Pre-diabetic, most likely diabetic

Hi everybody,

I have a 13 year old cat whom I brought to the vet due to severe constipation. The vet found that her blood sugar levels were over 400 when she first came in, lowered to 193 the next morning and then increased to 260 that afternoon. The vet thinks that she may be diabetic due to this (in addition to her having some sugar in her urine) but isn't sure if it's spiked due to the stress she's been under with her constipation and we can hopefully help with a change of diet.

The problem is, she hates wet food. I've tried different kinds (pate and gravy) and treats and she doesn't like any of it. I ordered Young Again Zero Mature cat food but it won't be delivered until 8/16 and she has a follow up appointment on 8/15. At that point, the vet said he may decide to put her on insulin. I live alone and my cat doesn't really like anybody but me (she was taken from her mother at a very early age and has never been very comfortable when I have visitors except my mom, a little). I also love to travel! This is really worrying me that I won't ever be able to go anywhere until she passes away. Yes, it's a little bit of a selfish thought but I don't want to be stuck at home all the time. I love my cat very much. I'm crossing my fingers that we're able to stop this before it gets worse.

Has anybody else had a similar situation?

 

HI and welcome to FDMB. While there is no guarantee, there is a very good possibility that much of the BG elevation could be from the stress of not feeling well and being at the vet. Did the vet determine a cause for the constipation?

We have an extensive list of foods that are appropriate for Diabetic cats (all cats for that matter!) and I would suggest you continue trying to convince your cat to eat a wet diet. That said, I have a kibble addict that refused to eat wet food from the time I adopted her so I understand your frustration all too well. My girl, suddenly, after a 6 year food battle, 2 of which she was diabetic, decided wet food was edible but I know she'd still prefer her kibble! You have the advantage of being able to get Young Again and several folks here use it. There is also a new brand called Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein that is a good option. Keep trying to get her to eat wet food. HERE is lots of food info. Anything under 10% carbs is appropriate for a diabetic. Hopefully you'll find something she likes eventually.

I too live alone and although my cat is OK with other folks, I worried that she might not accept someone else testing her and giving her shots. It ended up being a breeze and I thankfully have friend who was willing to test and inject my cat when I had to go out of town. I trained her myself so my cat got to know her well before I left. There are many folks here who work full time and some who travel for work so it is doable. Sometimes the vet tech's at the vet's office are willing to provide the service in your absence. There are also professional sitters who will look after your cat in your absence.

If I was you, I'd get a glucometer and learn how to check your kitty's BG at home. If you are in the US, many folks here us either the Relion Micro or Confirm meter available at Walmart. This will give you a much more realistic picture of your cat's BG status than tests done in the vet's office. You could also postpone the vet appt. for a few days post receipt of the YA Mature so it has a chance to hopefully start lowering her BG.

The suggestion/confirmation that our fur babies are diabetic is overwhelming and scary but you can still have a life and look after your girl just fine. It takes some commitment and a bit more organization but it's quite doable. We encourage folks to look after themselves because your kitty needs you and that makes your well being just as important to her as hers is to you!

If you have more specific questions or she is diagnosed, please join us over in the HEALTH FORUM with any and all questions. This is a remarkable community with an amazing amount of experience not only with diabetes but with most things cat and we can provide you with all the tips and trick and support you need!

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I have been worried sick all day because she still hasn't pooped since I brought her home a day ago. She has peed twice. I've been sprinkling a little laxative on her dry food (per the vet) and mixing her old food with her new so I don't think she's excited about that. The vet thinks her food was TOO high in fiber (she was on a prescription weight loss food) and that caused her to be constipated. Honestly, her stool has been hard for a long time but I never thought to bring her in and I just assumed it was because she insisted on dry food. It was really bad on Wednesday so I knew I had to finally do it (she was struggling for almost 2 hours to go).

She was also 8% dehydrated when I brought her in, which is another clue, because she's been drinking plenty of water and peeing too. I have to hope she gets used to this new food (Evo for the time being until the YA comes in the mail) over the weekend.

I appreciate the encouragement. My vet suggested waiting for our appointment on Tuesday before deciding on whether or not I need to start checking her levels and put her on insulin. She hates being put in the carrier and being put in the car so I wonder if that could also cause a huge spike in her blood sugar from stress if it's just a short spurt of time?

 

You could always test her levels at home if you get a blood glucose meter.


Really I think the high numbers are the constipation, vet stress, and super high carb food (basically she's been eating fruit loops all the time). I'm glad you got the young again, but esp of she's dehydrated, try fancy feast classic and put a few pieces of dry on top. Did the vet give her stome fluids? Add several water bowls astound as well. I have two Fountains and two bowls in various places. The evo is definitely lower in carb then what you were feeding.

If you aren't able to switch the food before the vet visit, don't leave any dry out for about 4 hours prior to the vet visit. The number still will be elevated from stress, but then at least there will be less food influence.

 

What did the vet do to treat the dehydration and constipation? Was an Xray taken to rule out any blockage? Were Subq fluids and/or an enema given? If she was given an enema, then you wouldn't likely see any BMs for at least a couple of days.

Some cats will have their BG elevate by 100 points or more just from vet stress. With a cat that feels poorly, hates the carrier, the car and the vet stress, who knows how elevated the BG could be from her normal. I would want to alleviate the constipation and be absolutely sure of a diagnosis of diabetes before starting insulin. If the constipation is a very recent occurrence, then the vet might want to run a fructosamine to see how elevated your girl's BG has been over the last 2 or 3 weeks. This might help but it could also give a false result because of any prolonged elevation resulting from the constipation.

 

Oops, I didn't get an alert that I had responses to my post again! So - my kitty was diagnosed with diabetes when I brought her in last week. Her BG levels were showing as 481 on the AT2 at the vet. I asked if the car ride could cause her levels to go up and the vet said yes, but not by THAT much. They did tell me that they were providing her fluids to assist with the dehydration when I had originally brought her in, and she had 2 enemas. By her follow up visit, she finally went poo about 2-3 times (thank goodness!). She is still drinking plenty of water.

She's getting used to the EVO and I just got YA in the mail the other day, so I'm slowly switching her over to that now too. She won't touch wet food, even if the dry food is on it. I dipped one of her favorite (non-diabetic friendly) treats that I had from before in Gerber baby food (last ditch effort since she's hated all the canned food I've tried before) and she refused to touch it! I've been giving her 1.5 units of insulin twice a day and she's been doing well. I am bringing her in on Friday for the day so they can do the glucose curve and determine how much we need to be adjusting the insulin.

Where I am now is researching which BG meter to buy. I've been reading a lot of posts here about how some human ones are perfectly fine and was about to go to Walmart to buy the Relion Prime but then read HORRIBLE reviews on Amazon.com and some YouTube videos about their recent model being way off. I know the AT2 strips are extremely expensive, and saw that the Freestyle Lite Strips were being used instead with those - but a quick Amazon search for those comes back with no results. I think those may have been discontinued? I was going to post a question in the health forum about this too but if anybody is able to help me here, I'd appreciate it Thank you!

 

glad you got her going on the insulin and that you are now planning on home testing. The Relion Prime requires a large sample... most on here use either the Relion Micro or Relion Confirm, both of which take a small blood sample. I personally use an alphatrak, but yea, the strips are expensive. I pay $48 for 50 of them as opposed to $36 for 100 of the relion strips. I like having the same readings as my vet... but if it gets to be too expensive I would switch to a human meter.

 

Thank you Janet - I noticed that people were saying there was a discrepancy too with the readings which was a concern of mine!