Update on Puddy; she's gone*9/29* see post #421

[Catty1]

Oh, Mary...eyes stinging just a bit here... How wonderful to see Puddy drink and drink - which is really good for her, of course, with the kidney problem. And maybe some of her yelling is from the 'burning mouth' - who knows?

Lara, you are a GENIUS!

Hmmm....try the cold smooth wet food, maybe? Cold baby food?

I think there's some better news ahead....

[Medusa]

I was just nodding off in bed when I heard "tap tap tap" on the floor and I thought "Ok, here we go. Another night of yowling or maybe I've got to do an ice cube run". But no! Puddy came scampering in my bedroom, up the little ramp that I made for her and into bed w/me! She only stayed a few seconds and then went into the bathroom and drank out of the ice cube bowl but this is the most encouraged I've been in a week or more. I don't know if the Selegiline is working or the B vitamins or both but whatever it is, I'm so thankful. I AM SO THANKFUL! Lara, again, thank you for taking over where my fried brain left off. Ok, so I'm off to get another round of ice cubes and I'm putting some Fancy Feast in the fridge to chill for tomorrow's breakfast for Puddy. <<< Never thought I'd be posting one of these smilies in this thread.

P.S. It just dawned on me that she hasn't yowled at all today!

[Catty1]

Think you could install a Puddy-size ice cube maker by the tub faucet?

Wow...Mary...I guess it IS darkest before the dawn...and remember the Beatles: "Here comes the sun"

[jenluckenbach]

WOW, such promissing reports! Way to go Puddy!

[pomtzu]

That's great news to read this morning. It's heartwarming to see you post in a positive way, and I can almost picture you looking somewhat relieved and optomistic. Hopefully Puddy will continue to improve - poor girl has been thru sooo much! As has Mom!!
I don't mean to sound disrespectful with what I'm about to say - but why hasn't your vet been able to see the whole picture of what's going on with Puddy?? You'd think with the tongue/mouth issue would have been a clue in regard to the B12 - and it appears to be working for her. Maybe he was too focused on one problem and completely missed another?
Whatever - I'm just glad someone found this info for you and that it appears to be helping. Still keeping fingers, toes, and poochie paws crossed in hopes that Puddy continues to improve!!

[Medusa]

I don't mean to sound disrespectful with what I'm about to say - but why hasn't your vet been able to see the whole picture of what's going on with Puddy?? You'd think with the tongue/mouth issue would have been a clue in regard to the B12 - and it appears to be working for her. Maybe he was too focused on one problem and completely missed another?

You're not being disrespectful. Believe me, this is something I intend to discuss w/him tomorrow. He's been on vacation all week. I've always been his biggest champion; he has always appeared to have such good instincts. To be fair, I don't know if it's the B vitamins or the Selegiline or the combination of both that has worked and I'm not willing to risk Puddy backsliding to find out by process of elimination. I'm inclined to think that it's the B vitamins, though. (It isn't just B12; it's all the B vitamins that I'm giving her because my other vet, the local one, said that she feels Puddy could need all of them.) Maybe my vet is burning out, too. When I first took Puddy to him a couple of years ago, she was screaming in pain. He said that he had never heard a cat scream like that. My regular vet had retired and the new owners of the clinic, there were 4 of them, looked at her x-rays and watched her for 3 days in their hospital and still couldn't come up w/a diagnosis. I finally said "Either you figure this out or I'm taking her out of here now", which is what I did. Dr. Lee had saved Yodie's life so I took Puddy to him and, as soon as he pulled her x-ray out of the envelope, he said "She has an inflamed colon, you know that, right?" I said "No, I don't know that. How is it that you can see that so readily and 4 other vets couldn't?" He said "I can't explain that but she needs surgery now". When he opened her up, he said she had peritonitis. Why those vets couldn't see that, I have no idea. So, I'm willing to cut Dr. Lee some slack but not much because if her lack of B12 could've been solved months ago, then she's been put through this misery needlessly.

I'll post again later. I want to see how she does w/breakfast. She didn't touch any of her cat chow during the night but I baked a chicken breast for dinner and gave her some and she ate quite a bit of it, so maybe she just had enough to eat and didn't need the cat chow.

[Medusa]

When I cleaned the boxes this morning, there was a pee clump and a poop. (I don't believe the things that get me excited now.) And this time I'm sure it was hers because there's no way Creamsicle could've gotten into her room.

She didn't eat the chilled Fancy Feast but I'm thinking that she just wasn't hungry because she had chicken for dinner last night and that filled her up. I'll try it again later. She kept the Selegiline down w/no problem this morning. Yesterday she threw it up just seconds after I gave it to her and I didn't have the heart to give her more later in the day, so we skipped a day. It just must taste awful even w/the chicken flavoring added. The way the pharmacist explained it to me is "The cherry Nyquil tastes better than regular Nyquil but it's still Nyquil". Makes sense. So I imagine that the Selegiline must taste pretty awful w/out flavoring.

Well, a friend is picking me up shortly; we're going to browse a flea market today. Sure hope Puddy will let me use the shower.