megmonger
Member
Hi everyone,
Sorry this post is long, I’m trying to summarize 5 months worth of our struggle since our cat Abby was diagnosed diabetic. She continues to go downhill and we are desperate for help, at wits end and truly wondering if we are doing the right thing. Any help or suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!
13 Jan - Took Abby to the vet for excessive urination. She had been flooding her litter box for about 2 weeks, but no symptoms other than that. Tested for UTI, all clear. Tested for ketones, all clear. Blood test for diabetes - positive. A week later we went back and they trained us on how to give injections and we began her on vetsulin every 12 hours, 1 unit.
27 Jan - Took her in for her first glucose curve. 0 hour reading = 400, 2 hours post-food and insulin = 395, 4 hours = 375, 6.5 hours = 344. Since her numbers were above 300 the vet increased us to 2 units vetsulin. Around this time Abby stopped eating and started losing weight. (She was on dry food at this point, had been her whole life (lesson learned now!)).
2 Feb - Glucose spot check at the vet, reading = 318. Increase to 3 units vetsulin.
10 Feb - Another glucose spot check at the vet, reading = 445 (4 hours post-food). At this point she is consistently not eating and has dropped from almost 10 lbs to 9.25 lbs. I’m freaking out. Still no indication of UTI in quick check, but vet starts a course of Clavamox anyway just in case. One of the techs has a diabetic cat and hears my concern about Abby not eating and points me in the direction of Pro Plan wet foods.
11-19 Feb - Start her on wet food and mercifully she begins eating again.
20 Feb - Glucose spot check at vet, reading = 366 (2.5 hours post-food). Bite the bullet and pay for the full expensive aerobic culture urine check for UTI...result is negative. One bit of good news is she regains weight to 9.56 lbs!
2 Mar - Vet switches from glucose spot checks to fructosamine test. Result was 677, so increased to 4 units vetsulin. Around this time or shortly before, Abby starts exhibiting behavioral symptoms at home. She starts getting aggressive around food and acting strange, seems less coordinated. Stops using litter box except to poop. Peeing all over our basement.
7 Apr - Another fructosamine. Still high (545), up to 5 units vetsulin. Behavioral issues are alarming. Our cat is 11 years old and has never acted like this. It’s like she’s out of her mind. Litter box issues continue. We buy a second litter box.
22 Apr - At this point I’m so concerned that we schedule an appointment for a wellness check. She basically never urinates in the litter box now, although consistently poops in them. She is insane around food, literally as if she is out of her mind. She tries to break into our pantry and is constantly on the counter trying to lick any dishes. Vet tests Total T4 (bloodwork). Bloodwork results all clear. Vet sees some indications of neuropathy in hind legs so we being B12 injections.
27 Apr - Another fructosamine. Still high (601), up to 6 units vetsulin. Both my husband and I feel like we’ve seen some perceptible improvement in her behavior since starting the B12 (maybe better coordinated now?). But behavioral issues continue, it’s like she’s a completely different cat. Food aggression continues. She is ON TOP of us if anyone is eating. She’ll dash in and grab things from your bowl (entire meatball, steak, noodles, etc etc) and we have to forcibly wrestle them from her mouth.
5 & 13 May - Next B12 injections. We do them weekly at first, then biweekly, eventually moving to monthly (in June) and are directed to continue for life. I ask and they allow me to begin giving her these injections at home on my own, since she gets extremely car sick and even these short trips to the vet are very stressful for us both. She howls and generally pees all over herself during the ride.
27 May - Another fructosamine. Still high (616), up to 7 units vetsulin.
Today life with Abby is both heartbreaking and a struggle. She is uncoordinated and when food is nearby she becomes so desperate that she frequently runs into things and falls off of surfaces. She has managed to break into our pantry a few times and will chew through food packaging. One day we had a used mop with a plastic bag around it in the kitchen and she chewed apart the bag trying to get to the mop. This is not my cat of 11 years. She remains loving and wants to be with us and loves cuddles. Her coat is nice and shiny although we are starting to see bare patches at her neck, near where we give her injections (??) She continues to urinate outside the litterbox and twice now we’ve found puddles upstairs in our living area, which is a huge concern for us. We’ve ordered Cat Attract litter to try that and we scrub the basement floor with enzyme cleaners every two days.
I am at my wits end and do not know what else to do. Her fructosamine numbers make no sense to me. Is she responding to the vetsulin at all? Why does it seem all her behavioral issues began only after we received the diabetes diagnosis and began treatment? I’ve begun searching for a vet who maybe has more expertise in the area, although our current vet treats many diabetic patients and generally folks seem to overwhelmingly like her.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Sorry this post is long, I’m trying to summarize 5 months worth of our struggle since our cat Abby was diagnosed diabetic. She continues to go downhill and we are desperate for help, at wits end and truly wondering if we are doing the right thing. Any help or suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!
