Muffin - Bad news vet visit today

[violet]

Please please please don't take Muffin off the steroid. Since it's working, you have a medication that is helping you in your fight. As long as you can keep Muffin eating the way he is eating now you are winning a major fight every single day and you should not make any changes because keeping him eating is more important right now than anything else. With diseases involving the liver (or the intestinal tract) keeping a cat eating is the most important thing. It helps the liver and the gall bladder functioning normally.

With liver cancer our hands are tied. With some forms we have nothing to fight with. Neither medications nor natural supplements that are supposed to help the liver make any difference. So if we have a situation where we can find a medication that is really and truly helpful, most importantly, it keeps our baby eating, we have reason to be thankful and we have to keep using it as long as it can help.

Let me know if you would want to read something that deals with a situation where prednisone can no longer help and I'll post the link for you.

 

[krn1960]

i myself have had heavy steroid treatments and it leaves a horrible metalic tast in the mouth it may just be that your kitty dont want to eat cause everything tastes like metal. talk to your vet about it.

 

[violet]

Well, normally, under normal circumstances, vets prescribe the smallest amounts of steroid medication for long-term use for cats to help with certain specific health problems. And, normally, cats don't experience any troublesome side effects from these low doses.

This is the kind of situation we are talking about here.

There are other situations, of course, that call for much higher doses of steroids.

And with those, side effects can be a very serious problem. Long-term, those side effects can become life-threatening. In a situation like that a cat's life literally depends on a caring vet's management of the problem.

 

[carolina]

Please please please don't take Muffin off the steroid. Since it's working, you have a medication that is helping you in your fight. As long as you can keep Muffin eating the way he is eating now you are winning a major fight every single day and you should not make any changes because keeping him eating is more important right now than anything else. With diseases involving the liver (or the intestinal tract) keeping a cat eating is the most important thing. It helps the liver and the gall bladder functioning normally.
 
With liver cancer our hands are tied. With some forms we have nothing to fight with. Neither medications nor natural supplements that are supposed to help the liver make any difference. So if we have a situation where we can find a medication that is really and truly helpful, most importantly, it keeps our baby eating, we have reason to be thankful and we have to keep using it as long as it can help.
 
Let me know if you would want to read something that deals with a situation where prednisone can no longer help and I'll post the link for you.

especially since removing the pred didn't work before..... I would not remove it either.... Way, way too risky. As Violet says, you are winning the biggest fight with its help. Tons, tons of vibes!

 

[farleyv]

Just catching up here Barb....so sorry you and Muffin are going through all this.  Arthur, my hyper t kitty with pancreas issues also, gets milk thistle.  I put two drops on his food once daily and he eats it up.  I also have to sprinkle a powder with enzymes that "pre digest" his food for him since his pancreas is insufficient.  He is also very thin, but as long as he is eating, I will be happy.

Keeping you and Muffin in my prayers.  Oh, also, my vet has put him on AD, more fat to try to bulk him up a bit.

God Bless.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Thanks Violet, Carolina and FarleyV.  Believe me, I am not too worried about this steroid. He is only getting a half tablet every day.  The vet wanted to get him on a schedule of taking it every other day.

Then if he did well, try to get him off it.  But he didn't do well when he only missed getting it one day.  We didn't try to take him off it totally.  Of course, I wish none of this had happened.  But I saw how it threw Muffin way back when he didn't get it every day.  The odd thing about it was he actually only missed one day, but it took four days or so to get him set straight and  eating again.  I had hoped to get to the stage where we could give him something to try and improve his liver health.  His liver Alt had always been high in blood tests and we gave him Denamarin for a period of time.  The number improved drastically, but it was making him vomit so we quit it since at that time he didn't have any real symptoms of any kind.  I know it is a combination of milk thistle and Sam-E.  The vet and I talked about trying one or the other of these ingredients to see if we can determine which one was making him sick and then concentrate on giving him the other.  I would like to do it because the pathology report that came back after his tumor removal stated he did have liver inflammation.  But his circumstance is complicated because we are having to try to get him regulated on a thyroid dosage too.  For now, I am just taking a day at a time and being thankful.  Violet, yes please post the link.  I am open to any suggestions anyone has about anything because I don't know what the future holds and I believe in trying to educate myself.  I appreciate all you guys and your suggestions.  Thanks.

 

[violet]

Taking it one day at a time and being thankful is all we can do in a situation like this. And praying that the medication that is working will keep working for a long time.

In my experience many milk thistle supplements can cause vomiting, even in very low amounts. Perhaps it's only an individual reaction. But it's also possible that the information we are looking for regarding this problem is simply not available and when it comes to using milk thistle, we are on our own. (Eventually I did find one that didn't cause vomiting, but to this day I couldn't say for sure it didn't interfere with appetite.)

