1/12/18 | Darwin - dx: pneumonia

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Tasha & Darwin

Tasha & Darwin

Member Since 2017
Last night

Thank you all for the kind words and positive vines last night! He did eat a tiny amount last night before bed, and seemed to feel a bit better. He ate a little this morning, but then he vomited all of that up. I brought him in to work with me. His temperature had normalized, but went ahead and ran full labwork and took some x-rays. Turns out he has pneumonia :arghh::arghh:

We're starting him on Orbax, and just have to keep him eating and drinking well. If he continues to vomit today we'll start some anti-nausea too. My poor little guy! And he HATES oral meds, so Orbax should be super fun (thankfully just once daily) - wish us luck!
 
Yikes! Glad you found out what the problem is and can quickly treat it. Hope the appy responds and he enjoys his fuds again! Glad your vet was able to calm you yesterday and jump into action today. A good partnership with your vet is so important!
 
Poor Darwin! I’m glad it’s treatable and I hope the abx work super fast! Good news that his temp came down and it sounds like you got it early. Feel better soon, Darwin! :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
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Hope Darwin feels better soon!:bighug::cat:
 
Thanks everyone! I so appreciate you guys, and all your good thoughts, vines and prayers.

Darwin seems to feel OK. We went ahead and gave an anti-nausea injection to hopefully combat the vomiting and help his appy. He is not hungry for dinner tonight, but I am hopeful he will eat once the injection kicks in. It makes me laugh that he didn't even move for the injection (which can STING), but he thoroughly hated his Orbax dose. He tolerates me giving it, but gets so insulted - and then went off to drool a bit as if I fed him poison. Poor baby! He's getting extra brushing (which he LOVES) as a reward (and bribe). :cat:
 
Thank you guys for all the love! Seems Darwin needs those appy vines! He hasn't touched a lick of food this morning yet, despite our efforts. Wishing he wasn't so stubborn, in general, about food. He only likes his FF normally, and just won't touch it. He isn't a fan of baby food, tuna, or anything that's not FF, and now he doesn't want that either. Trying to remain calm, and just keep trying to get him to eat something - he did eat about 1/2 can of FF (give or take) yesterday which is better than nothing at all. I really, really don't want to resort to dry (also because he IS still healing from his extractions!), but I am also scared he will take back to it, and be difficult to get back to canned again - however, better than not eating at all (I do have a bag of YA Zero on the shelf).

He did drink a fair amount of water this morning which made me feel a bit better. He seems to feel OK, but cats are so dang resilient and good at hiding things! He's definitely a bit quieter than usual, but I'm glad to see he's not overtly lethargic. :(
 
Tasha & Darwin said:
Thank you guys for all the love! Seems Darwin needs those appy vines! He hasn't touched a lick of food this morning yet, despite our efforts. Wishing he wasn't so stubborn, in general, about food. He only likes his FF normally, and just won't touch it. He isn't a fan of baby food, tuna, or anything that's not FF, and now he doesn't want that either. Trying to remain calm, and just keep trying to get him to eat something - he did eat about 1/2 can of FF (give or take) yesterday which is better than nothing at all. I really, really don't want to resort to dry (also because he IS still healing from his extractions!), but I am also scared he will take back to it, and be difficult to get back to canned again - however, better than not eating at all (I do have a bag of YA Zero on the shelf).

He did drink a fair amount of water this morning which made me feel a bit better. He seems to feel OK, but cats are so dang resilient and good at hiding things! He's definitely a bit quieter than usual, but I'm glad to see he's not overtly lethargic. :(
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I know what you mean, you don't want the kibble monster to rule again! I hope you can figure out some other way to get him to eat. Any treats he's nuts about like the freeze dried chicken you could sprinkle on his FF? Have you tried some parm cheese over it? But I agree, if you can get him to eat anything and the kibble he will, that's better than not eating.

I hope he perks up soon. He's in the best hands. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Stacy & Asia said:
I know what you mean, you don't want the kibble monster to rule again! I hope you can figure out some other way to get him to eat. Any treats he's nuts about like the freeze dried chicken you could sprinkle on his FF? Have you tried some parm cheese over it? But I agree, if you can get him to eat anything and the kibble he will, that's better than not eating.

I hope he perks up soon. He's in the best hands. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
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Thank YOU! I wish he would eat treats - he never has. I do have some freeze-dried chicken treats, but he won't touch them (he's never even touched Temptations...he's a strange kitty!). I tried parm as well, but no interest. He normally loves his FortiFlora, but he won't even lick a bit of food with that in today. He's never liked baby food, but I'm gonna head to the store in a bit, and get some for him - worth a shot!
 
