Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Dr. Pam can hopefully give you her take on things but honestly, as much as vets are overworked and stressed right now, I think that many don't mind when clients ask questions. I'm guessing that vets take comfort in knowing that their clients are asking good questions and not self-medicating their pets on their own.
Be sure to keep us updated on his condition in our 3-legged cats forum. See you there!
I do not mind questions; email is often easier so that I can respond at my leisure but your vet may have her own preferences.
Pam
Thank you both for your confidence, I decided to email her back and ask if we could try the shot. I'm nervous about it since it isn't utilized for this and there's no information out there for use for hyperesthesia. But hate he's so groggy a lot of the time
I still have not been able to dial-in the right combination of CBD and Gabapentin. But my vet has agreed to try Solensia, but seems it is out of stock.
Dr. Pam - Do you have any sources to this new drug??
Well it just came out so there is a huge demand; has she tried various suppliers? I know I had a list of people waiting to try this drug so I am sure other vets did too. I have been off this week but had not heard that it was on backorder. You can try calling other vets in the area as well.
Pam
My vet was able to find some Solensia and it was administered on 11/10. It hasn't appeared to help yet, but I don't know if it's a fast-acting or slow-acting type of drug. I have an appointment to try 1 more shot in Dec. Fortunately he had no reactions taking it! I have been able to dial in meds a little better and now give him 1 CBD drop with 2 very small scoops of 200mg Gabapentin. But he still has muscle spasms and it is a bit more touchy some days, but at least more comfortable and not always drugged out.
I have been trying to brush him at least 3 times a day as directed by PT. I also purchased a motorized cat toy to help distract him when he starts to overgroom or has a lot of twitches. I guess these things are supposed to help him retrain his brain on what are 'good' sensations. I haven't been very successful in getting him on the balancing board to improve his balance & muscle strength. I think I will need to find an extra pair of hands to help me hold him & the board. I would recommend others to look into this for early recovery therapy.
As for the Farabloc blanket, I washed it and slept on it for a few days and now have it sitting on my desk which he sometimes sits on while I work. I can usually get him to sit there for 5 mins or so every day, maybe a couple of times a day. So not sure if that is working. It did not seem to help my lower back pain when I slept on it- LOL.
Just wanted to give an update on the drug and blanket's effectiveness. Will post again after his 2nd Solensia shot. Still in hopes to help his hyperestesia.
Thanks for the update. It's good that at least there's a treatment in place now, and you know what to do thanks to the PT instructions.
I love the toy distraction idea. It's so true. Issues like chronic pain can get mapped out in our brains and we (as well as animals) automatically respond to it the same every time. Throwing in a novelty thing like the toy can certainly "remap" his responses. I hope it helps, along with the Farabloc . It sounds like slow but steady progress with all of these combined approaches. Good job!
Oh about the balance board: yes, an extra set of hands is very helpful to get the exercises done correctly. You might also want to try putting down couch cushions on the floor and seeing if you can get him to walk across them. It's a similar end result.
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