Pemphigus , Prednisone And Wont Take Pills

[kelly21]

hi fellow cat lovers. how are you ? i"d like to share my recent experiences about trying to cure my cat of pemphigus on here paws or at least treating the swollen paws if you dont have enough money to see a vet ( like me sigh ) . 4 months ago i noticed my cats paw was very swollen and she was constantly holding it up and licking it. naturally it was a sunday morning and i panicked and went to the 24 hour emergency vet. they examined her, soaked her paw in something and sent me home with pain killers and instructions to switch to yesterdays news cat litter and to see her primary care vet.he told me up front that she needed to see a dermatologist but i just cant afford 165 dollars just for an exam. fortunately he is a good kind hearted man and did his best to help us keep my baby alive and cure her. we tried anti biotics for 2 weeks with no improvement. then we tried auto immune suppressors which unfortunately also didnt do any good. the pemphigus had actually worsened and spread to her other paw. i did some online research and discovered some soaking solutions and all natural cat litters that really helped. first thing i did was switch to all natural grass litter . none of that clay based supermarket stuff with massive extreme odor absorbers . i now use fresh4life eco clump which i believe solved half of the problem of swollen paws. next i started soaking her paws once or preferably twice a day . i started with a small amount of epsolm salt in lukewarm water for one week ( 5 to 10 minutes then rinse in plain water to get6 the epsom salt off ) this promotes draining of the infection. then i soaked her paws in a 50 50 mix if iodine ( betadine ) and water for one week. then on the 3rd week i began soaking her paws in a 50 50 mix iof hydrogen peroxide and water then again rinsing with plain water. thats when i saw the greatest improvements in her swelling overall behavior and favoring of the paw. no more hiding , she became active and playful and started purring and talking to me again . even though she is much better i am continuing with my vets recomendation of a prednisone regime. only problem is she absolutely refuses to take the pill. even if i sneak it into the side of her jawline and hold her mouth shut for 20 minutes hoping it will melt she still tongues it and spits it out. my solution for that is i now crush the pill between 2 spoons, melt it in a tiny, i mean tiny bit of spring water then use one of the vets plastic syringes to gently squirt it into the very back / bottom of her jawline so she gets at least some of the medication. no more fighting trying to force the pill into her mouth . the whole procedure is done in a couple of minutes and she"s right back out sitting with me 10 minutes later. you could also try just using an eye dropper if you dont have a plastic syringe handy. just be gentle when placing it against the back of her jawline . i hold my cat like a baby and wait till her head is at the proper angle and she knows its time for the yucky stuff lol.

 

[kelly21]

no more hiding after soaking in 50 50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water then a quick rinse in plain water. 5 minutes, twice a day if possible. can do both soakings at night if thats easier for your schedule.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Interesting. So did your Vet "go along" with all the different soaks, or just the use of the Prednisone?

I found a thread where people talked about crushing the pred and mixing it in butter to have the cats lick up the butter, and also just coating the pill in butter because it hides the taste of it. Have you tried pill pockets? Or some people actually wrap pills in a small amount of cheese slices or even Cheese Whiz and them coat that in crushed treats. I guess if your system works, though, why not stick with it, except you said you're not sure how much she actually swallows.

 

[kelly21]

hi, i actually started the soakings on my own but eventually consulted him on them. he recommended the epsolm salt as it would help promote drainage of the puss in her paws. i believe it did but after i switched to a 50 50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water i saw massive improvements in just 6 days. i had to pick the dried puss out with my fingernail and extremely gently scrub between her black toes with a "soft wet " toothbrush. i"m only on the 3rd day of prednisone and her paws are the best i"ve seen them in 4 months now. only one digit has a small amount of dried black puss, the rest are nice and clean. i"m starting to think the antibiotics, then the auto immune supressor along with the peroxide did the trick and i should have waited 1 more week before i started the prednisone. i"m still giving it to her though but am watching her very closely. its only the 3rd day and she"s a bit lethargic and may be drinking a bit more water which could be signs of diabetes . though its extremely rare for cats to develop diabetes from prednisone it does happen . as far as pill pockets sandies too smart for those lol. tried them once many years ago and she didnt fall for it. and though sandy and samantha both like cheese snacks from the supermarket i cant let them have them because it binds them up big time for some reason. i do use butter or country crock when they get hairballs though. works great . actually saved my parents long haired cat with some butter one time when it was seriously bound up.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

What I did when my old guy needed daily pills was used soft Whiska Lickins treats(NOT the cheese flavored ones...for some reason those didn't work as well), and I would smoosh them up until they were very pliable and form them around the pill, then I would give my guy some regular treats, then the one with the pill in it, then a couple more. Usually I could sneak the "loaded" pill into the mix because he wasn't sure which one it was. The trick was to make sure when I wrapped the pill up, I did it in such a way that there was absolutely no scent of the pill on the outside of the "wrapping" if that makes sense. Plus it helped that my guy was a gulper. If Sandy is a delicate chewer, then she'll probably just spit it out

Yes, they can get diabetes from the Pred, but I wouldn't think it could happen in just three days. Hopefully her lethargy and thirst are just simple side effects of the new medication and nothing else