06/10 Butters AMPS 92/+3 83/+5 79/PMPS 76

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Where did the time go? I've been distracted a lot but not much has changed since the last post. I don't know if the antibiotics helped anything. Butters is still on pain meds: bupe and gabapentin. When I hold back on those, she scratches and paws at her face more so I guess she needs them. But they make her drowsy so she doesn't move much.

I'm waiting to hear when the dental specialist can squeeze her in. Her vet emailed me yesterday to say that he spoke with her, and she is trying to find a spot for Butters in the "near future". She will have to get an echo done first, of course. Her follow up echo has been scheduled for July 12 for many months now. I have to trust that her vet is going to coordinate it all and communicate details to me. I am not the greatest at relinquishing control. I'd really rather book the appointment myself, and I have a million questions for the dentist and anesthesiologist.

Her ear scratching is relentless, some days. Today I increased the zyrtec from 5mg to 10mg q24 in the hope that it might help. I don't know why she is scratching at them so much, so the anti-histamine is an experiment. I also put her in a soft, puffy collar last night so that she couldn't scratch at her ears. She made them bleed the night before and besides the fact that I obviously don't want her to injure herself, I need those ears intact so I can test her BG!

She doesn't move around much these days.

Speaking of BG, she has been pretty steady on .875u <anti-jinx>, which really makes me question if there is anything wrong at all. Wouldn't her numbers be elevated more if there was something wrong. IDK.

Surf safely, kitties

 

I hope things work out so you can get the echo and the dental done soon. Sending prsyers.

 

It's good to see you on here Lyla. With updates on Butter's at least her numbers are staying good! Enjoy the rest of your day

 

Any chance she caught Ear Mites when she was outside??

 

Hi Lyla, so happy to see you and Butters. Rob is getting a CT scan so I only have time to say hi, missed you two, hope there is nothing wrong but itchy ears. Sending my loving prayers for just itchy ears and healing if there is more to address. Is her face still swollen? Talk soon, so happy her numbers are good.

 

I always did love your practical thinking

Hope Butters stops her scratching (gosh, poor thing! and hugs mama bean, you're doing all you can )...at least she's still eating her foods ❤️

 

Her vet called this evening to give me an update. He now has his cardiologist and dentist working together to find a date so she can come in for both the echo and have the dental right after that on the same day. I know he is calling in a huge favour to get her booked in sooner and I'm very grateful. We'd be waiting until December to see this dentist otherwise.

Sometimes her eyes still look swollen to me, but whatever was going on with the swelling of her mouth is all gone. I hope all goes well with Rob's CT scan

Her vet doesn't think it's ear mites, but he thought we should officially rule it out so I'm bringing her in tomorrow so he can swab her ears, clean them and have a good look.

 

Such good news, hope it’s scheduled soon. Take care and hope you can relax a bit Lyla.

 

I hope the combo echo/dental day is soon. When Neko had a sudden growth on her jaw bone, the dental specialist managed to get a spot open the next week. Hopefully your vets have an emergency spot or two open they can use for Butters. In the mean time, tons of healing vines heading your way.

 

Thank you. The dentist only works three days per week, and the vet told me she is totally overwhelmed with demand for her services (ie many urgent cases needing an emergency spot). But she does have emergency spots here and there. She told my vet she was going to see about Tuesday, but then he never heard back from her so that must not have worked out. Maybe something will work out for the week after. I'm trying to stay optimistic.

 

Great to see you Lyla! I hope everything goes well and Butters ears/itching resolve soon ouchy Butters

 

Hugs to both of you Lyla and Butters
Perhaps a food allergy or maybe toxins that her kidneys are not flushing out could be causing her itchy ears?

 

♥♥

 

Her BG numbers certainly look good.

When J.D. was 18 years old and needed a dental, our regular vet told me that they would not do it. So, I called a large veterinary hospital that was 60 miles away, and told them I wanted an appointment with a cardiologist to do an echo to make sure his heart was okay for the surgery, and then an appointment with the dedicated anesthesiologist to discuss his age, diabetes, and kidney disease, and then an appointment with a specific (and famous, unfortunately he is now retired) veterinary specialist who would travel from Canada for 1 week per month to work in New Jersey. They managed to work us in for 8:30am, 9:00am, and 9:30am on a holiday of all things. I was scared mostly because I was going against our regular vet's advise, also it was a long drive and I don't like driving especially where I have not been before, and it was snowing. However, I felt good about this hospital and I knew the veterinary specialist was about as good as I could find. I was able to talk to all 3 doctors about my questions and concerns and felt much more relieved.
I am guessing because of not being able to go inside, you can not talk to your doctors about your concerns and questions? I hope you can arrange that somehow. It made me feel so much better.

 

Good luck...I really hope they can fit you in soon!! The waiting is so hard.

 

Driving 60 miles in the snow especially an unfamiliar route is not fun at all! Sigh.

