07/21 Ivana BG=85 Still hanging in there! With photos :-)

Last post for HRH's 20th birthday

Hello FDMBers! Hope everyone is going well. It has been a bit of a stressful time in our household, Ivana gave us a mighty scare about a month ago and we weren't sure how much longer she would be with us, but in true Ivana-style she is way too stubburn to give up and so she still graces us with her presence. Here's the story...

So as some of you know, Ivana has been in FD remission for a bit over two years. She's also been dealing with CKD for about 2.5 yrs now, as well as high blood pressure, sundowners dementia, and CKD-associated constipation. She had two bouts of constipation in March I think it was, and both times needed an enema and manual evacuation. She was then on laxatives (Laxapet) twice every day. Sadly that only worked temporarily, and last month she had yet another constipation episode - on a Saturday afternoon 30min after our vet closed, mind you - and we ended up at the emergency vet with another enema and manual evacuation under anaesthetic. That was bloody scary, let me tell you, to have a 20yr old kitty put under... it was an extremely tense afternoon til we got the phone call that she was in recovery, but she came out the other side just fine.

Anyway, the emergency vet gave us a diagnosis of megacolon and also gave us Lactulose (which we'd already discussed with our vet as being the next step), and we started her on that twice a day. Come the next Wednesday, she still hadn't pooped. Our regular vet gave her until the Thursday night to poop otherwise we'd have to take her back in. We were stalking her tray for 'presents' but she had still not produced anything besides lots of wee. On Thursday afternoon, hubby and I came home from work and both of us said that'd we'd been stressing out about the situation because if she can no longer poop on her own, we weren't liking the alternatives - we couldn't just take her to the vet every time she needed to poop, not only was it stressful and undignified for her but we just couldn't afford it (the emergency vet cost us $750!). If she didn't poop soon we would seriously need to consider her quality of life and make harsh decisions, with the vet's input. Turns out that as we having this conversation, she was in her ensuite pooping Talk about leaving it til the last minute Ivana!!!

So the upshot of that little 'adventure' is that she's now on Cisapride for megacolon, and Osmolax/Miralax for the constipation. And subcutaneous fluids will no doubt be helping too. It seems to be working, infact they may be working too well as she is leaving tiny chocolate nuggets for us that we think she doesn't even know she's doing - she will be asleep, and when she wakes up and moves away from the spot there's a little reminder of her visit. It's not that she can't make it to the tray, because she doesn't always go there after moving, so we think maybe her colon motility is so much better now that it just makes it own way out, not sure really but it's sure as heck better than the alternative. We're going to reduce the Osmolax as of today and see if that makes a difference, otherwise we'll just resign ourselves to checking our bed before we get in and our chairs before we sit down.

Now it's photo time!!

Ivana and Buddy snoozing on the lounge a couple of nights ago - don't they make a gorgeous couple?!


Ivana is such a champ with her fluids, she lays like this almost every time, so tolerant of everything we do to her.


What a poser! This was during the stressful period when we were waiting for poop.


This is why we have no spare time and no spare money at the moment...

 

Love the photos. I'm glad you've been able to help Ivana deal with the megacolon. It's great to see she is still OTJ. Sending prayers.

 

Lovely to hear news of Ivana, and you and Darryn, Tara.
I see you are keeping the beans busy Ivana and their bank account empty! Way to go girl!
Lovely photos. Ivana is looking great despite all her issues.
How do you manage to keep the chicken from pooping inside?
When I bring the chickens inside in the extreme heat (in the downstairs bathroom shower,) they have a poop fest.

 

I love the photos! So glad to read that Ivana is doing fine with all the love and care you give her.

 

I love the photos of Ivana! Happy to hear the cisapride and lactulose have helped. I've often wondered whether our civvie, Allen, has megacolon as he used to go 3-5 days without pooping. We now have a med called Pilocarpine on hand. It's actually human eye drops but helps motility in cats. If Allen hasn't pooped in 2 days then we give him 2 drops (by mouth). Last time we gave the 2 drops he pooped within an hour but did have a bit of diarrhea so we may just give 1 drop next time.

