Thanks Terry, i am glad to know my pepcid ac decision was a good one on the days she vomits, i will give it daily now. She does not vomit hair balls or really any food, its just a nasty bile substance but browner, all liquid. I must mention i have some of the best vets around in eastern ontario and western quebec who are fantastic with me as a poor patient, (alta vista, 24 trauma center, general practice, surgical and subspecialties) and they ahve been excellent at allowing me to do a lot of home care. I can use pedia lite but wouldn't it be faster and easier to just give plasmalyte sub q? She wouldn't need the 125 ml butterscotch did so a smaller amount by syringe.

ahh dr. Lisa!! now i know you are a good vet :) She is the best on cat nutrition, i used her advice for my diabetic and also janet and binky's food chart to avoid the over priced full of grains so called diabetic vet food.

I will start her on wet food, she rarely gets up from the bed to eat it even though she is fully capable of walking, the dry food is on the bed, a habit i got into with butterscotch-yes i know but he considered wet food anathema so with Innova Evo being low carb and grain free i felt comfortable and his blood sugar lowered. but there is no reason i cant bring it to her. She is not anywhere close to anorexic or losing weight. She just....isn't right. She also has herpes (all my 9 kitties do, its rampant in the area and 2 ferals who were stunted, undernourished and kept trying to die on me brought it in) but has had no symptoms since the first eye infection with the teeny tiny ulcers on her eyelids. Once a year I test all my cats for diabetes, i am of the never shoot insulin without testing blood sugar school and tight regulation - caninsuln or vetsulin is fabulous but it is my belief that some have difficulties with it bc of its terrace effect and often the evening dose needs to be a bit smaller than the morning and after a while the morning needs to be less then the evening even less and finally remission...so imo some kitties are continually getting a smalll symogi effect if they are not given insulin according to bg each time with it.

sorry i cant pay you more than 9 dollars, i live on 900 a month which doesn't go far with 9 cats.

thank you very much. I can't give them much of the normal things like regular full vaccinations for everything, but i can give them healthy food, good care and lots of love. I just find sub q is easier often bc you aren't arguing with the kitty, they don't care much about the needle-i guess to them its not much different than a flea bite. LOL i wish antibiotics were able to be given sub q, no muss no fuss.

Your welcome! my particular vet who will answer questions by email is away and ijust couldn't remember if pepcid was a good idea or what might be best bc pancreatitis is a new one on me.

Punkin just had some wet food and half a pepcid ac, i hope that in itself will make her feel better, i also have a petmate water fountain to keep fresh flowing water all the time...with my sickies i like them to drink as much as possible and to keep the water filtered of their hair and gunk. If it is pancreatitis i think its a pretty mild case at the moment, her tummy is not always guarded

I do my best, heck i even devised butterscotches URI and pneumonia treatment, they didn't want him to have steroids due to the herpes and lowered immune system but had nothing really to break up the mucus that was safe...i went researching and said the COPD drug atrovent is nonsteroidal, safe with geriatrics and babies and should work. Then i got frustrated with the humidifier to gie it to him, half the med went into the walls so called and asked for an oxygen tank prescription and sat him down with a human face mask and nebulizer attachment. I wish i could send you a pic of him on my lap like a little mannie taking his treatment so calmly (i used his chest as the bottom of the "face" and an adult one so it wasn't closing him in as a small one would). They are starting to use that method at the hospital now for cats who fight the cat puffer or get stressed.

Oh something you may not know, most vets and doc's don't because they see someone very ill if its in hospital but doxycycline lowers blood sugar. and they assume its because they are ill that a diabetics sugar is down. Actually it is one of its side effects but about the only place you can find it is in fine print on the FDA warning. I saw it because with his pneumonia as he got better his sugar kept staying down even though he ate regularly. In fact because of that i put him on a two week on, one week off doxy regimen and managed to keep him off insulin during the two weeks to just test it out when he wasn't sick. Something to keep in mind if giving it to a sugar baby. Thank goodness i tested before shooting every time

(i am known for finding very strange zebras both by my vet and my doctor lol)

anyway you were very helpful and kind. None of my cats were adoptable so i had no choice but to take them in, and all are wonderful now but some took a year to trust me. They keep me going too, i am on disability for major chronic depression and can't stay in bed or hurt myself bc no one in their right mind would take 9 cats all with something be it physical or psychological lol. They give me something to look after and love

Terri,

I have the oddest question for you, nothing to do with one of my kitties per se (i notice you are also into holistics, i give my FIV and herpes kitties l-lysine regularly). This will be long.

