dr chucle is awesome

back years ago when i was first dealing with the facts of buzz's spina bifida and mega colon
i was initially not happy with her
she seemed wishy washy
like maybe she didn't know what she was doing
i took him to a cat vet specifically
like a cat specialist
and
everything she said was absolutely spot on
but
unlike some vets
dr chucle understands
you don't have unlimited funds
you have priorities of maximizing the good
and minimizing surgeries and testing
that don't necessarily maximize
that's not wishy washy
it's saying:
you could do that
but it probably isn't the best thing to do
but she doesn't say that last part
she says something more like
some people have had good results with that

once i understood her language
i really really like her
because i trust her opinion as wise and experienced

i have been dealing with young vets
and they have been freaking me out
i've been operating under the impression that
kitty is a ticking time bomb of death
that the elevated levels in his blood
mean that his pancreas is oozing acid all inside him
and that his insides are being destroyed
even as we speak
sure
he seems fine
but
there is almost no time left before massive damage


she's like no
the fact that his cholesterol and triglycerides are ten times "normal"
doesn't necessarily mean anything at all
we don't really know what "normal" is for a cat
maybe it's a problem
but
maybe it isn't

the pancreatitis doesn't work like that
it's only doing stuff when he's having an acute phase
and if he seems fine
he's probably fine

the thing that will most likely manage the problem is diet
and she thinks i'm doing that right
based on these numbers being high
i just switched him from chicken to fish
because my first trial was to get rid of the grains and fat
and then i didn't want to introduce more fats
if he wasn't digesting them properly
so now i've switched him to limited ingredient grain free fish
which is almost the same as what he was getting except fish
blue buffalo

the other vets
were talking specialists and testing
and she doesn't necessarily think that's necessary
also
it's not useful unless he's having an acute episode
but
if i get a referral then they may not see him right away
so
next episode
just take him to gulf coast animal hospital emergency
problem solved
[although the expensive test may be more expensive]
get them to ultrasound his entire belly
and if anything look weird
get needle aspirated biopsies

there is no medication for this
except steroids
which she doesn't recommend until it's super bad and necessary
not as a preventative of any kind
she doesn't recommend
fixating on the blood work

now
in both cases
he was absolutely fine fifteen minutes before
he started vomiting and being obviously sick

so the
just see how he's doing method
seems a little ify
but, whatever

he had an episode in june
and then in august

in august he switched food
the first test was better numbers
this last one was worse
but
they didn't get enough blood to do both tests
and she says they might not have really gotten enough for the one test
because she says it looks like the blood was hydrolyzed
so
maybe the numbers are falsely high
maybe he didn't need to switch foods

but
whatever
that takes care of the other factor:  protein

so
i need to stick with this food
which she approves of
for at least three months
and if he hasn't had an episode by then
he may not have another one for a long time
but once a year or so
is a managed condition

i did a bunch of research
but
this really helped me put things in perspective

so
fingers crossed

i'm going to eat something now

hope your day is going well
i love you very much sweetheart