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That’s the biopsy I was recommended. That or the caecum itself, prolly both. IBD and small-cell lymphoma are treated almost identically anyway, and as far as I can tell the difference is “no change to projected lifetime” and “has a couple years”. So…what can I do but try and make his poops less stressful and full of suffering, right? I’ve been recommended soluble fiber to make the poops look more normal and happen less often, but I don’t like the idea of taking water out of my cat’s digestion. I’ve changed his diet to a limited ingredient diet with no noticeable change. I’ve given him probiotics and it hasn’t helped much. I can’t tell if his stool is going so badly because there’s no bacteria to process it, no longer any acceptable food to process, or if the process itself is broken. I don’t like not knowing why, because if I know why, then I can formulate a plan. I guess I’m just in a weird mood because I can no longer deny that my cat is Old and I just idk. That’s not a fun adjustment.
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Sep 28, 2022 14:30
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I’d also like to talk about dietary management of IBD. My understanding of IBD is that it is characterized by damaged intestinal walls. Damaged intestinal wall causes chronic diarrhea, and damaged intestinal wall is caused by god knows what - allergens, parasites, bad bacteria, autoimmune anger, cancer, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Point is that at the very least, the intestinal walls need to heal, and therefore we need to figure out how to promote that healing. The way I see it, steroids are a short-term solution. They’ll reduce inflammation, calm down the lymph nodes, and make it so that the intestines don’t just speed the food along out of panic. Healing the intestinal wall, on the other hand, is a medium-term solution. It’ll take some time, but my hope is that with the right nutrition, environment, and probiotics, the intestinal lining can regenerate. Once that’s done the gut should be able to absorb food as normal(-ish). Just a matter of, uh…figuring out how to do that. Long term solution is promoting gut health and watchful waiting. That means probiotics, hitting the right protein/fat/fiber balance, and trying out different food sources to find allergens - which will be impossible to narrow down before the gut heals, so that has to happen first. I just don’t want to start subscribing to magical diet bullshit. There’s all sorts of quackery and garbage out there on what cats should or should not eat and I want no part of it. I don’t think we’ll ever have a grand unifying theory of cat food. The only thing I’ll ever know for real is my own cat and what works for him, or doesn’t. Here’s my dietary plan: - Withhold free-feeding kibble - Steroids in the short term, to reduce inflammation and hopefully prevent an autoimmune complex - Bone broth/gravy in the short-to-medium term: take off the skin and most of the fat from some chicken wings, bones, neck, and gizzards (if chicken is unappetizing try fish); pressure cook, pick out the bones and unmelted cartilage; blend until smooth; serve twice daily with additional water and probiotics as appropriate - Raw food diet in the medium-to-long term: bone broth/gravy as above with the addition of chunks of meat on the side; also occasional fancy stuff like chopped up cooked shrimp or somethin’ — I have no explanation for why this suddenly got worse as of about February or March 2022. (I’d love to blame COVID.) But it doesn’t matter - this needs to be addressed, monitored, experimented on, and adjusted. baby 
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Sep 28, 2022 16:09
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Thank you both, I cleaned his eyes regularly over the weekend and it's resolved itself without the vet. Of course the other cat now has a warm, painful lump on his head. The good lord giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other.
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Sep 28, 2022 22:51
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Pollyanna posted:I’d also like to talk about dietary management of IBD. Yes there are similar treatment plans but as I mentioned above some animals do well on a truly hypoallergenic diet. IBD and lymphoma are similar in treatment with pred/mycophenolate but not every IBD cat needs that. Starting steroids before getting a diagnosis may frustrate getting a diagnosis later if you need to, especially if it's lymphoma. There's no need to withold water or grazing as far as I'm aware. Raw diets/bone broth are super trendy but have no evidence of benefit, and the raw diet may put your cat at risk of life threatening infection (as well as you). https://skeptvet.com/Blog/2022/07/r...ernal-medicine/ Don't overcomplicate things. Ignore the internet. Go see a medicine specialist, or if not, try a hypoallergenic diet ONLY for eight weeks. If there's no improvement and you're not giving any other foods then you know you need something else.
