first timers, kitty dx'd w/IBD and 1month later Diabetes

Hello to all, I am a newbie, my wife and I found out a month ago that our boy, Brody, has IBD, started treatment with metrondizole, zantac, metoclopramide, and prednisolone. Things were going good, Brody seemed like he was on the path to recovery, last tuesday he began to not eat, vet rxd an appetite stimulant to see if it helped, no change in appetite, the Mrs, and I began to syringe feed him to make sure he was getting his food. The med he was rxd (mirtazapine) had a side effect of lethargy, and 1 dose of meds lasted 3 day, so we didn't get to worried till day 2 on the meds, and started to show weakness in back legs, rushed him to vca and found out he now has diabetes, likely pred induced, since blood tests one month ago showed no diabetes. My question: Is there anyone out there that has had this combo of issues and what was the out come and how did treatments work? My wife and I love our boy and are dedicated to getting him better, any help/advice is appreciated, thanks and god bless! nailbite_smile

 

Hi guys, nice to meet you! I don't have any advice for you, because our kitty was not a steroid induced diabetic, which is what it sounds like your kitty is (from the prednisone(sp)). I hope someone is able to come along and help answer your questions shortly, I just didn't want to read this and not even say HI. So hang around for awhile, someone is sure to come by soon.

 

Hi and welcome,

My first question is do you plan on continuing the Pred? Or any steroid? Budesonide may be better if you need to continue steroid use.

Second question, did your vet mention a food trial first to treat the IBD?

I do have a steroid induced FD who is now in remission now that she's off the steroids, I have another who has IBD, Pancreatitis and a brain tumor and he will remain on steroids for the rest of his life.


Do you plan on treating the FD? Your kitty has neuropathy and needs insulin, even if only for a short time, insulin will help him get better.

 

Steroid-induced diabetes does happen and can frequently be reversed with insulin and low-carb diet along with stopping the Pred. When stopping you have taper off slowly and not stop abruptly. The rear-leg weakness, neuropathy, should go way with time. To help with the IBD, I would talk to your vet about using budesinide. Budesinide ia a steroid but remains in the GI tract and has minimum effect on blood glucose levels.

I presently have two diabetic cats that have GI issues and they get 1 mg of budesinide one daily. It has minimum effect on blood glucose level. I ahve also used mirtazapine without problems but some people do report lethargy as a side effect.

I am curious as how Brody's IBD was diagnosed.

I also recommend that you home test Brody's blood glucose level using a human blood glucose meter.

 

I don't have a steriod induced diabetic kitty, either, but also wanted to say "Hi", and I wish for Brody to make a full and speedy recovery.

 

Thanks you all for the concern. As far as food is concerned, we found out that Brody had allergies to some foods about two years ago. Since that time we changed his food to chicken only flavors of pro plan and started him on hills science diet Z/D kibble. After the vet dxd the IBD we switched the wet food to hills Z/D as well. Since the he has only been on the pred for a short time, and was taking a smaller dosage, 2.5mls, our vet felt that weening him off the pred was not necessary, and since it was more than likely the cause of the diabetes, she wanted to get him off it asap. Our vet, dr page,( we love you) is running the insulin curve tests today, and we will be talking with her later today. Thanks for the hellos and concern, any further questions, and advice would be greatly appreciated.
nailbite_smile

 

If you just stopped the Pred, doing a glucose curve will likely not provide mush useful information for future doses of insulin. Testing the BG before each insulin shot is very important for a diabetic just stopping Pred since the insulin needs may quickly decrease and an insulin overdose is very bad.

 

Idk if the curve test is the right term, I do know that brody is in good hands KFC (keep fingers crossed) our vet is monitoring his BG levels hourly, and as of this morning his BG is 130, last night when we admitted him his BG was 600 and through the night it went down to 130, the potassium count was low, and our vet felt that was the reason for the neropathy, but this also is now getting back into the normal range. Thank god. asked about the budenisolone(?) But she is recommending a new drug used in human transplant patients to keep them from rejecting the TP, I think its cycleside, or something, these medications are hard to keep straight, especially for me, being new to this caregiver thing. But for now the news is hopeful. A ultrasound is going to be used to check his pancreas, KFC! We will know more in a few hours when we go see him. Thank you all for the input/concern!

 

The 'cycleside" os probably Cyclosporine. See:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000155.

The cat I am going to petsit for is going to start on that drug for allergies or something similar. Presently the cat is on a steroid.