Monty - Diagnosed March 2016

Hi all,

Monty was diagnosed in March after dramatically loosing weigh and have severe diarrhoea. They found the diabetes by "accident" he was very high 32 (576) we started on insulin, he stayed at the vets for a day for a curve but until we could sort the diarrhoea we weren't going to be able to control the diabetes. on his curve day the lowest he reached was 28 (504). We were given medication for his tummy but again we still had no luck and they decided surgery was the only option to see what was going on inside, as after an ultra sound they saw a shadow.

Surgery day come, there was what they thought was a large tumour on his pancreas the vet called me whilst he was on the operating table and told me what she had found and asked what I wanted to do... have him PTS, take biopsy's, or just leave him. I asked her opinion she said she is pretty sure its a tumour and looked aggressive but without biospeys she wouldn't know, in himself he had been totally happy playing around eating and drinking well - so we decided to wait and see what the biopseys came back at (much to my husbands disapproval, he said we were mean, but how can you just let them go when there is hope?)

5 days later I get a phone call - my vet screaming down the phone ... its only pancreatitis no cancer! She was over the moon just as much as I was! at a poo 2.8KG we took him back to the vet they boarded him for a week and managed to sort his diarrhoea out - he came back home and within 24 hours later he was back to square one again... we had this for several weeks... we took him home one last time on the agreement we were going to mimic the vets in a portion of our house as we are now thinking its stress ( I have 2 other cats) and if after a month we couldn't sort it the vets were going to keep him as a vet cat and I could go and visit as much as I wanted, they had fallen in love with him. After many adjustments and patience we finally started getting somewhere - we were starting to control the diarrheoa at home, and we started learning what was making him worse.

nearly 3 months on we are off all prescription drugs for the diarrhoea, he just has pumpkin which we have found he still 100% needs as we forgot for two days and we notices straight away. His diabetes is pretty controlled by his standards and he is a healthy 4.3kg at the moment. the last curve at the vets he was between 24 and 28 all day, but we have come home and done lots of research lots of advice online and we also run everything by our vet and have a new dosage scale that seems to suit Monty well 90% of the time, we are currently discussing actually dropping his dose for the second time :> as he randomly chucks some dangerous lows at us.

so yea, Hello all sorry I baffled on for so long I shall find the correct forum to post his numbers etc xx

 

Hello Louise!

I'm so glad that you and Monty made it over from FB.
Gosh, it sounds like you've been through a lot with Monty's health. (((Hugs)))

So, to recap, Monty was diagnosed diabetic in March (symptoms - weight loss and diarrhoea), and shortly afterwards was dx with pancreatitis also (although it was thought at first that this might be a tumour - yikes! )
He's on sliding scale insulin dosage.
And is he on Caninsulin? (Sorry if I missed that bit...)
And is he only eating low carb wet food?

And you are hometesting. Well done!
It would be super duper to get some of your test data (especially the most recent days) onto a spreadsheet format. We have one here that folks use, and if you need it there are some smart techy folks who can help you set that up (unfortunately I'm not one of them... )

I understand from your FB post that Monty had some very low numbers a couple of days ago (1.9mmol on a human meter), and that he has experienced very low numbers before also? Maybe we can help to work out what's happening with that....

There are a number of kitties here who are affected by pancreatitis, and their caregivers may well be able to give you some advice on handling that. Meanwhile, FYI here's a link to the FDMB 'Pancreatitis Primer', which contains a lot of useful info on this somewhat perplexing condition:
A Primer on Pancreatitis

Welcome aboard!



Eliz
.

 

Welcome Louise and glad to see you have made it over to the FDMB forum.

You have certainly had your struggles with Monty, but you have done an amzing job with him. How wonderful that the biopsy did not show cancer. Pancreatitis can cause problems but it can definitely be dealt with. One of my kitties also has chronic pancreatits but we have been able to manage it. I also use pumpkin every day with him and it has helped out very well. Congratulations on home testing...that is such an important step in treating diabetes.

