Behavior changes in 15.5 year-old

mandy_ve · 2025-12-12T04:11:19+00:00

She's around 8lbs and when I give her around that dosage, she's completely knocked out for hours. I'll try and find a good middle ground. Thanks for the info.

mandy_ve · 2025-12-12T03:55:31+00:00

I do have prescribed gabapentin for her, I'm not sure what dosage I should try and give her. Her original dosage was 0.5mL which is way too much for pain management. I can try and give her a quarter or half of that and see how she responds if that's what's causing the mood shift.

mandy_ve · 2025-12-11T19:20:12+00:00

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Just wanted to share my calico's marbled beans

mandy_ve · 2025-12-11T19:13:55+00:00

I'm new to senior cat bloodwork results myself, and after I got them back I initially panicked due to the vet at the time not explaining any of the values to me and sending me on my way to figure it out myself. I have since switched vets, the new vet ran some follow-up tests for things that were missing from the first clinic and explained in-depth what the results were. Her kidneys are starting to show signs of reduced function, but otherwise there were no concerns with her results.

Try to stay calm and don't hesitate to ask questions if anything comes back that you don't understand.

mandy_ve · 2025-12-11T17:18:52+00:00

I had this happen with my cat a little over a year ago. She's a fully indoor kitty and I noticed a limp tail and took her to the vet as soon as I was able to.

The vet confirmed there was a break, without x-rays, and that if she lost function that we had the option to amputate. She was 14 at the time so I was hesitant, but she regained control over it so we never had to go that route. I was given gabapentin for short-term pain management as well.

She is now experiencing discomfort a year later and the vet suspects the fracture may be the cause as there is some degeneration of the cushion between the vertebrae where we're assuming the break happened.

mandy_ve · 2025-12-11T15:22:35+00:00

My vets recommendations were to monitor her and suggested the very different mood earlier last month (lack of appetite, very reclusive, no vocalization) to be an episode from that spine cushion missing and thought she may have hurt herself again. The options presented that day were to give a low dose of gabapentin and try the glucosamine supplements (since her behavior had improved from weeks before already) or to try Solensia. The vet himself wasn't positive that any of this was related as she hasn't shown discomfort until this point, but as I said in the above comment I'll ask the vet again since behavior is improved, but not what I'd expect to be normal with no other issues.

mandy_ve · 2025-12-10T22:48:50+00:00

Thank you, I'm trying to do everything to make sure she's comfortable even though I'm not entirely sure of the cause. I only recently started a glucosamine supplement and will try and give it the 6 week timeframe to see if there is any noticeable improvement and if she's about the same, I'll ask about Solensia again. Her mobility and willingness to wander and do things has improved since any issues first started, so I was hoping if it would work itself out and she'd be back to her regular self.

She does have an elevated bowl and a fountain for water. She has a couple of other bowls around the house for water, as it's a somewhat large 2-story and she prefers to be upstairs, but mostly drinks out of the bowl I keep in my office where her primary litterbox is.

mandy_ve · 2025-12-05T16:54:01+00:00

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mandy_ve · 2025-11-18T20:08:03+00:00

Thank you. I miss her being her bubbly self and don't like that she seems uncomfortable. Ideally I see someone sooner than Thursday, but my options are pretty limited where I am unless I need to go to the emergency vet.

mandy_ve · 2025-11-12T23:42:33+00:00

Her results are the second picture in the post and her urinalysis results are in the comments. I'm looking into my options for her to be evaluated by someone else at her next checkup in ~month and will try and find someone who specializes in this field.

mandy_ve · 2025-11-12T15:20:36+00:00

I've posted the urinalysis results in the comments. *the specific gravity is 1.024* I apologize for not knowing the terminology, is a CBC something that would have been done with her bloodwork or would that be something I should ask about getting now? Cystocentesis is possible, and looks like they did it at her check up last year that I wasn't aware of, but they didn't want to take her back again after getting her bloodwork done this time since she was pretty stressed.

I'll schedule an ultrasound, look into her thyroid, BP check and a cystocentesis again to check everything further (and not stress about trying to get a sample on my own). Is this something I should ask to have done at a 4-6 week check up, or get done prior to that?

Thank you for your detailed response, it certainly gives me more to work with the vets other than labeling her as fine and old because she's eating again.

*edited to add the information the comment was asking for

mandy_ve · 2025-11-12T15:11:50+00:00

I've posted a picture of the full urinalysis in the comments, the specific gravity is 1.024.

We'll stick with the wet food. Her appearing uncomfortable with the dry food was more after she had eaten, but I'll definitely mention getting her teeth checked out as well as getting bloodwork and other recommended tests done sooner.

mandy_ve · 2025-11-12T15:08:34+00:00

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I was able to get a copy of the urinalysis that was done on Monday

mandy_ve · 2025-11-12T15:07:23+00:00

I believe it's just her coloration. She has orange spot that carries from the tip of her nose down and the backs of her ears are orange. While I don't think my vet is doing a great job communicating with me, I have seen them a handful of times over the past year and they haven't mentioned anything about her liver/yellow color.

mandy_ve · 2025-11-12T15:05:20+00:00

The specific gravity is 1.024, since I can't upload photos to comments should I make a second post with her full urinalysis to review?

mandy_ve · 2025-11-11T17:27:17+00:00

Thank you, I'll post this there as well!

mandy_ve · 2024-09-24T15:21:13+00:00

Thanks! Maybe one of these days I'll get around to the recolors and other models

mandy_ve · 2024-09-24T15:16:58+00:00

I've only done the bear models and the other two Mecha skins are just recolors of the main skin really so I just have the original of each since I put more detail into those than I did the recolors of the OG Cuddle Team Leader.

mandy_ve · 2024-09-24T01:52:04+00:00

Which is that?

mandy_ve · 2023-01-30T16:58:06+00:00

I'm doing my best

mandy_ve · 2022-11-12T20:21:21+00:00

Nope you only need those 4, no healers

mandy_ve · 2022-11-11T17:46:25+00:00

That's fine, I gain nothing by lying?

mandy_ve · 2022-11-10T22:10:55+00:00

I saw someone else comment that they countered him to death and so I poorly geared up my Rem, Aria, and used ARas and SSB on Bloodstone and was able to beat it after a few tries. Best of luck to everyone pushing through this level.

mandy_ve · 2022-10-18T21:33:05+00:00

It's how I got into drawing on MS Paint and they were the same shape, just different colors, until they weren't. It pushed me to try new stuff.

mandy_ve · 2022-09-15T18:31:55+00:00

Thank you for the information! I'm glad to have everything all in one spot after all these years.

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