Starr's A Very Sick Little Boy

Starr seems to be acting like he's feeling much better because he's been friskier than normal. He's still having diarrhea though because when I was cleaning out the litterboxes tonight, there was a fairly large pile of it.:( At least he's now been able to make it to the litterbox. He also did a big pee on Sunday night so I hope that his kidney infection is also starting to clear up.

Last night I had the pill in his mouth but I didn't realize it so I opened up his mouth and out popped the pill and it was very mushy so I just had to try to push it in again with the pill syringe. This morning things went a bit better so I'm hoping that things will go even better tonight. Hopefully I'll see a big improvement by Thursday or possibly Friday since Sundays meds didn't go down well.

Thanks again for all of your concerns. I'll continue to keep you updated.:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by krazyaboutkatz

Thanks everyone.:) I'm already using the pill syringe or else I wouldn't have any fingers left. I still have to give him his meds again at 8pm tonight. I sure hope that things go better this time.:) I've heard about pill pockets but I've never used them and I think that my vet does carry them.

---

I would check PetSmart and Petco first, you may find them much cheaper there. They come in Chicken and Salmon flavors. They might still have beef flavor, but not sure. They had revamped.

My one guy likes to eat them just so, no pill, lol. Hopefully Starr will like them as well!

Open wide now, Starr. ;)

Try using Benebac instead of yogurt. Available at Petsmart.
It is meant to do exactly what the yogurt does, but it is a small volume, you can squirt the tube in his mouth. Then repeat after 3 days.

I put butter on the end of the Pill Popper, just enough to get a good taste, and help it go down easier.
It's always a good idea to 'chase' any pill with a syringe of water. If the pill gets caught in the throat, some certain types can irritate the esophagus.


Best prayers and Meezer songs for Starr.

I hoe Starr gets better soon and that he dont have the diarhea problems for too long. Im sure you will figure out a solution for it.

Poor Starry Kat!!

Be a good kitty now Starr.. and let your meowmie give you your medicine...

I know its yucky stuff.. but it will make you feel better.!! *kisses* for you Starr!! and {{hugs}} for you Tracey! Hope he is feeling better soon!

Rose, that idea with the butter on the pill popper sounds good to me. Tigris is used to get his pills in French liver paté. A co-worker has good success with goose fat, so Starr you see there are quite some kitties who are able to get the best out of a situation even like this ;)

I am glad to hear that you pooped in the box and had a good pee :)

Good boy Starr!!! See what has happened now that you started taking your pills!!! You sound like you are feeling better and used the litterbox, too!!!

Thanks again everyone.:) Since Starr loves wet food, I decided to roll his pill in it and them I squished it into the pill syringe. Well it worked like a charm and Starr gulped it down. He even swallowed all of his pink liquid medicine too.:) I hope that this method will continue to work. No diarrhea in the boxes this morning but I still have to clean them again tonight so we'll see.

Edit: Unfortunately I found a couple piles of diarrhea tonight.:(

Get better lovely Starr!! *hugs*

Medicating Starr last night didn't go too well.:( This morning I decided to put his pill in some petromalt which he loves and it worked. I was then able to get the pink liquid medicine down him too.:) Tonight on my way home from work I'll try to find the pill pockets at Petsmart and I'll also look at the benebac.

There was more diarrhea in the litterbox and I also noticed that Starr was having a little problem eating. I looked at his gums and one area is already red and inflamed again. He just had his teeth cleaned on Dec.26th.:( I would also think that the amoxicillin that he's on would help his gums because I've used this in the past for both Sunny and Storm. Starr also seems to want too drink a lot of water. Please send some more good vibes his way. I don't think he's out of the woods just yet. Thanks.

Oh my- the red gums sound like an auto-immune thing. I am so sorry.

And it looks as if each trick for pilling him works only one time.

I hope Starry boy gets better soon. How does he behave?

Gosh, poor Starr! :(
If you get pill pockets, be sure to look at the ingredients before you buy. We used to sell them at the vet's office where I worked, but then we discontinued selling them because of the ingredients in them. There was a lot of beef product in the pill pockets, which can be an allergen. If Starr has a sensitive tummy, you may want to avoid the pill pockets.

Some stuff I've "hidden" medications in include cheese (like soft spreadable cheese you can form around the pill), turkey hot dogs, and stinky wet food.