Elizabeth has given you a lot of great information to start with and some good suggestions. With the help of very experienced members....such as Elizabeth and many others on here we can help you work with your vet and try to get Monty sorted out and on the road to good glycemic control while keeping him safe. As Eliz said setting up a spreadsheet will be very useful to get a good visual picture on how Monty responds to the insulin.

Please keep posting and asking whatever questions you may have and the fine people on here will do their best to help you along with your treatment of Monty.

 

thank you both

Yes the first 6 weeks were awful especially as between that we had 3 weeks holiday! but yes we went from being called in to say our goodbyes to a happy healthy cat its been the biggest roller coaster of my life! I've had him from 8 weeks old and he is now 9 years old so very precious to me!

I will take you word for it that im on a sliding scale I don't know the correct terms I just do as I'm told and hope Monty follows lead

Yes we are on Canninuslin, and low carb food - depending what the shop has its the 5% one if I can but occasionally they are out of stock and we settle for the 8% feed he thankfully was very easy to transition, I actually had trouble transition one of my others but all 3 of them are on a purely wet diet now!

Yes I home test - that took some patience from all parties but we are pro's at it now... but Monty can be very temperamental about Adam (my hubby) testing him, we find if Monty has gone low he then doesn't let Adam near him for a good few days not sure why, if required and im away he does eventually catch him but it can be a lot of cat and mouse round the house so we tend to just let him go longer without insulin on those rare occasions im not there for a shot (its normally only an hour or 2) to avoid any added stress etc.

Im not very techy either but I will give it a go... do I post numbers etc here or does that go in the main forum?

 

It is scary enough to get a diagnosis of diabetes, but then to be faced with a possibility of cancer at the same time must have been heart-wrenching. So glad that things turned out more positive. My two are almost 16 and I have had them since they were about 7 weeks old. so I know what important members of our family our kitties are.

You are probably familiar with Caninsulin and how it works, but here is a "primer" on Caninsulin/Vetsulin that may be useful:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/vetsulin-caninsulin-user-guide.302/


Information on setting up the spreadsheet:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

You would want to use this format:
https://drive.google.com/previewtemplate?id=1JQ136YHkxNhhku9AML_OKGHkrg3Ixe27BWAdWONlnP0&mode=public

You can enter numbers in your system (same as mine) mmol/L and it converts on another tab to US numbers so that anyone in the world can "understand" the numbering system.

If you have any trouble ( like I did when I started ) there are a few spreadsheet "gurus" that can get you up and running if you need help. Just ask and it will be done.

For posting more information and/or asking health questions you can post on the Health Forum here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

 

Thank you!! :>

Yes ive already hit my first stumbling block... I cant get the spreadsheet templates to open!

I think my work computer may have a restriction but ive tried my phone to and its just not happening so I have posted, hopefully one of the gurus can help me out shortly in the meantime im just having a mooch around the other forum sections

 

I tagged Marje on your other posting. She is one of the "gurus" for spreadsheets. She may not be on for awhile but she will help you our when she logs in here. In the meantime look around and if you have any questions just ask

 

@Looby&Smiffy -- has that tagged right Lucille ?

think the issue with the s/s maybe my work comp and can you do it by phone? after rereading it says tablet using android ap not that you can use an android so may need to do the SS when i get time at home which is annoying but maybe once i have set the initial sheet up i can just use it off my phone... lets see xx

 

Welcome to FDMB. Wow....you really have gone through quite the time with Monty but he is obviously in great hands! I just wanted to let you know you can use your android tablet or phone but you would have to download and install Google sheets to do so. Hope that helps!

 

thanks! yes I can view other sheets on my phone - but not the template for some reason... hmph! I shall try again today. thanks for the confirmation that it should however work!

 

Great story Louise and welcome to FDMB from another UKer (I'm in Surrey near Elizabeth). This is a great forum with a massive amount of support and information from the bestest animal lovers in the world!

Diana