LOL, what a wonderful update!I told my brother I was tempted to take the pills myself! Everyone in the household is thrilled that he seems comfortable and happy.
LOL, what a wonderful update!I told my brother I was tempted to take the pills myself! Everyone in the household is thrilled that he seems comfortable and happy.
Was he unable to drink, and dehydrated during those labs? I would wonder if dehydration from being so sick for a week would shoot those numbers up. (I'm not a vet, and I don't know much about kidney disease in cats but it's just a thought.)The first bloodwork was done on Monday, 8 January, which was 3 days after his suddenly falling ill. The second labs were done on Friday, 12 January. The only thing different was that he'd been severely ill for a full week by the time of the second labs, plus the stress of two ER visits. He ate wet food in that week, for the first time in his life - could that have impacted the numbers so much?
Last week, he was so severely ill - I think I haven't quite described it properly in my previous posts. He was almost 100% of the time in his cat bed, shuddering, not looking up but looking inward (is how I'd describe it), not responding to us, licking only food that was brought to him, crawling to the water bowl. Once he fell onto the water bowl and knocked it over but he couldn't move away, he just lay in the puddle. And once he crept into his litter box and just lay in it. His haunches and back legs were very weak, wobbly and emaciated. He was suddenly, profoundly altered and impaired that week. Like most of you, I have been around dying cats and I felt certain he was dying. Since the first dose of chemo he's been dramatically more himself, even today, which hasn't been great.
One curious finding in the exam was this: "Abnormal body conformation: is obese with a large fat pad but has muscle wasting dorsally." He's actually a bit scrawny, with sharp hip, spine, and shoulder bones. He has a little pot belly with hardly any fur on it (the rest of his fur is normal, pleasant and soft). I had noticed his hind quarters getting very thin and slightly bowed about 6 months ago, but when I asked my brother about it he said he hadn't noticed. -?
I think so. My IM let me cut it with a pill cutter. I don't know why crushing it would be any different. I don't know if he'll eat it in food unless you can supervise him eating it mixed in a small amount of food or treat until he's taken the whole dose. Personally, I would simply crush it in a spoon, add a little water, and then syringe up your makeshift suspension and shoot that into him. Over and done with and no begging to eat altered food. Sadly, this is how I have to "pill" Betty with ondansetron and gabapentin twice a day. The gabapentin is already a liquid dose. But I crush up the quarter pill of ondansetron in a spoon (I use a plastic measuring spoon and the plastic coated ended of a capsule filling spatula because metal on metal seems to make pill fragments launch airborne across the kitchen.) I also use a short squat 3 mL syringe to re-uptake her 1 mL measured dose. This type of syringe pops the dose into her in one clean go whereas the 1 mL syringe often sticks halfway and then I have to chase her down for another half dose.URGENT QUESTION: Is it OK to crush prednisolone? This is the first day I haven't been able to pill Danno. Can I crush the pill and put it in some food? Thanks
This is a great check up! I'm sorry he's upset though. Gabapentin as daftcat75 suggested might be a good idea if this is something that has to be done often. I'm glad Danno has been eating and getting stronger so this will just be a slight upset to his routine.Thank you!! We're back home and Danno is so upset - he's hiding under the bed. They took blood from his neck. How awful! I wish I'd been prepared for that - I assumed they'd take it from his leg.
He's come out now, for a bit of cuddling.
THE GOOD NEWS is that they felt his abdominal mass was noticeably smaller. White blood cells were fine; red were slightly lowered, but not so much that they were concerned today.
Back next week for second dose of chemo. Thank you so much for your well wishes!
Hi RussellsMom - One of my cats once got a needlestick injury....from which he never recovered. I've read other similar accounts....They took blood from his neck. How awful! I wish I'd been prepared for that - I assumed they'd take it from his leg......
Call Wedgwood and ask. I have found them to be very willing to answer questions about their meds. You can probably even look up some details about the med on their web site - Veterinary Pharmacy for Compounded Pet Medications (wedgewoodpharmacy.com).By the way, the prednisolone medi-melts from Wedgewood say "chicken flavor" but they smell strongly of marshmallow to me. Not unpleasant to my nose, but I can't imagine a cat would eat something that smells like that. Could they have mixed them up? And if so, could they have gotten other parts of the prescription wrong - like the medication itself???