Honeymoon over? :-( Pray for us!!

I'm crying tonight - Ragnar's honeymoon of more than a year may be over. His sugar was 246 this afternoon. Dr. Dill thought last fall that his diabetes was CURED!!

Dr. Jen said to check him again late tonight and again tomorrow morning before going back on insulin - we don't want to take his BG too low. Then I am to take him in at 10:30 for a checkup.
nailbite_smile

We need all the support we can get!

Blessings,

Shirley and Ragnar (AKA Mr. Beautiful)

 

Well, unfortunately, I think the reality is more along the lines of "once a diabetic, always a diabetic." The cat can go into remission or be diet controlled or be a transient diabetic or whatever we want to call it, but I'm not sure they're ever "cured" and I suspect those cats are always at higher risk of reverting back to a diabetic state...and many times they do. Sometimes they can OTJ again, sometimes not, but always remind yourself that this is treatable!

Just remember back to when you first came here and ask yourself those same questions again.
Are you feeding low-carb canned food? (no dry)
Did he perhaps get into some high-carb dry food, dog food, human food, etc.?
Has he had any steroids recently (injections, pills, ear drops that contain steroids, etc)?
Might he have a urinary tract infection? (be sure to have the vet check for this)
How are his teeth? Does he have bad breath or obvious signs of tartar buildup or red gums? (have the vet check this, too)
Any there any signs of other infections present?

I'm sorry Ragnar's BG is elevated again. It happens and it's always disappointing, but at least you've been through this once so hopefully you're more equipped to deal with it this time. Charlie went in and out of remission three times before he died, and Chip is on his second foray into the diabetes game as we speak (after 5 years OTJ). My thoughts are with you.

 

Im sorry to hear this, but maybe at the check up they might find a reason for the high BG? Maybe a dental is due? Will be sending positive thoughts out to you guys.

 

shirley,

i agree w/ JL there could very likely be something going on that triggered his diabetes to come out of remission. Please have him checked over by the vet and some b/w done to rule out any other problems.
If there is one, I hope it's an easy fix and bring his numbers back down.

Either way..... you have the tools. you know what to do. Ragnar will be fine.

 

Yep, my first thought was some kind of infection. Hopefully, you can get to the cause fairly quickly and with a short course of insulin, be him back into remission. But even if you can't reach the OTJ stage, you know how to treat him to keep him healthy and happy.

My best to you.

 

(( Shirley ))

Glad you caught this. You can do this. You know how to treat his diabetes. You just need to find out what else might be going on.

 

Checked him thoroughly - he's going on Lantus

Dr. Jen checked everything today, and most things are actually improved since December, and his white blood cell count wasn't elevated. (He's on a maintenance dose of Cefa Drops to prevent infection.) There *are* some dental issues, but she wants to stabilize him before doing more than she did (chip off a calcium deposit on one tooth).

He was about to switch to Lantus when he went OTJ in April 09, so I have a pen of Lantus in the fridge and will give his first shot 12 hours before it's time for his second one - around 8 PM. We are starting with 1/2 unit in a 100 syringe, so he won't have too much if it stays in his system more than 12 hours. She said that with Lantus, I might not see an improvement for several days.

This is a scary time for us. His BG went up to 392 by midnight last night, and 408 at 9:30 AM, over 500 at the vet's, and Heaven only knows what it is now - but he seemed to feel well before I went to town to get the Lantus, and doesn't seem to feel well now. I don't want to keep poking those poor little ears, and will check him again pre-shot.

I will probably post mostly in the Lantus area, at least until I learn more about it, and hope my friends will check there for my posts.

Blessings!

Shirley and Mr. Beautiful

 

Dr. Jen did the full range of blood tests today, a urinalysis, and physical exam, so we have answers to all the questions. He's getting only low-carb canned food (since original DX in April 09). He does get a little "kitty junk food" (powdered Whisker Lickin's) to coat the Pill Pockets for his Denamarin and Prosilec, and of course there's a little carb in the Pill Pockets. (But he needs that Denamarin - and it's helping!) He hasn't gotten into any high-carb food. He had a tiny bit of barbecued ribs a few days ago, w/o the sauce as much as possible; he's been doing so well that it didn't seem this tidbit would hurt him (and his doctor didn't think it had - it was really tiny!). Any other human food he's had has been plain, cooked lean meat, and in very small amounts.

No steroids in any form, and his blood work and urinalysis showed no infection. He's taking a maintenance dose of Cefa Drops (antibiotic) to prevent infection and for his pancreas. The only value that was up was his lipase, and that hadn't risen nearly as fast as during a comparable period last year and seems to be leveling off. It was about 1950.

The only thing you mentioned that might be positive would be his teeth. He does have some tartar (though an infection would probably have elevated his white cells). Dr. Jen chipped off a calcium deposit from one tooth, and there is a deposit on the other side of his mouth that she will get when it's thick enough to be chipped off. He'll have a dental when his glucose has been stabilized.

It seems all is OK except that glucose!! But his pancreas IS a little worse; the lipase is up, though not nearly as much as I had feared.

Blessings!

Shirley and Mr. Lovely

 

I am a lantus user so if you have any questions I can do my best to help you by telling you what I know and how I handle lantus and my cat.

look at this new high BG discovery as your baby may still have diabetes but at least they are still around to purr in your ear and snuggle with you

Everything will be just fine, just ask the questions you need to ask.

I believe you home test, if not you should start. and the 1/2 unit starting point was a good call by your vet