13 Jan - Took Abby to the vet for excessive urination. She had been flooding her litter box for about 2 weeks, but no symptoms other than that. Tested for UTI, all clear. Tested for ketones, all clear. Blood test for diabetes - positive. A week later we went back and they trained us on how to give injections and we began her on vetsulin every 12 hours, 1 unit.
27 Jan - Took her in for her first glucose curve. 0 hour reading = 400, 2 hours post-food and insulin = 395, 4 hours = 375, 6.5 hours = 344. Since her numbers were above 300 the vet increased us to 2 units vetsulin. Around this time Abby stopped eating and started losing weight. (She was on dry food at this point, had been her whole life (lesson learned now!)).
2 Feb - Glucose spot check at the vet, reading = 318. Increase to 3 units vetsulin.
10 Feb - Another glucose spot check at the vet, reading = 445 (4 hours post-food). At this point she is consistently not eating and has dropped from almost 10 lbs to 9.25 lbs. I’m freaking out. Still no indication of UTI in quick check, but vet starts a course of Clavamox anyway just in case. One of the techs has a diabetic cat and hears my concern about Abby not eating and points me in the direction of Pro Plan wet foods.
11-19 Feb - Start her on wet food and mercifully she begins eating again.
20 Feb - Glucose spot check at vet, reading = 366 (2.5 hours post-food). Bite the bullet and pay for the full expensive aerobic culture urine check for UTI...result is negative. One bit of good news is she regains weight to 9.56 lbs!
2 Mar - Vet switches from glucose spot checks to fructosamine test. Result was 677, so increased to 4 units vetsulin. Around this time or shortly before, Abby starts exhibiting behavioral symptoms at home. She starts getting aggressive around food and acting strange, seems less coordinated. Stops using litter box except to poop. Peeing all over our basement.
7 Apr - Another fructosamine. Still high (545), up to 5 units vetsulin. Behavioral issues are alarming. Our cat is 11 years old and has never acted like this. It’s like she’s out of her mind. Litter box issues continue. We buy a second litter box.
22 Apr - At this point I’m so concerned that we schedule an appointment for a wellness check. She basically never urinates in the litter box now, although consistently poops in them. She is insane around food, literally as if she is out of her mind. She tries to break into our pantry and is constantly on the counter trying to lick any dishes. Vet tests Total T4 (bloodwork). Bloodwork results all clear. Vet sees some indications of neuropathy in hind legs so we being B12 injections.
27 Apr - Another fructosamine. Still high (601), up to 6 units vetsulin. Both my husband and I feel like we’ve seen some perceptible improvement in her behavior since starting the B12 (maybe better coordinated now?). But behavioral issues continue, it’s like she’s a completely different cat. Food aggression continues. She is ON TOP of us if anyone is eating. She’ll dash in and grab things from your bowl (entire meatball, steak, noodles, etc etc) and we have to forcibly wrestle them from her mouth.
5 & 13 May - Next B12 injections. We do them weekly at first, then biweekly, eventually moving to monthly (in June) and are directed to continue for life. I ask and they allow me to begin giving her these injections at home on my own, since she gets extremely car sick and even these short trips to the vet are very stressful for us both. She howls and generally pees all over herself during the ride.
27 May - Another fructosamine. Still high (616), up to 7 units vetsulin.
Today life with Abby is both heartbreaking and a struggle. She is uncoordinated and when food is nearby she becomes so desperate that she frequently runs into things and falls off of surfaces. She has managed to break into our pantry a few times and will chew through food packaging. One day we had a used mop with a plastic bag around it in the kitchen and she chewed apart the bag trying to get to the mop. This is not my cat of 11 years. She remains loving and wants to be with us and loves cuddles. Her coat is nice and shiny although we are starting to see bare patches at her neck, near where we give her injections (??) She continues to urinate outside the litterbox and twice now we’ve found puddles upstairs in our living area, which is a huge concern for us. We’ve ordered Cat Attract litter to try that and we scrub the basement floor with enzyme cleaners every two days.
I am at my wits end and do not know what else to do. Her fructosamine numbers make no sense to me. Is she responding to the vetsulin at all? Why does it seem all her behavioral issues began only after we received the diabetes diagnosis and began treatment? I’ve begun searching for a vet who maybe has more expertise in the area, although our current vet treats many diabetic patients and generally folks seem to overwhelmingly like her.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
. First thing I notice is the Vet increased insulin dose in whole units, something members have found does not work well for small creatures like kitties so we prefer to recommend increases by 0.25 or 0.5U (half unit marked syringes really help with this). So there is a chance her ideal dose was skipped. Also fructosomine tests are a waste of your money. I think it would be better spent on you and DH (dear hubby) home testing 
!!