Oscar The Cat and his human John

Hello everyone!

Oscar and I have joined this support group after having quite the scare this weekend. Last week, Oscar was a bit "off", had awful diarrhea, and seemed to be urinating frequently. I setup an appointment for Monday (1/7) to have him examined.

On Sunday night (1/6) Oscar had a seizure for 60-90 seconds, the first ever for him. It was quite upsetting for both of us. Thankfully, I was near him when it began and I was able to comfort him to prevent any further injury. Monday morning, I heard one of my other cats hissing. When I investigated the hissing, Oscar appeared disoriented again and there was a large puddle of urine not too far away - I'm 99% sure he had another seizure, the second in ~12 hours. Off to the vet we went immediately.

After visiting our vet, it was determined that Oscar has diabetes. Throughout the bulk of his 17 years, Oscar has been healthy. While this wasn't good news, I was fearing something much worse and let my mind drift into believing our time together was coming to an end.

He has been prescribed PZI and began dosing today. His AMPS number was 367. 6 hours later, he is at 210. Overall, his demeanor has improved tremendously and it feels like we are doing much better than before.

I have eliminated all dry food feeding for all of my cats to prevent any rogue snacking and am 100% wet food now (Wellness Selects / 13% & 14% carbs). Previously, dry food was readily available and wet food was provided in the morning.

This will all take some getting used to but I'm confident with the information gathered here that we can do this.

Thank you for all of the great resources here and thanks in advance for your support. I hope to return the favor in the future.

PS - My household is as follows:

• Cats
  • Oscar - 17 years old, domestic short hair, orange/buff, male, 14.5 lbs
  • Wednesday - 9 years old, domestic short hair, black, female, 12 lbs
  • Button - 7 years old, domestic longhair, tortoiseshell, female, 8 lbs
• Dogs
  • Howie - 12 years old, Chihuahua / Dachshund, black and brown, male
  • BABS - 10 years old, Chihuahua / Yorkie, black and brown, female
• Rabbit
  • Mocha - 4 years old, mini lop, brown, male

 

Welcome John, Oscar and family!

If you haven't already, check out the stickies at the top of the PZI forum: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/, or if you have general questions go here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

That was quite an introduction to diabetes this weekend, but hopefully everything is turning up now. Did your vet happen to mention anything about ketones? Diabetes in and of itself usually doesn't present with seizures, so I want to make sure that ketones weren't involved or it could influence what should happen now.

 

Thank you for the warm welcome, @Sandi & Whisper!

Oscar has not presented any ketones. His urinalysis performed on Monday showed no ketones. Yesterday I poked a ketone test strip into his urine stream and that test also came up negative.

 

That's really weird to have had a seizure like that. Makes me think there might be something else going on as well. 300's while high is not really seizure high. My cat is often much higher than that... As high as the 500's on occasion. I suppose it's possible as every cat is different. We can definitly help you with diabetes advise. Welcome.


BTW you should try to find foods under 10 percent carb(under 7 is even better). I have a food chart in my signature

Sounds like you are home testing?

 

Thx I just wanted to ask about ketones (and I now see your other thread at http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/seizures-from-hyperglycemia.209267/ , sorry, it wasn't there when I started my reply), because like @JanetNJ i am trying to see if something other than just high blood glucose is going on.

I'll keep an eye on that thread and will continue any other thoughts there.

 

On Monday, shortly after his second seizure, he went to the vet where they did a CBC and urinalysis (along with some other tests). The blood glucose level they measured was 423 mg/dL. Again - not sure or convinced that the diabetes contributed to the seizures, but they have not persisted. Oscar is also behaving much more normal now, as opposed to the lethargy he had earlier in the week. It seems like we are in calmer waters.

Things I am doing:

• dietary changes - no more dry food (at least for now, I may have an uprising with the 3 cats soon though), strictly low-carb wet food
• insulin - PZI, 1.5 units every 12 hours
• home testing - using ReliOn Prime

Oscar has been consistently in the 300-330 range pre-shot. Today I will be testing every two hours to understand how his levels progress throughout the day.

Thanks again for having this great, supportive resource group!

 

Thx for letting us know, John, that is all good news. You are doing great, and fingers crossed for no more seizures (anti-jinx)! Good luck with the curve today

 

Welcome John and Oscar! You will find a lot of good support here