It's not asthma, it's her heart

"Karen" wrote in message
...
Boy is that going to be hard. She is worse now on the pred! I hope we can
wean her off of that particular med. I gave her her first of the other
meds
tonight. Found the greatest pestle and morter. She chomped her food right
down even with those mixed in.

The bad thing is she has diahhrea (or however the heck you spell it). She
ocassionally gets it anyway, but she was very uncomforable for a while
this
evening after getting the meds. (But it wasn't from them. SHe had it
earlier. Though maybe from the pred? ) She seems much better now. But
dang,
every time I get up she wants food. I keep eeking it out so it seems like
more. I did give her a little of the wet g/d and she liked it. However,
twice when I have given her just a few of the dry g/d she threw up. I'm
almost wondering if her gas and ocassional diahrrea are from dry food.
It's
hard to eliminate completely because that is what Sugar eats. Well, I
guess
we shall see what is what eventually.

Karen, check if there are any difference in the ingredients of the
G/D canned and dry. I am thinking of adding I/D dry to Rusty's
I/D canned. But when I read the ingredients, there are big
differences and so I decided not to use I/D dry. Rusty is very
sensitive to some ingredients I am not sure what. He got
diarrhea on 2 different types of food, one is a prescription food he
had eaten for almost 2 years. The diarrhea stops as soon as we
switched food. That's how he ended with I/D instead of a
prescription food for urinary problems. We suspect there was
a change of formula when his last prescription food was sold
to another company. That was about the same time his diarrhea
started and he pooped outside his box.
In Pearl's case, it may also due to the sudden change of food.
Did you mix some of her old food with G/D dry?

Winnie

Karen wrote:
Boy is that going to be hard. She is worse now on the pred! I hope we can
wean her off of that particular med. I gave her her first of the other meds
tonight. Found the greatest pestle and morter. She chomped her food right
down even with those mixed in.

The bad thing is she has diahhrea (or however the heck you spell it). She
ocassionally gets it anyway, but she was very uncomforable for a while this
evening after getting the meds. (But it wasn't from them. SHe had it
earlier. Though maybe from the pred? ) She seems much better now. But dang,
every time I get up she wants food. I keep eeking it out so it seems like
more. I did give her a little of the wet g/d and she liked it. However,
twice when I have given her just a few of the dry g/d she threw up. I'm
almost wondering if her gas and ocassional diahrrea are from dry food. It's
hard to eliminate completely because that is what Sugar eats. Well, I guess
we shall see what is what eventually.


Frank can only eat one kind of dry food, and I only give him a few
pieces in the evening as a treat. It's a ritual we've had for ages.
Nikki was crazy about dry food, and I'd thought the evening treat was
more important for her, but since she died, Frank seems to have become
more into this ritual. Anyway, all other dry foods give him gas and the
runs and often make him throw up, too. I suspect he's allergic to one or
several kinds of grain. Miranda sniffs the pieces of dry food each
evening, but doesn't recognize it as food. I give her her supplement
pills in the evening. Luckily she views them as treats.

I'm rambling, what I wanted to say was, I hope Pearl can come off the
pred soon. Nikki kept gaining weight steadily while she was on
prednisone. I think a lot of that was fluid retention, though. Maybe the
lasix will take care of that.

--
Marina, Frank and Miranda. In loving memory of Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:00:41 -0500, Karen wrote:

It is the fact that Pearl has only gained and not lost gives me hope there
Poor girl. The last thing she needs is the prednisone to give her an
appetite! I sure wish she could talk so I could know how she feels. She
*seems* ok. Now I go to get the new meds. I don't want to give them to her
and not be around in case she has some kind of a reaction. I just wish I
knew how bad or not bad this really is but that is one thing I guess no one
can tell.

Purrs on the way (sorry they're late- way behind as usual and must
have missed the first post).
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and the Evil Spot
with loving memories of Rocky (RB)

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On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:40:38 -0500, Karen wrote:

in article , Helen
Miles at wrote on 6/28/05 11:29AM:

"Karen" wrote in message


Does HRFL take meds?

Not at the moment - he's monitored by ultrasound every 4 months.
Depending on his next ultrasound in Septmeber, we may or may not put him
on to Fortekor. He's had only minor heart ultrasound changes in the last
few years, but now they *are* starting to change. (

Purrs for HRFL's condition

Sounds like what we're doing with Sammy's heart murmur - checking
every four months. So far she hasn't needed any meds. In fact since
that first episode, when she was so lethargic and un-Sammy like, Sam
hasn't displayed any symptoms. In fact the only change in her behaivor
is that she's no longer happy when I put on her collar and get out the
carrier - used to mean a fun truck ride, now as often as not it's a
trip to TED.

