I haven’t discussed it with the vet. We’ve been focusing on figuring out how to get his poop to go from mostly puddle to something with at least a bit of definition. The latest try, Science Diet f/d, is not making any difference that I can see and he’s been on it for a month now.
Shiva is definitely not panicking, and his eyes (according to the vet) are fine. He has no problem tracking the Cat Dancer toy (a few pieces of cardboard attached to a whippy metal wire). He has no (discernable) trouble hearing, either, as he always responds very, very quickly when I make the lip-smacky noise that means it’s time to get his treats (pill pockets, for his meds) or just to come see me. Those noises are not loud.
He’s just old and cranky. I should be more patient with him.
I may be asking the vet tomorrow, since I want to discuss the poopening.
About all I know is that if he’s untreated, his stool gets bloody. That was how he was diagnosed about 3 or 4 years ago now, and I count myself lucky that it was *only *IBD and not cancer, which is what the ultrasound Doctor thought it was.
Oh, and the walls of his bladder have thickened, but that could be more because of age than anything else.
(Thanks, kayT, your kindness is much appreciated.)
Morgyn, when my elderly cat developed IBD, I went through several single-ingredient foods until we found the one he reacted to. (Unfortunately, we found it by him violently throwing up in our bed when we fed him the mackerel cat food. Like, cat trying to turn himself inside out, inches from our heads.) That was the end of fish-flavored cat food, and he did well on the poultry flavors of Fancy Feast for a couple of years after that.
ENugent, Shiva’s been on Natural Balance L.I.D. since he was diagnosed. Between that and the medications he’s on (prednisone and metrodanizole (?)), he’s stopped bleeding into his stool. But his stool is very, very soft. When he goes, he sounds like you’re trying to squeeze the last few drops of ketchup from a squeeze bottle.
The vet has had him on a hydrolyzed pet food for the last month; it’s supposed to be easier to digest and easier on his bowels. I don’t think he’s lost any more weight (20% of his body weight in 8 months!), but he’s still squirting. I’m wondering if increasing the prednisone dosage will help, since things were a bit firmer last June before we decreased it; problem is that long-term prednisone is not good for the kidneys or liver, and the vet was hoping to get some of his urinalysis numbers to improve. It’s a balancing act, every day.
I saw someone’s profile on OKCupid that I wanted to try and get in touch with. I clicked on the “send message” button and a message dialog came up. I thought for a little while about what to say. Finally had something that I hoped would make a decent first impression. Now, being old-school, I started with “Hello” and her name, and then I hit enter.
And it sent the damn message! I wasn’t done yet! There’s a “send” button on the dialog box, so I assumed it wouldn’t send until I pressed “send”! I figured I’d write a short note, but no; apparently things like formatting and line breaks are considered passé. Whoever created that messaging interface needs to die, a lot.
*Dear Mr. Arm,
After receiving paragraphs of self-serving drivel from other jerks,
it was so refreshing to hear from someone secure enough to be the quiet type.
I need to know more about you.
Name a place and a time, and I’ll cancel any other plans.
This all sounds a lot like Cobalt, and we got probably a year and a half with him between when he started to get sick and when we had to let him go. Have you tried pumpkin for fiber? Mixing it in with his wet food can help. (Be sure to check with the vet before you disturb his diet, though.)
These furry little people steal our hearts and leave too soon.
I’ve got a doctor with a sort of nervous laugh. I hurt my shoulder and now it’s frozen, which requires a lot of physical therapy. The damn doctor has this little nervous laugh when commenting on how screwed up the motion is. “Oh! Only 15 deg of motion! Ha ha”. I suspect that he’s a little self conscious about his English but dammit, don’t add insult to the injury.
On top of that, the physical therapist ha discovered new methods of torture. Apparently one particular motion triggers a whole body response to the pain. Fun stuff.
I had PT for my shoulder last year. Torture doesn’t describe it well enough. I started having panic attacks before going in rehab center. I flunked it so bad they wouldn’t even give me the free teeshirt all clients get. My doctor was not amused. He tried to make me go back. Nope.
My daughter and her boyfriend have been in Nevada this week. He proposed to her there, on a hike, and she accepted. They always get strangers to take pictures of them in cool places. He surreptitiously engaged a stranger to take many pictures of them at a scenic location. She thought nothing of it. Then he took a knee.
Meanwhile we’ve (I’ve) been dog-sitting their little Jack Russel. He’s been here a week, and has settled in to our routines. I’m going to miss him. Then again, four dogs is nearly a pack.
And seeing them in pain is really heartwrenching. My little Jezable passed in her sleep, she stopped even licking the juices from her gushifud, and a couple days later stopped drinking homemade chicken broth and just sort of wound down - she never really recovered from the house fire, she lost her ‘brother’ Cat5 and just never stopped missing him. She was 17 and going blind, but my mom had a cat live for 8 more years and died at the age of just under 25 blind, so I know how to live with blind pets … [we named him Cat5 because the first thing he did when we brought him into the house was scamper under the sofa and spend a couple days hiding out in an empty cat 5 cable box]
The chemo did some sort of neuropathy in my neck, whenever I bent my head [like to look at a book in my lap or something] to a particular degree, it would cause a twinge in both shins, ankles and feet - almost like that electric shock you get with carpal or cubital tunnel syndrome, or gently whacking an elbow or knee so it compresses the nerve. Very odd, it was the last neuropathic symptom to develop and the first to resolve.]
I’ve had frozen shoulder on both sides. The worst part of physical therapy was the massage therapist.
“Oh, you have some knotted muscles as well as the frozen shoulder? We’ll send you to Linda for 10 minutes of massage. We call her Thumbs!”
Let me tell you, Thumbs could have gotten a confession from the most die-hard Al-Qaeda operative! There wasn’t a mark on me, but just the feel of a t-shirt on my skin made me whimper for days!
Oh. My. God. Yup, that’s exactly the only comfortable position! And I’ve heard that about dry needling. Nobody ever seems to be able to say why it works, but they also don’t care why because it does.
QUOTE]
I have had dry needling done 3 times and it did seem to work, I was told by my Physical therapist that it causes a muscle that is stuck in the contracted position to release. That being said it hurt like a son of a bitch and hurts long afterwards (couple of days like a really sore muscle).
Broken shoulder which caused pain in shoulder, elbow, wrist and thumb. Pain pills (opioids) don’t seem to work on me very well, just make me sleepy but still in pain.
