Yesterday, Nikki had a violent coughing attack, then threw up and was
unsteady on her legs for a moment, then gasped for breath a few times
before she seemed back to normal. I called TED and talked about the
situation with her. I told her I'm not happy with giving Nikki
Prednisone every day. She called in a prescription for another drug with
the active ingredient theophylline (the brand name here in Finland is
Retafyllin, but it's manufactured by a Finnish company, so probably not
known by that name elsewhere). It's supposed to relax and open the air
passages into the lungs.

TED warned me that some cats can't take this drug, because they get
nauseous. It's been 12 hours now since I gave Nikki the first dose, and
she seems to be doing fine. I haven't heard a wheeze or cough out of
her. I talked to TED about inhaled meds instead of pills, but she didn't
seem to know very much about them. She recommended that I contact the
only cats-only TED's office in Helsinki, and that's what I've been
planning to do anyway. I'm going to wait and see what this new drug
does, and whether I can cut back the cortisone.

One problem with this pill is that you're not supposed to crush it. You
have to swallow it whole (or, in Nikki's case, half) to make the effect
last as long as possible. So, what I did was take Nikki in my arms, hold
her firmly, then pop the Retafyllin into her mouth and keep it shut for
a while. Then I popped in her Prednisone pill and held her mouth shut.
Then I gave her some turkeybird. ;o) I think she swallows both pills.

Both Frank and Nikki have stopped eating their meds mixed in sour cream
(they stopped shortly before Mere came to us). So lately I've mostly
mixed their hyperthyroidism meds into their gooshyfood. The drawback is,
of course, that I can't be quite sure that they get an equal amount of
their medicines, but I try to monitor their eating and make sure that
each eats about half of the food. They have separate bowls, but they
always have to check out the other bowl to see if the other one is
getting something better.

The pattern goes like this: I set down the two bowls. Frank comes and
eats from his own bowl, then from Nikki's bowl. Nikki sits off to the
side and watches him eat. When he's done, Nikki goes and eats out of her
own bowl. Then she eats out of Frank's bowl. Repeat until both bowls are
empty. They get the same dosage of the hyperthyroidism meds, so I'm
hoping they get about their fair share when they share the bowls like this.

Of course, now there's also Mere's plate to check out. Since Mere won't
eat catfood, but only fresh meat and fish, her food is usually veeeerry
interesting to the big cats. I try to keep them away but I can't be
there all the time to watch them. I give F&N their own share of fresh
meat every other day too, but somehow it just tastes better if it comes
from the 'baby's' plate.