MAR 9 DAVIDSON BLOOD TEST RESULTS

Hi All...........

Some of you will remember Davidson as he was diagnosed in Nov 2013. He was on insulin for 3 months and was OTJ on April 15, 2014 and in remission since then and in April will be 16 years old, great shape.

I have taken his blood on a regular basis over the last few years and he has always been between 59-100 at most, with a one time spike of 121 in July , 2015

I test him about every month before he eats, after he eats - really at random and today I did a test about 90 min. after he ate and his blood was 231, and he ate a bit more food and 45 min. after the first test I tested again and he was 199.

Wendy who also used to be on this board said to check for a bad tooth as perhaps he has an infection and asked if I changed his food. The only additional food he has had is Fancy Feast as they brought out a new Pate product called Chopped Grill Feast which I thought would be okay, as all the other pate foods he gets are from Dr. Lisa list found on this board and are low in carbs. Maybe in Canada it could be different for this new product.

He has one fang left and it has tartar stains at the gum line, but no bad breath. I changed the treats from Pure Bites 100% chicken to Crumps Naturals which are also 100% freeze dried chicken, which also have no additives, preservatives or artificial color - just chicken. I will take back the new food and stick to the older types.

The only other change is Harley is constipated and now gets a little bit of RestoraLAX twice a day which relieves constipation in humans and it works for him. (there is a brand on here that is the same, but a different name maybe Miralax) Davidson does eat some of the leftover food and maybe this is causing an increase, but there is no sugar in it. I have intentionally kept Davidson food intake down, since he is a big cat and he is 5.5 kgs now, March 2016 he was 6.5 kgs............

Davidson is not drinking lots of water as the bowl is only filled 1/2" and it only takes a bit and leave it, doesn't finish it in a day so he's not lapping it up like he did when first diagnosed. He is active, pee is regular and acts normal.

QUESTION: what should I ask the Vet to check for as I hope he does not have to go on insulin. Do you think I should put him on insulin NOW to make sure he does not go beyond the point of correction.........I will test his blood 4 times a day now, get him back on the usual FF food I have and see what his blood does and thought I would wait a few days to take him to the Vet.

If you think he should go to the Vet asap then I will take him.........

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO RESPOND, as in the past this is the BEST place to be!

Shawna

 

Hi its Wendy here. Question is how long does she wait till she puts him back on insulin? She is waiting till Friday to see the vet in the hope that stopping the questionable food and Restoralax will make a difference..

 

Rufus had no visible teeth issues, but did have teeth issues once xray'ed . When was the last dental exam?

 

Get a fructosamine test which will show how his BG has been the past few weeks. You can also check for glucose in his urine with a strip at home. I hope it’s just the new food.

 

I would do a bit more testing AND go back to his previous food. It may be the new FF flavor is the culprit.

A fructosamine test may be informative. However, I'd also get a blood panel and urinalysis. The huge benefit of testing regularly the way you've been doing is that you may be catching an infection in it's early stages. Any infection or inflammation will cause an increase in BG numbers so this could be an early warning sign.

 

Great, I'll get all the above checked out on Thurs afternoon at the Vet

 

Tested Davidson at 11am and he had BG at 183, tested again at 2pm and it was 161..........going down on it's own and close to the under 126 that we want to have for all our cats. Maybe he has a cold or slight tooth infection, but will continue to test today every few hours and have a Vet appt on Friday morning................if he's good, will still take him to the vet but only have them look at his teeth and mouth for infections. He's not been acting strange at all other then ravishes his food for the past 2 weeks when eating..........next couple days will tell.

 

Could also be some other mild infection - urinary tract, pancreatitis... Like Sienne says - blood panel and urinalysis may help get to the bottom of it..

 

Good day.........

UPDATE BG Mar 6th:

14:00 - 191
18:30 - 233 (servicemen were working with equipment so he was stressed a bit)
21:30 - 226

UPDATE Mar 7th:

5:30 - 310
10:30 - 140
14:30 - 217

** Nothing has changed with his diet, he drank 1/2 oz water from 9 - 9 last night until this morning during 12 hrs, he's active, pee is normal in flow and colour, not peeing any more then the last 4 yrs, not lethargic, and tested negative for Ketones this morning. Last night he ate fast, but he gets nothing all day until 17:30, this morning he ate slowly and grazed his food dish...........

