Topic: FLUFFY-Not well again (Read 22184 times)

tammy · « **Reply #96 on:** April 04, 2007, 08:53:51 AM »

Amanda
Eventualy that is the possibility but as she is still only breathing through her nose and never through her mouth we decided it cant be that as if her nasal passage was blocked she would instinctively start using her mouth to aid her breathing. I know about the hunger pangs with steroids. Fluffy put on a whole 1kg over 4 months thanks to them and she definitely pees huge amounts..Luckily no glucose as yet!!

Thanks for the advice on perfect Fit guys. I bought some of the in house version of it, and was worried as it came as only chicken and beef and Fluff isnt usually to keen on those flavors but she is loving the chicken flavor. I am a little worried as she hasnt poohed since the early hours of sunday morning, and she has had 2mls of lactulose daily and wet food and last couple of days the perfect fit food and still nothing. She seems a little uncomfy today and Id guess its coz she not been going loo.

Amanda (mad4moggies) · « **Reply #95 on:** April 03, 2007, 20:34:38 PM »

Tammy, sorry for the delayed reply but my cat was getting a pot belly and some muscle wastage. He was also very hungry which is a normal symptom but it wasn`t nice for him as he was always crying for food. He also started to have glucose in his urine but after blood tests it was confirmed that he wasn`t diabetic so the vet said the steroids might also be doing this to him. They definately have their uses though.

Has the vet mentioned the possibility of the nasal growth growing and interfering with the breathing or is it just a small growth?

Christine (Blip) · « **Reply #94 on:** April 02, 2007, 13:07:27 PM »

Waitrose does Perfect Fit too.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #93 on:** April 02, 2007, 08:59:03 AM »

Good luck with her - Pro Plan does a light food that has less fat and high fibre too.

tammy · « **Reply #92 on:** April 02, 2007, 08:55:14 AM »

thanks desley. Ill try tonight

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #91 on:** April 01, 2007, 22:27:30 PM »

Hi, have found it in ASda, Tesco, Morrisons, Co-op and RAnge so far - they do 'groups' rather than flavours - i.e Molly has the 'in home, they also do sensitive, active, senior etc - but wet food wise, I t hink the in home had the highest fibre content, comes in jelly, 2 flavours in the box, poultry and beef. Pricey, but seems to be helping her.

tammy · « **Reply #90 on:** April 01, 2007, 19:37:05 PM »

desley wher do you get perfect fit from and what flavours does it come in?

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #89 on:** April 01, 2007, 19:02:58 PM »

Tammy, you could be finding it is the wet food that is contributing too, she might not need as much Lactulose soon - Molly has Perfect Fit to help hers too, she has one pouch of that, and then one pouch of lower fibre food, and LActulose only if she hasn't gone every other day.

tammy · « **Reply #88 on:** April 01, 2007, 13:53:57 PM »

forgot to ask how normal it is for cats to pass wind. She never did whilst on dry food but now she is on the wet stuff its unbearable!! She does it all the time!

tammy · « **Reply #87 on:** April 01, 2007, 13:45:03 PM »

she even came upto my room this morning whilst | was watching sky (we only have it in my room at the mo) and insisted on u both lying on the bed and having cuddles for about 20 mins after which she proceeded to walk me to the kitchen and request lunch!!!

tammy · « **Reply #86 on:** April 01, 2007, 13:39:56 PM »

Thanks for the advice guys. It seems we wont need the fibre afterall as Fluffy is going toilet wonderfully with the lactulose and she is slowly getting used to having it i her food. I thought Id never be so pleased to see cat pooh as I was this morning. She has always done very small round dollops and she has done this several times a day for the last 2-3 days but this morning there was 2 huge long damp poops-we almost threw a party!!!

Amanda-Fluffy was originally put on preds for a nasal growth that bleeds so what you describe would not help take her of them for good. She's at the moment on 5mgs a day although we're testing her on 2.5mgs a day. When she was first diagnosed she took 10mgs a day for a week and then it was ddropped to 5mgs a day as the vet said doses higher than that long term arent advisable. What side effects did your cat have from the high doeses??
We did didscuss stoping them but as you say we agreed on a very slow long term dosage reduction to allow the body to accustomise to it.

hippykitty-yes we tested her thyroid due to her weight and lethargy but it is well within the normal range and yes she i extremely unfit but her breathing is constant which makes me think that perhaps its not just her playing...

