[450] Emily

Sun Jun 5 14:26:28 EDT 2011

George,

Thank you so much for the hints on food.  I am taking your stance food wise. 
Although I did get gerber baby food too.  Highest in protein I could.  She 
actually sniffed it.  I have been on the phone with the vet.  Last night I 
pulled a high number on her BG, over 290.  I called him and told him what 
was happening to her.  I loaded her with about 6 cc's of water and tried a 
couple of nibbles of food, no dice, so she went the night on water only. 
Woke and she was 321.  I decided that was enough.  Put her on the counter 
and forced down over an ounce of food into her belly.  AND water back and 
forth between bites.  She started to get "pissy" at me, but when I said "NO" 
in my normal sharp tone when she is doing something she should not, she 
responded with her normal demeanor pre-ill.  She put her paw down even 
though she wanted to scratch the hell out of me.  I actually looked at her 
without pity and laughed.
She is just now done with her second bout with me injecting food into her. 
So she has had two tiny meals today.  She is not hiding like she was and she 
is still not purring.  (this is the true sign of happy cat, not a nervous 
behavior for her in particular)  Once she purrs, we are out of the woods and 
on the field again.  I spoke to her doc and he thinks my tough stance is 
going to work a heck of a lot better.  I have to up her insulin by one unit 
tonight based on her food intake.  He is all about me managing her care and 
last night when I spoke to him he let me know that he thinks the same as I 
do, Emily was absolutely destroyed emotionally being away from home and 
stuck in the cage at the vet.  He felt very afraid for her even though she 
had to have the IV in for 48 hours.  He said he was very concerned with her 
decline in emotion.  When I went to visit her, it was all I could do to not 
detach the IV and run out the door with her.  She won't be there again 
except for necessary visits.  No stays.
He is a good vet thus far.  He did warn me the only other option is an 
extreme specialist.  But that it was highly cost prohibitive and not 
necessarily a viable solution.
I don't think she got into anything.  II only have an English Ivy in the 
house, she has been with it all of her life and does not do anything with 
it.  Actually, we noticed she got ill when I brought home the bouquet from 
my Dads memorial service.  It promptly went outside and that was the end of 
that. (that was back in April, no correlation)
Em is hopefully heading toward the light again.  She is expressing a little 
more interest in us.  Not by much, but a little.  She actually just sniffed 
Robert's finger which he stuck in his ear for ear wax.  (disgusting - 
blech - ugh)  And she looked up at me when I came in with the groceries.  We 
are keeping her from hiding on us and staying in her funk.  She is jumping 
off the counter a little better.  She better not make me feed her forcefully 
for too long!  I hate doing it to her but will continue until I see her 
chubby little bod heading for her water and food.  She still smells sick 
inside.  It is likely due to her high BG.  And the pancreas not doing so 
hot.  The one thing she hates big time and it hurts when I have to give it 
to her is the antibiotic.  She puts holes in me when I give it to her.  BUT 
she also exhibits strength.  Good sign there.

Thanks George, if you think of anything...let me know.  I think I am okay 
with the Vet for now.  Em cannot abide the car for too long, he is about a 
mile down the road.  This works nicely.  And my initial impression with him 
is that he is a kind hearted soul with a good sense of what needs to be 
done.  Em is only at half of her life span right now as far as I am 
concerned.  When we get her level, there is always the possibility that we 
could see her go into remission in a year or so.  We shall see.  If I have 
to give her insulin for life, so be it.  I am hoping a long life so I guess 
we had best be prepared for the long haul!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Andrews" <gandrews at ntplx.net>
To: "144.450 Mailing List" <450 at lists.vhfwiki.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [450] Emily

> Leslie,
>
> Sammy cattus survived so many things, including a spinal cord stroke. He 
> did get so sick that he was barely mobile. Some cats do not like fish. I 
> would still try the water from tuna and water, no salt, no oil. See if she 
> will drink it. Another thing to try is some diced chicken that you have 
> for a meal, no spices , no salt. From what youy have told me, I can't 
> suggest much else in terms of food.
>
> I have found that there is a very wide range of "standard of care" with 
> vets. We had emergencies with Sammy and were told on one occasion that we 
> needed to think about how far we wanted to go with this. This particular 
> vet suggested putting him down. They could not tell me what was wrong with 
> him! Needless to say, I did not listen. Some will provide care, but 
> nothing aggressive. Them there are those who will actively work with you 
> to do whatever can be done to keep Emily healthy. Do you have a dose vs. 
> blood sugar level you work from? Do you report this to your vet and does 
> he/she periodically adjust it? This is one standard of care I would expect 
> (advice is by phone so there is no charge). Has there been any imaging of 
> pancreas/liver to see what is happening there?
>
> We have always taken our cats to cats only vets for the most part. The one 
> time we did not do this and Sammy required a several night stay, he did 
> not do well. About the only way I can describe it is depressed. He never 
> liked to be away from us, but it was worse if he had to stay with dogs 
> around.
>
> Another thought, do you have plants in the house? We have gotten rid of 
> all plants toxic to cats. It took us two times to understand some plants 
> are simply not compatible with cats. Twice our cats got so sick, we 
> thought they would not live. Anything else she might have gotten into? The 
> vet probably already mentioned this.
>
> As for humans, sometimes a second or third opinion is good. Towards the 
> end we did this for Sammy. It may seem like a lot of trouble and expense 
> to do this, but I could not do anything else for him. If you want some 
> names of vets, let me know.
>
> George
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Leslie Busino" <partybug at charter.net>
> To: "144.450 Mailing List" <450 at lists.vhfwiki.com>
> Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 2:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [450] Emily
>
>
>> George,
>>
>> I am having to force her right now.  She has not gone to the litter box 
>> at all.  She has no real favorites as long as it is wet food Fancy Feast 
>> Classic.  She sticks in the turkey and giblet and chicken and beef.  No 
>> fish.  She tends to get sick everytime she gets her teeth into something 
>> that might have fish in it.  So, I decided long ago that she must have an 
>> aversion to it.
>>
>
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