Trouble dealing.

FrenchToastKitten

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My 12 year old cat has ckd and a number of other issues that all seemed to have gotten worse in the last two months starting with a bad constipation episode that lead to two enemas.

We managed to get that under control but now she’s anemic, so we started treatment on that. Her arthritis has gotten worse so we started her on the Assisi loop this week too.

I’m just really sad. I’m not handling her being old and just a chronically ill kitty very well. I can’t even get out of bed because she is my entire world and I don’t know what I’d do if something happened.

Me and her vet have been managing all her things for years and I am proactive with everything. We also just started hardcore treatment this week, so I need to give it time.

I guess I am just having a hard time handling that she is old, she’s not going to be the same cat she was even a year ago, and that I need to stop anticipatory grieving.

What are some people’s experiences with both the loop and anemia. She will get a monthly iron shot and then weekly darbepoetin. If I’m remembering the name of it correctly.
 

Remi&RiRi

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So sorry that you're going through this. I can't speak on the health issues as I don't have the experience but hopefully someone who has will chime in. From what I can tell it seems like you are doing a great job taking care of her and staying on top of her health issues which is the best thing you can do. Hopefully you see some positive changes from her new treatment in the following weeks. I am sure it is really difficult to not always worry about her with what you mentioned about the anticipatory grieving. I wish I had more advice I could give you but just try to focus on the little wins and the time you spend together. It is good to talk to people about it as you are doing here and may be beneficial to seek further support in the future. Hoping that you have good news soon and that she starts to feel better :redheartpump:
 

Tobermory

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I don't have any experience with the loop, but I think daftcat75 daftcat75 used it with his Krista. He may come along here to talk about it. I do have two 17-year-olds with arthritis, one worse than the other. I give them Cosequin and fish oil and it has definitely helped them, especially the Cosequin.

I empathize with what you're going through. One of my 17-year-olds, Iris, is very frail. It's so hard. I feel like her time with me may be growing short, but she doesn't know her time may be short, so I try to focus on giving her all of the love and care I can. Come here to TCS as often as you need to for the caring and support we can offer you.
 

stephanietx

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It's so hard when our babies get older and their health starts failing. Sometimes it's very overwhelming. What I have done is create a routine with feeding and meds. To help with constipation, I add plain canned pumpkin to wet food as well as add water to the wet food mixture to keep things moving. Sometimes that's not enough, though, and I had to use Miralax with one of my kitties.

For arthritis, Cosequin has helped. It's not completely taken away the arthritis, but it does lessen the severity. I also give my kitties evening primrose oil to help decrease inflammation. I tried CBD oil from 2 different providers and it really didn't help, so I stopped that.

I don't have experience with the loop or anemia though. Big hugs to you. You can do this for your baby.
 

daftcat75

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August 29, 2019 (Two years ago today):
C8E2AB99-6F04-4DD6-8F68-A841A32E24FA.jpeg 2141F706-788D-4510-85E3-EB0F01E5A3CC.jpeg

My experience, Krista’s experience with the Loop was: maybe it helped? 🤷🏼‍♂️ But not enough. 😔 The instructions recommend more frequent use to begin with that can be tapered to a maintenance schedule. I want to say that the first few weeks where I was able to convince Krista to sit or lie through a full session, usually in my lap with pets and scritches, that after a few weeks of that routine, she was moving easier. However, I think the PEMF therapy had unintended effects on her IBD. I would hear her stomach rumble and squeak and she wanted to flee from under the Loop before the session was up. I tried to sneak therapy on her by taping a Loop beneath her tree. But she would just leave the tree before the session was up. She felt something she didn’t like. 😿 So I stopped pressing the issue. My understanding of the Loop is that it takes repetition over time. Krista didn’t want it. I wasn’t going to force it. Cosequin, green lipped mussels, and other glucosamine/chondroitin supplements gave her explosive squirts. 🤦🏼‍♂️ The two things that seemed to help that she was onboard with were cat stairs and salmon oil. I don’t know how much salmon oil helped. But she enjoyed the stuff. And it didn’t seem to make matters worse for her gut or butt. It was a helpful ally for disguising medicine or encouraging her to eat.