** I have noticed in the past couple of weeks his breathing seems stuffy or like he has a stuffy nose (like a cold similar to us), he sleeps well and is as active as he always has been.

I've changed the vet appt. to tomorrow morning where they will be doing a urinalysis (I took fresh pee there this morning after I tested it) and full blood tests.

*** DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS I SHOULD ASK THE VET ABOUT, without assuming he is out of remission and needing insulin?? He's jumping up and down with BG and is showing no obvious signs of being diabetic again

Can a cold do this to his BG levels? What ever anyone can suggest I test for I will as I want to nip it in the butt before it gets worse and if he needs insulin then I want to do it asap so that he has a chance of going back into remission and OTJ again.

What do you think about his BG levels from my initial post to this one?

Thanks in advance,
Shawna

 

Hi Shawna, sorry to hear that Davidson is having higher blood sugar again. I would ask for a full senior/geri blood panel (including T4). The vet should also take a look in his mouth to see if there is any sign of inflammation/gingivitis. Upper respiratory infection might be a concern if he's stuffy. Lysine could be added to his food to help if that's a possibility.

I don't like the 300's, but at least his pancreas is partly working to bring things down.

 

Hey there and sorry your kitty is throwing some higher numbers. You mentioned constipation. Is he going daily? Constipation can really impact the BG numbers. I was just away for 7 days and besides being a bit stressed, Bubba was constipated and when we returned, he really ripped loose and his numbers came down from the 200's back to being almost regulated again.

Make sure what you are using for the constipation doesn't have sugar in it as that could impact the BGs too.

Good vetty vines for tomorrow and keep us posted.

 

Hi Wendy.......
Thanks, I'll also ask to check his Thyroid (if that the T4 you mention) and anything else for his age as he will be 16 but like him mom acts and looks much younger, LOL. Strange, he's been in the low 50's numerous times and mainly averages 70's for years, but since everyone is different one never knows..........he's still sticking his tongue out when he looks at me, so that's good.........I'll update tomorrow after the Vet appt.

THANK YOU all for your suggestions,
Shawna, and Harley too

 

Hi Bobby;
No, Davidson doesn't have constipation - his brother Harley does but at times when he steals Harley's food he will ingest the constipation stuff too. I did check with Bayer the Mfg., and there is no sugar or carbs at all, just one ingredient. I really think he has a cold or perhaps dental issue.......we'll check it all tomorrow, thanks for your concern and feedback.

 

It's so strange, just looked back on the device I use as it saves the BG counts as I didn't record the last few as I saw they were all low as the previous 4 yrs...........I was curious to see the last date and it was JAN 19/18 and he was 72.........so something went wrong in the past 7 weeks and nothing has changed as his diet even with the newer FF food has been the same for over 8 months..........just wanted to express my findings, lol, as I'm stumped and perhaps it's an infection or something new as we can imagine.

Just now at 17:00 he was a BG 285 and he's acting like a big suck and going a bit nuts.........

 

My cat coming out of remission was sudden and we have no explanation either. we blamed it on the eclipse. sucks I know.

 

My mistake, I thought maybe his name was Harley Davidson and you were talking about the same cat. Good luck tomorrow.

 

Hi Shawna, I hope your vetty visit will yield some answers. Sending good vetty vines!

 

I think as i remember that grilled collection of FF is HC.

 

Wendy called Purina and the FF new flavour is only 2% Carbs, it's not the food as his test Jan 19/18 was 72, he's been on the same food with the new flavour over 8 months..........find out in a couple hours, but he's still acting great but high BG at 5:30a, today was 274 and will test in 2 hrs again..........the Vet will know as with all the HELPFUL input here he's going to get the Full Treatment of blood test, dental check, etc.............he probably caught my cold LOL.......Tnx........

 

DAVIDSON UPDATE

Before Vet Visit:

5:30 am BG 274
10:00 am BG 240 (3 hrs after eating)

After Vet: Davidson has gingivitis and his one upper fang (that's all he has left, lol) does not only have tartar near the gum line, but is infected. All his molars have tartar and around the gum is some inflammation. He does a little respiratory infection when exhaling. Everything else in his exam was perfect and the Dr. also feels it's strange to have his BG levels go and and down (esp. after eating they should rise if diabetic) like they since Mar 6th.

