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- Jan 26, 2015
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First, I will start off with some background information about my little buddy, Asti. He is almost 14 years old. 4 years ago, he began having urinary issues that resulted in stones. He had his first cystotomy in 2018. He did very well up until last year other than some constipation issues & strange digestive "flare ups" that would go away on their own relatively quickly. In August last year, I took him in because he was seemingly constipated & would hunch over in pain. They found he was mildy constipated & had bladder stones again along with kidney stones. Another cystotomy was preformed, but this time, when he returned home, he seemed very sick. I pressed them to do blood work & his kidney levels were off the chart. He was hospitalized for a week, on constant IV fluids & a kidney diet. He really struggled to make it through it but his levels returned to normal. Ever since then, Asti has been on sub q fluids (at that point, twice a week) & epakatin. He stayed on his Hills prescription wet CD diet to prevent stones. A few months later, he was very impacted. Straining to defecate & having his weird digestive flare ups. He got an enema & was sent home. In November 2020, he began to slowly lose weight. He has been to the vet about a million times, always checking his blood & urine. No signs of infection for his bladder. Xrays show no stones other than his kidneys. They would treat him with an antibiotic shot & he would do well for about 2 weeks then begin to hunch over in pain & "slow down" activity wise again. I was searching for answers desperately because I hate to see my baby in pain. His blood work always showed slight elevation in white blood cells, mild anemia, & slightly elevated kidney values (but not bad for a cat that is CKD). Fast forward to April this year. He has lost almost 2 lbs in 5 months, his appetite dropped to almost nothing, & he keeps straining in the litter box. Finally his new vet suggested an ultrasound. We did the ultrasound & the bladder looked fine. Kidneys had stones towards the bad & mild damage to the kidneys. But they happened to find that he had inflammation in his pancreas. We started him on metronidazole/ursodil (100/50mg), prednisalone, buprenorphine (only until he stopped hunching over in pain), & his sub q fluids every day. It worked wonders. He gained some weight back, appetite was normal. No vomiting. & he was playing like a kitten again & enjoying life. This lasted a solid month or so. A few weeks ago, my buddy started having some blood on his stool & straining even though his stool was soft. & he began to defecate outside of the litterbox occasionally. He started slowing down. Appetite started to go away again.. he couldn't get comfortable or sleep well. I began to think he's having another pancreatitis flare up.. even though he only did well for a month. I took him to his vet last week to get some answers. We did more blood tests & xrays. Blood tests showed some slightly elevated kidney lvls (but HIS normal), one liver level was a little off, slightly worse anemia but the Dr said he wasn't too concerned bc of his previous blood results, & we also found that he has FIV. His xrays didn't show anything too abnormal. He saw the kidney stones & quiet a bit of gas in Asti's digestive tract. Also found out that he has a pretty uncomfortable back.. I also want to mention on a positive note that he actually gained an ounce or two, so no weight loss. We are at a loss.. I'm not sure why the metronidazole/ursidol/pred isn't working anymore. The Dr said he is probably struggling so much more to fight it off bc he is FIV. We are currently giving the fluids, metronidazole, pred, mirtazapine for his appetite, cerenia for nausea, buprenorphine & gabepenton for pain, & fortaflora to help with the diarrhea. He hasn't been doing well. I don't know how long it should take for him to get better.. & I'm so worried I will lose my buddy or that he will suffer too much. I can't even fathom losing him.
I began feeding him instinct duck wet food & sometimes instinct limited ingredient wet food. I read that it could help cool down his digestive system (not sure if that is accurate or not). He takes all his meds everyday. His diarrhea has slowly become more solid. I occasionally see some dark red blood in it but not often anymore. He sometimes defecates outside the litterbox right now. I take it as he is uncomfortable right now. After 2 doses of the mirtazapine, he has began to eat almost a normal amount again. He's also drinking a ton of water. Even though he gets 100ml of fluids a day. But I'm really happy he's drinking a lot to rehydrate himself. The biggest issue is his pain. He will walk around slowly & hunch over. I don't want him to hurt. & I'm scared that his meds aren't healing his pancreatitis. I don't know how long it should take to heal this flare up.. I don't want to lose hope since he has began to eat & drink again. & he's engaging in more normal behavior like sleeping near me & jumping on the counter for some water. He is also beginning to sleep better.
I would love to hear others' experiences & thoughts. Idk if he has IBD along with the pancreatitis or if this sounds like something else entirely. His vet doesn't seem to think cancer is involved bc of his ability to gain some weight back in a month & keep it even when this flare up has began. I also want to mention he has a heart murmur that he was diagnosed with 3 months ago. We had his heart checked by an ultrasound tech & it is clear & good. Also he rarely vomits & when he does, there isn't any blood or strange in it.
Has anyone used any other type of treatments for these things? Or experienced anything similar?
Advice is also very welcome. I would like to mention anything to my vet to try to help Asti. He is truly a fighter. & despite the past few months, I can tell he doesn't want to give up even though he is worn out from everything he has gone through.
Thanks in advance from Asti & I!!! We will keep fighting no matter what!
I began feeding him instinct duck wet food & sometimes instinct limited ingredient wet food. I read that it could help cool down his digestive system (not sure if that is accurate or not). He takes all his meds everyday. His diarrhea has slowly become more solid. I occasionally see some dark red blood in it but not often anymore. He sometimes defecates outside the litterbox right now. I take it as he is uncomfortable right now. After 2 doses of the mirtazapine, he has began to eat almost a normal amount again. He's also drinking a ton of water. Even though he gets 100ml of fluids a day. But I'm really happy he's drinking a lot to rehydrate himself. The biggest issue is his pain. He will walk around slowly & hunch over. I don't want him to hurt. & I'm scared that his meds aren't healing his pancreatitis. I don't know how long it should take to heal this flare up.. I don't want to lose hope since he has began to eat & drink again. & he's engaging in more normal behavior like sleeping near me & jumping on the counter for some water. He is also beginning to sleep better.
I would love to hear others' experiences & thoughts. Idk if he has IBD along with the pancreatitis or if this sounds like something else entirely. His vet doesn't seem to think cancer is involved bc of his ability to gain some weight back in a month & keep it even when this flare up has began. I also want to mention he has a heart murmur that he was diagnosed with 3 months ago. We had his heart checked by an ultrasound tech & it is clear & good. Also he rarely vomits & when he does, there isn't any blood or strange in it.
Has anyone used any other type of treatments for these things? Or experienced anything similar?
Advice is also very welcome. I would like to mention anything to my vet to try to help Asti. He is truly a fighter. & despite the past few months, I can tell he doesn't want to give up even though he is worn out from everything he has gone through.
Thanks in advance from Asti & I!!! We will keep fighting no matter what!