Need help w/ all of Alley's med's

I am having to give a lot of different med's right now and she is not keeping them down all the time. I am looking for any suggestions. She is nausous from time to time from the crf. She isn't eating as much at all right now and I think that is part of the problem..that she doesn't always have a lot of food in her stomach. She is not a good pill taker at all, so I have crushed the tablets up and mixed with water. The problem is giving her 4 things orally pretty much one after another and she is not big on eating wet food (although I am trying). If she eats wet food it may be just a bite or two. She seems to be most sensitive to the clavamox (which has never happened) and she really needs to keep that down.

Things we are treating right now:
-crf
-bladder infection
-yeast infection
-high phorsphorous
-low potassium

What she is getting: Times a day When med started
-sub-q fluids 2x a day 4 months
-clavamox liquid 2x a day for bladder infection about 1 wk now
-fulconazole tablet 45mg 2x a day just 2 days now
-potassium glucoanate gel 1/2 tsp 2x a day about 3 days but only 1 x
-prilosac otc 1/4 1x a day for now 3 days
-phosphorous binder 1/8-1/4 tsp 1x a day should arrive anyday now

For those who remember us from a few months back....Alley is still off of insulin and holding steady there for about 4 months now!! Through sub-q fluids some of her kidney values(bun, creatine) have gone down but her phosphorous went up. I am waiting for the binder to arrive and hopefully that will help. The vet thinks that the grinding noise she is making when she eats is from the yeast build up in her intestines. On her Vet visit ..2 weeks ago the vet spotted to sores on the sides of her tongue. He said he wasn't sure what it was from, but possibly could be from yeast....but he said that was REALLY rare in cats.
Well we did the test and it came back positive, so hopefully the fulconazole will help that problem and she will be able to eat with comfort soon!!
There was also some protien in her urine.

She lost some weight and has gotten a very spiny back bone towards her back half. Will that go away as her phosphorous goes down? But she is walking all over the house the last few months and I am getting lots of time with her....thanks to advice and help from many of you here!! As you know..she has gone through a lot and it was a miracle that we got to bring her home after she went into a diabetic coma and then coronary arrest.... Now..this sweet kitty gets just about any and everything she wants!! She wants on the bed ..then down for a sip of water 2 seconds later..then back on the bed a second after that lol and over and over again...she gets it and I love every min of it!! She doesn't have any pull w/her med's though

 

Have you tried using Pill Pockets? Also, have you been giving her Pepcid A/C? That really can help with the nausea more likely coming from the CRF. She would only need 1/4 tab s.i.d. of the A/C.

 

DId you see my response about the clavamox possibly causing tummy upset?

 

Merlyn was on 3 different heart meds, so I bought empty gel caps. Lots of natural food stores like whole foods have them, and you can find them online too. Size 2 or 3 depending on how many pills. the smaller the number the bigger the gelcap is.

I would have a big pill cutting session and put all 3 in a gelcap, so he only got pilled once in the evening and once in the morning (morning was only one ) plus calcitriol and subqs.

You might ask your vet if any of her meds have to be separated or apart from others. If you give Pepcid I think that you have to give that apart from other meds.

 

*Very* miscellaneous thoughts here:

I agree that either the Clavamox or the fulconazole may be causing stomach problems. If the prilosec doesn't appear to be working, you might ask your vet about switching to Zantac 75 or Pepcid A/C. If the infections don't appear to be clearing up, or you have a long course of treatment still to go, you might talk with your vet about switching Alley from either med to something with less or different side effects.

Gwyn was on 19 different meds for a long time, most of which were pills or powders. After a bunch of various approaches, I finally just powdered everything together and gave it to her in her food. There's some balancing involved; you shouldn't have too many contradictory flavors in the pill-set, for example, and some pills should be given together or separately. The potassium gluconate you can also get in a sprinkle-able powder, or a pill.

If Alley's not eating a lot, you may also want to talk with your vet about an appetite stimulant, to help her through this period. I prefer cyproheptadine, others prefer mirtazapine. You can get at least the cyproheptadine in a transdermal gel, which you gently rub on the inside of the ear.

How much sub-Q fluids are you giving? Most cats I know get it once a day, but if Alley has heart problems, twice a day may make sense. Just want to make sure you aren't over-flooding her with fluids.

((you)) and ((Alley)) --

Jean and her Gwyn

 

Hi and Thank you,
I did go buy the pill pockets but she has no interest in them at all. Plus....the fulconazole pill is pretty big. I have tried putting butter on it, but she get it to the back of her month and then ends up biting it...then she is foaming at the mouth and I know it taste awful. I had tried pepcid before but it seem to upset her stomach more. I then tried prilosac and now am giving her metrocloprimade. I have been crushing that up but she is eating less the last few days since giving her that. I think I'll try pepcid again.

 

Sorry no I didn't. She has taken Clavamox several times before and I have never had a problem w/it. Since she isn't eating as much laterly at all...maybe she is more sensitive to it.
Thank you!!

 

Oh no....I didn't know that about pepcid. I have been giving her anti-nause med at the same time. Maybe it hasn't been working at all. Thank you, I had no idea. I will try giving it to her a few hrs apart and see if that makes a difference after a couple of days. Besides the anti-nause med she only has 1 other pill, the rest is liquid med. If it was only 1 x a day it would be much easier but this poor kitty is getting everything 2 x a day..pill,liquid med and sub-q's. Thank you for the tip...I will try anything!!

 

Hi Leslie,

For a long time, I used Pepcid A/C, just a quarter of a 10 mg. pill with my Rudder for stomach problems. It seemed to help him a lot.

Be careful with using Metoclopramide (Reglan). My one vet will not use it in cats, as it can cause anxiety and hyperactivity. I found that out the hard way last year with my Gracie. I gave her a dose of it, and she went bonkers. She ran around the house like she could not get 'out of herself'. Her eyes got big as saucers, and she could not settle down. I had to call the vet and she had me give some Benadryl to her (according to her weight, she adjusted the dose of the Benadryl). That really helped calm her down.

I gave Reglan to my Rudder a few times, and it made him vomit pretty bad.

I will not use it in my cats any more. Here is a link to info about possible side effects in cats given Metoclopramide: http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-vomit-contro ... amide.html

Hope you can get things figured out for your girl. She sounds really sweet!
Hugs,
Jean and Charcoal (GA)

 

Thank you...and I am calling the vet today. Good to know about the metoclopramide. I gave it to her again today but I "am" going to change back to the pepcid after reading this!!

 

I can be expensive because it's compounded, but you might be able to get at least one or two of the meds made into transdermal gel. It comes in measured doses and is rubbed into the inside of the ear. You have to use latex gloves and you need to clean the goo off the ear at least once a week. It really helped me with Maggie's heart meds.