Since Starr likes the petromalt and wet food, can you continue pilling that way, or is it usually a one-time thing with each pilling?

I hope he gets better soon!

**hugs**

I'm very sorry that I didn't see this earlier!! Poor boy!! :(

Please Starr, be a good boy and take your meds! These pills will make you feel much better!

Kirsten

Oh Tracey!!


Poor Starr!! I don't normally come into this section, but I had some extra time today - good thing I did, I know I'm late though! :rolleyes:

When Lucky was sick and I had to pill him with a HUGE horse pill x3 a day it was a mess!

Then (ok I know thisis going to sound crazy.....) Lucky & I had a long heart-to-heart talk. I took him into the bathroom, looked into his eyes and told him that he needed to take the meds to make him better. I wasn't trying to hurt him, and we both needed to get through this together. Believe it or not I truly think he UNDERSTOOD me!!!!!

YOU need to be calm, they pick up on our feelings VERY well. So if you are nervous, it will make Starr nervous.

I used to put Lucky on the closed toliet seat, his back to me and off to the left side (I'm right handed) then, I gently but firmly pulled the scruff of his neck - which automaitcally pulls his head back and opens his mouth. Then with the pill in my right thumb & first finger, I placed my pinky on his lower jaw, and pretty much threw that pill right down his throat. They don't choak or gag, but you have to do it firmly and quickly.

Remember, if you are nervous, Starr will react - so do it with authority!!!! It will get easier every time.

Lucky was on his meds for 6 months, after a month I looked at him and said "Pill time" and he walked with me into the bathroom and jumped up on the toliet!!! :eek: he knew exactly what to do!!! What a good boy!

Oh, I forgot to mention this, but close the bathroom door, and make sure no other kitties are in there to distract you both.

Good luck!

Tracey - just stopping by to send you and Starr some good healing thoughts!

You sure are getting good advice from everyone.

Hugs to you.

Continued healing thoughts and prayers for Starr and (((hugs))) for MOM!!

Oh Starr!! Please take your pills and get better! You're such a handsome boy, and we want you around for so much longer!! Know that your mommy is doing this to make you better, so don't fight her because she'll get more upset!

Tracey, hugs to you, and hope all will go smoother! Can you crush the pill up in baby food or in something like yogurt, or baby sweetpotatoes?? My sick guys loved that stuff.

Hugs!!

Poor Starr! I just wanted to pop in and check on our little guy. I had hoped to find a better update.

Lots of prayers and good vibes on the way.

Oh gosh Starr. Come on sweetie, you HAVE to get better. Please don't give your meowmie such a hard time on taking your medications, be a good boy, okay.

Tracey, have you tried scruffing Starr to give him his pill. I know that catnapper/Kim had a video on how to do this.

Prayers and positive thoughts on the way that Starr gets well real soon.

{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}} for the worried meowmie.

Thanks again everyone.:) I bought some chicken flavored pill pockets and some bene-bac too. I looked at the ingredients of the pill pockets and it doesn't have any beef products listed so it should be okay. It also has some enzymes which will be good for him which are lactobacillus acidophilus,lactobacillus lactis, and lactobacillus casei. The first and third ones are also in the bene-bac. I won't start the bene-bac until he's done with his meds.

He loved the chicken pill pocket so it went down smoothly. It seemed a little chewy and I was concerned that he might have problems chewing it and spit it out but he didn't. The pink liquid meds then went down well too. The only problem that I had was trying to catch him. He's so quick that it took me longer to catch him than to give him his meds.:rolleyes: The litterbox waste looked better tonight too. There were some mushy poops but not as bad as before. I sure hope that he's finally on the road to recovery. Thanks again.:)

Storm goes to the vet this Sat. morning for his annual exam and a urinalysis so I'm going to ask the vet about Starr's red gum problems. I also just started adding liquid oral care to their water and it's supposed to help fight plaque, gum disease, and odor causing germs. I sure hope it works.

Good news....that acidophilus really helps tummies! Especially if antibiotics have been at work...they kill good and bad bugs, they are VERY democratic! ;)

Hugs to the dear boy, and I hope he's back to eating full time soon!

Glad to hear the pill pockets worked. Hope Starr continues to take them and improve.

