Small Cell Gi Lymphoma, Or Ibd + Polycystic Kidney Disease?

[alzycat]

Mamanyt1953 any thoughts?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Hang on, I'm doing some checking. Just got here.

 

[artiemom]

Ok-- try to relax a bit. If one of your dogs, took the 1/2 steroid pill, do not worry. The dose is most likely too small to be hazardous to your dog's health.. deep breathe in.. It will be fine.

If Yoshi took a double dose, which I tend not to believe, it is ok! I promise! one dose is not going to overdose her... ((hugs))

As far as giving Yoshi the steroid: I do know, for a fact, that the steroid is a horrible tasting, bitter pill. When it is cut in half, it is even worse. I do not blame Yoshi for getting tired of it, finally spitting it out, and fighting you.

Do you think it would be better giving it to Yoshi in a capsule? I do that with my guy. He seems to have such a sensitive sense of taste. I buy empty gel capsules and put the half pill in that. I use a pill gun, along with a bit of water, as a chaser. I have a 3 cc syringe for the water.

If Yoshi is such a terror to medicate, could you wrap the half pill in something she loves? Like a piece of soft cheese? or cover even coat it in butter? Or mixing it with baby food meat?

Some people even resort to taking the pill, putting it in a capsule, roll that in butter, put it in a pill gun, dip the tip of the pill gun in butter and shoot away.

The way I began giving Artie his meds, is to sit in an arm chair with Artie next to me, way back in the chair. My body was blocking him on one side, the arm of the chair was blocking him on the other side. He could not get away. Then I reached over, opened his mouth, saying, "Open, Open".. When shot the pill in, I would hold his mouth shut with my hand telling him, "Swallow, Swallow".. Then I would give him some water, saying, "Good Boy, Good Boy, Good Artie"..

I think praise, even when they fight you, is a big thing.
Try to remain calm. I know the calmer I am, the better things go. Cats are like sponges: they soak up our emotions.

And I try to get Artie when he is resting; not when he is wide awake, checking things out.

Fur Balls are Fur Balls. I know you are worrying it could be a start of a flair--seriously, I do the same thing. I always have to remind myself that fur balls are a part of life with a cat.
It could just be a normal thing.
As long as Yoshi is eating normally, then do not panic.. it could just be a 'normal' thing for her..

hope this has helped alleviate your distress, a bit.. ((hugs))

 

[Mamanyt1953]

OK...I've been searching and reading, and I just can't find ANYTHING about actual overdose, just side effects of long-term usage. ONE site out of many listed the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center for suspected overdoses, but did not give any signs or symptoms to look for. If everyone is looking and acting as you expect, I wouldn't worry overly much about it. From what I could glean, it would take a LOT of prednisone to overdose, anyway, and the remains of one pill probably would NOT do it.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Thanks, @artiesmom! That the sort of stuff she needs, and from someone with experience!

 

[alzycat]

Okay.. whew... thank you both so much artiemom and Mamanyt1953 . My mind tends to race when any little thing happens. I feel more at ease now

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Most of us have had those moments. Don't worry about it. As I seem to say so often, that's why we are here.

 

[alzycat]

I'm home now & all pets seem totally normal. Yoshi was sitting on the counter, yelling at me for food, as has been the typical routine for the past week there are no signs of any other hairballs or vomit or anything around the house so I'm assuming all is well

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I've had some experience with Pred/ cats. If Yoshi had 5mg this morning by accident, it's not an overdose (just a bit more than your vet prescribed per dose) -- but signs to look for to see if it may have happened is that this afternoon/tonight she would be a bit hungrier than usual, a bit hyped up/ active than usual, and pee more/ drink more. Although, I am not sure how many days so far you've given her doses of Pred, so you might not notice these things at all if it's only been a short time.

If this had happened to me and I just wasn't sure, but I was seeing signs of more peeing/ thirst/ activity (e.g. extra Zoomies or even nipping behaviors), tonight I'd just skip the 2.5 mg dose and start again tomorrow morning. But you can check with your vet!

 

[alzycat]

PushPurrCatPaws
She does have quite the appetite, but it's been like that ever since she started on it over a week ago. I wouldn't say she seems more active, she's been pretty lazy & snuggly tonight. Is it safer to not give her the evening dose in case shes had 5mg already, or is it safer to miss a dose if she didn't get 5mg this morning? My vet is closed for the night unfortunately.

 

[artiemom]

I would give her the prescribed dose, tonight

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

PushPurrCatPaws
She does have quite the appetite, but it's been like that ever since she started on it over a week ago. I wouldn't say she seems more active, she's been pretty lazy & snuggly tonight. Is it safer to not give her the evening dose in case shes had 5mg already, or is it safer to miss a dose if she didn't get 5mg this morning? My vet is closed for the night unfortunately.

I think it all hinges on whether you think she gobbled up two 2.5mg doses this morning. If you think she did for sure, then she's gotten a 5mg dose today already. So it would be your decision, and your view on what your vet might propose (since they are closed tonight, you'll need to decide). But giving her 2.5mg again tonight, to come to a 7.5mg dose, is not a terribly big deal -- for one day. All I can say is what I would do with my own cat. If I really felt she had gotten 5mg already in one day, I'd wait for the following day. My cat Milly has allergies/asthma and has been on small doses of pred per day (or every 2-3 days), even as I've been spending time trying to wean her off of it by using Flovent w/ the Aerokat.

