5.6.18 Rufus PMBG 107

Hi all-

Just checking in, as it's been a while. I'm still visiting the board and checking progress on all the kitties. Rufus has been doing pretty good OTJ. We had him on a med that supposed to help with (possible) IBD and his itching and scratching, but it was so so bad we had to take him off. I'd love to try bude, but the IM vet doesn't want to try it (yet), and I'm a little scared too. She actually doesn't know I took him off the other med (long story). Anyways, BG wise he's doing pretty good. He's eating a mix of wet and dry, and surprisngly the carb % on the dry is 30%, but he isn't going out of control. I wish I could get him to eat all wet, but not sure if that'll ever happen now

Hope everyone is doing well, and even though I still will be around, just wanted to say a huge thanks to all that helped me and Rufus get to where we are. Truly grateful for all the help and advice and hand holding with the dosing. This place is amazing!

Happy Sunday

 

Glad he’s doing well on the OTJ. Sorry the Atopica didn’t work as you had hoped. I don’t know why your vet would be upset with you stopping if it wasn’t panning out. Sometimes we are the best person to make that call because we know our cats very well, so don’t feel bad about it.

Sure is frustrating with all of those allergies, I hope you figure out something that calms it down for him and do keep us updated.

 

Sorry those allergies and IBD are still being so persistent to any remedies. At least the remission is holding!

How are you Sean?

 

I don't think this alone would upset her, it's me not listening to her at all anymore. Last I was in there I was really "rubbed the wrong way". I went in there telling her how nauseos he was, and her advice was to take him of of the antinausea meds. I get that, and I dont get that. She's not worried about a darn thing with him, ever. That's the hard part because I know when he's not feeling well. She thinks that as long as he hasn't lost weight, then eveything is ok. I dont like that. Sure, he hasn't lost weight but he is a vegetable on that Atopica. Nothing like his old self. Telling me to feed him fancy feast because its low carb, even though it is the cause of the nausea. It's like she wants to treat the symptoms and not the core issue.

I could go on for a while on the IM vet and my ever increasing doubts and frustration in her, but I won't. Just saddens me. Overall, he is doing much better. Talkative, eating better, going on walks outside, playing a little more, bullying his brother . Just cant get him to eat wet foods besides friskies.

 

I'm holding up. Rufus is getting better, so that makes me feel better! Still unemployed. At least it's nice outside so I can go do stuff outdoors. Waiting to hear back on a job that I'd really like. I think as soon as I get a job, my first thing will be to get Rufus an endoscopy. I just would feel so bad if he has SCL and we are not treating it.

Hope you are doing good! Does your husband like his new job? I bet he (and you) is happy to get out of the house!

 

He does like it but after the motorcycle accident his body is just not the same...so he was very sore for about the first 2 weeks. It isn't exactly what he wants but I think he needs a bit of a shift in thinking as he is back in the game, it is not as stressful as the other type of welding he does and it is close to home.

Good luck! Fingers crossed you hear good news.

 

Close to home is a good thing! I can imagine it being different for him. That's going to be my biggest issue too. Doing something for 24 years and being the boss, and hopefully going into something where I am not. It's good to be the boss, and sometimes not! Hopefully him working will get him back to where he was, or close to. Thanks for the finger crossing, I need it!

 

Let us know how it goes!

 

I'm sorry the IM vet hasn't worked out well, but overall it sounds like Rufus is doing pretty well. Those darned allergies are such a pain to figure out. So is his nausea doing better with the meds out of the picture? How's his itching?

 

Hi Sean! Glad you checked in and so glad to hear that Rufus is doing well still.

The dry is 30% carbs and it's not messing with his numbers?? I thought you were giving YA dry?

 

He is doing a lot better! His itching is back, and he's starting to lick himself bare on his legs again As far as meds, I'm just giving pepcid 5mg once a day. That seems to help him the most. I forgot to give it to him one day and he vomited, so I did give a Cerenia. Not sure if he vomited from nausea, stomach acid, or hair because there was quite a bit in the vomit.

I just don't get why he won't eat anything besides friskies for wet food. Oh well, I keep on trying.

 

We tried YA, and stand alone it never worked. I was mixing it in with the Instinct, but I think they caught on and then stopped eating that. I know this probably doesn't make sense, but I wonder if there are different types of diabetics. Like some can handle carbs better. I know Rufus is diabetic now, and will be forever, but you really need to feed him A LOT of carbs for his numbers to go up. I can give 10 tempation treats and his numbers really don't get too high. It's strange, but I'll take it Obviously I have to be careful so we don't get back there, but for the time being it's almost like he doesn't have diabetes.