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Sep 28, 2022 23:30
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 yeah I know. I just wanna do something. And switching him to this limited ingredient food doesn’t seem to have changed much. Maybe it’s not the right food?Already got some chicken hocks and gizzards, tho. I’ll make him a little fully cooked(!) limited ingredient bone broth and gravy just because I want to give him a treat. Makes me feel better.
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Sep 29, 2022 00:04
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https://www.royalcanin.com/uk/shop/hypoallergenic-3902 https://www.purina.co.uk/cat/cat-food/hypoallergenic These are proper hypoallergenic foods
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Sep 29, 2022 13:18
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I don’t yet understand what makes a food hypoallergenic. Is it just a single source of protein and limited additives? Is it a specific processing technique or something? Doesn’t every cat have different allergies? I’m relating this to humans like with peanuts or animal dander, and I don’t quite get it.
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Sep 29, 2022 14:46
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I've got an allergic/digestive issues cat myself, we had to go through the elimination process when I first got him since we didn't have too many vet foods available here back then. I was literally boiling chicken breast and mushing it with rice under vet advice but it's a lot easier now. Most cats become allergic to the same common food items, like dairy, beef, lamb, egg, fish. Mine gets green projectile diarrhea from food colouring, (I suspect this is why he was dumped, red colouring was common in cheap cat food back then) and can't digest any red meat. Actually at this point he doesn't really digest anything without extra enzymes added but at least I've found something that works. A hypoallergenic food has a novel protein which the cat shouldn't react to because they have had no chance to become sensitized to it (I've seen duck, venison, pea and soy proteins for example). So it gives a chance for everything to settle down and heal, and can be used as a sole food, or if you want to identify the allergen it lets you add one new thing at a time to find the trigger while nutrition is maintained. It's way more convenient to buy prepared food because then you know all the required nutrients are there and in correct balance, whereas making it yourself how do you know if you have enough fat and fat soluble vitamins? Was there enough taurine? and so on. Actually for some reason this reminded me that my other cat had foul smelling liquid stools and we went through a few different ideas - parasites/gut flora imbalance/food intolerance before getting a full blood panel done and finding his thyroid levels were off the charts. Getting his thyroid under control pretty much solved his bowel problems; and we really had no indication he was having thyroid problems apart from that he was always ravenously hungry. We thought he was pooping too much causing him to feel hungry but the thyroid was just aggravating everything. Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Sep 29, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 17:29
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I've got a question; it feels a little bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but here it goes... Backstory: My 13yo beagle has terminal liver cancer, a humongous tumor. Also a heart murmur and cough indicating heart failure? Poor boy. The plan is to medically alleviate symptoms as they come, and then when we can't anymore, obviously it's time to put him down. He's a bit of a slow walker, feels bony with low muscle mass (despite gigantic tumorful abdomen), can't hop up on furniture anymore, is finicky about eating (wet food, with chicken and rice in, hand-fed), and has very frequent diarrhea. But his attitude is still good! He's still wanting to be involved with the family, following us wherever we go, likes going on (very slow) walks, little tail wags when he sees someone he likes. I don't think we're at his "time" just yet. Everything we've done is at the advice of the vet, but the vet doesn't respond very much when I leave messages through the receptionist anymore. Maybe he's all out of ideas? Maybe he's too busy to talk to me every week? Maybe the internet has a second opinion that I could present to him? The diarrhea is the part that concerns me most. Pro-pectalin helped for a while many months ago, but eventually it came back. We tried imodium for about 2 doses but it didn't help at all and the vet thought if it didn't work after 2, it wouldn't ever, so we stopped. We kept on with the pro-pectalin, but also added a probiotic powder once daily. That helped for a few weeks, but as of about a week ago we're back to very-soft to definitely-diarrhea poops every day. Rarely does it seem to be "urgent" diarrhea, as he can hold it fine for about 4 hours no problem. It's just very soft, or all liquid. Sometimes mucousy. Sometimes with a little blood at the end. Current meds: Denamarin Advanced, once daily Prednisone, 5mg, once daily Probiotic powder, Pivetal, 30g, once daily Pro-Pectalin, 1.5 tablets, every 8 hours I'll edit with the actual names and dosages when I get home and can look at the bottles. Just curious if any vets possibly reading this are like "Oh! For diarrhea, X is a good shot. Ask your vet about X." Extra edit: We have also tried metronidazole twice; the first time it helped, the second time not so much. Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Sep 30, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 20:31
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Pollyanna posted:I don’t yet understand what makes a food hypoallergenic. Is it just a single source of protein and limited additives? Is it a specific processing technique or something? Doesn’t every cat have different allergies? I’m relating this to humans like with peanuts or animal dander, and I don’t quite get it. A true hypoallergenic diet uses hydrolyzed proteins - Broken down into small enough chunks that the immune system doesn't recognize them. Royal Canin has a diet called Ultamino that breaks them down almost to their base amino acids (but for whatever reason, it's a horribly unpalatable diet, cats tend to hate it ime).
