[renlouis]

Sherylcatmom - The sambucol looks interesting. Have you and your family taken it? How is the taste (I'm wondering if my 10 y.o. and 13 y.o. would take it)

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by renlouis

Sherylcatmom - The sambucol looks interesting. Have you and your family taken it? How is the taste (I'm wondering if my 10 y.o. and 13 y.o. would take it)

I like the taste of Sambucol! But then I like just about everything except orange marmalade. A 10-year-old and 13-year-old? Dunno. Depends on how adventurous their palates are.

BTW, Sambucol was recommended to us by a holistic M.D. who considers it an excellent preventive for flu season. She does not recommend it for cold prevention, feeling that other remedies are more effective for that.

[arel]

What I use is the Quantum Herbal Products Elderberry Olive Cough Syrup.

I think I can get it online, but it is not on the Quantum website. I don't know why. I saw it on a website that I didn't think to make a favorite. I think it was House of Nutrition. I just googled the name of the product and found it. They actually sell it for a few dollars less than I paid in Brooklyn.

I brought Sammy home today. He is off the medications he was on when he entered the hospital. Now he is on Prednisolone and Clavimox. And insulin. The oral diabetic medication does not work for him anymore. In addition I have to give him weekly injections of Vitamine B 12. He is still frail and extremely thin, but he feels heavier than he felt when I took him to the hospital last week. He does seem a little unsteady on his feet at times. I checked him for hypoglycemia and found that his blood sugar was very high. I tested him on his Freestyle flash meter. This meter is accurate at low blood sugar levels, but it reads notoriously low at high levels, and the higher the blood sugar, the more inaccurate it is. So a 380 or so reading on the Freestyle is more like a 500 level on another meter! I am going to buy him an Accu-check Advantage. That is pretty much the best meter to use for a cat. I had originally gotten the Freestyle meters because they used the least amount of blood. Later, I learned that it is dangerously inaccurate with cats. I don't know why. Maybe it has to do with the very technology that lets it use so little blood.

I did not bring home any cans of the W/D food they want me to use. He wouldn't eat much of the dry W/D, which I have, even when I moistened it. I called the hospital and they said I could buy some Fancy Feast. Tomorrow I will buy W/D at a local vet's. My new vet does not sell it.

Sammy is so thin and so frail, but he purrs when he is cuddled. I do not yet know if he is on the mend or dying. Everything depends on the biopsy results. But whatever happens, at least I'll know that I did everything possible to help him. I hope he knows this, too.

I'm almost afraid to go to bed tonight. This will be the first night in a week that Sammy will, in effect, be left unattended. He was in intensive care 24 hours a day for the past week. He was never left unattended during that time.

They said that the animals get little sleep in the hospital, and that they often "crash" when they get home. By "crash" I mean they are exhausted and want to sleep.

Just checked on Sammy. He is resting on the couch with his head on a pillow. He appears to be ready for sleep. I think he is relieved to be home. Maybe he will seem more energetic and solid after he gets some real rest.

[GypsySoul22]

You can google Quantum (I get some herbal stuff from them) or I can find my last invoice and try to get you their number. You can buy from them direct (they are in Saguerties (spelling), NY and the delivery gets to me in a day or so here in VT.
Editing..I actually have the number...pm me if you want it or can't find it...

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by arel

Sammy is so thin and so frail, but he purrs when he is cuddled. I do not yet know if he is on the mend or dying. Everything depends on the biopsy results. But whatever happens, at least I'll know that I did everything possible to help him. I hope he knows this, too.

Here's hoping for good results. You are a wonderful cat caregiver and I am sure Sammy is glad to be there with you. I love being with my cats because they seem to live right now, and utterly lack the existential dread and cosmic balancing act that human minds seem to get caught in (at least, my mind sure does). I'm guessing that Sammy feels comfort, safety, and love with you in the present moment and isn't concerned about the details.

Originally Posted by arel

They said that the animals get little sleep in the hospital, and that they often "crash" when they get home. By "crash" I mean they are exhausted and want to sleep.

Just checked on Sammy. He is resting on the couch with his head on a pillow. He appears to be ready for sleep. I think he is relieved to be home. Maybe he will seem more energetic and solid after he gets some real rest.

When I first read "crash," I thought, oh no, as in back to ICU? I was so happy to see that you meant being exhausted in sleeping soundly. A kitty with head on pillow is one of the sweetest sights ever. :-)

[arel]

I have the same association, or worse, to the work "crash". That's why I was sure to clarify what was meant.

BTW, I think Sammy feels heavier and more solid now than before he was hospitalized. I think he has gained a little weight.

[arel]

I found it! I found the Quantum Herbal Products website and I can order online or by phone. It's actually cheaper to buy the product from the company than from the store, unless the shipping charges take that advantage away.

I don't really know why I couldn't find the product on a company website last time I looked. Maybe I googled a name that was not exact. But I have it now. Quantumherbalproducts.com.

Problem solved.

[arel]

I just got back from a visit with Sammy's internist. According to the biopsy report, there is no evidence of cancer. But the vet says we still have to be on the lookout for lymphocytic lymphoma (small cell lymphoma). I think that is the lymphoma she said. Sammy has severe inflammatory bowel disease and that can turn into this kind of lymphoma. But this kind of lymphoma is easily treated.

