5/24 Ivy Amps 234, +3 136 Libre +6 135 C, +8 121 C, +10 61, Pmps 163, +2 232 Libre

5/23/24
Amps 234 Libre

Good morning,
Yesterday was not stellar either cycle after an active pm cycle on Wednesday night.

Sedated Ivy last night and she’s very sleepy this morning. Glad she ate well though today. Cut her nails with no fight (due to sedation in her system).

We go to the new vet this morning at +5 to see what he has to say about her overall situation and get his ideas on treatment of hypothyroidism, ckd and diabetes. It’s a lot and there’s various opinions.

Hope everyone has a safe surf today.

Will let you know what I learn at the vet.
Paws crossed she behaves well today

 

Good morning Staci and sleepy Ivy!
Nice steady blue cycle last night! Hope you got to sleep nicely!
Good luck with the new vet. I hope he has some good ideas for Ivy's conditions.
The most important, I hope he works WITH you (not telling you what to do!).
Will be thinking of you. Keep us posted!

 

Hello Staci and Ivy!

We were thinking about you today and the vet visit. I hope all works out and you're both happy. I know how hard it is to have a vet that's not only knowledgeable but also willing to work with us the way we need them to.

You might see higher numbers again today due to stress but hopefully she comes down nicely and slowly.
Happy Furrrrrriday

 

Such a good idea to take advantage of the sedation to cut her nails! And I am sure the vet was happy as well, she arrived sleepy and unarmed. I hope all went well and you got helpful information on how Ivys health situation can be managed even better. Looking forward to read your update!

 

Thanks everybody for checking in on us. The vet visit went as well as it could have. Ivy behaved as far as I know (they actually took her to a separate room where it was quiet and as they said away from barking dogs) so they could do the BP check.
They had no problem doing a blood pressure check, which made me extremely happy. The vet listened to her heart and said it sounds perfectly fine, no heart murmur, no issues. He’s not concerned about any heart problems.

He feels that we should leave the dose of methimazole where it is and check it 3 months after the last labs, which puts us at the beginning of August.
So I guess my plan will be to return to him for another visit and labs and see how that goes.
He feels that it’s a balancing act of the kidneys, the thyroid, the diabetes.
He feels she’s a 15 lb., 13 year-old cat who’s not losing weight or exhibiting really any tropical thyroid symptoms, so we shouldn’t rock the boat.
He’s the third doctor to give me this same opinion, so at this point I’m inclined to see what happens at the three-month point on this dose.
I tried to push him about an increase in the dose. He really didn’t think that was a good idea.

Since they were happy to do a blood pressure check, I will continue to monitor that with them (since my other vet absolutely had no interest for 12 different reasons why she thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to attempt to do it due to Ivy’s disposition).

I explained to them the best way to handle Ivy is “less is more”, less restriction, no burrito, just cover her with a towel be gentle… and they were happy to follow those instructions and said they just went very slowly with her. They got everything they needed.

Of course we didn’t do any labs, so we don’t know how that would’ve worked out, but I guess that will be the test for the next time.
I do like this guy so I guess we will give him a shot and see how it goes. He also did not feel I should see a cardiologist at this point, he didn’t feel it was necessary since he thinks her heart sounds fine (a huge relief to me).

He was very impressed that I cook her food for her and she physically looks very good.

He’s also impressed that I put the Libre on myself all this time. (He said he has a dog that he uses a Libre on so we chatted about that a bit.)
Of course, during the visit it was about +6 and all of a sudden her Libre started sending alerts that she was dropping low.
She’s been very low on her Libre all afternoon. (In fact it stopped transmitting data at a certain point) and I did give her a blood test twice. She’s in the 100s on the Handheld, so not terrible.
But of course she had to start dipping as we were there. I did bring food and offered to her. I put it in her crate but of course she didn’t eat it.

We’re all glad to be home and now we just need to let her recover from the sedation. She’s sleeping in her bed. I even gave her a good brushing since she’s sleepy with no fighting back.

Updates for you;
@Mikanmama @Karolina KJ & Nestle @Heike & BInie
I hope everyone is having a good Friday and a very safe surf today. Thanks for all of your support and good wishes everyone

 

Sounds like a great trip. What was her BP average? Glad you liked him better.

 

This is what they gave me. Not sure how to read it though.

 

Thank you so much for the update Staci! I am sure the day was stressful, especially with the dip and Ivy not eating in her crate. But you all managed and you are safely back home! There are many things I already like about your vet: They are listening to you how to handle Ivy and it sounds like they have been quite successful to do the bp check without any force. And it seems he thinks carefully about what to do and what not do. I think you mentioned before that he has lots of experience and that helps very often, not to do unnecessary diagnostics which could also be harmful (and expensive). And it seems he can handle the fact, that you are well informed and evaluate different opinions carefully.

I hope Ivy recovers fast from the sedation and you can give your nervous system also some good rest. You deserve it so much!

 

So nice to see Ivy's appointment went well. It seems he and the staff listen and that is so important. It also sounds like you're pretty comfortable with him. That's another plus.

I hope you and Ivy have an easy night.

 

Oh, it's so nice that all went well at the vet! I am very happy to read that! You must be relieved.

 

Thanks, Cecile, I was especially relieved they did a BP reading! Eased my mind a lot
Hope Bella is staying out of your food!

 

I am very careful not to leave anything out. I'm using a "pie safe" for the bread, pies and sourdough starter. She tried to eat a laser wand I wanted her to play with the light, but she did not care and came to see what I was holding, went up on her back legs and tried to eat it. She's hopeless.

 

She’s really impossible! Don’t know how you deal with it!

 

@Staci & Ivy
I just read about the vet appt, I'm so glad he did Ivy's BP.
I'm glad you were very pleased with what he had to say.
I'm happy you are going to stay with him.
All in all it's a good report
@Staci & Ivy

 

@Staci & Ivy
Did you mean to put hyperthyroidism above instead of hypothyroidism ? Just checking , I know I'm a pain in the butt
@Staci & Ivy

 

S/D is like people so that is systolic/diastolic. Most vet offices just get the systolic. Normal systolic pressure in a cat is 110-140 and normal diastolic is 70-90 but vet stress certainly has to be considered. Usually 5-6 readings are taken and the first one is tossed out. I believe Holly and our vet, Abbey, consider anything below 170 to be ok considering vet stress. MAP is mean arterial pressure and it is usually calculated and should be between 85-120. Obviously, if the systolic and diastolic are elevated due to stress, the MAP will be as the formula for MAP is MAP = DAP + 1/3 (SAP-DAP) with “DAP” being diastolic arterial pressure and “SAP” being “systolic arterial pressure”. Her heart rate is normal as it’s usually 160-200 bpm but some other sources will say 140-200; even still, hers is good.

 

I did mean hyperthyroidism. You’re absolutely correct. Thank you!

 

Ok this is great to know. Thank you so much. I’m relieved to read this, Marje

 

You’re welcome. They should have explained it.

 

I'm happy to read this, Staci
Happy you like this vet and that they were happy to follow your instructions and give Ivy less restrictions. When they're willing to rely on your knowledge of your cat it always goes much better.
sounds like you've achieved good balance with Ivy. I hope things will continue to improve

 

I think so too. They just said she was fine.