It's a Fuzzy Friday with Carmine

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!  Did yous miss mes?

The Mom has been typing a lot at the computer, but clearly hers hasn't been helping mes post on our bloggie!  Hers has been writing things for other peoples to try to keep up with the cost of all of our medicines now that Lita takes three medicines for asthma.  But hers found some time to help mes post here tonight - aren't yous glad?

At my last visit to the vet, mes had losted more weight.  In fact, mes losted 12 ounces, which alarmed the Mom and the vet.  Theys stole my blood and theys think mes might has Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency, whatever that means!  All mes knows is that since then, mes has been poked a bunch of times at home, and mes doesn't like it.  

The Mom here.  Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency occurs when a cat cannot absorb the nutrients from its food because he is lacking the pancreatic enzymes necessary for the job.  This can be a complication of chronic pancreatitis, so I would not be surprised if this is what Carmine has developed.  The vet and I agreed to try B12 injections at home to see if that would help him.  He had to receive the injections one per week for six week (hence all the pokes he mentioned).  Now we are down to an injection once a month.  I hate sticking him, but I hope it helps him maintain his weight.  He is also getting Prozyme on his food.  Anyway, back to Carmine...

Mancat Monday: Carmine Update

Hi everyone!  The Mom here with another update on Carmine.

Carmine went to the vet last Tuesday for another weigh in and B12 injection.  Before we went, though, Alana from Cat in the Fridge sent us an interesting article on Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency she thought might help Carmine.  Thank you again, Alana, for thinking of my baby! :)

I brought the article to my vet to discuss with her (you can read the article here if you like).  She told me that she is already treating Carmine for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) on a trial basis.  She says that the test for it is quite expensive so we are treating for EPI along with Carmine's IBD to see how he responds to the treatment.

When she put Carmine on the scale, she had to double check his numbers; she was pretty shocked, as was I when she told me what it said!  Carmine now weighs 9 pounds 6 ounces!!!  This means he gained 6.5 ounces in two weeks!  He's reached his goal weight, but we are continuing with the appetite stimulant for now to make sure he maintains the weight (and if he gains more, great!).

We discussed how Carmine had been doing.  Unfortunately, we had a little incident where a friend of mine made dinner, but he forgot to cover it up on the stove before we ate, and Carmine snatched a piece of chicken out of it.  There was pasta sauce and tomatoes in the pot along with the chicken, and Carmine's tummy didn't like that at all!  He threw it up on the stove right after he ate his piece of chicken.  Poor kitty!  (My friend felt very bad about it, and he's making sure to cover anything he cooks now!).

We called the hospital to see what to do, and they said he'd be okay, so that was a huge relief!  However, he wasn't eating much after that (it happened a few days before his appointment) so we told the vet about it, and she gave Carmine some kind of shot (something like Pepcid, she said) to calm his tummy.

That shot helped immediately!  Carmine was back to wanting to eat his wet foods and everything that night :)

The vet says that now that Carmine is stable, the next thing we will do is to take away the treatment for the EPI - he takes Prozyme for it - to see how - or if - that affects him.  If he starts losing weight again, we'll know EPI is what he has in combination with the IBD.

Carmine will go back to the vet for another check in and B12 injection next Thursday (May 1).

It makes me so very happy that he is doing so much better!  Praying this will continue for him. :)