But IBD is a serious condition. The vet said she lost her own cat to this. And Sammy also has diabetes.

He is being treated with prednosolone and also a chemo medication. When I administer the chemo medication, starting later this week, I will have to wear gloves.

So the bottom line is cautious optimism. Sammy is not dying of cancer, but he has two serious medical conditions.

I'm happy with the quality of veterinary care here in Vermont and Massachusetts.

Friday I drove on an unfamiliar, unlit road at night, in the rain, to go to someone's house for a social gathering. I felt a little anxious, but I did it. I came home that night a more confident rural driver than I was when I left.

So things are moving forward on at least two fronts.

[arel]

This may be slightly off-topic, but it is an update to what has been discussed in this thread.

I have some sad news.

Sammy died early this morning, at about 3 am. I had thought he was on the mend, and his blood sugar was coming down. But when I got home last night, after a dinner meeting, he seemed very weak. I tested his blood sugar, thinking he had gone hypo, and it was 50. Hypo, but not dangerously so. I gave him some honey water in a curved syringe which my Brooklyn vet gave me, but he stayed lethargic. He did get up, go to the middle of the living room and unload solid and liquid poop. I thought that maybe he would be ok. But eventually, I had to overcome my resistance and make the trip down to the emergency clinic in South Deerfield. It was after midnight and I was tired, but I didn't want to awaken to a dead cat and feel I didn't do what I should have done. I couldn't imagine driving all the way to South Deerfield in the middle of the night, but I bit the bullet and did it. Most of the time, I had the interstate all to myself. The emergency vet warmed him and gave him fluids, but he was clearly dying. She said if he were her cat, she would euthanize him. But I didn't want to euthanize him, fearing it would be premature. Maybe he would recover. We didn't know how long he would be with us. I stayed in a room for about an hour with him. A few times he lifted his head and, at one point, he got up on his own and I had to restrain him from jumping off the table. He meowed a few times, but they did not seem like normal meows. The vet said they seemed like dying meows. At the vet's suggestion, I went to my car to take a nap. The vet said she would call me with any changes. Not 10 minutes later, and she came out to tell me he was gone. I was a little upset that I couldn't be with him at the end. He died in a cage, with me napping in my car. But the vet said he wasn't alone, and she also said that maybe he was holding on because he didn't want to die in front of me. I do know that cats often like their privacy when they are dying. Alex also died when I was away from him.

Sammy loved Alex so much. When Alex entered a room where Sammy was, Sammy would run to him and nuzzle him. When Alex trotted off, Sammy trotted off right next to him. I was concerned that Sammy would get sick when Alex died. Well, 8 months after Alex died of diabetes, Sammy got diabetes. and now it is not yet 2 1/2 years since Alex died, and Sammy is gone. I hope he is with Alex now.

It is after 5:45 am now. I got home about an hour ago. I laid out Sammy's body by the porch door so the other cats can process his passing. I read that this helps surviving family cats with their grief. I don't want them to think that Sammy just disappeared. I did this with Rudy, too. Mitzi and Alex died at home, so I just laid them out by the piano and then took their bodies to my vet's. Now I have to take Sammy's body to my new vet's tomorrow morning. They open at 7:30 am.

Sammy even pooped in the towel they wrapped him in after he died. I'm not sure if I should wash the towel or just throw it out.

I spent a fortune on his care, and he died anyway. But at least I know I did everything I could for him. And he went pretty fast. I hope he didn't suffer.

I am now physically and emotionally exhausted and I am grieving. But, if there is a silver lining to this tragedy (he was only 11) it is that I no longer have to keep cleaning up after him a million times a day, I no longer have to keep feeding him a million times a day, I no longer have to pay his astronomical veterinary bills, I no longer have to make plans contingent on his condition, I no longer have to plan my time around his insulin injections, I can leave out dry food for the other cats to free feed, I no longer have to give him medications twice a day, I no longer have to test his blood sugar and I can start to work without being afraid of something bad happening when I am away. I have something scheduled at 9:30 this morning and a house showing at 1. I'm afraid to go to sleep. I may have to put Sammy's body out on the porch and then take it to the vet's after my morning activity.

I lost Rudy on June 12 and now I have lost Sammy on November 13. Two cats gone, and gone prematurely, in 5 months. Rudy was 12 and Sammy was 11.

On another note, Kasha had several asthma or asthma-like attacks yesterday or the day before. One looked like a full-blown asthma attack. She now has a vet appointment. Last time I took her to her vet (in Brooklyn) she got, I think, 5 days worth of prednisone and she was good to go for several months.

I hope you do not mind all this detail. Most of this email I copied and pasted from an email to friend, who is a cat person herself. I made some changes appropriate to this venue, of course, but I didn't want to rewrite the story. Also, people on the forum have written that they appreciate all the detail I put into some of my posts.

Thanks, all of you, for your support during my cat's illness. And please say a little prayer for my little Sammy.

[GypsySoul22]

Arel, I am very sorry about Sammy.