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Oct 1, 2022 00:42
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My vet and I are having trouble getting my cat stable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UBipa48jEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULNJ6K1dLMs 40 seconds here She went from 15 to 9 lbs in a month. High thyroid hormones in bloodwork. Vomiting and not eating, constipation, hiding. She is 17. Got her on antithyroid meds. Retested bloodwork, they are working. She is more social now, VERY picky with food. Every time she eats she starts making noise then stops and walks away. If i put food back on front of her she continues. She did get her teeth cleaned, I originally thought this was a dental issue. She does not look comfortable shen she eats. She seems fine otherwise. The other cat started attacking her seeing the weakness. She is no longer losing weight. I half wonder if it is aspiration or a muscle control thing. The way she walks around kind of listless sometimes makes me think she is losing her mind. Is it time? She still grooms. Has anyone seen this? The vet sees a little bit of red around her gums but thinks it's nothing. A cat that doesn't eat unless I coax her onto it isn't normal. She can't eat dry food anymore, she acts like she's choking. That's all she used to eat. SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Oct 1, 2022 |
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Oct 1, 2022 08:37
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Pollyanna posted:I don’t yet understand what makes a food hypoallergenic. Is it just a single source of protein and limited additives? Is it a specific processing technique or something? Doesn’t every cat have different allergies? I’m relating this to humans like with peanuts or animal dander, and I don’t quite get it. There's buzzword hypoallergenic and than proper hypoallergenic where they blow up the proteins so that the body doesn't recognise them as allergens but they still provide nutrition.
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Oct 1, 2022 22:32
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We noticed a bunch of bumps/hives on our dog yesterday so we took her to the vet, they gave her a benadryl and steroid shot and the bumps went away, then they said we could give her benadryl for like 3-5 days. Since the bumps completely cleared by the time we went to bed I assumed they wouldn't be back and didn't give her any, but about half an hour ago some bumps/hives came back, which would've been like 20-22 hours after the vet visit. Is it something that we should worry about, or was I just an idiot for not starting the benadryl last night? I ran to the store to buy it and gave her a dose like 10 minutes ago, waiting to see if the bumps clear up now.
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Oct 3, 2022 19:48
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Reik posted:We noticed a bunch of bumps/hives on our dog yesterday so we took her to the vet, they gave her a benadryl and steroid shot and the bumps went away, then they said we could give her benadryl for like 3-5 days. Since the bumps completely cleared by the time we went to bed I assumed they wouldn't be back and didn't give her any, but about half an hour ago some bumps/hives came back, which would've been like 20-22 hours after the vet visit. Is it something that we should worry about, or was I just an idiot for not starting the benadryl last night? I ran to the store to buy it and gave her a dose like 10 minutes ago, waiting to see if the bumps clear up now.
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Oct 4, 2022 18:36
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Jet’s test results are in: - Low B12 - TLI levels consistent with pancreatitis Otherwise, he’s completely normal. Gut flora fine, pancreas angry but fine, no signs of diabetes or any other systemic problem. Got told to come in and learn how to give B12 shots, which he’ll get once a week for a while. And to keep the internal medicine consultation. It could be far worse. Might still be, but we’re a ways out from that. Guess this little poo poo is sticking around a while longer.
