Sabriel the Sick Update

I'm pretty sure that at least for now A and KP are the only people who read this. It's okay, though. I like have a private journal that my best friends can read.

In the past week we've spend $550 on Sabriel. She's had a FUO (fever of unknown origin) and not much of an appetite, lethargy, etc etc. The bloodwork we redid today showed that her WBCs and specifically neutrophils have dropped a tiny amount but nothing significant. Combine that with the fever that's staying around 104 and to me that means the Baytril isn't really working. My vet, ever optimistic, is having me continue the Baytril as well as getting back on Clavamox. We're also putting her on Lactulose every 8 hours to try to get her to poop since she hasn't done a whole lot for the last four days or so. We've already been giving her fluids but we now have to give even more because the Lactulose draws water into the colon.

So, in the morning we'll give Clavamox and Lactulose. At noon we'll give Baytril. In the afternoon we give more Lactulose. In the evening we'll give Clavamox again and at least 100 mls of fluids. In late evening we'll give another dose of Lactulose. Holy crap...this is going to suck.

The worst part is we're spending all this money and time trying to help her feel better, and in a week we'll get the results of the feline panel back from Antech. It tests for FIP, toxoplasmosis and a couple other things I can't remember. The "FIP specific" test doesn't actually definitively tell you if a cat has FIP or not, so if the titer comes back positive we're going to have to have a talk about what that actually means. She said that Antech says it's specific so it must be specific, but I just found an article by a board-certified internist who talks about why it isn't. Either way, if she really has FIP we pretty much just treat symptoms as they come and keep her comfortable as long as possible. I don't know as much about toxoplasmosis, but although she has the basic symptoms (fever, lethargy, some weight loss) she hasn't exhibitied eye or neurological problems.

I hate having her not feel well. I haven't been doing a whole lot of studying for school lately because all I do is worry about her, and I have an Anatomy test next Friday. I guess there's nothing more I can do for Sabriel in the meantime so I may as well start studying. I foresee a bad grade though if we get bad news from the panel because we'll be getting it a day or two before the test. :( I'm just going to keep crossing my fingers.