[450] Emily

[George Andrews]

Leslie,

Sounds like you are doing everything you can! Vet sounds good. I had 
forgotten about the baby food. Maria reminded me of that last night. That 
would have been my next suggestion. The fact that she is looking to you when 
you come in from groceries. Does she have a favorite cat treat? Maybe giving 
her a couple of cat treats when you come in for groceries might help.

One thing that I did not mention. I used to lay on the floor with Sammy and 
gently rub his head down to between his shoulder blades. Also the spine 
where the tail starts. I would quietly talk to him. I would spend 10 to 15 
minutes a few times a day during his most difficult times, but always a 
couple of times a day. You are probably already doing this. Making a big 
fuss over her at times oyher than feeding medication may help. Anything that 
promotes bonding. Maybe more affection than usual to get her over the 
difficut time will help.

Will keep you all in thought and prayer.

George


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Busino" <partybug at charter.net>
To: "144.450 Mailing List" <450 at lists.vhfwiki.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2011 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: [450] Emily


> 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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