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Oct 5, 2022 17:16
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Took him to the vet again for an exam and blood work, and the vet wanted to see if he had fluid in his abdomen that could be drained. They were actually able to drain almost 6lbs of fluid (holy poo poo). He went from like 28.x lbs at the start of the appointment to like 23.x lbs when we left, but his healthy weight is around 30 and without the fluid you can see that he's just so drat skinny and boney. We also increased his prednisone from 5mg 1x day to 10mg 2x day. It helped for like 12 hours, he finally ate chicken and rice for the first time in like 4 days, but still thinks dog food is gross. But now we're on day 6? of this inappetite fight, and the diarrhea is still there, and now he won't even take his pills wrapped in turkey. Long ago he decided peanut butter, cheese, and pill pockets were not cool, so deli turkey was always our guarantee for getting the pills down. And why are so many pills chewable?! They're so goddamn huge, sick pets don't want huge chewable pills! I'm rambling. This is so loving hard. I thought the $350+ fluid drain yesterday would buy us some time, or at least some comfort and happiness for him so that we could love on him in his last days. The vet estimated he has about 8 weeks left in him, but I'm thinking I need to give Lap of Love a call, like, soon. You can't have a boney dog not eating. And he struggled so hard against Entyce liquid appetite stimulant when we tried it last time. gently caress. gently caress.
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Oct 5, 2022 19:26
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drat Bananas posted:You can't have a boney dog not eating. And he struggled so hard against Entyce liquid appetite stimulant when we tried it last time. gently caress. gently caress. So sorry about your dog.  You could try unusual foods (for a dog) like liver wurst, kippers, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, or scrambled eggs. Something that’s kind of stinky and might be a novel food. If he’s in the mood for carbs, my dogs love animal crackers, oatmeal, and buttery pancakes. Since he’s not needing long term nutrition, I don’t think it matters what he eats. Good luck with your doggo.
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Oct 5, 2022 20:37
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Joburg posted:So sorry about your dog.  I have been through it w/ old beagles and I know your pain. My tek was to cook the rice with double volume of low sodium chicken stock, and sometimes a pack of hearts/livers, and overcook it a bit. At mealtimes I'd variously warm it up, add a little water to make it soupy, try mixing SMALL amounts of table scraps, hotdog, liverwurst, pumpkin, chicken, whatever might work. Sometimes a favorite dog treat crushed and mixed in will work. It's all trial and error. As Joburg said, smelly things like fish/liver might be more helpful. In my experience table scraps also have special powers.My tek for pills is to line up a few bites of some reasonable tasty treats- something you haven't burned yet that's really good, like chicken skin or something. The idea here is to give the dog a bite or two to lure them into a false sense of security, and feed one bite after another impatiently so they'll swallow without chewing completely to get to the next bite. Maybe the first bite they don't trust you and chew really well, but by the third they're usually in the zone where they'll swallow anything. Slip the pill in as the third or fourth bite, feeding impatiently as fast as the dog will take them, with another big juicy bite in your other hand right behind it. It also helps to have another dog at hand leering at them for the peer pressure. Also, remember that he can probably smell the pill on your fingers the whole time if you've already handled it with moist fingers Hope some of that helps. Good luck! poverty goat fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Oct 8, 2022 |
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Oct 8, 2022 17:41
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On Friday our cat (6 y.o. male) went to his litter box like 6 times in half an hour. We took him to an emergency vet that night and they diagnosed that he was starting to get a urinary tract blockage and his bladder was inflamed/irritated -- they gave him some fluids there, and gave us some prescription wet food, meds, and pain killers. He just isn't eating food or drinking water to the degree we want. Yesterday we could only get him to nibble at his prescription food (we have different flavors on order right now) by coating it in a fiesty cat smoothie thing, and today when we tried to feed it he went up to it, sniffed it like he was interested, and then immediately went to his litterbox without eating. Feeling pretty stressed about this --- our little guy just needs to eat/drink and he isn't. If we have to syringe broth down his throat for a month than I'm willing to do that; I just want to be able to make certain he's going to be okay. Any advice?
