Please help - limited time - multiple health concerns + medication

To start with, I am very annoyed at this vet's treatment of you, it is not an option for her to treat paying people who are there with concerns about their very loved, very special furry kids!

She is rude and insulting, and I would be furious if I were ever treated like a substandard pet owner if I don't just agree with everything she said?! The nerve...........

As I read through this thread, it struck me as suspicious IBD, yes.

HOWEVER, treating her assuming it is IBD is not harmful! This can be done starting immediately.

Also this 1100.00 is ridiculous, she had all of her bloodwork and urinalysis done just 2 weeks ago, so that can be removed. She can also base her pancreas questions from the former bloodwork results. Things won't have changed in just 2 weeks.........I mean really now...........

Possibly a mild sedation and ultrasound is what she should be doing. My Krissy is a brat at the vets and she didn't need sedating.  It doesn't matter that she offers pmt plans, gosh that is an estimate, and you are the one who calls the shots when it comes to what treatments you will accept or not.

Now, this is all my thoughts and what I would do in your shoes. I do think ultimately she should get an ultrasound, but I also think that there is too much pressure being put on you, like it can't be assumed to be IBD and treated as such.

I would cancel the ultrasound, go get some pepcid ac, and several jars of turkey baby food. I would get pediolyte (unflavored) and large feeding syringe.

For the next 3 days, I will take her off of everything she normally eats. For these 3 days the only thing she will be getting is turkey baby food and pediolyte, pepcid also.

In the morning after you go to the store for these items, you will want to warm 1/2 jar of food and mix it with pediolyte, about a 50/50 mix.

Nice and warmed, it will smell appetizing, so hopefully she will lap it up on her own.

Otherwise it will be syringed, as it is critical to keep her hydrated well, and keep some calories going in to her body to prevent HL.

The idea is, stop everything and allow her insides to calm down, she won't react to the baby food as she has with the other foods.

As much as she will take, but it must be at LEAST 2 jars of food a day, and 2 jars of the pediolyte.

Watch her settle down, stop vomiting, and gain an appetite again.

Nothing at all other than this though for a full 3 days.

This will give you time to collect your thoughts and not have to worry that she is going to crash, or get seriously ill between now and Monday.

You may want to consider the cerenia during this time too, but not a must either, as she will very likely tolerate the baby food quite well, with no more vomiting.

Once she is settled again, after the first 3 days, you can slowly, gradually introduce a new food, a single protein source that she won't react to, but we will go there later on this. 

cat nap said:

 
Gosh, I am so sorry....I forgot that the @ is a paging device, and we are not really supposed to page advisors....what is worse is that I thought that Denice was west coast time, too.  Arhhh....I better stick to the rules.   But since you are here, catwoman707, I do appreciate it, too. 

   (Us canadians, have really high vet costs.) 

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Don't apologize! It's not that we are not supposed to if needed, this is a time thing too, I would not have seen this had you not! It's fine

I'm just wondering if I caught the OP before bed

catwoman707 said:

 
To start with, I am very annoyed at this vet's treatment of you, it is not an option for her to treat paying people who are there with concerns about their very loved, very special furry kids!

She is rude and insulting, and I would be furious if I were ever treated like a substandard pet owner if I don't just agree with everything she said?! The nerve...........

As I read through this thread, it struck me as suspicious IBD, yes.

HOWEVER, treating her assuming it is IBD is not harmful! This can be done starting immediately.

Also this 1100.00 is ridiculous, she had all of her bloodwork and urinalysis done just 2 weeks ago, so that can be removed. She can also base her pancreas questions from the former bloodwork results. Things won't have changed in just 2 weeks.........I mean really now...........

Sedation and ultrasound is what she should be doing. It doesn't matter that she offers pmt plans, gosh that is an estimate, and you are the one who calls the shots when it comes to what treatments you will accept or not.

Now, this is all my thoughts and what I would do in your shoes. I do think ultimately she should get an ultrasound, but I also think that there is too much pressure being put on you, like it can't be assumed to be IBD and treated as such.

I would cancel the ultrasound, go get some pepcid ac, and several jars of turkey baby food. I would get pediolyte (unflavored) and large feeding syringe.

For the next 3 days, I will take her off of everything she normally eats. For these 3 days the only thing she will be getting is turkey baby food and pediolyte, pepcid also.

