Devastated About Rose's Health---not Sure What To Do

[arouetta]

Thank you!! I'll look into that asap

EDIT: Oh darn, it looks like it's Ontario-specific (I'm in Quebec).

Quebec? Awesome English.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Well...having english as my mother tongue helps haha.

You should see the amount of confusion I cause...my last name is french so all the french-speaking Quebecers start speaking to me in french only to be extremely confused that, while bilingual, I'm not francophone. Meanwhile english-speaking Quebecers cannot for the life of them pronounce or spell my last name.

 

[arouetta]

Lol.

I've got a friend from Quebec, he's military stationed in Alberta right now. Thankfully he's fluent bilingual, because I don't know any French. He said that when he meets other people from Quebec in the military that are also fluent in English they start flipping languages repeatedly during a conversation without realizing it.

 

[chrisjoesepp]

Thank you!! I'll look into that asap

EDIT: Oh darn, it looks like it's Ontario-specific (I'm in Quebec).

Rats! I thought it was pan-canadian. So sorry about that, I'll let you know if I can find anything else.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Hi all,

So today has been interesting.
I *thought* the steroids weren't working, but in the last 24 hours it's like someone turned the itch-machine back on---not as severe as she was prior, but it's starting to ramp up again, hopefully it won't get too bad before Friday and her appointment.
So it looks like they were working, just not 100%.

Her eyes/ears are still staying clearer (so the food is helping) but poor girl has been scratching and rubbing and itching today. Mind you I'm also finding I've been sort of stuffed up again in the last couple days so maybe the floors and bedding is also due for a good wash too.

I've got my referral for an allergist and testing, so we'll get that ball rolling.
Not that of course this is cat related, but yours truly got tentatively diagnosed with fibromyalgia today (or something along those lines---still running final diagnostics/waiting for the rheumatologist final verdict---could be CFS/ME also or both) and have got my referral to the rheumatologist so hopefully I can get it and my arthritis under control.

I was having a bit of a laugh when my GP was offering medication options because it was either 'Oh, I've taken those before' or 'Oh...they put my cat on that...'.
Still, I'm the master of rare side-effects so I'll be preferably looking into options that aren't as harsh or risky as some of the pharmeceuticals. I've got a new CBD oil in so am excited to see if that'll help.

Sometimes I wonder if perhaps Rose wouldn't benefit from CBD oil or something like that as well (not that I would give her any of mine of course!) given that I'm noticing she also tends to react strongly to most conventional medications. They either knock her out, mess up her stomach or give her runny poops.

 

[arouetta]

You just sparked a memory.

I've got seborrheic dermatitis, which I swear is the most miserable of all the "don't fret, it's not going to hurt you" medical problems. Most people with it are lucky, it stays on their scalp. Me? Sometimes it's so bad it covers a third of my body, and that's a lot of itching and scratching and skin scaling up and flaking off.

Anyway, I triggered a food allergy one time too many and I ended up with a second rash covering a significant part of my body. I was given a six day course of steroids. I don't know if they did anything for the food allergy rash, but Day 3 on the steroids my seborrheic dermatitis was gone. No itching, skin was great. 4 days after finishing the steroids the seborrheic dermatitis came back.

So bringing this back to Rose, could it be some form of eczema on her skin? That would explain why it came back in a massive way when the steroids were stopped, and why finding an allergy trigger has been difficult.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Huh...

I wonder. I'll mention it to the vet. I'm assuming they'll have to send me to a veterinary dermatologist to look into it in-depth though.
She's longhaired so obviously seeing any sort of condition on the skin is a bit tricky.
But I know in people that allergies/asthma (she does cough sometimes)/ezcema are sort of a triad (speaking from family experience here) so it wouldn't be surprise me.

I just had a lightbulb/memory moment too. It just occurred to me that I very rarely get small rashes that come and go and that clear up with some lamisil (terbinafine) on my chest and feet. I don't remember having any since Rose came home but I do wonder if she's got some sort of weird generalized ringworm or something too in addition.

 

[arouetta]

Anti-fungals also help with seborrheic dermatitis, even though it is a form of eczema. Something to do with a naturally occurring skin yeast having a higher than normal concentration on the actual patches. Doctors have no clue what one has to do with the other, but it does help.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Vet visit round two:

OK so, vet didn't think ringworm was something to worry about, so that's out for now.
Ditto with parasites/mites given the vet felt the three doses of Revolution were given in appropriate intervals.
Her lesion/skin had really improved thankfully they didn't have to shave and skin scrape her again.

Rose is....still not a fan of the vet. A lot of hissing and grumbling and poor girl's heart gets going so fast and she just turns into a statue.

She got her second depo-medrol injection (subcutaneous this time! at least not another intramuscular so it wasn't as painful) and has her third appointment (and hopefully last injection) in two weeks.

From there...well I guess we discuss Atopica or further testing.
Admittedly I'd like to get some bloodwork etc done first.

Poor girl vomited everywhere yesterday evening while I was away. Don't worry, someone comes in to watch and feed her when I'm gone overnight, but I guess either she had a hairball or was stressed (or got queasy since she ate late) so she was sick. She's acting normal now.

We've had some inconsistent stool (a little soft, a little skinny, sometimes normal) but vet didn't seem concerned yet, but we're keeping an eye on it.