Everything is done by phone so it is definitely more challenging with having concerns and questions addressed. I would love to be able to call the specialists myself and arrange things and get a consult beforehand, but if I do that then I'm going to be waiting around six months longer for her appointments versus having her vet pull some strings and talk to them direct to get her in sooner. It's not just this hospital with this kind of wait time; it seems to be all of them in Toronto. Her vet is calling in a favour because he believes that between the DM, pancreatitis and constant pawing at the mouth, she cannot wait that long to get the dental done. And without question she has to have an echo before going under anesthesia.

I'm going to have to talk with her vet about how to get my questions answered. He has solid relationships with the specialists at this particular animal hospital so maybe he can send them my questions and get answers. I trust that all of the specialists are wonderful and I hear that the dental specialist, Dr. Sharon French, is excellent. In fact, she trained under Dr. James Anthony for years. How cool that he would travel to NJ and that you got J.D. in for an appointment with him. I'm glad that it all worked out and I hope it works out similarly well for butters.

 

Butters is home from the vet. She has an ear infection. No ear mites and no yeast found. He isn't ruling out an allergy or anything, but hopefully she will be less uncomfortable once the infection clears up. He really wanted to give me combo AB steroid drops, saying that topical application of steroid in this small amount may affect her BG for a few days, but it would make her more comfortable. I refused, though. So he gave me baytril drops to do q12 for seven days, and some solution to clean her ears with. Poor Butters. If it's not one thing, it's another.

And he can see that her mouth is still swollen. I had thought it was too, but after a while it becomes hard to tell. He isn't so sure it's related to the ear infection. He just said he hopes the dental specialist gets back to him next week with a date.

 

Poor baby, I hope the ear infection clears up quickly.♥
I feel awful for her

 

Do you have the email addresses by any chance? You may be able to help your vet out by sending your questions directly to the specialists he is working to get the dates with . You will be saving your vet another call/email and you will be giving the specialists helpful info in a written format which is always nice for them to be able to go back to....Butters specific issues and your questions pertaining to treatment/aftercare because of them

 

Aw poor Butters
I'd almost be thinking sinus infection like how in humans they're often tied together, but it sounds like you have a really good vet and he wouldn't miss something like that (I know nothing about cat health besides diabetes lol he's my first cat)

 

And I am sure your vet has checked her ears? I had a friend whose cat had really bad ear problems. They took a swab and sent it out to culture it. She had to have ear drops (with steroid in them unfortunately) for quite a while. This does not explain any facial swelling of course. Poor Butters does not sound happy right now. I hope things can move more quickly.

 

Poor Butters ears. Sending loving healing prayers again just to make sure someone is listening.

 

Oh wow. I was just asking you if the vet had checked her ears and then this popped in. I sure hope the Baytril helps. I worry that she will need a topical though. Did they send a culture away? Or swab and look under the microscope and see some bacteria?

 

Poor poor Butters. I know when I've had an ear infection it's like having an itch inside my head that I can't scratch at. I hope the Baytril works.

 

No they didn't send anything away. I gather from looking at the receipt that they just swabbed and looked under the microscope. They did an ear mite evaluation and an evaluation of ear swab cytology. It found bacteria and neutrophils in the left ear, and bacteria in the right ear. No evidence of ear mites or yeast.

IDK....I worry about steroids. It wasn't going to be my first pick. I'll feel terrible if the AB alone doesn't help Butters. Hopefully it does.

I don't have their email addresses and because Butters is the big favour he is calling in to them, like he rarely does this right now unless he truly thinks it is necessary because they are so backlogged...I am conscious about not wanting to step on any toes and go direct to them without his blessing.

I think I'll put together an email with all of the questions and Butters-specific issues so it's ready to go. Then hopefully I will get to speak with her vet next week (or I'll call the office and ask to speak with him) and I'll let him know I have questions and I'll find out if he is comfortable with me forwarding them direct to the specialists, which is my preference, or does he want to send them. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

Thinking of you, Lyla and Miss Butters, and loved reading your update! Sounds like little miss has some things going on - I hope for a speedy resolution on the dental issues (always makes me anxious waiting for those surgeries with my kitties). I know you said you're experimenting with Zyrtec - some kitties take to it, others really don't. Some other options to try (just in case you haven't thought of these): Claritin, Chloropheniramine, and Cyphroheptadine (yes, the appetite stimulant - it's actually an antihistamine)! Pearl does really well on the Cyphroheptadine.

With Pearl and the Pancreatitis, yes I usually see higher BG numbers when there is a flare. I've had one time she just seemed "off" and no BG correlation, and I did treat that time also as a Pancreatitis attack (with the Bupe, Cerenia, and sub-q fluids), and that did seem to help her. I hope you get some answers about Butters soon!

 

Just seeing this. Glad at least you know now what is going on and can deal with the ear scratching!

 

Your poor baby.... I hope she feels better soon. Hang in there Lyla, you're such a good Mama... praying things get better soon!