In the morning after you go to the store for these items, you will want to warm 1/2 jar of food and mix it with pediolyte, about a 50/50 mix.

Nice and warmed, it will smell appetizing, so hopefully she will lap it up on her own.

Otherwise it will be syringed, as it is critical to keep her hydrated well, and keep some calories going in to her body to prevent HL.

The idea is, stop everything and allow her insides to calm down, she won't react to the baby food as she has with the other foods.

As much as she will take, but it must be at LEAST 2 jars of food a day, and 2 jars of the pediolyte.

Watch her settle down, stop vomiting, and gain an appetite again.

Nothing at all other than this though for a full 3 days.

This will give you time to collect your thoughts and not have to worry that she is going to crash, or get seriously ill between now and Monday.

You may want to consider the cerenia during this time too, but not a must either, as she will very likely tolerate the baby food quite well, with no more vomiting.

Once she is settled again, after the first 3 days, you can slowly, gradually introduce a new food, a single protein source that she won't react to, but we will go there later on this. 

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You caught me before bed... Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you for your suggestions and reassurances. What about her fever?  Is there anything I can do to bring it down, because I don't think she'll eat or drink very much while the fever is high.  She was at 39.7 this morning, and I fear it's higher perhaps now, although I have no way of knowing for sure.  

The baby food is something worth trying but if it is flares like my kitty had unfortunately it won't work.  My kitty kept nothing down and the Pepcid didn't work at all.  That is what is so maddening about this stuff each case is different. 

I personally would try to work with this vet again.  I waited too long with my kitty's last flare hoping he would come out of it, this was after 6 years of vet hopping.. I tried one more vet but by then he had gone into fatty liver.

Tico said:

 
You caught me before bed... Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you for your suggestions and reassurances. What about her fever?  Is there anything I can do to bring it down, because I don't think she'll eat or drink very much while the fever is high.  She was at 39.7 this morning, and I fear it's higher perhaps now, although I have no way of knowing for sure.  

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The fever could well be from dehydration.

Yes I agree, fever can easily be due to dehydration.

The baby food worked like a charm to settle Krissy down, it is so mild and easily digested, it's also great for sick uri kittens.

However, as you said too, not all will react this way as your kitty did not. 

I think it's well worth trying.

Maybe the cerenia continued will help too, in case.

The key really is to get calories and fluids in and keep them in.

If she won't eat it on her own then syringe feed it. 

I also think she needs to figure out how to deal with this vet........or not. Nothing is written in stone that you MUST stay with her either. She's putting too much pressure on you, and adding insult to injury. SO not cool imo.

Denice said:

 
Your kitties symptoms do sound a lot like IBD.  The symptoms sound very similar to my  kitties symptoms, constipation and bouts of anorexia and vomiting which is actually almost like dry heaves.  I don't think this is a reaction to the metro  The way I read it she started on the metro on June 20, there was improvement and dramatic worsening after the metro was stopped.  This actually points toward IBD.  Metro is an antibiotic with anti-inflammatory properties.  There was improvement while on it and then a rebound of the symptoms even worse after it was stopped.  This is very much what would happen if a steroid was suddenly stopped rather than tapered.

I would try again working with the vet as far as which diagnostics to do.  I have seen kitties where the vet has used a steroid like a diagnostic.  If there is improvement with a steroid then it is IBD, no improvement then it is something else.

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To clarify, I was giving her the metro right up until the morning she started vomiting.  I only stopped BECAUSE she was vomiting, so I wouldn't say that the stopping of the metro resulted in a rebound of symptoms at all.  Sorry if that was unclear at all. 

cat nap said:

 
Gosh, I am so sorry....I forgot that the @ is a paging device, and we are not really supposed to page advisors....what is worse is that I thought that Denice was west coast time, too.  Arhhh....I better stick to the rules.   But since you are here, catwoman707, I do appreciate it, too. 

   (Us canadians, have really high vet costs.) 

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Thank you for being so thoughtful cat nap... to the point of breaking the rules.  I appreciate your care. 

catwoman707 said:

 
Yes I agree, fever can easily be due to dehydration.

The baby food worked like a charm to settle Krissy down, it is so mild and easily digested, it's also great for sick uri kittens.

However, as you said too, not all will react this way as your kitty did not. 

I think it's well worth trying.

Maybe the cerenia continued will help too, in case.

The key really is to get calories and fluids in and keep them in.

If she won't eat it on her own then syringe feed it. 

