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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2012 23:06:18 GMT -5
Hey! So, since spring, Lyla became very lean... "normal" lean... she went down to 800g, which was her weight for 2 years before she put on a huge amount for a year... Lyla tends to have diarrhea once every few months. She looses weignt everytime, but recovers fairly qhickly... only this time it's pretty horrible... Her weight went down when she got diarrhea again last week. It went down drastically, but steadily. I assumed it would be like any other diarrhea... she'll loose a bit and gain it again after... But this time, she's down to 620g. She's LITERALLY skin and bones. She looks severely malnourished and all. I have started force feeding her 2 days ago. She's still her normal active (for about 30 minutes to an hour a day...) and eats treats very willingly. for two days now I noticed that she's definitely eating on her own a bit, but not very much. She drinks a lot and bowel movements go through all right (no blockage...) Her poops are looking MUCH better, but her weight's hasn't gone up in 2 days of doing better. How long can it take before she starts gaining again? How long should I wait before I take her to the vet? I'm thinking by Friday, if she hasn't started gaining, I will bring her in... does that sound fair? She's 4 and a half, so I'm worried about her becoming either adrenal or insulinomic, but she doesn't have sugar lows, and she's not loosing her hair at all (other than a bit of rat tail...) Could it be anything else? Other than her being currently severely underweight, she looks and acts fine now. Liquid poops are gone, and she plays and eats and drinks... I just don't know... I guess I need a little reassurance that she seems to be on the mend now Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2012 23:40:00 GMT -5
I'm wondering if she has some mild IBD (maybe set of by stress?). Just a thought. I would continue the twice a day feedings. Maybe add some KMR - it it nutrient and calorie rich. Carnivore care I hear is also good for sickies.
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Post by Heather on Aug 21, 2012 1:55:24 GMT -5
I would continue feeding twice daily, making sure that her food has as much fat in it as she can tolerate (too much and you will bring on the loose stools again, I would also use pumpkin if you're not already). You're not going to see any great change in a couple of days....I agree with Jackie, it does sound that she may suffer IBD. I've found that carnivore care mixed with their usual soupy seems to help put good nutrients into her system. The problem might be that she's not absorbing nutrients as efficiently as she should (again pointing to IBD). Feeding her twice a day will at least make sure that she is eating. If you see no change in the next few days I would be tempted to take her to the vet. ciao
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Post by kpaz on Aug 21, 2012 8:12:22 GMT -5
If you can get some carnivore care, it really does help. I mix it in with Pippin's soups. He gained almost 200g in one week of being on it. I haven't had him weighed since then but I know he's gained more, and looks really well now.
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Post by goingpostal on Aug 21, 2012 9:39:59 GMT -5
Are you weighing her daily? I had a similar issue with a ferret who goes through weight lows, looking like death and scaring the crap out of me at least every couple months. I track his weight and one time he was freaking me out so I started feeding him soupies 2x daily and weighing him every day. He lost a little every day for a week, eating great, energy fine, poop fine, brought him into the vet and he had an infection, I think of his liver. Anyways some antibiotics cleared him up. Keep an eye on her, if she keeps losing with the feedings I would take her in and have some bloodwork done, better safe than sorry imo.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2012 12:26:39 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! I've been feeding her 3x daily, and although she absolutely refuses, I scruff her and make her eat at least a bit. I weigh her a few times a day, checking how high she goes after a meal, and how low she goes before a meal. Her lowest to date was yesterday morning, weighing at 605g a few hours after her meal. This morning right after her forced meal, she was up to 635g. I know it's not really significant yet, but I'm keeping my hopes up. If my friday she's not at least up to 700g, I think I will take her in. Infection I guess could make sence... no symptom whatsoever other than her 4 day diarrhea of last week... Over the weekend, I tried feeding her some replacement kitten milk (I have some left over on hand from nursing the baby kitten back to health a few weeks ago...) and I think it made her stomach upset, as her stools went loose again. So I have stopped giving her some yesterday morning, and her stools look fine again. I tried all meat baby food and we fought for 5 minutes for her to swallow a minute amount... so that's out of the options. I have yet to try the Carnivore Care. I do have a pouch that I bought after Meeko's operation, and have yet to use it. If in two days her weight's not going up, I will try that. But if it is some kind of mild IBD, caused by some unknown factor that comes around every few months, can anything be done to help her? Are those affected put on some kind of meds? Or is it something I just have to lookout for, and start force feeding when I notice the diarrhea next time? Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2012 12:30:40 GMT -5
There are some natural supplements you can try (Reishi mushrooms, pancreatic enzymes, slippery elk bark). Both Katt and Sherry have pretty extensive experience with handling IBD (though more severe in their cases). Hopefully they'll pitch in
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2012 13:03:41 GMT -5
I'd love that! Any way of confirming though? Like if her weight goes up, and I can avoid the vet for this time around, is there any test I can have them do to confirm IBD?
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Post by Sherry on Aug 21, 2012 14:20:18 GMT -5
IBD can only be positively id'd via biopsy. Most vet diagnose based on symptoms. I can't remember- but have you had her checked for bacterial infection? What you have described sound like what Athena just went through. We also thought possible IBD.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2012 21:37:18 GMT -5
I have not had her checked yet, no. I was waiting for any abnormal behavior to arise... Her diarrhea are "normal" every 3-4 months (she's done that for what seems like forever...), but this time she just lost much more weight than usual... If it's a bacterial infection, she won't start gaining weight again until she's cured, right? Or she might still gain weight? Let me know! Thanks!!
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Post by Sherry on Aug 21, 2012 21:52:43 GMT -5
With ours, they just kept getting sicker until treated. That's actually why Athena was in hospital on IV fluids and antibiotics. I think I'd have her checked, especially since she's not bounced back as per normal.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2012 10:14:57 GMT -5
That's the thing though... everything is normal but her weight... her activity and personality are normal, eating (this morning she ate more after I finished feeding her) is always on the rise, her poops are nice and she drinks a lot... She doesn't get any worse... Poor Athena... glad to know she made it ok
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Post by Heather on Aug 22, 2012 10:33:41 GMT -5
It does sound like IBD type symptoms. Every now and then she gets stressed and everything goes wrong and she has an issue. Rather sounds like my wee Ghenghis, never could pin down the stressor...it wasn't food related....I often wondered if it was because he was my peace-keeping clown and at that time the business was very unstable The problem was that the symptoms didn't necessarily happen at a newbies introduction or exit of an old friend He never really carried good weight during the summer, often looking very thin (he seemed to have his worse attacks during the summer too) but his coat, activity levels and eating habits were good. Unlike Katt and Sherry's wee ones, his trigger was not food related or as far as I could pin down ciao
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Post by Sherry on Aug 22, 2012 11:42:27 GMT -5
If everything else is normal, then IBD is certainly more likely.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2012 0:37:06 GMT -5
After her bedtime force feed of tonight, Lyla weighed 665!! Yay! For two days now she's gained 30g a day! I think this is a good sign! Though it worries me that she may have IBD Poor Girl
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