Journal Entry: October 17, 2009
Simone continues to throw up during the night and in the morning, but the amount has decreased and also looks more normal; occasionally she will have a bad day and throw up an earlier meal in liquid form; her behavior continues to return to improve and she is more like her former self; there is no uremic odor these days, she has a bit of a skip in her step, and she talks/complains more. All-in-all she has made a great comeback and it's wonderful having my friend back.
Journal Entry: November 28, 2009
Simone is back to her old self again; vomiting in mornings continues.
Journal Entry: December 19, 2009
Simone has been on a Pet-Tinic concoction for the last week prepared from 3 tablets (30 mg) of Pepcid AC crushed and dispersed in a 1 oz bottle of Pet-Tinic. I have increased the nightly dosage to 12 drops added to the other meds; the slippery elm was discontinued. At that dose, she has nearly stopped vomiting in the mornings. However, she does eat a smaller amount of the cat/tuna food. The rest of her condition is unchanged and she continues to act like her old self. She is heading for her 19th birthday on December 29.
Journal Entry: February 5, 2010
Simone has started to vomit in the early mornings again, maybe every other day. The Pet-Tinic dosage has been increased to 14 drops in the evening. A new bottle of Pet-Tinic has been prepared using 4 tabs of Pepcid AC per ounce. She will be given 10 drops of this medicine initially. Otherwise, Simone is doing fine, continues to eat well, and still shows attitude.
Journal Entry: February 26, 2010
Simone had a very bad night/morning with major vomiting. I didn't feed her or give her fluids during the day. She stayed in bed most of the time. The next day she was feeling better and I resumed the usual feeding/fluids. After several days, she was back to normal, but the vomiting continued, even with an increase in the petinic/pepcid dose (up to 14 drops). Will be looking into an alternative anti-emetic or begin combining the slippery elm with the pepcid treatment. Otherwise, she is doing fine as of 3/5/10.
Journal Entry: April 3, 2010
Administered a single dose (1/2 mL) of Metaclopramide in the evening for several days in a row; this drug didn't work … the vomiting continued. We started using a white sheet over the bed covers to catch the vomit so it wouldn't stain the cover. Tried feeding Simone earlier (before 5:30 pm) and stopped the Petinic treatment with the Pepcid AC. This worked better and now Simone vomits less often, less copiously, and on the carpet instead of the bed. Also, I started removing the regular cat food in the evening, as well as the dog food. Simone's behavior is great (very normal) and the involuntary shudders have almost disappeared.
Vomiting continued to be Simone's biggest medical challenge. The prescription drug metaclopramide was administered at the vet's suggestion, but, like the other anti-vomiting medicines, it was not effective. I finally decided that Simone responded better to non-drug treatments. Personally, I occasionally took the homeopathic preparation called Nux Vomica (apt name, hey?) to treat light bouts of reflux esophagitis. I decided to try it with Simone. I mixed up 10 tablets (30X strength) in about 1/2 cup of water and divvied the solution into 3 dropper bottles. I used this liquid to mix up Simone's meds/supplements with Hill's a/d soft food. Also, I went back to giving her 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of the slippery elm as part of the evening supplements. Finally, I decided to give her a sparing amount of food in the evening. She got a big breakfast, but the evening meal was just a small amount (< 1 ounce) of Friskies Ocean Fish. [Of course, the other cats had to tolerate the situation as their food was put up through the night ... poor beings!] This is the current regimen, and, although Simone continues to toss her cookies every once in a while, that condition has improved greatly. To my spouse's great relief, she rarely vomits in bed. More often than not, the vomit is white and a liquid.
That's it for this gruesome tale of retching. I had to get that off my chest (or esophagus!). Now I can get on to more pleasant things.
"If you are worthy of its affection, a cat will be your friend, but never your slave."
Theophile Gautier
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