911 seizures and vomiting

Hi Everyone, my cat, Huey, has found a Vet who is working with us to find the insulin level he should be at with biweekly testing at her office by one of the tech's who has diabetic cats of her own. Minimal cost. Things have been going well till now. At last appt, She decided to up the dosage a bit to see if we were at a regulated level or needed to give a little more. (please, I apologize, I suffer from chronic Lyme and it is raging right now through my body and brain, so my memory and ability to relay info well is very affected - I am doing my best - hubby who handles all of Huey's meds is not being very helpful to me right now - too stressed out to even talk without sarcasm - so it's just me). We were at 2 units in am and raised from 2 to 3 units pm. His BG level when tested late afternoon at vet was about 107. Next day, he had a seizure of about 20-30 secs and then was like a limp noodle with wide eyes after level was increased in the pm (he had 1 dose of the increased insulin level). Now, here is where I am "fuzzy". I don't know if Vet said to go back to previous level or what but hubby is not giving him any insulin til things go back to "normal" (whatever he considers that to be). Now, one day later, Huey isn't keeping any food down and is, obviously, very lethargic. Vet wants us to get a urine sample and test is (we have the strips here at home) so I put the litter box with plastic liner only at his current "preferred" pee spot. Still waiting..................... I know hubby doesn't want to go to Vet due to $$ and I am in a compromised position with my illness. Any suggestions for 1. collecting urine 2. getting him to keep food down 3. Anything else you feel I can do

 

@Tuxedo Mom @MrWorfMen's Mom @Larry and Kitties I don't know enough to give you any advice except that you may want to home test to see what his Blood Glucose is. Do you have a meter?

 

I'm very sorry for what you and your kitty are going through. Unfortunately I don't know enough to be able to help you. I've posted an alert on the L&L board (it has more traffic) to see if someone can come to help you.


Mogs
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I always kept a little plastic cup close to the litter box.
I would wait until J.D. started to pee, and then I would get up and get the cup, and slip it under his pee stream for a sample. Some people use a soup ladle. I think the trick is to be ready and wait until they start and then approach them with either the test strip or cup.

It would be the safest thing for him, if you could start to test his BGs at home, so you know where he's at at any given moment, and how low that dose is taking him, and to help you decide if the dose is working or not.

Do you have ketone test strips?

 

Are you home-testing his glucose levels? How long has it been since he ate? How long has it been since the dose was increased to 3 units?

Without knowing what his glucose levels are my advice would be to take him to a vet. He could be having a hypo episode or he could be having DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) both of which are serious.

If you are able to get a urine sample and it shows anything other than a trace of ketones then he MUST go to the ER right away.

 

Sorry hubby but I think this warrants a vet visit. Withholding insulin or giving it without knowing what's going on both sound like bad ideas to me. It would be really great if you guys can start home testing - then you'd know where his BG was at (and where it had been) and the vet visit might not be necessary. Another problem with having the vet do all your BG tests is that kitty's BG can spike a lot from stress (100 points +) when at the vet so it is possible that the increased dose based on the vet numbers was too much.

Try feeding just very small amounts at a time. Give a teaspoon or two and then wait 20 mins or so before giving another tsp or two and so on.

I catch Vyktor's urine samples directly with a spoon.

 

There are far too many things that could be serious that involve seizures and vomiting to not go to the vet. Unless blood glucose levels are very low, seizures are atypical. This is why home testing is so important. Please do what you can to convince your husband that this is serious and beyond what we can advise you. You really need to get your cat into the vet ASAP.

Are you attempting to test urinary glucose or test urine for ketones. If you're doing a urine test for glucose, it's notoriously unreliable. It does not assess low or high numbers with any degree of accuracy.

 

My youngest daughter also has chronic lyme, so i understand the implications of what you mean when you say it. We're good at explaining, so if you don't get it, just say so. If you don't remember, then ask again. It's ok. Everyone here is ok explaining things, or they wouldn't be here.

I think you've said the vet visit is not possible. That would be my first choice too. Not eating makes everything very difficult.

If the vet visit is not possible, let's teach you how to test his blood asap. His blood sugar will tell us what we need to know.

Are you willing/able to do that if we help you through it? One step at a time. The vet would be best, however.

 

Whether you take him to the vet or not (and I hope you do), learning to test his BGs yourself will save you a LOT of money over taking him to the vet for testing, as well as give you the ability to keep him safe. Would you give your child insulin without know what his or her blood sugar level was first? What insulin are you using?

We all care, so please let us know how Huey is doing.

 

I am assuming the vet is wanting you to test for ketones. There is a condition called diabetic ketoacidosismor DKA. It can cause seizures and comiting and it is extremely serious....as in potentially fatal. It absolutely requires a vet and I would urge you to go to an ER. There is no way for you to know at home if he's got ketones without testing his blood or urine but if he's got ketones, he is at high risk for DKA and it can turn bad very quickly.

If he were my kitty, I would be at the ER now. Sending you many thoughts.