Thankful Thursday: Stability

 

Last Tuesday, Carmine and Tylan went to the vet to get their kidneys, thyroids, and glucose levels checked. Both boys get a kidney panel done every three months to monitor their kidney disease. 

Carmine's kidney disease has been stable since he was diagnosed. I am happy to report that he remains stable with his kidney disease. His glucose was great at 137, so there will be no changes in his insulin or kidney disease treatment. 

Unfortunately, Carmine has been struggling a lot with his advanced arthritis in the past couple of months. Raising his gabapentin dose helped temporarily but quickly lost its effectiveness. Since he is already on gabapentin and adequan for his arthritis pain, we decided the best course of action would be to give him an injection of Solensia. Those who follow me on Facebook know that I've been waiting about 9-10 months for this medication to become available to vets after it was approved by the FDA for use in cats with osteoarthritis at the beginning of the year. 

Carmine was the second patient at our clinic to receive the injection. If it works for him, he will receive an injection once a month. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I really hope it helps ease his pain. 

Tylan's creatinine (a kidney value) actually came down a little - from 2.7 (in August) to 2.4, which is a good thing. He may be stabilizing with his kidney disease. His thyroid was right where it should be. So, there will be no changes to his thyroid or kidney disease treatment for now. 

Today we are thankful for stability. I am very pleased with the boys' most recent lab results and hope they continue to stay stable as we move forward. 

What are you thankful for today?

A Few Words on Wednesday from Carmine

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!

A few months ago, when mes gotted my annual bloods work done, my sugar tested high, so the vet and the Mom decided to lower my Pred dose. My sugar is still high, but mes is no longer in the "diabetic" zone. 

Unfortunately, the lower Pred dose has caused my little joints to hurt more from the arthritis. Mes is on adequan once a week, but mes is still having a lot of pains. Mes is having trouble giving myself a nice bath. 

My fur actually got all matted and tangled, and the Mom had to comb thems out of my furs. That did NOT make mes happy! Now, hers gives me "brushies" with the comb just about everyday so mes doesn't get anymores tangles or mats in my furs. Mes tries to bite the comb when hers does this. Mes has never liked being brushed. 

Thankful Thursday

Hi everyone, it's Lita today, and we are joining Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!

The Mom was talking to her friend, J, earlier this week, updating him about life and how Carmine and I are doing.  The Mom has known J since college, and they have been good friends a long time.  In fact, J helped the Mom a lot when she thought I was headed to the Rainbow Bridge at Christmas.  He called a bunch of vets and places to find out who did in-home euthanasias because the Mom couldn't handle it.  Now she has a lot of options when the time comes, but I don't plan on going anywhere for a while - you all are stuck with me! 

I have really been struggling with my arthritis lately.  Sometimes I even show my pain, which I never do unless the pain is really bad, so the Mom knows it must hurt a lot.  She has been keeping me comfortable with some pain meds, but she really wanted to get me on this stuff called Adequan.  Angel Jewel used to get it for her arthritis.

Cosequin Review: #ChewyInfluencer

Hi everyone, it's mes, Carmine!

Mes wants to tell yous a little story.  

Some of yous didn't know mes back then, but back in 2011 when mes was a much younger mancat (mes was only 6 years old), the Mom noticed that mes wasn't acting quite right.  Mes would just curl up and lay in my beds.  Now don't get mes wrong, mes has always liked to take naps in my beds, but that was all mes was doing, and that isn't like mes at all.  Mes wasn't being the crazy orange mancat mes likes to be.  Mes likes to run around and bug Lita and fly to the top of the cabinets where I demand the Mom get mes down from.  

So the Mom took mes to the vet, and theys x-rayed mes, and it turned out mes wasn't running around because mes had developed arthritis in one of my hips.  The vet suggested the Mom start giving mes Cosequin for cats, and mes has been taking it ever since.

Within a matter of days of mes starting the Cosequin, mes started running around like my usual crazy orange mancat self again!

Purrs and Prayers for Carmine and Some Sad News

It shouldn't still surprise me after so long in the pet blogging world, but it still does.  I have found some of the most compassionate, caring, wonderful people and kitties and woofies over the years; it never ceases to amaze me how supportive and wonderful everyone, every kitty, and every woofie is when a furry friend isn't well or crosses over to the Rainbow Bridge.  Thank you so much for all the love, support, comments, suggestions, hugs, purrs, and prayers.  We so appreciate you all more than we can say.

Ann from Zoolatry made this badge for us.  Thank you, Ann! You are so talented and such a generous and compassionate person.

Carmine is hanging in there.  He ate well both yesterday and today.  Everyone stayed downstairs for the most part when it was time for him to eat, and I think that helped him not be so anxious. He is spending a lot of time in his cube in my room.  At night, sometimes he goes out to the living room and lays under the coffee table for a while.

The more I think about it, the more I think a lot of his behavior is stress-related.  BUT I don't want to assume it's stress, so I'm definitely still taking him to the vet.  We will get him an exam and they will probably want to test his urine to make sure his crystals aren't back and probably some blood tests, too.  Of course, we will get him any other test the vet feels is appropriate as well.  I'm just guessing what they might want to use to figure out what's going on with my baby.  I hear that stress is very bad for FLUTD so that is definitely cause for concern.  However, I have been watching him in his litter box to make sure he isn't having trouble urinating.  He has been urinating without trouble so far, so that's definitely good. :)

I really hope the stress doesn't make his arthritis pain worse.  I'd hate for him to hurt at all.  He is too precious to me and I cannot stand to see him suffer - it seriously makes me cry to even think about it.

I am definitely going to look into getting him Comfort Zone or Feliway like many of you suggested.  Does anybody recommend one over the other or are they about the same in terms of effectiveness?

I think I will be heading to PetSmart later.  They have been selling Comfort Zone, but if Feliway is better, I can always order that on-line.

I just want my little fuzzy baby to be happy and content again.

In other news, my little fishie passed away today.......RIP my little Angel.  I wonder if fishies go to the Rainbow Bridge like kitties?  If you are there, Angel, say hi to Emma for us.  We miss you both.