 

Thanks for stopping by @carfurby , @Bron and Sheba and @Kris & Teasel !

Bron, our rooster Buddy wears a chicken nappy! Yes such things actually exist! I bought it here and it's so great, he just waltzes in through the laundry door at dusk, waits in the kitchen while we put his "pants" on, and then goes into the loungeroom and jumps up onto his chair. Here's a photo where you can see it better, we took him to a cafe for Easter brunch

 

@Judy and Boomer Ivana seems to go every 2-3 days - at the moment it's Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (yes we're tracking it on a calendar in the kitchen, I hope no-one asks us what "P" stands for!) Wow, can't believe the drops worked on Allen in an hour, that's amazing!

 

They didn't work that quickly the first time (although the first time he hadn't gone in 4 days) although they did work within a few hours. The second time.....idk maybe it was a coincidence and he would have gone anyways. It did seem very quick!
Every 2-3 days isn't bad I guess as long as she isn't terribly uncomfortable in-between poops. But if it becomes an issue again maybe ask your vet about the Pilocarpine. It's cheap (at least here in Canada it's cheap) and available at a pharmacy (again, here in Canada).

I don't doubt you track her poops! Take a look at Allen's ss....I track everything, yes including his poops.

 

Glad to hear everyone is doing well. Chicken diapers, who knew! Thanks for the education. I looked at the link (I don't have chickens) and the have booties and what they call a gym (I call agility course) never knew these were available.

 

Tara, I am speechless! I have never heard of a chicken diaper!

 

Hi Tara! So nice to see you and Ivana, Buddy and DH. Ivana is still a Drama Queen, isn't she? LOL. How adorable that she and Buddy are buddies........and that you take him to a café !

Sorry about the constipation issue. I can relate as I am having the same problem with civvie, Forrest. He doesn't do his pooping inside in the LB as he prefers to do it outside so I never know when there is an issue until he has a blow out of diarrhea all over his under carriage ( like this morning.....) it seems that after being impacted for a while then diarrhea happens to get around the blockage. It is a dilemma for sure. I might talk to the vet about lactulose for him.

 

Thank you for the update on HRH! It's wonderful that she is still doing so well! Love the rooster too and all of the photos!

 

@Bron and Sheba how is Harry?

 

So glad Ivana is doing well again. What a good girl she is. And I'm having some serious chicken envy!

 

@Bobbie And Bubba Oh no that sounds very un-fun for you... poor Forrest. The Lactulose was very helpful, didn't change her BG (that was a small concern), and Miss Fusspot didn't even know we'd mixed it into her food - so all in all it was very easy to administer, except that it's very sticky so don't get any on your fingers! We did have to syringe it into her mouth once when she wasn't hungry to eat it in her food, and she did not like that one bit, I'm guessing because of the stickiness. Good luck with Forrest!

 

Would love to see a photo Bron!

 

Hi Tara,

Thanks so much for the update on HRH. That was some ordeal you all went through, but I'm happy to see you've gotten some success with the current treatment. I don't think she's done upending your lives just yet!

Love the photos. Who knew there were chicken diapers? I'll have to tell my sister, in case she wants to bring any of her 30-some odd in during the winter (not!).

Please don't be a stranger. We love hearing from you.

 

@Olive & Paula
Harry is pretty much back to normal thanks Paula. His eye looks normal....I am so thankful.
We have my daughters cat Clover visiting for a week so he is happy. In two weeks Harry and Clover will be living in the same house (divided into two homes) but connected so he will have Clover with him permanently which will be lovely for both of them.

 

Life's never dull, that's for sure. We wouldn't have it any other way!

 

The renovation is all done? That seemed so quick. You have to post pics.

 

I absolutely love the chicken companion! Bron is stunning! I love chickens...but have never had one as a pet. So cute and they get along so nicely! Impressive! Hope Ivana is feeling well today