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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 20, 2016 23:51:52 GMT
Has anyone any experience of these? I suspect Georgia may have been stung on her leg and I'm wondering what is the best thing to do for her.
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Post by tonib on Aug 21, 2016 1:26:08 GMT
I've not had any experience of this heartpawprints & googling wsn't much help either except to say watch out for any allergic reaction. Hope Georgia's OK.
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Post by scallywag on Aug 21, 2016 6:38:38 GMT
Hows Georgia this morning ? heartpawprints Dam wasps are a pesky nusance , my O.H got stung on his neck gardening yesterday too.
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Post by spider on Aug 21, 2016 8:15:23 GMT
Monbeam took a reaction to a sting a few years back his poor paw swelled up huge but vet sorted him out asap hasnt stopped him from trying to kill them we just got to keep an eye on him this time of year
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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 21, 2016 21:03:52 GMT
Thanks all. Yes, the internet isn't much use as it does just say watch for allergic reactions. She hasn't had any mercifully. I think she's either been stung or else she has jarred her leg as she has skidded on the way to the stairs. I'm just giving her a few days with some Metacam to see if that helps, but if not, I'll get her to the vet's.
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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 23, 2016 20:18:01 GMT
Well, unfortunately it has transpired that Georgia has developed arthritis in her hips arising out of her spondylitis. She's on meds for life now.
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Post by tonib on Aug 23, 2016 23:41:03 GMT
Sorry to hear this heartpawprints, how old is she? What meds is she been put on?
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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 24, 2016 9:09:04 GMT
She's a minimum of 12. She was a rescue cat so her age is an approximate. The vet has her on an anti inflammatory Loxicom.
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Post by tonib on Aug 24, 2016 12:43:50 GMT
Round about the same age that Penny started her arthritis meds. She was started with Nutraquin powders & eventually on Metacam/Loxicom. Roman is just on Nutraquin. Are the vets going to be monitoring her for any possible side effects of the long term use of the meds? It was definitely cheaper to have a repeat prescription with an online pharmacy despite the cost of the vets prescription on top of the online price. (we used Animeddirect) but worth checking around heartpawprints.
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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 24, 2016 21:53:20 GMT
Thanks Tonib. The in house vet scheme that she is on means I won't have to pay for her Loxicom so that's a relief for me. Thanks for the tip though - it may well come in handy for other things.
The vet advised that Loxicom is well tolerated over the long term and that there are no concerns regarding its use in this way. I asked about any food that might be useful but he said as she has the inflammatory bowel disease it's best to stick with a food that she's tolerating otherwise we could upset that condition. She was sick this morning but I'm not unduly linking it to the new meds. She hasn't been sick in over a month so she would be due to be sick if that makes sense.
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Post by gypsy on Aug 24, 2016 22:25:46 GMT
Metacam/Loxicom/Meloxidyl are exactly the same product but under different brand names and are the only licensed NSAID available for cats to treat long term pain. Used on a short term basis they are absolutely fine (usually!) but if given long term, its normally a good idea to have 6 monthly bloods done to check organ function, especially in older cats. As your cat has inflammatory bowel disease she may find it more difficult to tolerate a NSAID. My dog who also has IBD (I know different species!) cannot tolerate NSAIDS at all, of any kind due to his condition. Hopefully Georgia will be fine. It might be worth adding a joint supplement to Georgia's diet as tonib mentioned above, because these have a different purpose and help to improve joint health and slow the process down.
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Post by tonib on Aug 25, 2016 0:51:41 GMT
heartpawprints I do agree that Loxicom etc. can be tolerated over a long period but like all drugs there can be reactions in some cats. Our vet did explain when Penny went on Metacam at age 11.5 that there was a risk of kidney issues as a result & wanted to keep her dose as low as possible to ease her arthritis pain. As you may be aware Penny was diagnosed with kidney disease last year after about 4.5 years of Metacam. This may have happened anyway (older cats can be prone to kidney problems) or it may have been as a result of the Metacam. I'm not an expert but have been reading a lot on the subject of kidney disease & Metacam does crop up a fair amount in terms of possible causes/aggrevations. If we had known more then we might have had Penny's bloods checked regularly, if she would have tolerated it! However I would also say that, even with the benefit of hindsight, I would not have changed Penny's medicines as there is also the issue of quality of life. In my personal view, where there is an option, it is better to have a good quality of a shorter life rather than a painful longer one. The only difference blood tests would have made is that we would have been aware of her kidney disease earlier & may have been able to control it and/or its symptoms sooner, especially with diet as pilling her was a nightmare/almost impossible! To this end, although we initially took her off the Metacam after the kidney diagnosis, we eventually put her back on it with a low dose as she would not take her medicines to help the control of the disease, so little we could do for that other manage some symptoms (nausea etc.) but was obviously in pain from the arthritis. Hopefully Georgia will be OK. As is always the case we don't hear about the instances where cats are fine with the drug long-term just the instances where they are not.
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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 25, 2016 17:18:04 GMT
As part of the scheme she gets a yearly blood test so hopefully anything will come up on there. I agree with you about quality of life. That is the key thing.
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Post by tonib on Aug 25, 2016 23:53:37 GMT
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Post by heartpawprints on Aug 26, 2016 17:43:27 GMT
Yes, it's peace of mind. Today she isn't limping so badly so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's settling down.
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