1/20 Neko AMPS 108 +5 184 +9 179 PMPS 279

Yesterday, riding the appy roller coaster
1/19 Recap:
AMPS 199 +7.5 182 +9 111
PMPS 82 +4 75 +5 84 +8 99

Normally I'd have been thrilled with the type of cycle Neko had last night, but she wasn't eating on her own until well after preshot. Between syringe feeding and her appy kicking in around +4 (also 4 hours after ProGut Plus and Zantac), we got through the night. Royal Canin Recovery is 7% and I spiked it with a few drops of maple syrup. But miracle of miracles, she came to me as I was setting up the test gear at AMPS and she ate her treat again. Lately that's been my gauge on how she's feeling. She ate about 1/2 of her raw kangaroo this morning and ate more Recovery when she snubbed more roo. Overall she's more interactive this morning, including hanging around my feet at fuds prep time.

Dosing, what can I say. I really mean it with the "do not copy dosing" in my signature. Right now, there is no other cat here with the same things as she's got going on. We are in uncharted territory. In addition to me not getting full meals into her (bit of a worry cause she's losing weight), there is also the post SRT factor. She earned a reduction two days before her appy went off and I don't know if that was a single blip in acro tumor cell die-off, or the start of a series. Given that Neko had 4 cycles in a row at 3.0 or less, and still had the all green with HC night, I dropped her down again tonight. Yes, I did it by .5 unit - again - do not copy dosing. Worst case she goes up and deal I with it temporarily with R or I increase the dose when her appy gets back.

My heart is with Tricia and Mark today who are mourning their beautiful girl Minka.

 

You're not kidding a roller coaster. Glad she is eating again for you and the reduction and hopefully, it holds. Hope she'll gain back some weight for you.

 

I hope Neko's appy gets back on track consistently. Sending prayers.

 

She weighed in at 13.8 lbs at the vets two days ago, she was just under 15 mid November. I'd prefer she just hold the weight. LOL. With her arthritis, it was good for her to lose a little but I think this is a good weight for her now.

 

Oh good, then her weight loss was a good thing.

 

Yes, good for her to lose weight, but I wasn't doing anything different with her meals. Last time post SRT she lost weight afterwards, so I'm hoping that's why she lost weight recently. I don't like mystery weight losses.

 

I'm glad she seems to be feeling a bit better....many prayers that she continues on that path.

 

Hang in there Wendy, Neko is one tough kitty. Glad she's hanging around and more interested in food. I'm with you on the weight loss concern and hope she just stays there now.

 

That's a nice AMPS and good that she wanted her treat. Let's hope the trend continues!

 

Come on, Neko, start eating a bit more.
Sending some appy vines for her!

 

I know what you mean. It's always alarming. Hopefully it is just the post SRT treatment.

 

Paws crossed the appy worm has turned. Hugs to you.

 

Nice PM cycle for Trixie and good AMPS! I hope her appy continues to improve.

 

Those little things can mean so much. She's lucky you recognize them.

 

I think it's a good sign she's coming for her treat/test and hanging around your feet during meal prep. Baby steps try the patience, but they are encouraging! C'mon, Neko, eat your fuds!!!

I like the post-SRT theory on the weight loss. Let's all concentrate on that and make it true.

Thanks for thinking of us. It's as tough as I expected it to be, but all the support we're getting really does help.

 

So glad her appy is getting better, and hope she has been having a better day! I too think the weight loss is SRT related! Will definitely buy into that theory!

 

So happy that Neko is eating better Keep up the good work!

Sending additional appy vines anyway!!

 

Sending appy vines for Neko and Theo. I hope they both are feeling better.

 

Thanks all for stopping in.

Neko is eating on her own (antijinx), albeit slowly and with some mouth noises. I'm wondering if some soft tissue growth is part of the issue. Normally she wolfs down her raw food (or any food), but she's eating quite slowly, although getting through most of it. The pest (aka civie Theo) is wolfing his then racing over to her to see what's left. So I'm playing food cop. Some of what she's eating are proteins he shouldn't be eating due to his IBD.

I gave Neko some more ProGut Plus early this afternoon, and she licked it off my finger. Good girl. So much easier than trying to put in on her tongue.

I got the b/w results from yesterday and they are in her Labs tab. Her glucose was normal and none in the urine. I find it amusing how different vets at the labs treat this. The previous labs, the comment was "good control", on this one it was "normal glucose and lack of glucosusira - supports that control may be too good". Her urine protein/creatinine ratio is up again. She didn't have her benazapril that morning but I suspect we'll have to retest and maybe up the amount. I've send the labs off to CSU for their comment on her T4.

 

Paws crossed for continued happy appys.

