New here, looking for help

Hi everyone, I'm really glad I found this forum as we are really struggling this weekend. We have the most amazing (part) Maine Coon cat named Eddie. He's a giant fur ball, very social and to this day purrs like a helicopter.

Our story goes back a few years, around Jan of 2017 when we noticed Eddie was drinking a lot of water. His weight hadn't changed a whole lot, at the time he was 15. Took him to the vet and after blood/urine tests and xrays, he diagnosed him with chronic kidney disease, he told me his kidneys had failed and that putting him on Renal support food (Royal Canin Renal E - canned) would help him and could extend his life for years. He also indicated his back legs had sever arthritis. We switched exclusively to this food and indeed he still drank more water than previously but not to the extent he had been.

About a week or two ago we started noticing him drinking a lot more water, again, spending the night going back and forth between our bed and his water bowl. Concerned that things were going downhill quickly with his kidneys we took him back to the vet. We got a different doctor, same clinic and did more blood and urine work. This time the results came back and his BUN was completely normal but his glucose levels were 27 mmol/L. He had also lost about 3lbs over those 2 years. They said to switch to Purina DM (canned) and we'd get him started on insulin therapy this week. Obviously I'm extremely frustrated with what appears to be a misdiagnosis 2 years ago and placing him on a high carbohydrate diet (21% carb in the Renal E food). The weight loss is concerning, quite possibly the diabetes but I would imagine the low protein food didn't help maintain his muscle mass. I requested the previous bloodwork results and see that the BUN levels were very slightly above the high range of normal so I can't say that he didn't have a kidney concern but completely switching his diet based on this result without ta follow up seems wrong. Anyhow, we are where we are.

Eddie has been up the last couple of nights going for water regularly and is exhausted during the daytime. Today he's quite lethargic but still eating albeit not as motivated as he typically is around food. I believe the restless nights are partially to blame but at the same time I'm very worried about him. His back legs have progressively gotten worse over the last year and more drastically over the last two weeks. It's hard to describe the exact change but Eddie would normally climb up some steps we have to our bed but he hasn't done this in a couple of days. You can see the weakness in those hind legs and getting into the upstairs litter seems to be too much for him some nights.

We picked up a blood glucose monitor (Accu Check Aviva) today and I was able to test just to see if the less stressful home environment would show a lower value. It was 21 mmol/L but I understand this lower score is possible simply due to the tester being calibrated to human blood. It's only been about 36 hours on the new food and I also don't know if I should see much of a change without starting insulin yet.

Complicating matters is that we have a vacation booked in 3 weeks where we will be away for a week. We normally bring in our kids baby sitter to watch Eddie and she spends a few nights here with him but if we start insulin I don't think she'd be able to handle it so we are considering forfeiting the trip. My other option is my parents who would take him in but they have 4 cats of their own and I worry about the stress the smell of other cats in the area would cause him. Likely we'll go that route and they'll keep him in a separate room and keep a close eye on him. They are very capable with animals and my father has a medical background. Initially I thought that we could start the insulin once we returned from the trip but seeing how weak his back legs are I'm worried about how much worse he will get and am now thinking we should start right away. Of course this leads to all the fears of how my (senior) parents will deal with a hypoglycemic cat should the insulin not be regulated properly. My dad is well aware of these concerns given his background.

I have a few questions:
1. How long does it take a typical vet to establish a safe regulated insulin dosage? My hope is that we will have the insulin dosage in a safe place before we go away and leave Eddie with my parents. Is this realistic?
2. Once established, if Eddie doesn't eat a full meal, or slowly grazes on it, what do you do with that dosage?
3. How common is it during the initial stages for a cat to become hypoglycemic once the insulin dosage is established?
4. I've read about sugar water, honey water etc - does just putting some on your finger and putting it the cats mouth get him to digest it? how much is enough?


Sorry for the length of this intro, thank you for taking the time to read Eddie's story, we are hopeful but terrified at the same time. Any advice or thoughts on the situation would be appreciated.

JP

 

Hi and welcome JP and Eddie. FDMB is a wonderful resource for information and support while you are learning how to effectively treat feline diabetes. Dear little Eddie is going to benefit from your diligent research and willingness to do what's best for him, get him feeling better and more energetic. Regarding your feelings of being hopeful and terrified at the same time, most of us arrived in the very same state, and we found answers to our issues and concerns.

First, I'm going to ask you to create a signature, that wavy Eddie's information is available with each of your posts.

Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

Do you have any idea what kind of insulin the vet would prescribe for Eddie?

Another thing that will help us help you now that you've started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

You do not have to be administering insulin to be able to use the spreadsheet, any data is good data.

Then, you should post in the Main Health forum HERE, so that we can get more eyes on the questions you have, and you can begin getting some informed advice from experienced members. If you like you can copy your message here in this forum, start a new thread there, and paste the message.

When you have time, please read the Getting Started and the Education sections on the right side of the Home page. Getting the basic information is an excellent beginning. It's a steep learning curve, and it's hard at first learning to test, learning about insulin treatment, and finding a proper diet. Reading through your message again makes me think that Eddie's hind leg issues are not arthritis, but neuropathy, and there is treatment for that. It takes time, but many cats with neuropathy recover fully. You can read about that here:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feline-diabetic-neuropathy-weak-back-legs.178252/#post-21723

Best wishes going forward. I hope to see your post in the Main Health forum soon, and follow along as you progress.

 

Thank you for the quick reply. I've set up the signature and SS and have posted a different message to the main thread. Looking forward to hearing more and appreciate the links you shared. I'm very worried about Ed has he seems to have gotten a lot worse this weekend and we haven't been able to start insulin yet. I'm hoping that will turn things around for him quickly as he's extremely lethargic.

Thanks again,
JP