I am :known for coming up with interesting therapies that work, and diagnoses when vets or doctors are stumped. Or finding a reason why something is happening. i gave you the example of doxy and diabetes, another time i was prescribed remoron for my depression and it made me diabetic. It didn['t fit that i suddenly became so diabetic my blood sugar swung to the point of vision problems, so i did research and discovered a couple of anecdotal doctor papers about the drug and DKA in a patient or acute pancreatitis. Then i looked at the chemical profile and noticed it had a neuronal anti histamine in it, researched that and managed to pinpoint the cascade effect, then found the studies on mice that bolstered my belief. Doctors around the country believe diabetes in patients on remoron comes from the excess weight gain. Not true, it has a direct effect in patients prone to diabetes or a family history of it. LOL i went to see my doctor but had to see a resident, walked in and said i am diabetic and here is why, handed him study after study after study. Once i got to the mice he went flying for my actual doctor. No connection known in the common literature, they put me on a half dose and my BG dropped in half, took me off and it went to normal.

Braveheart came to me as a stunted malnourished feral along with her sister, and immediately proceeded to get deathly diarrhea. The vet tried almost every antibiotic normally given for it and i finally said "look we need to go to the other type, if we have used gram + we need to use gram -, and lets not let up on the other but add probiotics to rebuild the flora since we will be destroying it" He said but it doesn't make sense..however ok lets try it. That night she went south, i called emerg asking for fluids and an IDIOT doc refused..said if i couldnt afford to bring her in then i should give her to the humane societ. well i stayed up all night giving her tablespoons of water for every tbs she puddled out, she was close to comatose and then raised holy hell at the hospital in the morning. by 8:30 i had fluids ready for pick up at a vet near me, an appt for all of my babies to be seen by the head of the GP section, and the director promising a talking to the emerg vet. oh god was i mad. I might not fight for myself but mess with my cats and expect a war :D

You know some of what i did for butterscotch,developing therapies for him with pneumonia and his chronic URI, discovering the doxy info - and i insisted on doxy as the antibiotic bc the other didn't work well and seemed to me with a lowered immune system from feline herpes, that the mycoplasmic bacteria normally well tolerated in a cats upper respiratory tract quite likely became not well tolerated in his.

I have come up with bravehearts therapy for her perianal infections - simple, a sitzbath with epsom salts, she doesnt get all wet just her bottom, and is far happier than me scrubbing an already sore behind. Other cats have had psychological and physical illnesses, most of which i have found answers to myself..one, mr marco, walked into a neighbors and started to attack him..he thought he was rabid, i told him nonsense, take my cage and get him out of the house but its not rabies. then he appeared at mine. Shredded arms for 3 months, took a year to get him to trust and now he sleeps in my arms when not visiting the neighbors who were terrified of him before.

Anyway...is there any category for experts whose vets or owners are a little stumped, or cat isn't getting better, where someone can do the research of the literature needed, use their "zebra hunting" nose and often find a possible answer here? Or just simply helping with therapies when there seems to be none that might work for a particular cat.

My vet and tech are constantly saying it is almost embarrassing how i find answers they don't have and aren't obviously in the lit. well i have the time to chase down the question and i have the scientific knowledge to read studies and interpret them correctly as well as use them as take off points for more information. I think many vets are used to the regular things, and not as used to looking for the unusual. Also they either believe a cat won't tolerate a certain therapy or they aren't thinking of the cats comfort level for one which makes it harder on them.

One of the reasons i liked you, you would not diagnose pancreatitiis (smart over the internet) but gave me advice that would deal with home care for it. I believe its what she has, bc she isnt losing weight so cancer is unlikely and its been a few months since she went in for every test under the sun. The biggest compliment i got from a vet at the hospital was their CCU department. I called saying i wasn't happy with scootch, he should have recovered from his pneumonia and could i have cipro to try. They said i had to come in, but two minutes later the phone rang, and it was the emerg vet saying i agree its a good try, if he doesn't perk up in a week then bring him in, it will be ready for you to pick up tomorrow. It was nice they trusted me to do what was right and there were good reasons to use cipro ...unfortunately a week later it was lymphatic cancer but i tried.

Long story but short question. If you ever have a patient you are a little stumped on or wish there was a different therapy...let me know ok? I would love to be able to research and answer questions or find/think of a therapy that would make the pet less stressed.