 

[alzycat]

I did end up giving her the prescribed dose tonight. I really don't think she had 5mg this morning since I was with her the while time; probably more likely that the dogs got to it. Thank you both for the help

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Sorry I was conspicuously absent for part of the prenisone scare, but I'm so happy that all is well. Don't worry, the dose that the pups may have gotten is negligible, and won't hurt them one bit.

 

[Timmer]

Hi, I'm new here to this site. I was reading your thread about Yoshi and I feel what you are going through. My cat was just diagnosed with IBD. Believe me, you don't want that for your cat. Well, none of us wants illness. Timmer has been on Pred. for two months now and he gets the full dose tablet in the mornings. If your kitty ate that other half of the pill it won't hurt her. Prednisone will cause an increase in appetite and increase in drinking water. I think those are benefits.
My cat is also on a low dose chemotherapy for his IBD. I don't know if we can wait for that to kick in. he's not doing so well. I think you caught Yoshi's medical issues early enough you can help your kitty. It all sounds good. My understanding is they have good days and bad days. It's nice to meet others who get excited about normal poops! :-)

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Timmer , you should consider starting a threat for your baby here on the Health Forum if you haven't. We have LOTS of cats with IBD, and some very knowledgeable guardians of those cats!

 

[alzycat]

Mamanyt1953 No worries about being absent! You help me out constantly so it's okay for you to take some time off

Timmer , I agree that you should start a thread! You'll be able to get lots of helpful info specific to your kitty's situation that way. Also, I apologize if I implied that having IBD is a "good" thing or something that I want for Yoshi- I just meant that if I had to choose between Lymphoma or IBD, I would choose IBD so she could be with me longer. Sorry if I made it sound like it wasn't a serious situation! I hope your kitty starts feeling better soon, and welcome to TCS!

 

[Ginger Tabby]

My cat was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma via FNA back in late November. He is 14 years old (12.8 lbs.), and for many years we had trouble getting him to eat wet food. We believe that his diet of mostly dry food and also allergies and and intolerance of certain food contributed to this condition. Up until several months ago, he intermittently had sniffles and coughed, and we always thought those symptoms were related to the chronic feline herpes virus that he contracted when he was a kitten. His coughing became more regular about a year ago and that's when we started changing his diet a lot as we began to think that maybe he had allergies. Several elimination diets later, we discovered that chicken and seafood made his respiratory symptoms worse, and he also started to vomit more frequently. The doctors say that allergies don't present themselves with respiratory symptoms, but as soon as we started feeding him LID food, the respiratory symptoms 100% abated, but the vomiting continued, and after a week of daily vomiting, we took him to the vet. After the testing, but before visiting an oncologist, we had been instructed by his primary to continue feeding him LID food, but to try a novel protein. We immediately began feeding him Nature's Variety Instinct LID rabbit and no dry food, and his transformation began as his appetite increased and vomiting decreased. Then his oncologist prescribed Leukeran (2.5 mg. five consecutive days, then every other) and Prednisolone (5 mg. every day). He stopped vomiting his food, and he gained back any weight that he had lost. He is very playful, and his body looks muscular. His stool is perfectly formed, but sometimes he has a hard time passing it. Once he did vomit saliva when he was straining. We are giving him some canned pumpkin to counteract that constipation. After one month, his blood work was a lot better. We are hopeful for remission, but very concerned about long-term use of the drugs.

In the case of our cat, we truly believe that his diet had much to do with his illness. My cat's inflammation may also have been related to some of the other things that are found in cat food--carrageenan, guar gum, etc., but it's hard to tell--at least I know his current food doesn't have any of those things in it. The first mistake we made was feeding him all the dry food that he requested for most of his life up until a few months ago. It didn't matter that it was premium dry food. Like a lot of cats, our cat is fussy, so it took a lot of effort to change his diet, but we are glad we tried.

 

[alzycat]

Ginger Tabby
Thank you for sharing your experience! I am going to ask my vet about Leukeran the next time I go in. I'm not sure if they would prescribe it for Yoshi though, because she hasn't officially been diagnosed with Lymphoma- maybe if the Pred stops working at some point they would be more inclined to give it to her. Anyways, I'm glad to hear that your cat is feeling better & hopefully heading into remission! I was also concerned with the long term use of these drugs- I'm not sure about Leukeran, but Pred has some nasty long term side effects. When I brought this up with my vet, we both decided that the side effects were better than the alternative- as long as she's comfortable.

I too fed my cat dry food all her life, & now that I know more, I do regret it. I also fed very good, expensive, premium dry food- but I now know that wet food is much better for their health. I don't think Yoshi has an allergy, at least not one that is visible at the time. Her wet food has chicken as the main protein, and it contains thickeners, but she is no longer getting sick & her stools are perfect. I'm glad your kitty is feeling better

 

[artiemom]

Yoshi has been doing very well, recently. I would not tempt fate and change anything.

Leukeren is always a choice when what you are currently doing, stops helping.
I would just keep it in the back of your mind.. It is in the back of my mind also, for Artie.

Ginger Tabby Start your own thread.. more people will respond that way~~ more support and suggestions..(hugs) to you and your baby..