Onyx (civie) Back on Pred =(

Well it was back to the vet again this morning for dear old Onyx, he was doing beautifully on pred for his allergies but once the pred stopped he was right back where we started before the pred treatments. He has literally over the weekend undone all the healing we had going for us, so back to the vet we went again. And unfortunately we are back on the pred and looks like this is going to be a daily dosage for the rest of his life. (we have tried everything else) He is on 5mg daily.

So the question is how often should I be checking is BG to make sure he stays a civie? I know that being on a steroid for the rest of his life could cause him to become a diabetic so I want to stay on top of things just in case we have to start insulin, and he is very easy to test. (Kind of glad I kept all of Muse's testing supplies). Onyx is a 14lb bundle of fluffy love, who is 11 years young. Since Muse all the cats here have been switched over to an all wet diet, and with Onyx's food allergies we are sticking to only poultry flavors and grain free.

Is there anything else anyone can think of that I should be doing for this beautiful black fluffy boy to help him stay both itch and diabetic free?

Mel

 

no advice here .. it sounds like you know what you are doing, testing and keeping up with the right foods for him .. sorry to hear it might be a lifelong medicine but it's better then having a suffering kitty, right?

 

Sorry no advice but I CAN send prayers.
j.

 

It is better than a long suffering kitty or a blind one, as he is scratching near his eyes. One eye is already bloodied all around it and swollen. So after a long consult with my vet we have opted to go this route and see where we get. So I'm keeping my fingers crosed that this helps him and we can either keep the nasty beaties away, or catch it early if he should get it from the steroids.

I also suffer from skin allergies so I know first hand how uncomfortable those can be. He is such a beautiful boy when he is in full fur, it breaks my heart to see him so miserable. I'm still not happy that he may have to be on Pred for the rest of his life, but if it works it works and we can handle anything else that comes up because of it. Afterall I have all the stuff to test him, and should he get diabetes I have all of you here to get us through that as well.

Mel

 

You are right that if your cat needs to be on steroids for his QOL, then that has to be the priority. Bear Man became diabetic after several years of steroid use. I was not a home tester before he became diabetic, but I did regularly check his fructosamine. When he spilled over into diabetes, there was no going back. My civie has also been on heavy duty steroids for 6 years for lymphoma, and he is not (yet) a diabetic. Is your kitty overweight at 14 pounds, or just big boned? If he is overweight, getting doen to his ideal weight could help fend off the diabetes.

 

I asked the vet the same question as he is hard to tell what his true figure looks like unless I get him soaking wet, because he is so fluffy. But while he could stand to lose a pound or two, he is fairly close to his ideal weight. With ideal according to his vet should be about 12-13 lbs. So not too worried about his weight, plus he isn't a big eater, now that he can't graze on dry food all day long. Thankfully he loves Special Kitty Turkey and giblets and eats about 1 1/2 (5.5 oz) cans a day. He just happens to be a very large cat, I think there might be some Maine Coon hiding in his lineage. Not the biggest one we have here but still large as cats go. I'm so thankful he is an easy going guy that takes everything in stride, because he is big enough and strong enough that if he didn't want to be pilled I would have to pay the Devil to get one down his throat. As it is he just lays there and purrs. Another thing we have going for us is that I know what is "normal" for his BG since after Muse was dxed I started practicing on the whole ear pokes with him, because I figured if I could figure it out with his jet black ears then Muse would be a breeze, so we have a history of testing.

The plan at this point is to check him about once a week just to keep an eye on things. Hopefully he won't develope diabetes but if he does, he does and we will go from there. The way I look at it is he is my furry son and like all children you just take the hand you are dealt and do what has to be done when it has to be done.

Mel

 

You are one good momcat!
j.

 

Some cats' skin allergies clear up with raw food.

 

I wish we could get him on a raw diet, heck I wish I could get them all on a raw diet, but with Onyx we were doing good to convince him that he wouldn't starve to death on canned food. He was my true dry food junkie.

Mel