Whew, keep up the good healing work, little Starr-shine.

~~~ healing vibes ~~~ showering upon all your darlings.

I hope Starr continues to improve, its good to hear that he is already getting a little better.

Thanks again everyone.:) He took his meds again this morning without any problems but I noticed a big pile of diarrhea in the litterbox.:( He didn't even bother to cover it up. I sure hope that the meds kick in soon.

I'm so sorry. Could it be that the infection is more on the pee side and that the diarrhea is a different story?

Can you get the acidophilus capsules from a health food store? Whenever one of the cats was put on an antibiotic, I would always open one cap and sprinkle the contents on the food(wet) at both meals, that seemd to help with the loose bm's....Glad to hear that Starr is getting better taking his meds!!!

Pill crushing is another option.
Then you can put it in his wet food, or cream cheese.

I know Starr is a very bright boy. Snowy does the same 'run away' routine when he knows I'm coming after him, luckily I have the bigger brain, and can plot in advance.

Keep taking your meds, Starr.

Tonight Starr's pink liquid went down well but he ended up tasting his pill in the pill pocket and spit it out. I had to rewrap it and put it in the pill syringe. I forced it in his mouth and made him swallow it. He wasn't very happy.:( Now he'll probably stop eating the pill pockets.:( I may have to try the petromalt again. Ziggy enjoyed eating some of the left over pill pocket crumbs. I didn't find any diarrhea in the litterboxes tonight. It seems that everyone peed instead.

Starr is too clever for his own good. Try liver pate if you can get it. May work one or two times.
Oh my!

You certainly have a challenge on your hands!!!

I'm wondering if the "little talk" with Starr to explain about his medicine would help, too. One time when I had to take Don Juan to the vet for an injury, and Dr. J was getting ready to take his temperature THERE :eek: , I looked him in the face and said, quietly, "I know you don't like this, but the doctor needs to do it to make sure you're not sick." He STILL didn't like getting his temperature, but he made less of a fuss about it. :rolleyes:

Poor baby. I'll ask St. Francis to keep an eye on little Starr.

Liz

I was able to get Starr to eat the pill pocket both in the morning and evening even though he really didn't want it tonight. I had to put it in his mouth and make sure that he chewed it and swallowed it. He's been the most difficult patient that I've ever had other than my RB Pepper.

There wasn't any diarrhea in the litterboxes this morning but there was a little bit in one of them this evening. This is still an improvement because it's happening less often. Since I'll be taking Storm into the vets tomorrow for his annual check up and urinalysis, I'll talk to the vet more about Starr. He may want Starr to continue with the meds for a longer period of time or we may even change to different meds. I'll update you some time tomorrow. Thanks again for all of the continuing concerns.:)

Kisses for Starr :)

Starr took both of his meds this morning and I noticed that there was some mushy poop in the litterboxes so this is a slight improvement. I talked to the vet and he wants to do a urine culture on Starr to make sure that the antibiotics are the correct ones so I'll bring him in tomorrow at 11:20am. He didn't really say why his gums would be red and swollen so soon after having his teeth cleaned.

How did I miss this thread? I am sorry Tracey. I must have been in another world. Poor Starr. I hope he continues to get better and continues taking his meds.

Hopefully the vet can tell you more about the red & swollen gums tomorrow when you take him in.

(((((((((HUGS))))))))) to you and prayers and pawsitive thoughts for Starr.
Here's hoping the meds are the right ones for him and that all is well for Starry boy very soon.

Michelle, Vixen & Phoenix

Glad to hear that Starr is feeling somewhat better. Hope the vet has positive words tomorrow and that Star is on his way to feeling much better! Hugs to you and Star-boy!

Starr went to the vet for a recheck and the vet looked at him with the ultrasound again but didn't charge me for this. He said that his ureters looked dilated so there may still be a problem. His colon and kidneys looked much better. He took some urine for a urinalysis and possibly a urine culture if needed. I'll start giving Starr some of the bene-bac tonight to help build up his good bacteria so hopefully his poops will start looking better. I'll probably have the urinalysis results in a few days.

Best wishes to you Starr, sweetie! I'm glad that most things are looking better. Fingers crossed for the rest!

Hi everyone.:) I just wanted you to know that Starr's urinalysis results were normal so he's finally off of any kind of medication. I'll continue to give him the bene-bac every 3 days for a while. The litterboxes didn't have any diarrhea or mushy poos in them this morning and the slightly mushy poops tonight were much more formed than before so I know that Starr's doing and feeling much better. Thanks again for all of your concerns.:)