My final verdict on the Loop: Probably won’t hurt. May or may not help. It will take many sessions over a long period of time. Their most famous success story, Lil Bub, was receiving several treatments per day for many months (better part of a year? Or longer??)
 

daftcat75

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These are the cat stairs that Krista adored.
9A5A8CDE-9182-4CC5-ADFB-27515DD01872.jpeg EAC5165A-D4B0-4CCA-97DB-0F0AA756A4F0.jpeg 4C777581-FA59-40AD-8FD8-0C3B41360DB5.jpeg

These aren’t cheap. But they are durable and Krista used them. Something about cardboard and cats. I could make a random shape in the middle of the room and she wanted to climb it. 😻👍
FF4DFED4-3662-4C91-B47C-5E9065F9AE85.jpeg

And a fun fact: Katris is an anagram of Krista. 😹😻

KATRIS Modular Cat Tree - 5 Blocks with Different Styles https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IZOERTI/?tag=thecatsite
 
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FrenchToastKitten

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Thank you all so much for all your kind words and encouragement and experiences. I appreciate it and it cheered me up a little.

She gets Dasuquin for her joints
A probiotic every once in awhile
Protein Binder for the kidneys
On a renal wet food diet
Has Gabapentin for pain although she always gets knocked out for days or it doesn’t do enough. We are playing around with the dosage. But I don’t give it to her nearly enough.

For her poops she is on lactulose and Cisapride (a low amount because we monitor her kidneys constantly) and I have a chart (for this and all her meds to keep track). That’s been helping tremendously and got her regular. Although this week I got vertigo and would forget to give it to her which messed her up a little again.

The loop was hard the first time. She adjusts herself and forgets that I need to keep it in place. But we’ve been doing 2-3 15 minute sessions since Thursday. She just licks me while I do it or falls asleep.

For anemia we started yesterday. Got her iron injection for August and the first of the weekly darbepoetin shots and her vet wants to check her platelets each time.

She just still walks unsteady and wobbly, sometimes her back legs slide a little. She’s still not her but I’ve seen improvement since this all started amping up at the end of June. All of these things were present, just not crazy like they gave been. I feel like she aged overnight. Which is my mental struggle.

She had been sleeping. A lot. But she’s always been a little lazy. I am hoping she perks up soon. I sleep next to her paper bag fort sometimes so she doesn’t get nervous at night. I may look into these stairs! She had stairs to help her get into her tree but then otherwise she knows if she picks herself up halfway, I’ll do the rest. She is my everything.
 

Tobermory

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The vet has me giving Iris gabapentin twice a day for two reasons. The first is because of her arthritis. The second is because she’s having bladder issues, and he says the gabapentin will relax her and reduce her bladder spasms that have led to more serious issues recently. I give her half a capsule (50 mg.) at each of her two meals. So 50 mg. in the morning and 50 mg. in the evening. It dials down the discomfort without causing her to stagger around like a drunk. He said I could give an entire capsule in the evening but I won’t do that unless I see her struggling. At this point, what we’re doing seems to be working.
 
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FrenchToastKitten

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50 was too much for her and it took days to wear off. She couldn’t walk. She’s so sensitive to anything we give her. Her back legs keep giving out. Her kidneys were stable when we did her senior panel (which is why we realized her anemia had gotten worse). I’m just really sad and feel depleted like it’s never going to get better. I’m just tired. We are going to try 25mg at night. Maybe a little less. And see what that does. I feel like it’s just been a slow avalanche since the end of June. It all started with a patch of hair missing. Which has since grown back. She has always licked us obsessively and loves eating my hair. But never herself. Then I noticed she wasn’t jumping up as often onto the bed. Then she was badly constipated one night and because of covid couldn’t find an emergency vet. They’re all full where I live. Then when I did, they were horrible. Stressed her out. Did an enema. Put a cone on her and there was a towel around her neck? Said she was difficult. I flipped. My vet was so mad but said she looked fine and wasn’t hurt. But she was never the same after that trip. She has bad anxiety. We finally got her actual vet the next day. They did another enema and had no problem. My vet said that it’s so common for cats with kidney issues to become anemic and it was always a thing that came up for her, just never this bad. And that it’s whats making her so down and not herself and once we get going with her weekly treatments it should help. I’m just so nervous and worried all the time. Also she was always tiny. Even from when we got her when she was 5 but not she just seems so bony and it makes it kills me. I knew that this was what I signed up for. But I am so scared of this next chapter and not being able to handle it. I can’t focus on anything else.
 
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FrenchToastKitten

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I will say the only thing giving me solace is that she still eats all her food. I've been having to bring it to her. But I have done that before. She gets impatient waiting for us to put all her powders and medicines in, she walks away lol. And then I have to go find her and she eats it all up. That's just her being a diva (I hope).
 
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