Hippykitty · « **Reply #85 on:** March 31, 2007, 00:41:29 AM »

Just a thought:

From reading through this thread I gather that Fluffy was fairly inactive when she was at her worst; could she be extremely unfit, aerobically, so that the recent burst of activity is making her breathless?

Has she has her thyroid checked? Thyroid problems are fairly common in cats, and may cause symptoms like these.

The VN's on this site would be better to advise you concerning the side effects of her meds.

Amanda (mad4moggies) · « **Reply #84 on:** March 30, 2007, 19:29:13 PM »

Tammy, you do have to be a bit careful when it comes to altering the dose of Prednisolone as it has to be done gradually to allow the body to accommodate it. As i`m sure your vet will have said they cannot just suddenly be stopped at any time as this can cause problems. One of my cats is an asthmatic and he has got it pretty bad. At one point he was on a really high dose of Preds which in total was about 10mgs a day. He did start to have some problems being on this level and so he has gone over to the cat inhaler and it is working wonders. I never thought he would take to it but i got him used to it gradually and he is fine with it now. Maybe an inhaler would be an option as this means you can slowly stop the preds.

Also, it might be worth talking to your vet about bronchdilators which are drugs that help to open the airways. My cat used to be on these and they also made a vast improvement to his condition. I guess its hard to know what to do when you don`t know why her breathing is like that. I know she had x-rays before but has she had any since her breathing has been bad? As far as i understand it a feline asthma diagnosis is usually made by process of elimination.

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #83 on:** March 30, 2007, 15:40:32 PM »

well since its trial and error i would try the whole tablet every 2nd day, you obvously monitor her very carefully..BUT 1mg/kg isnt a high dose, im sure they can go up to 4mg/kg or higher such doses.

as for the fibre i only mentioned it incase the vet advised a higher fibre diet..nutrifyba can be bought from your vet or i'll have a look online for it, its literally finely ground bran if i remember correctly.

Heres a seller of the stuff, you might get it cheaper else where ? but this is what the tub looks like..you'll have to look out for it on the page, its a white tub with the name and a silloette of dog and cats head on it.
http://www.surreypetsupplies.co.uk/acatalog/Dog_Digestive_Aids.html

tammy · « **Reply #82 on:** March 30, 2007, 12:50:49 PM »

Quote from: lynn on March 30, 2007, 11:37:32 AM

you dropped the dose of preds to 0.5/kg daily didnt you ... have you tried carrying on the normal dose but trying every 2nd day ? pred dosage can be fickle and slight alterations like that can sometimes work.

Originally we were aiming for that dose rate but the vet said that would be too much of a shock and thats why we tried half a day first and then full dose every other day-but in the past we never got that far.
The fiber thing sounds good,where can I get it from??

As for diet the vet thinks its just the way she is and to feed her whatever she asks for-Spoilt little madam!!

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #81 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:39:52 AM »

ps what does the vet say about her diet. i believe you have tryed prescrip diets and i know she's a fussy eater..does the vet reccomend adding more fibre ?? if so you could see if she would eat normal food with "nutrafyba" mixed in it (that is bran)

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #80 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:37:32 AM »

yes i remember well her nose probs and what happened when you dropped the preds. Obviously preds do cause immunosuppresion (which is precisely what you want for her nose) and that can have effects on blood counts etc. (can sometimes make them anaemic) however i would imagine fluffy has had a fair share of blood tests amonst everything else lately and you'd know if anything was abnormal.

I was asking about the xrays etc as diaphragmatic hernia cropped into my head since she has also got bad constipation problems (ie had she ever been hit by a car she could have suffered # pelvis and ruptured her diaphragm) but since she has been xrayed that rules that out .

you dropped the dose of preds to 0.5/kg daily didnt you ... have you tried carrying on the normal dose but trying every 2nd day ? pred dosage can be fickle and slight alterations like that can sometimes work.

