Krista's Care

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tarasgirl06

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I'd like her to play a little more. I haven't seen her on the media bench in almost two weeks and the kitchen counter in longer than I can remember. I want her to be able to jump in my lap and not bang her head on the desk. I want her to climb the steps into the tree or on to the desk that way. She's come a ways. But she has a ways to go.
Yeah. The CBD Oil is supposed to be beneficial for those with arthritis, right? I hope you get clearance on that very soon, and that you'll start seeing good results quickly! Krista definitely deserves comfort and good times and yes, a little play now and again. :hearthrob: :kneading: :hearthrob:
 

daftcat75

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She was squirmier at today's weigh-in. Either 4.0 or 4.2. Either way, that's less than last week's 4.6.

I'll call the vet's office after lunch. 😿 Now that we have the poop nonsense solved, we have to get to the bottom of her weight loss or failure to gain.
 

tarasgirl06

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She was squirmier at today's weigh-in. Either 4.0 or 4.2. Either way, that's less than last week's 4.6.

I'll call the vet's office after lunch. 😿 Now that we have the poop nonsense solved, we have to get to the bottom of her weight loss or failure to gain.
*All the PRAYERS and best, best wishes for Krista and for you! Yes, we have to find out! and Krista has to gain!*
 

daftcat75

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I wish the vet was more helpful in our discussion last night. I explained that I eventually wanted to get Krista off steroids and replace with CBD due to less side effects and no risk of diabetes. Vet said there wasn't enough research or training for her to offer any informed advice on CBD. She cannot recommend it any dose or provide any guidance with combining it with steroids. If I do CBD with her, I'm on my own. Vet did recommend acupuncture if I wanted to offer a non-steroidal arthritis relief. Vet said it's possible she still isn't gaining weight because of her IBD/lymphoma despite an appearance of remission. She also said that for cats that fail to gain weight, they often keep using pred for that purpose. I'm not totally buying that.

So here's the game plan. Tomorrow I drop her off to get her blood and urine screened. It's hard to make any decisions on the pred without knowing where she currently stands with it. If she shows no signs of being diabetic and no other conditions like hyperthyroid or kidney disease, I would like to bump her back to 5 mg but dose her every other day. This is sort of the best of both worlds approach. She gets a healthy enough dose to cool any lingering inflammation (and stronger arthritis relief) while also not taking it every day to reduce long-term risks of side effects. This roughly matches her current regimen of 2.5 mg daily. Except that I've read that steroids last about 36 hours so there's always some dose overlap with a daily regimen. We'll give 5 every other day a chance. This also puts us in a better position to taper to 2.5 every other day if she's already used to every other day dosing. Whereas I'm a little worried right now about taking her from 2.5 every day to 2.5 every other day. Finally, being on every other day dosing will allow me to alternate between CBD and pred without having them fully compete and interact with each other. But adding CBD is at least two weeks off right now as I want her to get used to the new pred schedule first. And I realize that I'm on my own when I introduce CBD unless I can find the rare unicorn vet who has decided to educate themselves on CBD despite the lack of guidance in the literature and training.

Wishful thinking. If there's nothing else going on with her (no diabetes or thyroid or kidneys), and she adapts to the new pred schedule well, I'd like to try to slowly reintroduce turkey into her diet. Now that all her poop nonsense is under control, it should be pretty easy to determine whether she can tolerate turkey or not.
 

tarasgirl06

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I wish the vet was more helpful in our discussion last night. I explained that I eventually wanted to get Krista off steroids and replace with CBD due to less side effects and no risk of diabetes. Vet said there wasn't enough research or training for her to offer any informed advice on CBD. She cannot recommend it any dose or provide any guidance with combining it with steroids. If I do CBD with her, I'm on my own. Vet did recommend acupuncture if I wanted to offer a non-steroidal arthritis relief. Vet said it's possible she still isn't gaining weight because of her IBD/lymphoma despite an appearance of remission. She also said that for cats that fail to gain weight, they often keep using pred for that purpose. I'm not totally buying that.

So here's the game plan. Tomorrow I drop her off to get her blood and urine screened. It's hard to make any decisions on the pred without knowing where she currently stands with it. If she shows no signs of being diabetic and no other conditions like hyperthyroid or kidney disease, I would like to bump her back to 5 mg but dose her every other day. This is sort of the best of both worlds approach. She gets a healthy enough dose to cool any lingering inflammation (and stronger arthritis relief) while also not taking it every day to reduce long-term risks of side effects. This roughly matches her current regimen of 2.5 mg daily. Except that I've read that steroids last about 36 hours so there's always some dose overlap with a daily regimen. We'll give 5 every other day a chance. This also puts us in a better position to taper to 2.5 every other day if she's already used to every other day dosing. Whereas I'm a little worried right now about taking her from 2.5 every day to 2.5 every other day. Finally, being on every other day dosing will allow me to alternate between CBD and pred without having them fully compete and interact with each other. But adding CBD is at least two weeks off right now as I want her to get used to the new pred schedule first. And I realize that I'm on my own when I introduce CBD unless I can find the rare unicorn vet who has decided to educate themselves on CBD despite the lack of guidance in the literature and training.

Wishful thinking. If there's nothing else going on with her (no diabetes or thyroid or kidneys), and she adapts to the new pred schedule well, I'd like to try to slowly reintroduce turkey into her diet. Now that all her poop nonsense is under control, it should be pretty easy to determine whether she can tolerate turkey or not.
Yeah. If you google "weight gain on pred in cats" you'll get a lot of info, if you haven't delved into this already.
And yeah, allopathic vets won't weigh in on "alternative" treatments for the most part -- it's good, though, that Krista's gave acupuncture as a suggestion. There used to be a married couple of vets locally who were wholistic. I would think that there would be some in your area.
*HOPEFUL* about turkey!
 

daftcat75

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When I left for my run, she looked pretty floor bound and food comatose.