I believe the steroid medication is helping Muffin because it's working for the issues his body is having with inflammation. I also believe checking blood values regularly is the best thing one can do under these circumstances to catch any changes as early as possible.

This is the link to the info I mentioned in my earlier post. I hope with all my heart you won't have to deal with this kind of situation for a very long time. When we think about it, we can see it very clearly how grateful we have to be every day when medication is still working, keeping our baby going.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Ask-Veterinarian-700/2009/5/Cat-Lymphoma-IBS-eating.htm

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Thanks for the link Violet.  I will read it.  By the way, has anyone heard from BarbB about her cat Toby.  He got sick about the same time Muffin did and she had a thread about him.  I sent her a PM a couple days and have not heard.  She was staying in touch with me, but then we stopped writing and I am really wondering our she and Toby are. 

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I am giving my original thread on Muffin a bump to update.  He is doing well.  His appetite is good and he is gaining a little weight.  He is currently getting 1/4 tablet methamazole for thyroid daily and 1/2 of a 5 milligram prednisolone tablet to keep him eating and feeling good.  Tomorrow morning I am taking him for a thyroid check.  The vet wants to try to reduce his steroid dosage to every other day again if the thyroid numbers are good on his bloodwork.  I am nervous because we tried this once and it gave him a set back.  I am taking one day at a time.  I love playing in the grass with him on these cool days.  He acts like the feels so good.  Please remember Muffin in your prayers today--------- and Muffin's mama too.  LOL.

 

[jcat]

You got it! It's good to hear he's doing pretty well now. That's all we can really do - take it one day at a time and cherish the time we have with them.

 

[feralvr]

Absolutely - keeping you and Muffin in thought and prayer :rub: I am so happy to hear that Muffin is feeling well. I do understand the worry about making any change in his Pred. schedule right now. Especially since he is doing so well. Let us know how the bloodwork turns out and those thyroid levels.

 

[ldg]

I'm so glad to hear he's enjoying life and feeling well! Prayers, vibes and purrs all continues to go well. :heart2:

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Just an update on Muffin.  This morning he had bloodwork to check his thyroid.  His T-4 is 3.3.  The vet said in a perfect world it would be a bit lower, but he is satisfied with where it is.  We will make another attempt to reduce Muffin; steroid dosage.  He wants Muffin to have it every day until Sunday and skip that day to see how he does.  Keep us the positve thoughts, prayers and vibes for my 12 year old sweet boy.  Thanks.

 

[feralvr]

Don't we WISH it were a perfect world!!! Will continue with the prayers for your Muffin for Sunday! Let us know.

 

[ldg]

Don't we WISH it were a perfect world!!! Will continue with the prayers for your Muffin for Sunday! Let us know.

EXACTLY that! I'm not familiar with the thyroid numbers, but if the vet is happy, I'm happy! :bigthumb: Add my for Sunday!

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Well, something about today has set Muffin back.  He wouldn't eat his food when he came from the vets office and he wouldn't eat it tonight.  I  sprinklet Forti Flora over it and am waiting to see if that gets him going.  Need some strong prayers for Muffin to eat. Thanks.

 

[ldg]

On the way. Hopefully it's just the stress of the visit, and his appetite will be back tomorrow!

 

[jcat]

Eat, eat, eat . Hopefully he's just out of sorts because he had to go to the vet's.

 

[barbb]

Prayers for Muffin! 

 

 I hope he gets back on track. My boy Toby is 12 too btw :-).

When Toby comes back from chemo he wants food right away, but then a little bit later he is not so keen on it, like a delayed reaction. Other times he just does not want food after the doctor. Like I was saying before, the doctor told me that after a while the kitties start feeling nauseated even beforehand, because they associate the office with their past pains. So maybe that is what is happening to Muffin? I sure hope so. You wish so much that you know what they are feeling and thinking.  

When Toby is picky about his food, I get him the fancy feast appetizers, skipjack tuna variety. He likes tongal tuna too, but skipjack is less lumped. I think it is very mild and sort of creamy and it must be the cat equivalent of chicken soup with rice and saltines lol. Maybe that will help with Muffin, altho I know different cats like different foods. Toby's favorites seem to be that along with Fancy Feast beef and liver classic brand lol. Meanwhile I end up giving my outdoor ferals and my foster FIV kitties the really nice expensive stuff because he isn't that interested- Weruva, Tiki, BG, BFF, it drives me nuts sometimes lol. 

 

[kittylover23]

Awwwwwwwww prayers and vibes for Muffin coming right up hon!!!!!!!!!!!