I wouldnt worry about the preds building up in her body..the drug doesnt keep building up to be a higher and higher level stored in her body as it is metabolised, of course long term usage has implications but as long as you have regular blood testing to check internally things are ticking over nicely in cases where needs must it can be a very useful drug and many cats are on it long term, its just monitoring the effects is what you have to do.

funny breathing can mean a number of things from reduced lung capacity/anaemia/pain/circulatory stress but i fail to think of further suggestions since i know you have been heavily involved with vets anyway who know a great deal more than me.

If i think of anything i'll let you know (shall try to be like hubby and "think outside of the box" LOL)

Ela · « **Reply #79 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:36:32 AM »

oops I was typing and thinking (very difficult for me) while you were posting.

Ela · « **Reply #78 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:35:36 AM »

I agree with Desley, reducing medication should only be on vets advice to alleviate any possible problems.

tammy · « **Reply #77 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:35:18 AM »

desley,

Its ok, we have his full backing. He'd prefer her to be on a lower dose if she deals with it well. Fingers crossed

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #76 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:30:19 AM »

Tammy, I would discuss dropping the preds down with your vet, it isn't a good idea to mess with medication unless you have approval from the vet.

tammy · « **Reply #75 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:15:14 AM »

hey lynn, she has had chest and full gut xrays. BAsically we have pics of her insides from her mouth to her bottom. We are not 100% sure what causes her cionstipation but she has always suffereed. In the past adding liquid paraffin to her food helped ease troubles. About a year ago she had the same prob where she was so packed tightly from below her lungs to her bottom that even anal enemas didnt help. This was her 2nd go with colonic irrigation style stuff. Both times she has lsot alomst 0.5kg afterwards from all the fecal matter coming out. She is on praeds for her nasal bleeds (due to autoimmune probs which also cause nasal inflamation) as she is not breathing through her mouth but nose we know that her breathing prob is not due to that or internal bleeds as she was checked for that. She was originally on 1mg/kg rate of the tabs with the vet wanting to drop it if poss. We only tried once before when she was on them for a month (it was dropped to 0.5mg/kg) but she didnt take to it too well and her nasal bleeding returned and dosage was increased. We were worried what effect the tabs building up in her body were having so weve for the last two days drope it to 0.5mg.kg again. I was just wondering if taht could possibly be making her better??

She has now been given lactulose and we feed her it twice daily (1ml each time) and so far so good-she did a good sized pooh both yesterday and this morning........

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #74 on:** March 30, 2007, 10:44:56 AM »

Tammy i dont know all the treatments for feline asthma, i'd have to look it up but i know preds are sometimes/often used and she is on them anyway.

Im sorry i havent contributed lately..i just cant think of any constuctive ideas or advice.

without having to spend hours going back threads can you tell me what causes her constipation ?? and has she had xrays ??

tammy · « **Reply #73 on:** March 30, 2007, 10:31:44 AM »

The saga just continues with Fluffy. She has started going to toilet every day without too much of a problem and her breathing jas settled a little and she is eating better-although is still very picky about type of food. We've decided to keep her on wet. She picks between 2 fave's Sheba salmon in jelly and Gourmet ocean range :grin:

She even attepmted her trick of chasing birds through a closed window this morning and woke everybody at 6am with loud meowing and runing round the house requesting cuddles and food and then proceeded to sit in the bathroom watching me shower!! This is soo typical of her when she is in high spirit. I just hope it lasts and isnt a one off.

We decided to cut down her steroids to see what happens and if she remains well we'd like to keep her on the slightly lower dose. Could 2 days of lower level meds be enough to make her feel different???

tammy · « **Reply #72 on:** March 29, 2007, 13:55:41 PM »

Poop!!

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #71 on:** March 29, 2007, 13:40:11 PM »

Hmmmmmmmmmm, sorry I out of ideas now, strange that the vets couldnt find anything. Sure I have read somewhere that there can be another cause for this type of breathing but cant remember any details.

tammy · « **Reply #70 on:** March 29, 2007, 13:36:34 PM »

Gill

I have something known as allergic asthma so we are very careful at home. I get rashes on my skin from changes in washing powder or manmade fibers. Shake and vac type things set of my asthma as does dust, hence why I am pretty sure nothing at home could start her off. It is a pretty recent problem (last month or so) and its constant. It does not come and go, its always there, and she isnt wheezy and her breathing isnt laboured in any way-its just her chest compressions, they are very shallow and close together.