Has he got a stuffy nose??
Just wondering if he is not able to smell his food??
Sometimes warming it just a little in the micro wave will make it stinky enough so that he may smell it??
:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Tasha & Darwin said:
Thank YOU! I wish he would eat treats - he never has. I do have some freeze-dried chicken treats, but he won't touch them (he's never even touched Temptations...he's a strange kitty!). I tried parm as well, but no interest. He normally loves his FortiFlora, but he won't even lick a bit of food with that in today. He's never liked baby food, but I'm gonna head to the store in a bit, and get some for him - worth a shot!
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I understand, Asia is not a treat lover either, it's a struggle. I got some new Tiki Cat Velvet mousse recently, its low carb, baby food consistency (a purée) but stinky like cat food, might be worth a try. An appetite stimulant would be an option too, I'm sure you've already considered. Eat something, Darwin, and feel better!
 
Gill & George said:
Has he got a stuffy nose??
Just wondering if he is not able to smell his food??
Sometimes warming it just a little in the micro wave will make it stinky enough so that he may smell it??
:bighug::bighug::bighug:
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He doesn't have a stuffy nose at all - thankfully. He's not coughing either - which they sometimes don't with aspiration pneumonia. I am going to try and heat some up a bit though - can't hurt! Thank you!
 
Stacy & Asia said:
I understand, Asia is not a treat lover either, it's a struggle. I got some new Tiki Cat Velvet mousse recently, its low carb, baby food consistency (a purée) but stinky like cat food, might be worth a try. An appetite stimulant would be an option too, I'm sure you've already considered. Eat something, Darwin, and feel better!
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I just went to our local pet food store, and they didn't have any of the velvet mousse kind - going to check another one later on, but did pick up some Evo pate and Tiki Cat consomme to see if he likes those. If he weren't so resistant to any type of oral administration I'd just try to syringe feed him a bit of something, but I know that'll have to be the very last resort as it will stress him.
 
Tasha & Darwin said:
I just went to our local pet food store, and they didn't have any of the velvet mousse kind - going to check another one later on, but did pick up some Evo pate and Tiki Cat consomme to see if he likes those. If he weren't so resistant to any type of oral administration I'd just try to syringe feed him a bit of something, but I know that'll have to be the very last resort as it will stress him.
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Hope something works, keep us posted. :bighug:
 
Veronica & Babu-chiri said:
Sending you lots of :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:

Have you tried Hill's a/d ? it's a little bit high in carbs around 13% but that may not be such a big deal now and they tend to like it
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Thanks! Don’t have any a/d, but I do have access to the Royal Canin Recovery. Not sure what the carb level is though...

Still no interest in anything :arghh:
 
Well, good and bad news - Darwin was not at all interested in dry food. :blackeye:

Tried some stinky Recovery diet warmed up, but nope. He seemed slightly more interested in looking for food tonight, but didn’t touch anything we could think to offer.

Spoke to the vet, and he said that if he really doesn’t eat by morning we can give a single steroid injection. Really, really hoping we don’t have to (mainly because it can cause his herpes to flare too), but if it gets him to eat...:(
 
Tasha & Darwin said:
Well, good and bad news - Darwin was not at all interested in dry food. :blackeye:

Tried some stinky Recovery diet warmed up, but nope. He seemed slightly more interested in looking for food tonight, but didn’t touch anything we could think to offer.

Spoke to the vet, and he said that if he really doesn’t eat by morning we can give a single steroid injection. Really, really hoping we don’t have to (mainly because it can cause his herpes to flare too), but if it gets him to eat...:(
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Can he not try mirtazapine or something like that first? I've never used it and don't know too much about it, but it seems to have helped several cats on this board with inappetence. I hope you can get him or help him to eat something before it comes to that. Sending all the eating vines I can. :bighug:
 
Stacy & Asia said:
Can he not try mirtazapine or something like that first? I've never used it and don't know too much about it, but it seems to have helped several cats on this board with inappetence. I hope you can get him or help him to eat something before it comes to that. Sending all the eating vines I can. :bighug:
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I think we want to use that as a last resort because it is extremely bitter, and will be so hard to give Darwin. Also, he’s hopeful the steroids will more quickly help the pneumonia which should then help improve his appetite...
 
Here are a couple of additional thoughts...

