So 6.10 became 6.1 making it seem like she was 6 lbs 1 oz. If last week was supposed to be 6.10, then yesterday's weight recorded at 6.6 represents more weight lost. But it also agrees with the 6.6 reading that I took on Monday. So she's not yet in danger of breaking 6 lbs but I also thought we were making progress from 6.1 to 6.6.

She had a voluminous poop Twinkie (similiar in size and shape 🙀) with the cream filling on the outside. Huge. But slid right out. I thought she was done. She enjoyed her lunch meal even showing up on the counter to oversee its prep.

And then she stalked her box. That always makes me nervous when she sits in front of the litter box. Weighing the pros and cons of pooping. Fortunately the pros won out. The box and its enclosure did not. Blowout against the back wall. 🤦‍♂️ I sort of expected this because sedation drugs will do that to her. I'll make sure she gets a Proviable in her next meal. Replace whatever colonies she unceremoniously expelled.

I see no other unsettled behavior so I presume we're done for this poop shift. No poop barfs.
 

daftcat75

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Can the pred be helping so quickly? One dose? She's resetting between meals faster than before. She's looking for her next meal less than two hours since her last. I'd like her to be on at least a three hour schedule. I hope her output clears up sooner than later so I can start adjusting her input appropriately and to a more sane schedule.
 

tarasgirl06

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An interesting point on her weight.

The Dr insists that last week she recorded Krista's weight as 6 lbs 10 oz. But they record it as decimal. So 6.10 became 6.1 making it seem like she was 6 lbs 1 oz. If last week was supposed to be 6.10, then yesterday's weight recorded at 6.6 represents more weight lost. But it also agrees with the 6.6 reading that I took on Monday. So she's not yet in danger of breaking 6 lbs but I also thought we were making progress from 6.1 to 6.6.

She had a voluminous poop Twinkie (similiar in size and shape 🙀) with the cream filling on the outside. Huge. But slid right out. I thought she was done. She enjoyed her lunch meal even showing up on the counter to oversee its prep.

And then she stalked her box. That always makes me nervous when she sits in front of the litter box. Weighing the pros and cons of pooping. Fortunately the pros won out. The box and its enclosure did not. Blowout against the back wall. 🤦‍♂️ I sort of expected this because sedation drugs will do that to her. I'll make sure she gets a Proviable in her next meal. Replace whatever colonies she unceremoniously expelled.

I see no other unsettled behavior so I presume we're done for this poop shift. No poop barfs.
Couldn't see the video. Can you reload? Awww, 💩 That's too bad. Good about her weight, though?
 

daftcat75

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Couldn't see the video. Can you reload? Awww, 💩 That's too bad. Good about her weight, though?
Video? That was a screenshot from my webcam program.

Her weight is a mixed bag. Good that she didn’t dip as low as 6 lbs 1 oz. Not so good that she dropped from 6 lbs 10 oz.
 
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daftcat75

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There are two pet food stores I primarily go to because of their combined ability to keep Rawz in stock. Sometimes one is out and I go to the other. Or sometimes Krista has a flavor or batch preference that only one of them can satisfy. One of the managers at one of the stores was the one who recommended the cat-only practice and the particular doctor that Krista is now seeing. By funny coincidence, I ran into an employee from the other store yesterday at the vet's office. Apparently, this is the place that those who feed my cat take their own. I just came back from the first one's store and had a good conversation about how to pred Krista.

A few of the ideas we came up with:

1. Powder it up, mix it something sticky, and push it in her toothless mouth.
Pro: compliance is nearly guaranteed.
Con: probably the most miserable of the options because she will taste the pill and continue to taste it for a long time after.

2. Leave it intact or maybe half it and push it in her mouth.
Pro: compliance easier, but not nearly guaranteed.
Con: still an ability for her to taste it or spit it out.

3. Pill it whole or halved, coated in something smooth like food or yogurt.
Pro: Compliance easier to monitor.
Con: Potential wrestling matches. She is toothless but not clawless. Whatever it's coated in can make things "exciting" on the back end.

4. Pill shooter, followed with a squirt of water.
Pro: Accuracy and with practice, I just might be able to teach her, "pill means treat food"
Con: Potential wrestling matches

There's a pred pill from last night that didn't make it in her. I taste her liquid medicines. I tasted her liquid pred so she never had to. Awful stuff! I'll bite into last night's soggy rejected carpet pred and see what I'm putting her through before I try one of the methods where she might taste it.
 

tarasgirl06

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There are two pet food stores I primarily go to because of their combined ability to keep Rawz in stock. Sometimes one is out and I go to the other. Or sometimes Krista has a flavor or batch preference that only one of them can satisfy. One of the managers at one of the stores was the one who recommended the cat-only practice and the particular doctor that Krista is now seeing. By funny coincidence, I ran into an employee from the other store yesterday at the vet's office. Apparently, this is the place that those who feed my cat take their own. I just came back from the first one's store and had a good conversation about how to pred Krista.

A few of the ideas we came up with:

1. Powder it up, mix it something sticky, and push it in her toothless mouth.
Pro: compliance is nearly guaranteed.
Con: probably the most miserable of the options because she will taste the pill and continue to taste it for a long time after.

2. Leave it intact or maybe half it and push it in her mouth.
Pro: compliance easier, but not nearly guaranteed.
Con: still an ability for her to taste it or spit it out.

3. Pill it whole or halved, coated in something smooth like food or yogurt.
Pro: Compliance easier to monitor.
Con: Potential wrestling matches. She is toothless but not clawless. Whatever it's coated in can make things "exciting" on the back end.

4. Pill shooter, followed with a squirt of water.
Pro: Accuracy and with practice, I just might be able to teach her, "pill means treat food"
Con: Potential wrestling matches

There's a pred pill from last night that didn't make it in her. I taste her liquid medicines. I tasted her liquid pred so she never had to. Awful stuff! I'll bite into last night's soggy rejected carpet pred and see what I'm putting her through before I try one of the methods where she might taste it.
#4 sounds promising. Or #3 -- have you thought of coating with butter or margarine? Most cats like these and will lick them. Also, perhaps peanut butter or other nut butter? I know, Krista is NOT a dog. ;):insertevillaugh: But just trying to think of some possibly cat-friendly substances. There's also the squatty jars of Gerber meat-only baby food, but I think you said she doesn't like them. There used to be little tins of meat for people made by Underwood, but IDK if that's still available or if it has spices cats shouldn't have.
 

daftcat75

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I grease the pill with a little laxatone, but it is chicken based so may not work for you.
Laxatone sounds like it would take her poops in the opposite direction of where we're trying to go. And yes, chicken is a no-go with her. It's a shame because I'd like to give her the medi-melts from Diamondback Pharmacy. But those use a chicken flavoring too.
 
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