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #69 on:** March 29, 2007, 13:32:40 PM »

Something usually causes asthma to give an attack.

Stress, allergic reation, could be exercise and just wonder if there is something in the house that is starting off the problem.

I know that spray and vac stuff used to make Kocka sneeze, it could be almost anything and very basic so that you would not think of.

Has she always been like it or has it started recently?

If the latter try thinking if you have started using anything new in that time, new washing up powder even, flowers in the house, cleaning stuff etc

tammy · « **Reply #68 on:** March 29, 2007, 13:27:43 PM »

well after she was treated at the vets she was so0ooo lively that we could not get her still for long enough to check what her breathing was doing. We though that on tuesday her vrathing wasnt quite right but because it was soo slighlty out and she was playing we thought at the time it was ok. But last night she was soo out of breath she couldnt jump up onto her usual snooze spot-it took her 3 goes and 15 mintues later she was still breathless but her mouth was closed an she had been attempting to sleep for 10mins o so. I dont think she is alergic to anything as nothing in the house has changed for a few years and the problem is quite recent.

I am begining to think it could be something asthma like as nothing else has shown up. But isnt true asthma dormant most of the time and you only breathe like that when an attack is coming on?? Can you get Salbutamol for cats?

Christine (Blip) · « **Reply #67 on:** March 29, 2007, 12:28:21 PM »

How worrying. Is it possible that there's something in your home that she's allergic to?

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #66 on:** March 29, 2007, 12:18:14 PM »

O am so sorry Tammy, so very worrying. Something must be causing the breathing prob. Was she alright while at vets and has only come back since she came home?

Beccles · « **Reply #65 on:** March 29, 2007, 12:16:32 PM »

Oh dear, Tammy...

I wonder if it's possible for cats to actually get asthma?

Had Fluffy been dashing around at all or did it come on when she was already really calm?

tammy · « **Reply #64 on:** March 29, 2007, 08:22:52 AM »

Ok it seems that her compact fecal matter was not the cause of her breathing problems as her breathing got worse again last night. She looked like she had just run a marathon the way her poor chest was going up and down. Yet she was very calm and not panting but breathing normally through her nose! I just dont know what to do anymore.....We spent £465 on Monday running tests and nothing has showed at all!!

tammy · « **Reply #63 on:** March 28, 2007, 17:49:28 PM »

Christine and cats!!

Christine (Blip) · « **Reply #62 on:** March 28, 2007, 15:58:26 PM »

Excellent news

I thought she'd like it and I'm glad she does.

tammy · « **Reply #61 on:** March 28, 2007, 13:41:41 PM »

gp sample?? Ohh yes she wolf it down last night lactulose and all!! She sends her puuurrss and tells me I must go shopping this w/e for more

Christine (Blip) · « **Reply #60 on:** March 28, 2007, 11:15:55 AM »

How is Fluffy today? Did you get the GP sample?

tammy · « **Reply #59 on:** March 27, 2007, 15:24:32 PM »

desley-Ive come to the conclusion that she will have to go on wet food anyways and as she isnt too keen on the r/d wet it will have to be jelly stuff, probably shrimp/salmon as at the mo its the only way she will take ker lactulose!!

Thanks

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #58 on:** March 27, 2007, 13:16:01 PM »

Have just had a thought - maybe the reason she gets so compact is cos the r/d is too high in fibre for her? So, if you can find an alternative she will eat (the more wet food the better), she might not struggle so much. I can't remember what dosage the vet said to use on Molly, but I find that just a small drizzle over her food helps.

tammy · « **Reply #57 on:** March 27, 2007, 13:01:24 PM »

I guess you guys are right-she gets soo compact that I guess diarrhea is not the highest priority so I gues we start her on 2*1ml daily and see what happens

Thanks Christine

Author Topic: FLUFFY-Not well again (Read 22184 times)