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Oct 9, 2022 15:02
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For my urinary blockage cat we focussed on keeping him drinking, which meant drinking fountains, buckets of water, low dishes, plastic cups, letting him drink from running water, whatever it took to get him interested. Also adding water to his food. It took a while for him to stabilise and he blocked up again before he came good, all you can do is be on high vigilance in case it happens again so you can get him to care as fast as possible. It takes time for the chemistry to change. My vet mentioned surgical intervention if it kept happening but it was not necessary once the food started working.
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Oct 9, 2022 17:35
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Thanks so much for y'all's kind words and ideas. We took him in that evening and the vet was concerned that he seemed really dehydrated, so they gave him sub-Q fluids. He was hesitant to try IV fluids due to the heart issues, apparently it's a stage 6 murmur which I googled and it says that's the worst. They also gave an injectable antibiotic since he wouldn't take the pill, and something else I've now forgotten; another steroid? He also had us buy a can of gentle GI food from them, but of course he didn't eat a lick of it; I could have told them that...... I slept on the floor with him that night and the next morning there was still no improvement, the only thing he wanted to do was to go outside and lay in the grass, chin-down. It was a pretty clear sign that he was just tired. We're all just ... tired. I called the vet to let them know I was planning to have him put down, and to ask how many steroid pills I could give to keep him most comfortable until the afternoon appointment. He said 4 pills, which I gave in hollowed-out hot dog chunks, it was only a small struggle. My boy *loved* hot dogs. We got an appointment with an in-home euth vet at 1:00, so my husband and I WFH for the first half with him in his bed between our desks, snoozing. Then at noon we took a short walk, a quick trip to the near-empty dog park (his favorite), and then came home and ate an entire hot dog. The vet came and we set up a blanket outside in our back yard. While setting up, he actually wandered off behind our shed where there was a big pile of leaves, and started digging to lay down. He's never done that before, so that was a clear sign to me that he knew it was his time. I carried him over to the blanket and we gave him lots of love as the doctor did her thing. It was so peaceful, and I hiiiiiiiiiighly recommend doing this at home if you can. It's expensive ($400 + $350 private cremation) but goddamn this was so much more peaceful than a car ride and an exam room, and then an empty car ride back. I will always have a savings account for that, for future pets going forward. The doctor had a basket with blankets, and we gently set him in there and my husband carried him to the vet's car to take to the crematorium. Husband cracked a joke: he was a "paw-bearer" ahaha. One last laugh for the 3 of us. It's so weird, the house was so empty this weekend. We also left for 12 hours and didn't have to have a plan for someone to let him out to potty, or to give him a pill. My dad put his cat to sleep earlier this year and my in-laws don't have pets, so this is literally the first time since the day I was born that there isn't a single pet in my family. I used to spend so much time on PI in 2007-2011-ish, my pets are my life. I feel so weird and empty. I don't want a new buddy right now but I don't want the empty either. quote:It also helps to have another dog at hand leering at them for the peer pressure.
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Oct 10, 2022 17:43
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Sorry about your pup 
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Oct 11, 2022 11:21
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Need advice, please. My beautiful princess had some form of tumor growing near her left eye. She had surgery today to remove it which thankfully went well, but 16 hours later and this isn't looking good. She's wearing a cone, which she had never done before and it's not working at all. She refuses to walk and basically just lies down looking extremely defeated. I have managed to hand feed a bit + providing water in a saucer, but since she refuses to walk, even outside she is not peeing or making GBS threads and I don't know what to do. The cone was clearly big for her tiny head (she's a very small dog breed), so I ended up cutting up some of its height just now in an attempt to alleviate the weight but it doesn't seem like it improved the situation at all. It's nighttime here now and coming to the weekend there won't be any veterinarian I can take her to for advice. I read about inflatable collars as an alternative to cones and I know a big pet shop nearby that seems to have them available from their website. Not sure if that's gonna be a solution and wouldn't mind hearing about experiences with those. Out of despair, a few hours ago I removed the cone when outside just to see if she would move a bit and she did, and then immediately proceeded to use her front paw to rub her eye and making that area bleed a bit. Not going to try that again. Help?