I swapped out her ceramic bowls for stainless steel and swapped her barley-flavoured enzymatic toothpaste for a vanilla-mint flavoured one (I know, but it's that, barley or meat flavoured right now) so hopefully that'll help some.
Ears are a little bit warmer/gunky this past few days but the steroids have been wearing off. They're still staying much clearer however than before on the chicken food and aren't really red, just warmer.

 

[arouetta]

What about asking the vet for a pre-visit sedative?

And yeah, cats can sometimes have stomach upset. A puke fest for a single day is just something to watch in case it goes into day 2. I've seen my cats puke up a hairball and then proceed to eat too fast and puke that up. And of course after the main show they walk a few feet and then have a little after action retching just to make sure they hit a second smaller place every single time.

 

[RosesNoThorns]

What about asking the vet for a pre-visit sedative?

I had asked them/told them last visit that it was okay to give her a bit of a sedative to calm her down so they could work with her and do the full exam...but for some reason they declined. I'll bring it up again. Makes more sense to knock her out a bit and keep things as calm as possible than to be able to only half do the exam and have her all strung out just to avoid drugs.

I'm hoping it was just a one-time thing. Appetite is fine and she's back to her old self after that one incident so I think it was just stress or whatnot. She tends to poop/pee herself when she's upset so vomiting doesn't seem too unlikely either.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I had asked them/told them last visit that it was okay to give her a bit of a sedative to calm her down so they could work with her and do the full exam...but for some reason they declined. I'll bring it up again. Makes more sense to knock her out a bit and keep things as calm as possible than to be able to only half do the exam and have her all strung out just to avoid drugs.

I'm hoping it was just a one-time thing. Appetite is fine and she's back to her old self after that one incident so I think it was just stress or whatnot. She tends to poop/pee herself when she's upset so vomiting doesn't seem too unlikely either.

Depending on the sedative, IME sometimes it *can* go the opposite way and make things worse so that may or may not explain their hesitation.
I've given full OK for the vet to sedate my asthma cat during any kind of exam (usually anything involving blood draws or X-rays or anything vs. a once-over, as he's pretty laid back) but I do understand their hesitation, yet their worry at OT sedating and not being thorough.
One of mine got herself so worked up during a routine chiropractic adjustment during a period of injury that she puked on the ride home, stress puke, then puked once home, then crawled in my lap and puked again =/
I'm glad her appetite is good, she's her old self and it could/is related to stress and nothing more. I hope otherwise things are going well.

 

[1 bruce 1]

What about asking the vet for a pre-visit sedative?

And yeah, cats can sometimes have stomach upset. A puke fest for a single day is just something to watch in case it goes into day 2. I've seen my cats puke up a hairball and then proceed to eat too fast and puke that up. And of course after the main show they walk a few feet and then have a little after action retching just to make sure they hit a second smaller place every single time.

Then there are those that snarf food so fast that it doesn't even get all the way down before coming back up, then the other hungry hungry hippo's of the house snarf down the not-hardly-touched food and nothing is grosser than my cats hoarking up food that has barely been down their throat only to have the others treat it like an all you can eat buffet...

(I'm not grossed out or anything, can you tell?)

 

[RosesNoThorns]

Guess who's out of the cone!!!??

Yup, Rose.
She's still licking and chewing some BUT hasn't reopened old wounds or created any new ones so she gets to be cone-free as long as it stays that way.

Yours truly was allergy-tested today and I'm not (apparently) allergic to cats (anymore?) although if symptoms persist the allergist would like me to come back to do the intradermal injection test instead of the skin prick test.
However I'm apparently allergic to ragweed and to birch trees??

Anyhoo, allergist feels my symptoms are most likely some kind of chemical sensitivity or non-allergic irritation from dust or mold or whatever. Was speaking to my mom today and she did say that we lived in a neighbourhood in a more industrial part of town when I was very young which was right by a lot of heavy traffic that we had to move out of because suddenly my brother's asthma was flaring all the time, I was sneezing and coughing and even my mom had a hard time with her lungs and needed asthma meds.
So it could just be I'm sensitive.

I'm looking into one of those industrial grade air purifiers (I'd have to save up, but it might be worth it).

 

[1 bruce 1]

Guess who's out of the cone!!!??

Yup, Rose.
She's still licking and chewing some BUT hasn't reopened old wounds or created any new ones so she gets to be cone-free as long as it stays that way.

Yours truly was allergy-tested today and I'm not (apparently) allergic to cats (anymore?) although if symptoms persist the allergist would like me to come back to do the intradermal injection test instead of the skin prick test.
However I'm apparently allergic to ragweed and to birch trees??

Anyhoo, allergist feels my symptoms are most likely some kind of chemical sensitivity or non-allergic irritation from dust or mold or whatever. Was speaking to my mom today and she did say that we lived in a neighbourhood in a more industrial part of town when I was very young which was right by a lot of heavy traffic that we had to move out of because suddenly my brother's asthma was flaring all the time, I was sneezing and coughing and even my mom had a hard time with her lungs and needed asthma meds.
So it could just be I'm sensitive.

I'm looking into one of those industrial grade air purifiers (I'd have to save up, but it might be worth it).

I'm glad she seems to be doing better and is OUT of that cone!!!
I know nothing about human allergies, so I can't help you =(
What type of air purifiers are you considering?