Xuxu, 3/28/13, next specialist says steroids

Xuxu hadn't really eaten much since yesterday morning, so I was watching him carefully. At 2 am I was still awake and heard him peeing, so rushed over to do ketones, 80! I immediately gave him 100 cc fluids and .5 R. At 6 am, Ketones were down to 40. He was coughing badly, so I called the vet office @ 7:30 and said I was bringing him in and wanted IV antibiotics because I was concerned he was getting pneumonia. They put him on IV fluids with some sulfanomides (sp?) antibiotic. We were waiting for Dr. Nichols with Antech to call back, he was the one suggesting steroids last Monday. My vet wanted to run the insulinoma past him before starting them. She said his lungs were still clear, the URI was all in his head and he had a very sore throat. I was just hanging around the back with Xuxu, and my vet rushed through and said if I was going to be there all the time, I might as well start training as a vet tech. I said I thought I could probably already test out of the exam!

Finally @ noon, he called. It was the same thing, his talking to vet, who was asking me questions. The jist from Dr. Nichols was: it's possible to have insulimona and DM, extremely rare, 5 known cases, but you can't diagnosis it with any test, all you can do is suspect that it's happening. The tumor might be microscopic and even ultrasound would't see them. With all Xuxu's yoyoing, it's possible. If he has it, he will never get regulated, he will always be bouncing around. He said he saw no reason for me to drive 4 hours to VTech because they couldn't do anything that I wasn't already doing (other than repeat all tests and ultrasounds and cost me more money). He said my home testing 2-4 times a day and micromanaging the insulin was the best that could be done for him on that score. He did say the prednisolone would be make him feel better, be good for the pancreatitis and the insulinoma, should make him put on some weight and possibly smooth out his curves a bit. He also recommended cerenia (which we did have him on before) and stop the orbax, clavamox, and metronidazole. Xuxu will appreciate not having anything but Tumil K shoved down his throat.

Since Xuxu had lost another .25 pound since last Fri, he is officially 1/2 of his original weight. It seemed we have nothing to loose in trying the steroids. :sad:

 

Xuxu seems better this morning. He ketones weren't going below 40, and it was as if the PZI wasn't working for a bit. I had put some in a smaller vial to fit into the syringe magnifier. Maybe I didn't get a properly mixed syringeful. So I went back to the original syringe and made sure I rolled it well. I went up to .5 to make sure he got enough insulin. It worked, even though he did drop down to 36, he was a bit lethargic, but no other signs. I checked him again in 30 min and he was rising to 71 so I didn't give dextrose. After he got 100 cc fluid, his ketones finally dropped to zero. The pred had stopped his coughing and he is breathing better. He's on Covenia now as an antibiotic, one shot lasts 10-12 days. I think since he's had a URI, UTI and pancreatitis, that he really needs to be on an antibiotic all the time.

He was finally looking at food again. I had decided that if he didn't eat this morning, I would start syringe feeding,, but maybe I won't have to.

 

Xuxu seems better this morning. He ketones weren't going below 40, and it was as if the PZI wasn't working for a bit. I had put some in a smaller vial to fit into the syringe magnifier. Maybe I didn't get a properly mixed syringeful. So I went back to the original syringe and made sure I rolled it well. I went up to .5 to make sure he got enough insulin. It worked, even though he did drop down to 36, he was a bit lethargic, but no other signs. I checked him again in 30 min and he was rising to 71 so I didn't give dextrose. After he got 100 cc fluid, his ketones finally dropped to zero. The pred had stopped his coughing and he is breathing better. He's on Covenia now as an antibiotic, one shot lasts 10-12 days. I think since he's had a URI, UTI and pancreatitis, that he really needs to be on an antibiotic all the time.

He was finally looking at food again. I had decided that if he didn't eat this morning, I would start syringe feeding,, but maybe I won't have to.

 

Sounds like improvement - good news!

Have you read some of the info on Convenia? There's some concern about long-lasting anti-biotics in case the kitty has a reaction to it. I only use it for my kitties that are completely un-pill-able.