You can give Zofran (ondansatron) as an injection. This will help control nausea if that's part of the problem. Cyproheptadine is an alternative to mirtazepine as an appetite stimulant. A steroid shot will likely send Darwin's numbers to the moon. In addition, giving a steroid if Darwin is fighting off an infection is a truly bad idea. Steroids depress the immune system.

If he's nauseated, he could develop a food aversion to the Fancy Feast. Wellness is a similar consistency to the FF classics. It's also higher in calories so if Darwin will eat it, it may be a good option. ZiwiPeak is also pate style and rather stinky.

If this is aspiration pneumonia, did he aspirate during the dental procedure?

 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
You can give Zofran (ondansatron) as an injection. This will help control nausea if that's part of the problem. Cyproheptadine is an alternative to mirtazepine as an appetite stimulant. A steroid shot will likely send Darwin's numbers to the moon. In addition, giving a steroid if Darwin is fighting off an infection is a truly bad idea. Steroids depress the immune system.
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He has had injectable Cerenia for nausea - doesn't seem to be making much of a difference with his appy except, thankfully, no more vomiting. My boss doesn't seem to think a single steroid injection is likely to send him out of remission (hoping the pneumonia itself doesn't do that), and while steroids do suppress the immune system, they are often used to treat pneumonia, but for the FD and his Herpes we opted not to go that route initially.
We don't use a lot of Cypro, but it's worth a try - I'll have to see if we can find a vet clinic that might have it for me tomorrow since our compounding pharmacy is closed until Monday. I'm fine with using Mirtazipine too, but either way Darwin is extremely resistant to oral medication and the Orbax has been stressful enough. He'll need something though or he'll be going in for a feeding tube which I really don't want to resort to :arghh:
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
If he's nauseated, he could develop a food aversion to the Fancy Feast. Wellness is a similar consistency to the FF classics. It's also higher in calories so if Darwin will eat it, it may be a good option. ZiwiPeak is also pate style and rather stinky.
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I have tried Wellness as we had some on hand, as well as Evo pate, TikiCat (although couldn't find pate), and AvoDerm pate - no interest. He does seem hungry right now, but not really wanting anything I have offered. I have not tried Ziwipeak - maybe I can pick some up tomorrow, and give it a try. Can't hurt at this point.
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
If this is aspiration pneumonia, did he aspirate during the dental procedure?
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The radiograph certainly looks that way. My docs cannot say for sure, obviously, but it's the only thing that makes sense. He did vomit on Tuesday (what appeared to be a hairball) - so it's possible he aspirated then, but that seems less likely to me. Unfortunately, I wasn't there for his procedure because it was done at the specialist and not at my clinic...
Thanks for the input. I will speak to doc tomorrow about the possibility of trying Cypro first (maybe instead of Dex injection?).
 
Cypro is a human med (i.e., Periactin). If your vet doesn't have it on hand, you may be able to get it at a pharmacy. I don't recall the dosing so I don't know if you can cut a pill to a cat friendly dose.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Cypro is a human med (i.e., Periactin). If your vet doesn't have it on hand, you may be able to get it at a pharmacy. I don't recall the dosing so I don't know if you can cut a pill to a cat friendly dose.
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I’d have to get it compounded though - no way I can get a pill into Darwin, unfortunately.

I’ll see if our nearby clinic carries injectable ondansetron - they know me so they might let me borrow some, as we don’t carry it.

I’m amazed that he’s currently asking me for the laser pointer, but won’t eat. Silly cat :eek:
 
We are sending lots of healing vines for Darwin. Rusty had pneumonia in August. He wouldn't take the oral a/bs at all and we had to resort to a shot of Convenia. Luckily he wasn't allergic to it! Anyway, it cleared up quickly.
I hope the same for Darwin.
Hang in there!:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA) said:
We are sending lots of healing vines for Darwin. Rusty had pneumonia in August. He wouldn't take the oral a/bs at all and we had to resort to a shot of Convenia. Luckily he wasn't allergic to it! Anyway, it cleared up quickly.
I hope the same for Darwin.
Hang in there!:bighug::bighug::bighug:
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Poor Rusty! Darwin had Convenia about 10 days ago (day of his procedure), but developed the pneumonia despite it. Such a shame because he is awful for oral meds. I can get it into him, but not without a struggle and some foaming at the mouth afterwards. I’m scared that it’s contributong to his aversion, but he needs it. Glad to hear Rusty recovered nicely though!

Thank you! I’m a bit of a wreck today.
 
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