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Hi, my name is Debbie and we have a diabetic cat. His name is Dude and he is loved very much. He is 14 1/2 yrs old, he has stomach tumors since 2000 and diabetes since 2005. He weighs approx 21 lbs. Approx 1 month ago I gave him double his normal dose accidentally. There were mixed packages of syringes in the box. Per the vet, we fed him thru the night at regular intervals and took him in the next morning. Sorry I don't remember what his blood sugar was, but he fine. At 21.6 lbs she wanted him to lose weight. She recommended that we change his food from Purina DM dry to a holistic dry and reduce his insulin from 4 units 2x day to 3 units 2x day. We would then do a glucose curve in 4 weeks. I purchased Natura Innova low fat dry food and mixed the two dry foods together. I monitor him by checking for Ketones in the urine. I was checking him approx once a week. I checked Ketones on April 27th - negative. April 29th he threw up three times that day and had a second bowel movement that was very smelly and soft. May 1st I gave him his normal 1/2 cup dry food and free feeds. That evening he threw up. May 2nd he still had food in his dish so I didn't feed him. May 3rd still has not eaten his food from saturday and he threw up again. I continued giving him insulin not knowing this was bad. This cat always eats (obviously at 21.6 lbs). I took him to the vet and his blood sugar was 186 and he lost 5 lbs. I left him there for blood work and fluids. Blood work didn't show anything significant. One result indicated UTI. They started treatment for UTI. He ate Monday a little monday night. Tuesday we went to see him at lunch, he was happy to see us and us him. His blood sugar was 119. He ate alittle for me. They wanted to continue checking his blood sugar. 2:00 pm was 77 and next check was 55. We left him another night. Yesterday morning he threw up and stopped eating. They did an xray and she said his kidneys looked terrible, but the blood work didn't show that on monday. They were trying appetite stimulants. Our options were: ultrasound or scope into his stomach with the possibility that nothing would be found or maybe the tumors were taking over, feeding tube or bring him home and see if he eats for us. We brought him home yesterday, he has eaten: cheerios, tuna, Innova dry food and some Purina DM canned food. No a lot of anything, but it is something. I've seen him drinking water and he has urinated and had a bowel movement. He is currrently receiving 1 unit of insulin 2 x day if eating, Clavamox (antibiotic for UTI), Famoditime (Pepcid) 1 tab 2x day, Predinose 1 tab every other day for tumors, Fortiflora on his food and Mirtazapine (appetite stimulant) 1/4 tab every three days. I am going out this afternoon to find canned food that has less than 7% (%kcal) from carbs. Sorry for the long post. If anyone has suggestions or comments, please feel free. Thank you for listening.

 

Hi and welcome,

With the pred, you may not need the appetite stimulants.

Did the vet recheck the kidney values? If the xray showed they look bad, how bad?

Are you hometesting the BGs?

Try some canned Fancy Feast the loaf kind, will say gourmet feast, or Wellness canned, they may go over well. The dry foods are not going to help him lose weight, that's kind of a myth, but at this point you want him to eat, so even if you go back to your old food, if it will make him eat, then go for it.

The antibiotics for the UTI may be affecting his appetite, the pepcid should help that.

What insulin are you using and how many units? Sorry if you posted that already.

I'm no expert or vet tech, hopefully others will be able to give you more advice.

 

No the vet didn't recheck the values. Not sure why. I felt like they really didn't know what was going on or have definite answers.

I only check Ketones at home. We have been thinking about a meter, but right now concerned about him making it.

Insulin is Lantus 1 unit 2 x day.

I will keep the Fancy Feast in mind when I go out this afternoon. He has eaten nickel to quarter size amounts 4 times today. I'm very happy with that. Don't want him to lose interest.

Thank you very much for your post.

 

dry food is not an ideal choice for a diabetic. it is too high in carbohydrates and will often keep the blood sugar levels elevated.

but that is a mute point at the moment since you have a kitty who is not eating well. Eating is way more important then what is being eaten so offer anything and everything to try to spur him into eating. Fancy Feast has often been referred to as kitty crack, so it is a good choice to try.

I would also recommend that since food input is irregular, so should the insulin injections. It is better that the cat run high then go too low for even a moment. Testing your own cat's blood sugar levels will be invaluable to you to know how to proceed, so if you don't know how please ask, we are more then happy to help you learn how.

another thing to keep in the back of your mind is that some cats are bothered by Clavamox as it upsets their stomach. It might not be a bad idea to talk to your vet about a different antibiotic if you can't hit upon a food your kitty likes

Connie

 

Like Connie said, hometesting would be great for you right now.

Your vet chose a great insulin to start with, so that's good.

I realize that you are concerned about him making it, but you can get some great meters, and cheap. I believe Walmart has the Relion meter which works great. It's a lot less expensive to test BGs at home than at the vet.

 

It's kinda ironic how he has eaten dry food majority of his life (prescribed by the vet). Then a month ago when she wanted to change him, she gave me a choice of dry or wet. I went with dry because that is what he was eating. I just got back from the store and found several flavors in Friskies that were on the list I had. He came out of his room to see me when I got home. I offered the tuna and egg flakes to him, he ate about a half dollar size amount. I am happy with that. He had also urinated while I was gone and I checked the Ketones and it is negative. My husband designed a special litter box to collect the urine.

Would the BG meter at Walmart be sufficient? The one the vet sells is $200. I saw an I-Pet online for $34, but that I have to order. I would run out to Walmart tonight or early tomorrow. I'm not afraid to do the BG testing at home, I just hate to do more poking on him. It was a long time ago, but I worked at a vet office for several years.