I also think she needs to figure out how to deal with this vet........or not. Nothing is written in stone that you MUST stay with her either. She's putting too much pressure on you, and adding insult to injury. SO not cool imo.

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Thank you for your very well laid out diet plan.  I'm hesitant to propose it to this vet, as I feel like she thinks if I do home care at this point, I'm endangering her wellness.  But perhaps if we can get her drinking at the clinic and the vet is willing continue the cerenia for a time, when she comes back home, I can do this on my own, and perhaps get a second opinion if the vet is not on-board.

Thank you so much to everyone for the responses.  It's very late now, so I'm sure you're all in bed, but I'll let you know in the morning how things go.  I will suggest hospitalizing her for the short term, and trying to get her to eat and drink again, before I make any other decisions. 

@Tico, I'm so sorry that your little girl is not well.   

CatPack said:

I have to wonder if your vet is trying to decide whether your cat has IBD, pancreatitis or cancer.

You CAN treat symptomatically for IBD. As for pancreatitis, there is a SNAP test (similar to combo testing or heartworm testing) that can be done, though I believe bloodwork or an ultrasound is the preferred diagnostic for cats. But, I have used the SNAP pancreatic test personally and it confirmed our suspicions.

But, an ultrasound would really be the way to decifer between the 3 mentioned illnesses. And, I could understand your vet's sense of urgency if this is the case.

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I totally agree with what @CatPack said regarding what the vet may be looking for and the vet's sense of urgency. My cat Sebastian has had chronic pancreatitis and IBD for two years now. It started out with an acute attack of pancreatitis, which is quite serious and very painful. The vet first did the Snap fPL test, which is the quick test for pancreatitis. It came back sky high. Now it's not 100% accurate, but it gave them a starting point. We did the more accurate Spec fPL test later (which gets sent out to Texas A&M in the US). Sebastian also had a high WBC count and a fever. My vet said the same thing, "He needs to be hospitalized." When I expressed my concern about costs, she said not to worry about that right now and that we could work something out (i.e. payment plan). Can you work out a payment plan with the vet? He was hospitalized for four days. On the fifth day, he still was not eating on his own and the vet recommended the ultrasound, which we did. So, he didn't have the ultrasound right away. Trying to get him stabilized came first.

Was blood work done on Sophie? How is her white and red blood cell counts?

Sending good vibes... 

GoHolistic said:

 
@Tico, I'm so sorry that your little girl is not well. 

 

I totally agree with what @CatPack said regarding what the vet may be looking for and the vet's sense of urgency. My cat Sebastian has had chronic pancreatitis and IBD for two years now. It started out with an acute attack of pancreatitis, which is quite serious and very painful. The vet first did the Snap fPL test, which is the quick test for pancreatitis. It came back sky high. Now it's not 100% accurate, but it gave them a starting point. We did the more accurate Spec fPL test later (which gets sent out to Texas A&M in the US). Sebastian also had a high WBC count and a fever. My vet said the same thing, "He needs to be hospitalized." When I expressed my concern about costs, she said not to worry about that right now and that we could work something out (i.e. payment plan). Can you work out a payment plan with the vet? He was hospitalized for four days. On the fifth day, he still was not eating on his own and the vet recommended the ultrasound, which we did. So, he didn't have the ultrasound right away. Trying to get him stabilized came first.

Was blood work done on Sophie? How is her white and red blood cell counts?

Sending good vibes... 

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Her blood work was all healthy.  Everything is normal.  

cat nap said:

 
I would seriously print out what @CatPack and @Denice mentioned, and ask this vet if she could work with you,....and also ask about steroids, and if they could be given without harming Sophie. 

What Cat Pack mentioned about the different situations, makes the most sense, and only if you could afford the care and treatment. 

I forgot to ask, how old is your Sophie? And is she able to take in some water from syringes.

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Missed this... She's 6 next month.  And yes, she'll take water in a syringe, although not without protest. 

I still don't think this is a reaction to the metro.  Normally kitties who react badly to metro have neurological symptoms.  Generally kitties tolerate a short time on metro very well, bad reactions usually occur with long term use.  Metro shouldn't be used long term anyway, it is only for the time that a kitty is in a severe flare.  I think your kitty's illness, whatever it is, has worsened despite the metro.  Of course if the Metro isn't helping then it should be discontinued.  There is no point in continuing a medication that isn't helping.