 

One of my civvies, Noah, started taking pepcid once a day for acid reflux about a month or so ago, too. One day last week, I think he spit it out without me realizing it , and by the next afternoon he felt terrible (at that point it had been about 40 hours since his last pepcid if my theory of him spitting it out was correct). So I poked around online because I knew getting off these acid controlling meds is hard for humans. According to human studies, apparently missing one dose of pepcid once you've been on it for an extended time can cause hyperacidity (apparently it's worse for PPIs; pepcid is an H2 blocker), which makes you feel really terrible. I'm guessing the same is true for kitties. The day he was feeling really bad, I found a dried teeny puddle that looked like a dissolved pill, which is why I think he spit it out the night before.

I wonder if the atopica was helping with the itchies...but if it was making him feel so terrible otherwise it's obviously not a good option. What about other allergy meds? I don't know the finer details, but I know some kitties here have used Zyrtec. Maybe that's something to look into???

As for diet....kitties can be very stubborn. I won't even tell you the only food Noah will eat...it horrifies me, but at the same time he will choose to starve himself if I offer him something else. I've tried many, many times to convince him otherwise, and I'm sure I'll try again....but he always wins in the end.

 

Aw, that's tough, I was hoping the IM vet would be the winner for Rufus!

He's lucky to have you advocating for him, I just wish it were an easier road. It's tough to do much besides treat symptoms, I'm with you on figuring out the root of the problem, but sometimes it's not that easy to pinpoint. Sometimes it requires expensive disgnositics that people aren't willing or able to pay for. There's a lot of guesswork involved, even with the help of bloodwork. Cats are probably the trickiest to diagnose too because they keep everything a secret until it gets really out of hand. I really hope something clicks soon. It's terrible that he's so itchy he's hurting himself and being nauseated all the time certainly is miserable. Hang in there, Sean, I'm sure you'll find a way to help Rufus feel better.

 

Oh the Atopica worked very very well for the itching! It just mad him lethargic, depressed, and nauseous. He would sleep all day. Hardly meow. Not hang out with us. And constant lip smacking. I would give him pepcid, ondansetron, and cerenia and still some days he wouldn't eat. Plus what I suspect it was doing to his kidneys I just couldn't give it to him anymore. As far as other allergy meds, they don't work. I mean we've only tried Zyrtec and it didn't work. I think since his allergen is ingested only pred and atopica will work to stop the itch. That is why I'm kind of ok with him eating dry, because at least that is a novel diet.

 

Thanks Stacy! He is a lot less nauseous now, and eats novel dry, just the wet food is not so good. Like I said before, I'm kind of scared of trying the bude, but she won't even allow it. I'm on another group on FB for cats with IBD. They ALL tell me that my IM vet is splitting hairs with the food intolerance/IBD. They all say at this point it is IBD but my IM vet wont say he has it. She doesn't think we need an endoscopy even. I want to trust her becasue I don't wnat to put him under and spend $2000, but i wonder if I am doing more harm and should look to a new IM vet. That's the hard part. AND he still won't even eat pate food. That really boggles my mind. What is preventing that?

At least he is feeling better. That is what matters most.

 

Glad to see you checking in and happy to hear Rufus is doing better.......hopefully you can slowly ween him off the dry..............hey, I ride a Street Glide!!

 

Hey everybody, old post but thought I would leave this here....I got a job!! Working for the City of Minneapolis! I am beyond excited and this past year has been so difficult not working, and all of the issues with my baby Rufus. So nice to have things start to turn in the right direction!

 

Wonderful news!

 

Congratulations, Sean! I’m so happy for you!

 

Whoo-hoo! Congratulations!!!! How exciting!!!

 

Thanks everyone! It'll be a paycut, but better benefits, more vacation and sick time, only $12 a month for health insurance, and no weekends or night! I am super excited and nervous. I've only had 1 job in my life (for 24 years) so this will take some getting used to!

 

Congratulations! I am so happy for you!

 

So excited for you!!! Just catching back up!!

Congratulations! It sounds wonderful!!!

Government type jobs have great benes and steady pay increases!!!


So happy for you!!!

 

That is super cheap!!

Congratulations!!

 

Thing is my previous employer paid 100% of my insurance, so this is super cheap but more then I was paying! I can hardly complain, all of my friends are pretty jealous!

 

Perhaps I should move to the cities from Duluth?? My employer pays 80% of my insurance.

 

I'd say 80% is pretty good!

 

When do you start Sean?

 

May 29th!

 

That is great news Sean. I'm catching up on some old threads. That is an amazing deal on the health insurance too - that will be a real money saver. Congrats!

 

Thanks Jeff! It should be good. Just started this week. 5 weeks of training. Pay right now is not great. Made more on unemployment!! But, by this time next year even without a merit based raise, my pay will go up about 20%. And yes, the benefits are pretty sweet!