Urinalysis showed signs of a urinary tract infection and some glucose, however this is known due to his BG levels are higher and it could be a result from the infection and gingivitis.

Did the blood draw and will be testing for CBC comprehensive, full chemical chemistry incl. T4, Geriatric tests, CBC Chem10 + Lytes and Fructosamine. Results will be in tomorrow and then an appt. will be made to clean up the tartar, extract the fang and address the molars and check if there are any underlying cracks, etc.

*** Antibiotics will be given after the dental extraction/work for 10 days and during that time I will be testing his BG a min. of 6 times per day and monitoring his levels. The antibiotic will clear up all the infections and should result in is BG levels falling.

*** If the BG levels do not fall, then Davidson will have to go back on insulin and hopefully he will again go into remission within a short time...........cross that bridge when it comes.

IMPORTANCE: Cannot stress to all of you, especially those that are new, to take good records and continue to monitor the BG even when in remission When Davidson went OTJ, I tested each week for 6 months, then twice a month for a year, then once per month for a year, then approx. every 6-8 weeks until now. For this reason I was able to notice Davidson's BG increase this past week and knew something was wrong from the last test Jan 19/18 which was 72. Be consistent with your test times and watch for ANY signs and differences - even slight ones. In the past few weeks I was aware that Davidson has a cold or something to that nature and his breath was starting to small. Although both were very slight, those were SIGNS and luckily I did my BG test and reacted immediately. For these reasons, I can be comfortable saying whatever is going on (infections, gingivitis or even the return of diabetes) I have caught it EARLY - which is the goal for all of us.

I will update again once the blood work results are in tomorrow.

Thanks for your comments, encouragement and well wishes as always and Harley, Davidson and myself send our support to you all too.

Shawna

 

Sorry, can't recall if I'm supposed to continue in this thread or make another one..........been 4 yrs and I'm older too lol.

UPDATED BG'S

Mar 8 14:00 257
17:30 214

Mar 9 4:30 228
6:45 243 (30 min after feeding)
12:00 205

VET BLOOD WORK RESULTS:

Fructosamine High 425 normal 191 - 349
T4 36.9 (no issues here normal 10 - 60

Vet says levels could be directly due to the infections and pain levels that Davdison is experiencing, however it could be that he needs to be on insulin but we both agreed to wait until after tooth removal and infections clear up. He's now on meds for one week until surgery Mar 13th, then another 10 days on meds.

MEDS provided: Metacam and Antirobe.........one is an anitbiotic and the other a pain reliever. Hopefully I will see reductions in BG over the next several days as meds kick in. As well, the Dr and I agreed that post surgery and his BG levels have not started to come down within 4-5 days then I will start to give 2 units of Lantus twice a day and hopefully can regulate things.

Good news is no kidney, liver or any other diseases are showing up on the extensive blood work that was done.

FYI the following were shown to be High or Low on blood worknot shown means normal)

Hematology - Lymphoxyte Low at 0.8 normal 0.9 - 5.9

Chemistry - Glucose High 13.3 normal 4.0 - 9.7
- Cacium High 3.0 normal 2.2 - 2.7
- Potassium Low 3.4 normal 3.7 - 5.2
- Na:K Ratio High 44 normal 29 - 42
- Chloride Low 100 normal 114 - 126
- Total Protein High 91 normal 63 - 88
- Albumin High 40 normal 26 - 39

Any advise or suggestions would be appreciated and I will do min 6 test daily.

Thanks
Shawna

 

Can you ask for vet for buprinorphine and not Metacam? Metacam has a black box warning from the FDA regarding it causing acute renal failure in cats. Also, as an NSAID, it's not recommended to be used within a week of surgery -- it has anticoagulant properties.

 

Vet just phoned me and said he is very aware of the Metacam issues, however he assures me Davidson is on a low dose and only for 4 days. This vet is GREAT, and he knows more about diabetes then most since I spent a lot of time with them, and they refer all their patients who’s kitties have been diagnosed with FD to me to teach them to test, etc. He understand my concerns realized all my questions....lol.

The meds should start working today and ease Davidson’s infection......no negative reactions so far, and today’s test show a slight reduction.

Remember the time zone change!

Shawna