When I came back, I found her on the media bench for the first time in a long time...
05904707-25B3-43C3-AC47-A2E5D614FF8D.jpeg
I probably just need to get out more and give her space to get into trouble.
 

MissClouseau

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And I realize that I'm on my own when I introduce CBD unless I can find the rare unicorn vet who has decided to educate themselves on CBD despite the lack of guidance in the literature and training
All the vets I follow on Reddit advice against CBD for the same reason as your vet, that there is not nearly enough research and/or they have seen CBD acting badly in a pet. If you hear a vet say something about the dose etc I’m not sure if that would have scientific value anyway as it won’t be based on studies but just on small anecdotes and they may not have any value at all for Krista’s health challenges anyway.
 

daftcat75

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All the vets I follow on Reddit advice against CBD for the same reason as your vet, that there is not nearly enough research and/or they have seen CBD acting badly in a pet. If you hear a vet say something about the dose etc I’m not sure if that would have scientific value anyway as it won’t be based on studies but just on small anecdotes and they may not have any value at all for Krista’s health challenges anyway.
Right. But it's worth a try if pred isn't putting weight back on her and putting her at greater risk for diabetes.
 

daftcat75

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She didn't need to be sedated after all. And she must have been a sweetheart to whoever handled her. She came back perky and groomed with her nose cleaned up. She's been lax on her own grooming to the point where she collects food on her nose. I try to help her there but she only wants so much help. She is reluctantly settling into her nightly wet willy. Maybe an occasional nose touch-up won't be far off.

She didn't poop her carrier this time. She pooped just before we left. She did pee the carrier on the car ride home though. That should clean up alright.
 
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daftcat75

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There's merit in the "when the food boss is away, the cat will play" theory from yesterday. I left for lunch and gave her some time and space to do her thing. When I came back two hours later, she was on the media bench again.

But she also took quite a spill when she jumped down and rolled into the bed. She doesn't always land on her feet.

So the pee cleaned up easier than it should have. I'm worried about her kidneys because that wasn't a very concentrated pee.

I'm worried about all her organs. This wait for results is killing me. Whatever the results say, I want to get her off everyday pred. Even if the vet suggests I increase her back to 5 mg, I still want to get her on alternating days. Even if the vet advises against CBD dosing on alternate days, I still want to give Krista's organs a rest. Tapering her off pred will eventually involve every other day dosing. I'd rather get there sooner than later. Because I'm tired of worrying about giving my cat diabetes in a vain (and counterproductive) attempt to put weight back on her.
 

tarasgirl06

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There's merit in the "when the food boss is away, the cat will play" theory from yesterday. I left for lunch and gave her some time and space to do her thing. When I came back two hours later, she was on the media bench again.

But she also took quite a spill when she jumped down and rolled into the bed. She doesn't always land on her feet.

So the pee cleaned up easier than it should have. I'm worried about her kidneys because that wasn't a very concentrated pee.

I'm worried about all her organs. This wait for results is killing me. Whatever the results say, I want to get her off everyday pred. Even if the vet suggests I increase her back to 5 mg, I still want to get her on alternating days. Even if the vet advises against CBD dosing on alternate days, I still want to give Krista's organs a rest. Tapering her off pred will eventually involve every other day dosing. I'd rather get there sooner than later. Because I'm tired of worrying about giving my cat diabetes in a vain (and counterproductive) attempt to put weight back on her.
Makes sense to me. *PRAYERS* and hope that you can reach a place where she can be maintained and also improve in weight and general health and wellbeing.
 

daftcat75

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tarasgirl06

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I bought her a tree today. I’m going to put it next to/behind me at my desk to make it easier for her to climb into my lap. She’ll still have to do some work. But it won’t be a pull up on my leg with her claws. 🦞😬

Frisco 32-in Real Carpet Wooden Cat Tree with Toy, Beige - Chewy.com
Looks like just about a perfect choice for Krista's needs and abilities! Good reviews on it, and it's great that it comes already assembled. I bought a big activity center and had to put it together (but then, I'm an IKEA fan, so...) I've also got a few that were bought pre-assembled and driven home.
Hoping for pix and good report when Krista gets this!
 

daftcat75

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I didn’t realize it was coming pre-assembled. I also didn’t realize the lead time on shipping. And that there is a similar tree for half the price that has a third platform and the faux fur she seems to prefer over carpeting. Well, let’s see what we get before buying the next one.
 

tarasgirl06

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I didn’t realize it was coming pre-assembled. I also didn’t realize the lead time on shipping. And that there is a similar tree for half the price that has a third platform and the faux fur she seems to prefer over carpeting. Well, let’s see what we get before buying the next one.
Oh, that's interesting. I'm thinking she'll like the one you got for her, especially if she likes silvervine and/or catnip and you bait it for her. :yess:
But going by your latest post here, it looks to me like she might like something similar to what I got. An online friend told me they were having a flash sale on these on amazon.com and I went there and snapped one up. It came flat-packed with diagrammed instructions and I was able to put it together pretty quickly. It has the "faux fur" plus sisal on the verticals, and it gets A LOT of use in terms of stratching and relaxing. It's got low platforms so cats who don't leap and jump can still easily access a relaxing platform. It's by "GO Pet Club" and it cost me around $110.
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daftcat75

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I gave Krista her first poop pill—fecal microbiota transplant from healthy cats. (Kitty Biome.) It’s a tiny gelatin capsule. I just stuck it directly in her food. She’s toothless. The chances that she’d open it are low. And if she did, I’ve seen her eat her own poop. We’ll give this at least 24 hours before I give another to see how it treats her.
 
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