? High Glucose, not eating

Fabby's insulin was at 390 this morning. She's not eating enough of her morning meal to get her insulin.
I've got a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon.

I'm freaking myself out a bit.

She hasn't been able to get into anything, she's on quarantine in our bedroom.

I found a tick that had been feeding on her for some time. We went camping in early July, and I had some jeans that I was wearing that I took off and tossed in a corner. I found 2 ticks in them later, and eventually the 3rd tick on Fabby. The tick was pulled off with tweezers and burned. Before I found it Fabby was eating so great! She had been upping her quantity of food even! I even stopped making her food into cat food soup, she was just eating it! This was a milestone hoping to get her to put some weight back on as her spine has looked gaunt since the diabetes had started. Once I removed the tick we went back to Fabby's usual eating habits of me chasing her around just to get enough food in her to maintain her weight. And it's been declining since. Until this morning she's always eaten enough I could still give her her shot, but this morning her glucose is high and she hasnt eaten enough.

She also has bad diarrhea. This is day 3. This is also been a worsening situation. The food she got last night between 10pm - 1am has already passed through her. (Weird, I know, but it was a different color than her usual so I know it's from last night.)

She appears normal Fabby. She's currently sleeping on her bed, laying on her side like normal.
I did notice last night that her tummy appears to be hanging lower than usual even though she hasn't gained any weight.

Oh and the other change since the tick was removed. She's become difficult in glucose testing. It's worse when the number shows higher. She pulls her ear and head away. Shakes her head. She's never been like this. She was treat trained so she loved glucose checks. She would even drool when I put her in the spot for her check, and now it's like night and day.

By the time of finishing typing this, It's already too late to give her her insulin this morning, so I'm just going to have food available for her all day, and then tonight if she won't eat by then syringe feed her so she can get her insulin in time.

Is there anything else I should be doing for her until we get her into the vet tomorrow?

 

Have you been testing for ketones? I'd do that asap.

Hope she's feeling better soon! Poor little kitty.

 

I agree with Nan for the ketone test

 

I'm sorry to hear that Fabby is feeling off. And I absolutely agree with Nan and Yong above that it is really important to test for ketones. In diabetics ketones can quickly build up and cause a toxic condition called diabetic ketoacidosis ('DKA'). Not only is DKA extremely dangerous, it is also very expensive to treat...

The chances of DKA are much greater if there is any infection present. (Just wondering about that tick....?) And too little insulin can also be a contributing factor...

You should be able to get ketone test strips - ie. Ketostix or Ketodiastix - from any pharmacy. (Ketostix test for ketones, Ketodiastix test for ketones and urine glucose. You only need the former, since you are hometesting).
Anything above a 'trace' reading is a reason for a vet visit ASAP.

Crumpling plastic food wrap over the litter tray is a good way to catch a pee sample (I find this easiest). But some people hold a spoon under their kitty's butt while they're peeing (I think Yong does this?). You can also swap out the cat litter for washed aquarium gravel.

The ketone test strips don't recognise all kinds of ketones, so it's also important to have an awareness of how your kitty's breath smells. It should smell like normal cat breath (!). A fruity smell, like acetone, may indicate ketones.

Really hoping Fabby feels better very soon. (((Hugs))) to you.
.

 

One thing you could do if she isn't eating a lot but the bg is high is to give a reduced dose. No food, no insulin, high bg is a recipe for dka.

 

See if she will eat tuna in water, chicken, anything.

 

Thank you all for your caring.
I had a bit of a breakdown today. The possibility of syringe feeding another cat to keep her alive, so close to Runswith's death was just too much. So she was upstairs and I was downstairs crying all day paralyzed by the emotions. I couldn't eat.
I got out my pee ladle and my keto strips. And I'm back upstairs with her. She hasn't urinated yet, but she is eating now.
She ate most of her breakfast while I was downstairs for 4 hours this morning. Her glucose lowered a bit by lunch and she ate about half her lunch given about 2 hours.

She just pooped and while it was liquidy, there were good sized solid poops there too. It's now dinner time and she wants to eat, and she does. But it's little bits at a time. So I'm chasing her around trying to get enough in her to get her insulin tonight. Her PMPS was lower still. 319 so that is a good sign that she's gotten enough food in her today to keep lowering her glucose.

I'll let you know if I catch some pee before we get to the vet tomorrow. But things are looking up, and I don't think I'll have to syringe, and I think I'm done breaking down for right now... but thank you all again for your caring about my Fabby!

 

I never did get a urine sample from Fabby. She was sneaky about her pee.
We are at the vet now.
Blood panel, urine test, and possible xray going on now.
Vet looked at the spreadsheet and was concerned that the Vetsulin doesn't seem to be having the correct effect and mentioned a switch to Lantus.
Of course, she recommends if we can find out what the problem/infection is first.

Are y'all familiar with an infection causing the insulin to fail?
Should we consider switching?

 

No ketones!

 

Woot!

As for insulins, actually a lot of cats seem to do better on Lantus than on Vetsulin-- switching might be worth a try for that reason. Infection can cause BG to rise generally-- I don't think it depends on the type of insulin. Definitely a good idea to clear up any infections as the first priority, though!

 

So her blood and urine tests came back normal levels. (Some slightly elevated but you would see that with dehydration from her diarrhea.)
The X-ray showed gas in her intestines, and she said the intestines looked "thick".

Bottom line, couldn't find anything wrong with her from these tests. She got sub-q fluids. We were sent home with antibiotics and told to up her insulin from .75 to 1 unit. If it's just an infection/bug we should see improvement starting tomorrow afternoon. If she doesn't get better then we will send out blood for a more comprehensive panel, and possibly see a specialist for an ultrasound of her belly. If the insulin drops go back to more like her previous history we can adjust after we clear the infection and get back on track with the Vetsulin since we had been making good progress. If her numbers don't move after a week we will switch insulins, (providing the potential infection is also better).

So that's the plan. No news is good news?... at least there's a plan.
Oh and no ketones nor liver concerns!!! She did drop .6 lb with this mess, so hopefully she starts eating really good soon to get that weight back!