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Oct 15, 2022 03:32
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loving cone really does not work. This is the original size of the thing given to me in the veterinary: It's since been cut three times and she would still refuse to walk in this thing at all. Went to the big pet store for an inflatable collar, but they only had sizes for big dogs. Thankfully though they had a way smaller and lighter cone. It did the trick! Thank all the gods, it did the trick fine. She's walking, running, climbing stairs, and even jumping to the sofa.  So if you are ever in the same situation, get a way smaller cone. It worked for us.
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Oct 15, 2022 14:06
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Saoshyant posted:loving cone really does not work. This is the original size of the thing given to me in the veterinary:
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Oct 15, 2022 14:25
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Yeah, I'm keeping an eye out. She's already tried that sort of thing in the sofa. I'll probably have to put the old cone back whenever she will be alone.
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Oct 15, 2022 14:36
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are there any at home treatments for ear problems, other than vinegar ? My poor doodle keeps getting ear infections or apparent ear infections (head shaking, high ear yeast, etc.) and the things we've tried seem to only work in the short term, not the long; the vet's even said she's tried everything she knows (short term drops, long term drops, etc.) Any outside the box ideas or home treatments that might be worth trying?
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Oct 21, 2022 23:05
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:are there any at home treatments for ear problems, other than vinegar ?
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Oct 22, 2022 03:30
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Slugworth posted:Most recurring ear infections are a result of allergies, has your vet mentioned allergy medications or food trials? Good call. Dog is about two years old now. I kinda conflated the timeline in my initial post: he had recurrent but asymptomatic (no apparent distress) high yeast levels in his ears as a puppy, that's when the vet "tried everything," all the medications would bring it down temporarily but then it'd go back up next time he got tested at the next round of puppy appointment, but since it was asymptomatic and he seemed unbothered we didn't try things like food changes etc (his food was changing all the time anyway as a puppy). Then he got an ear infection about two months ago, I took him in for new treatment, short term the in-ear drops fixed it, now he's shaking his head again. His diet is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ESCZBX2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and rawhide chew toys he shares with our other dog. Could be the rawhides maybe? Our other dog loves rawhide chews -- any allergy friendly alternatives?
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Oct 22, 2022 13:24
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I'd be pretty suspicious of allergies too - if skin flares I invariably find myself looking in ears. Aside from the ear drops are you doing any kind of cerumenolytic maintenance cleaning in between infections? If a dog is prone to infections (and if they swim a lot) sometimes a cleaning regime with something like Epi-otic every week or so can help keep the canals clear of wax and debris. If there's a lot of junk down there in refractory cases sometimes I'll go a full ear flush under GA. Also, I set a recall for repeat cytology in 2 weeks when I'm giving a 10-14 days treatment - sometimes you can break the back of an infection but there's still higher-than-normal levels of yeast lurking so you need to extend the treatment otherwise it'll just heat up again. Remember too that you always have the option of going to a veterinary dermatologist if this becomes a long term recurrent problem. They tackle ears as well as skin.
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Oct 23, 2022 00:35
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My 25lb dog ate two bites of a chocolate cup cake at the park. We’re still on hold with the animal poison people, but anyone has ideas or experience on what to do? It’s really hard to estimate how much she ate because it wasn’t our cupcake and I don’t know what the original thing looked like. It’s 12:30am so I might have to stay up all night to monitor symptoms too.
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Oct 24, 2022 08:35
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The first step is to make the dog vomit; last time my dog ate chocolate they recommended giving him hydrogen peroxide in some water. If still having symptoms after that, feed the dog activated charcoal; charcoal absorbs things (including any other medications the dog might be on).