So how much food is considered enough to warrant giving insulin?

The vet did say that the antibiotic may upset his belly, but I think the "pepcid" is supposed to help with that.

Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated. He seems happy, he allowed me to rub his belly. And no throw up, yeh!

 

You do not need a pet meter; any human meter will do although I have seen some issues lately reported with one of the walmart brands so hopefully someone else can chime in. Bayer and One touch are very good brands and while their strips are more expensive, you can count on their quality.

It is impossible to say how much food is sufficient to give insulin; given that you are using humulin N right now it is more important than with a longer onset insulin like lantus. When Squeak was diagnosed and on L (a little bit easier than N) I would have to syringe feed him to give him his shots...

finally, clavamox caused severe stomach upset in my non-diabetic so I'd rather suggest looking at an alternative antibiotic if there is one suitable...

 

I believe it was the walgreens ones that are problematic. walmart relion micro is a good meter and requires a very small drop of blood and sips quickly. believe around $12 for meter and strips are around $42 for 100 strips

 

I have concernes with testing Dude at home right now. His ears appear to be bruised or had leaked blood from the testing at the vet. Could I use his paw? Should I wait for his ears to heal? His spirits are good and he is eating some. I didn't give him any Lantus since yesterday morning. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

You can test his paw if he'll tolerate that.

Most kitties ears are tender the first week or so while they adjust to the testing. Take a look at Tugger's SS and see how I went from almost no testing to testing him obsessively I used Neoporin with pain relief in those early days and alternated poking sites on his ears and put pressure on the spot immediately after poking. The only time it really bruised was when I poked all the way through or got too big of a spot.

Tugger started coming to find ME to ask for his tests within about three or four days. He learned very quickly that tests=food. No test= no breakfast. No test = no treats. Letting me test him= yummy treats every time and food follows at least 4 times a day =) Tugger loves food, so it's a big motivator for him

I use the Walmart meter and have been very happy with it, no problems at all. I'm mostly happy with the low cost of the strips... I can't imagine how much money I'd have spent if I'd gone with one of the more expensive brands. I must have spent $200 on strips alone while Tugger was coming down the dose ladder. Worth every penny though to get to the point we are at today :mrgreen: He hasn't had a shot in 11 days (though we still test at least twice a day right now and he's still ok with that)

It's really important that you learn to test at home, because then you can catch him when he's trying to go hypo and you can feed him up. It will save you tons of money in vet visits too. There are pictures and videos here on the site that can help you and there are tons of us here to advise you =)

When/if you get the meter also grab a package of baby socks (or use one from home or maybe a knee-high or stocking foot) you'll put some rice in this, tie it closed and warm in microwave for a few seconds. Use this to warm the ear and get the blood moving, helps tons with testing. Tugger purrs SO LOUD when I get the sock out of the microwave =) He loves it!

There are other tips we can share too to make it all go easier =)

 

I test Tucker's ear on different spots up and down the entire ear. He's been at this a while so his ear bleeds well at just about any spot. To help avoid bruising apply a little pressure for a few seconds with a tissue after testing.

I was showing my husband this morning how Tucker doesn't even flinch his eye when I poke his ear. We were discussing this because a co worker of his found out his cat is FD and doesn't want to hurt his cat by treating at all. I will be talking to this person myself. But in any event, I was showing DH that Tucker doesn't even feel the lancet.

 

The vet just returned my call and they did test from his ears that is why they are bruised. She said they were testing every 3 hrs.

I guess I will be going out to purchase a BG meter after lunch. And the necessary supplies.
I will watch the videos again and let you all know how it goes.

Thank you again for the advice.

 

Hi everyone. I wanted to post an update and have a question.

I didn't make it out to purchase the meter yet, tomorrow my husband will take me. I have severe asthma and allergies and the weather has been kicking my butt.

He seems to be doing ok, not yet eating like he used to. Today he seemed to drink a lot of water at once and then shortly after threw up all liquid. Reminded me of when I drink too much and feel sick.

Today he was due for a 1/4 tablet of Mitrazapine (for appetite). Shortly after giving it: he shivered, seemed disoriented, confused and he was hunting for food. Has anyone else used the medication? And is this reaction normal? I gave the pill at 1:30 pm. He seems better now.

I did check his urine this morning for Ketones and Glucose, both were negative. I feel so confused since he came home and unsure what to do at times.

Thank you for your help.
Debbie and Dude

 

I can't answer your question, though I don't *think* that's a reaction to the appetite stim. it sounds to me more like a hypo event (and again, I don't know much so I could be wrong)... but you had to way to check his blood glucose. I hope you can get a meter and strips today. Wal-Mart has the Relion meter which is not expensive at all and the test strips for it are quite reasonable too compared to a lot of the others. I use it and am very happy with it. Takes just a tiny drop of blood and overall is very simple to use.

I'd suggest buying at least one extra package of test strips if you can. I found it was way better to always keep one in reserve and replace it the day I open it because you really don't want to be down to just a few strips if you have a hypo event on your hands. Times like that you might need to test every 15 minutes, so you can go through some strips pretty quickly.

Also, before you go out check out this link and stock yourself up a hypo kit. Keep the high carb food for the hypo kit separate from the low carb food so it isn't accidentally fed (my husband has fed Tug HC THREE TIMES *headdesk*) so seriously, if your guy is dense like mine, put it in another room or something rofl. Here's another link that you should check out if you haven't already. And this one takes you to the spot where I found that info because there's loads more when you're ready =)

I'm also hoping my response will bump your post and someone else will see it and give you more info.