Sick kitty

[ka jowct]

They're experimenting with different drugs to see which ones she can tolerate in pill form for me to administer at home. If they find an oral anti-nausea medication that she won't throw up then I might have her home as early as tomorrow night.

Do you know what they are giving her now?

I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago that famotidine was available in an injectable form. One of my clients had it for his kitty who is getting chemo. It was easy to give the shot sub-cutaneously. This cat is used to injections, as he is diabetic, but most cats I've known have less objection to shots than to being pilled. If Pixie is having trouble keeping stuff down, a shot might be the way to go.

[Chakravartin]

ka jowct wrote:

They're experimenting with different drugs to see which ones she can tolerate in pill form for me to administer at home. If they find an oral anti-nausea medication that she won't throw up then I might have her home as early as tomorrow night.

Do you know what they are giving her now?

I didn't know until a couple of weeks ago that famotidine was available in an injectable form. One of my clients had it for his kitty who is getting chemo. It was easy to give the shot sub-cutaneously. This cat is used to injections, as he is diabetic, but most cats I've known have less objection to shots than to being pilled. If Pixie is having trouble keeping stuff down, a shot might be the way to go.

She had that a couple of nights ago at the vet and it lasted most of a day, but she vomited when I gave her a cat-sized pill version. (She wasn't tolerating anything in her stomach.) I don't object to giving her sub-Q injections for a short time, but this could go on indefinitely.

[Chakravartin]

PeterB wrote:
Dramamine? http://www.walkervalleyvet.com/otc-meds.htm

Swelling in the intestines ... food allergy maybe?

I wish it was so simple.

I feed her a variety of different foods, so she hasn't been getting any one food consistently since this began.

Newest thing in her regular diet is several months old -- prescription diet for renal health -- and I tested it for a week with her before adding it to the rotation. It was the only one of a half-dozen renal-health foods that she didn't get sick from. That was February. No serious vomiting from then until July.

On the chance that her dry food had somehow spoiled, I threw it away and restocked with fresh food last weekend. No change.

She was on a high-calorie-sensitive-stomach food from the first vet visit with no improvement. It was supposed to be good for cats with allergies. She got worse.

[Chakravartin]

ka jowct wrote:

They're experimenting with different drugs to see which ones she can tolerate in pill form for me to administer at home. If they find an oral anti-nausea medication that she won't throw up then I might have her home as early as tomorrow night.

Do you know what they are giving her now?

No. I have it all written down, but I left my notes in the car. The only one that I recall right now is cyproheptadine for her appetite.

[Chakravartin]

Just talked to the night-nurse.

Pix seems to be responding well to the oral meds. They've got her on ondansetron for the nausea and she hasn't thrown up tonight. She's still got a leaky butt, but the diarrhea seems to be easing up with the meds.

[rjmacs]

I'm so sorry, Chak. You're both in my thoughts, and i'm sending much love your way. <3

[bfd]

Sounds like you have done all the right things so far. At the age of 17, all kinds of things can crop up, most of them age-related. With IV or sub-Q fluids, kidney function can be more easily measured.

The weight loss is a major concern, however. What you reported is almost a 20% loss. If any of us lost that much weight in a short period of time - well it'd throw our metabolism off big time. So there are possibly a number of interrelated issues happening. It sounds like your v-doc is trying to deal with them one at a time.

Hang in there. It's probably already getting pretty expensive.

[RAMd®d]

Sorry to hear about kitty, but she seems better and that's really good.

Glad you got her to the Vet straight off. My buddy had a Yellow-nape parrot that "had a cold" and I said it should go to the vet. He said it wasn't serious as the bird has had one once or twice before.

The bird didn't look good to me and I said it should go to the vet. It didn't and it didn't survive the cold.

Hope kitty shakes this off.

[rgG]

Thanks for keeping us posted on Pixie's condition.
Sounds like she is getting a little better, so that is good.
I hope she is home soon. I know just being at the vet can be stressful on cats.

[Maddog]

I am no vet, but have had a cat before that had similar problems, turned out to be bladder stones from all the ash in most cat food. More common in male cats, but can occur in both. Good luck.