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Oct 24, 2022 13:07
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So, my six year old boy has struvite crystals in his pee, great. I’m buying new kibble which the vet recommended, which seems sensible. We feed wet food once a night, should we maybe increase it? I’m going to add more water stations around as well. The issue is Pika is notoriously picky with his food, like, would rather not eat that eat a new flavor. Has always been like that. He *will* eat plain chicken breast, or salmon, but I’ve heard fish is terrible if you have urine crystals? I feel like every website contradicts the other. He’s also having an ultrasound on Thursday aaaas there’s a lump in the middle of his abs, apparently. Neither I nor my partner can find it, but if the vet did, I assume it’s there. Presumably they’ll be checking the kidneys as well. Is there anything else I’m missing or forgetting? This week has been a whirlwind emotionally. I’m loving terrified.
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Nov 14, 2022 15:59
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If he has a wet food he likes, you can try adding a little more water to it and mixing it in, I’m currently doing that for my drooly elderly boy who lets himself get dehydrated too easily. I’ve seen a recipe for home made churu pops which was pretty much just boiled chicken breast and water, blended to a purée. I’ve been serving that as ice blocks for my cats as it is nearly summer here, could probably work as a fairly safe way to get more moisture into your guy?
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Nov 14, 2022 18:38
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Posting this here because it's hilarious. Dog was itchy for a couple weeks, Benadryl didn't really do much, so I took him in for a cytopoint injection and had them run a blood test to see what the hell he's allergic to. And apparently he has the highest allergen testing score the vet and his colleagues have ever seen. I am hoping I can convince the vet to give me a year's worth of cytopoint so I can administer it at home rather than spend a fortune on monthly appointments for what is just a simple sub-cu of a pretty safe medication. Otherwise I guess can book the dog a one-way ticket to the middle of the Sahara desert. teen witch posted:So, my six year old boy has struvite crystals in his pee, great. There's been some research that indicated omega-3 fatty acids may help reduce the crystal formation (link). Related, we have had some picky dogs in the past and what worked for us, almost universally, was adding a bit of fish oil to their kibble. Nutramax has a blend that they really seemed to like (link) but I think you could honestly go with whatever your local grocery store carries. So that might be a good option - a healthy dose of omegas, might solve the picky eating, and is relatively cheap. FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Nov 20, 2022 |
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Nov 20, 2022 16:14
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Jet gets liquid medicine every day. 3x0.25 mL in the morning, 1x0.25 mL in the evening. He hates the stuff. I suspect it tastes awful because at least one of the medicines - not sure which, I think the furosemide - makes him gag and drool and spit up. It’s not as bad with the other two medicines, though he still gets upset and goes off somewhere to sulk and try and get the taste out of his mouth. Still, it sucks, and I really don’t want him to suffer like this. Especially because it happens at least once a day. Any recommendations on helping the medicine go down? Can’t exactly give him a spoonful of sugar. Maybe cutting the liquid with water might help? Poor guy. He’s developed a Pavlovian response whenever he sees the syringes and starts drooling/salivating/preparing to fetch and vomit. I wish I could tell him why I’m doing this.
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Nov 21, 2022 17:52
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Pollyanna posted:Can’t exactly give him a spoonful of sugar. Oh, but you can! You could try mixing it with vegetable glycerin, Karo, maybe even maple syrup. You'll probably need to go with a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio to hide the furo flavor because that poo poo is utterly disgusting.
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Nov 21, 2022 18:13
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Wait what.  I thought cats couldn’t taste sweetness? Do clopidogrel and pimobendan also benefit from getting cut with sugar?
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Nov 21, 2022 21:07
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Pollyanna posted:I thought cats couldn’t taste sweetness? Do clopidogrel and pimobendan also benefit from getting cut with sugar? I didn't think so - or at least I thought cats weren't attracted to sugar - but when we used liquid dewormer on barn cats it was mixed with corn syrup and it seemed to do the trick. If you try it, just make sure you're not using something with any artificial sweeteners like xylitol. I've never administered those two meds so I am not sure, re: covering the taste. Fish liver oil or a similarly strongly-flavored animal-based oil/fat product might work? FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Nov 21, 2022 |
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Nov 21, 2022 21:14
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I guess my first concern would be the long term health effects of a 12.5 pound cat getting a few mL of HFCS a day. Can’t be good for your teeth either.
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Nov 21, 2022 22:22
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