Meet Yoda, my new foster kitty

Here is the thread I saw looking for someone to take Yoda: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16535

Yoda is a 4 year old flame point Siamese kitty. He is only 9 pounds as of 2 days ago. He is the same bone structure as my Oscar, so I believe his ideal weight should be in the neighborhood of 12-13lbs. His original owners noticed increased peeing, weight loss, and bad looking fur, and decided to try to find a home for him since he was sick without knowing what he was suffering from. A local rescuer was contacted, and though she couldn't take him in, she urged he get tested. The vet only tested his glucose, which was over 500 at the time. I have no idea about his kidney function, but we'll cross that bridge when needed. In looking at his vet records, he got 2 depo shots back in december for his teeth and two shots abbreviated 'DP' within the same time period. There is a good chance he is a steroid induced diabetic.

I picked him up on Wednesday this past week and he was VERY lethargic, VERY dehydrated, and in general bad shape. Luckily he loves wet food, so I immediately switched him over to FF low carb/grain free food. I waited until the next day to test his blood glucose and ketone levels so it would give him a little bit of time to settle in first. His ketones are very very high - on the verge of DKA - so I am putting down food mixed with water every 2 hours and making sure he always has a full water bowl to drink from. We upped his insulin dose already today because his ketones spiked back up by this morning. I only have a 1/4 vial of ProZinc left in my fridge as a secondary vial, so Venita at DCIN offered a vial or two of Levemir that was offered for donation by other kitty parents. The Levemir should be here mid next week and it will be interesting to learn a completely different insulin while still using ProZinc for Oscar!

Yoda is already on DCIN's blog page. Enough money has been donated to get a new bag of litter (I forgot how much an unregulated diabetic pees!), 4 flats of FF, and a box of test strips. I am so blessed that people have donated enough to help Yoda out!

Without further ado.... here are his pictures! (Yes, as my husband told me yesterday, I am a sucker for the kitties with the big ears :lol: )

 

Kelly,
You are a saint!!! Wow.

I have a half bottle of the ProZinc back in SoCal - should have brought it with me to Indy. Darn. For the keytones, I brought needles and IV Sets with me to Indy if you needs some [they could be mailed to you in a day]. You would just need to get the liquids from somewhere. I know Costco up here has them - if you can get your vet to call in a prescription for them I could get them and maybe even deliver for you....

Please let me know if there is any way I can help - I'm just a stone's throw away now :smile:

 

Wow, thank you! I just had the fluids discussion with my husband this morning. We are going to give him until Monday morning to get the ketones down to a more acceptable level, and then we will have to call our vet. I will be seriously angry if they deny our LRS request this time if that is the step we need to take. I am sure they will want to see the kitty before they hand out a script though. :YMSIGH:

I will keep you posted and very well may be contacting you on Monday!

 

Kelly, you are totally awesome!!!! He looks pretty content despite all of that - must be the TLC... & that FF. :mrgreen: Keep up the good work!!!!!!! What a lucky little guy to have gotten your help!

 

If you vet is not cooperative, I may have a refill on H's LRS that I was going to have transferred here [that was a project I was going to look into anyway].

 

Wow, looks like he is very, very lucky you went for him when you did. I sure hope that this turns out to be a positive experience for you.

What does Oscar think, about the new kitty getting the same special attention that he gets?

 

Oscar doesn't mind the extra attention Yoda gets. The hissing has significantly decreased already. They even stood within three feet of each other today looking out the back glass door! I know it raised Oscar's numbers a bit initially. Things seem to be settling down nicely now.

 

Hey Kelly - are you the one who posted on FAR and disagreed with that vet's comments about FD? I saw it and thought, hmmmm this person sounds familiar, I wonder if I saw her here and was going to throw my comments into the mix on FAR, but decided against it, as you said all that was needed.

On that board, I'm Hillary & Sydney if you see me posting.

 

Haha, yes that was me! I just couldn't stand to have people think that that was an appropriate way to treat a diabetic. Its like they want to keep the cat coming back to their practice rather than really trying to help it get better! Kat has asked me to put together a 'new school' protocol method for treating diabetes that we use here on the FDMB to post in the files section on the FAR site. My email is the one that begins with peachangelmusic on there.

 

see talk about small world huh. As I read it, I was so ready to jump all over it, :twisted: then I said, no let's not stir the fire too much. And of course, you handled it oh so nicely.

 

Oh thank you - I was worried that I came across too harshly! I have the new protocol typed up for FAR - I sent it to you in a private message - would you mind proofing it for me before it is posted to FAR?

 

sure thing

 

Kelly,
What a wonderful thing it is that you are doing. How is Yoda? Is he doing any better? He is too cute.

 

He is doing lots better in many areas. He has already gained a pound since last Wednesday. His hydration is a lot better, though still slightly dehydrated. His glucose still runs high (around 400 most of the time), but we are counteracting that some with a very small dose of R insulin along with the ProZinc. His ketones are lower than they were, but are bouncing around between a trace amount (0.5) and elevated (0.9/1.1). We have started Yoda on LRS fluids as of last night, so this should help with the ketones. He has a vet appointment for Thursday to get blood work done to make sure there is nothing else going on that we need to know about.

His Siamese personality is starting to come out a bit. He talks my ear off whenever he is hungry. I hear about it until I put the food dish down! He has started sleeping with us occasionally at night, and relations with our resident cats is getting better day by day. It is so good to see SUCH a GOOD turn around already! I have high hopes for Yoda getting healthy real soon

 

Yoda just got blood work done yesterday. Results are in and I need eyes on the interpretation of the results:

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