A great resource is also the feline-heart yahoo group - they are a great
and very knowledgeable bunch.

Thank for pointing Karen at this group - I'm going to check it out as
well
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and the Evil Spot
with loving memories of Rocky (RB)

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In article , Karen
wrote:

in article , Marina at
wrote on 6/28/05 10:18 PM:

((((((Karen)))))) I know exactly how you feel. I can't count the times
I've felt completely helpless with Frank's and Nikki's problems.
Especially on those days when they refused to take their meds, hiding
under the bed, and I would crawl on the floor crying because I wanted
to
make sure they were alright but they didn't want my help,
thankyouverymuch. It still happens with Frank if he sees me preparing
the syringe to squirt the meds in his mouth. He hides under the bed and
will stay there for *hours*. This is why I prefer mixing his meds in
his
food (and why it might not be such a bad thing that Mir-mir doesn't eat
catfood). We will purr for you to have strength and for Pearl to feel
well for many years to come. And to lose weight. ;o)

Boy is that going to be hard. She is worse now on the pred! I hope we can
wean her off of that particular med. I gave her her first of the other
meds
tonight. Found the greatest pestle and morter. She chomped her food right
down even with those mixed in.

The bad thing is she has diahhrea (or however the heck you spell it). She
ocassionally gets it anyway, but she was very uncomforable for a while
this
evening after getting the meds. (But it wasn't from them. SHe had it
earlier. Though maybe from the pred? ) She seems much better now. But
dang,
every time I get up she wants food. I keep eeking it out so it seems like
more. I did give her a little of the wet g/d and she liked it. However,
twice when I have given her just a few of the dry g/d she threw up. I'm
almost wondering if her gas and ocassional diahrrea are from dry food.
It's
hard to eliminate completely because that is what Sugar eats. Well, I
guess
we shall see what is what eventually.


Since prednisone causes water retention, it might very well cause more
water to be in the intestines, and dilute things so there is diarrhea.
That's not considered a common side effect, but it's certainly possible.

Corticosteroids like prednisone are extremely valuable drugs, but they
can produce almost ANYTHING as a side effect.

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:51:04 -0500, Karen wrote:

in article , Marina at
wrote on 6/28/05 10:18 PM:

((((((Karen))))))

Boy is that going to be hard. She is worse now on the pred! I hope we can
wean her off of that particular med. I gave her her first of the other meds
tonight. Found the greatest pestle and morter. She chomped her food right
down even with those mixed in.

The bad thing is she has diahhrea (or however the heck you spell it). She
ocassionally gets it anyway, but she was very uncomforable for a while this
evening after getting the meds. (But it wasn't from them. SHe had it
earlier. Though maybe from the pred? ) She seems much better now. But dang,
every time I get up she wants food. I keep eeking it out so it seems like
more. I did give her a little of the wet g/d and she liked it. However,
twice when I have given her just a few of the dry g/d she threw up. I'm
almost wondering if her gas and ocassional diahrrea are from dry food. It's
hard to eliminate completely because that is what Sugar eats. Well, I guess
we shall see what is what eventually.

We are sending purrs and prayers for the new meds to settle in to
working well. It would be so great if the meds curbed her appetite. I
thought Sheba's appetite would be curbed with the proper food and
insulin; but she still acts like she is starving. Now I think it is a
conditioned response. I hope that is not the case with Pearl.

--
CATherine

You are doing your very best for your kitties, Karen.
Lots of purrs and best wishes for Pearl and hugs for you. You are a great
meowmie, Karen,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"Karen" wrote in message
...
My vet thought the heart looked enlarged. The heart vet was coming in for
another cat this after noon so I went home and got Pearl. She has "mitral
insufficiency". He said it's not real bad but it is causing all the
coughing
and throwing up. Biggest thing is to lose weight. He feels g/d will be
best.
And since both she and Sugar are 8 it is OK for Sugar to be on it too.
I'll
find out tomorrow more about what medication she has to take. I'm just so
depressed right now. It sucks to be my cats. I feel like I kill cats I
certainly hope she is on the "year" end of the 'cats can live for' instead
of the "months" end.