 

Keep doing better and better and better Miss Neko.

Marilyn and Polly

 

I'm glad Neko is eating better today.
Sending many many vines.

 

scritches and continued vines....

 

Neko is mewping and trilling at food time, so she's definitely interested. She's still eating very slowly and making mouth noises, so I am worried that on top of everything else, there is something happening in her mouth. I gave her some Wellness well watered down and she finished it off. Her raw kangaroo might be too big a chunks. And that PMPS tells me either she is bouncing, reacting to the BCS or too low a dose. I'm holding it for now and will get good sleep tonight and re-evaluate in the morning.

 

Glad she is eating! Hope there is nothing going on in her mouth- sending vines and light to clear healthy gums and tissues in there! Chela, our civvie has had mouth tumours and I am always afraid when he eats weird that the are coming back..

Hope you have a good nights sleep!

 

Get a good nights sleep and hopefully she will be eating well tomorrow. Sending vines for her mouth, hoping it's nothing to worry about.

 

Hi Wendy! I wanted to check back in on you and Miss Neko about the thyroid. Sorry I didn't get back to you last night - when I got home my eldest daughter was here, so there went that. Tonight I looked back at Punkin's ss and his total thyroid never dropped below the level that was considered the low border of normal. In November 2012 it was 0.8 and that was considered the low boundary. In March we retested and I asked them to do the breakout and the total T4 was still 0.8, but the free T4 was extremely low. After the March test, I wondered if his thyroid had been really low back in November as well, but because we'd only checked the total T4 we'd missed it.

Then I checked his ss for March and here is what I had in the comments section:

March 4, 2013 PM: doesn't want to eat. got him to eat a pill pocket bit with cerenia in it at +8.5. purring, but lethargic & laying by water bowl, didn't eat all day, soft poo. PM: started .5ml levothyroxine (.2mg/ml) ate about 25% dinner, reduced lantus dose could it be pancreatitis?

March 5: I can't believe what a difference 2 doses of the thyroid med has made. by tonight he seems so much better! interacting & eating more normally! BGs back in semi-normal ranges - could it all be from the thyroid?

March 7: little guy is a world better! hair is getting fluffier, he's hanging out upstairs on the coffee table, he growled during his laser treatment today. he seems fiestier and better overall. 12lbs 10oz

I do think it made a difference to get him on thyroid. If you read up about how extensively the thyroid is involved in the body . . . if the thyroid is off, everything can go off.

Hopefully you'll get an answer quickly from CSU, but given how low her free T4 is and the symptoms you are seeing, I would want to get her started asap.

 

Glad that Neko's appetite is returning. Have you looked at her gums lately, certainly sounds like it might be the acro soft tissue growth causing the problem. Crystal's is really bad and it affects the way she eats, very slowly and gingerly. Maybe mince everything very finely for her so she can lick rather than have to chew on chunks too much. Vines that her mouth is not hurting her.

Get a good night's sleep and feel better in the morning

 

@julie & punkin (ga) Very interesting! It sounds very familiar. Neko's white blood count is showing some inflammation and the Idexx report suggested testing for pancreatitis. I did hear back from the IM vet at CSU tonight and she thought that because the T4 was still in range, it shouldn't be hypothyroid. But it has dropped to half of what it normally has been and is now low normal. I haven't tested free T4 since a year after the first SRT, but it was normal then. Neko's vet suggested trialing levothyroxin and I might talk to her about that tomorrow. She also talked about how things can go off if the thyroid is off.

@suki & crystal - mushed food seems to be the ticket tonight.

 

After we got the March test that showed a low but normal total T4, same test result as the previous November, I wondered if his free T4 had been low since November. It would've explained a lot. I wish I'd pushed for the free T4 test earlier.

Also, Punkin's starting dose was low and the vet didn't retest for 2 months - and in that 2 months it didn't budge. Just a thing to watch for.

I like Neko's vet's suggestion for trying the levothyroxin.

 

@julie & punkin (ga) Neko's T4 has always been in the 19-24 range, it was 23 in October, and it was down to 12.8 this time. Different reference range than the US of course, 10-60 nmol/L. The big drop raised a red flag for me. Not a lot of cases of SRT induced hypothyroid around. With Neko increased dose of SRT, I'm not surprised if the thyroid was impacted.

 

Yeah, I noticed we were speaking in mmol and mgs - but could see that Neko's free T4 was 50% below the lower range of normal. That seems significant to me.

 

Hi Wendy,
I can't comment on the medical stuff, but just want to send good, feel-better vines to Neko. I hope that she will be feeling like her old self very soon.
Thanks for visiting us in the city.

Hugs and scritches, ear yer fuds, Neko!
Ella & Rusty