911 Sick kitty! Insulin?

Hi All,

Need a bit of guidance tonight. My cat Tribby diagnosed earlier this year with diabetes, is having an IBD flare.
She's had Prednisolone today which always raises her BGL. She's having diarrhea and not eating well. She ate some chicken baby food- about a jar full. Some mild chicken cat food- not much. She's starting an antibiotic tomorrow that my vet had to order in. I'm also doing sub q fluids as needed.

Her BGL is 15 right now. I typically shoot >12.

I'm not sure I should give her caninsulin today as she's not eating much. Is It ok to leave til morning and see how it is? Or should I give a smaller amount tonight? She's on 1 u of caninsulin 2 x daily as needed. She usually eats quite a bit overnight but I'm not sure she will tonight.
I'm leaving several options out.
She was on a complete raw diet, then home cooked. Select canned foods with low carb, low phosphorus and no carageen or guar gum. If she gets into any other canned food she gets really, really sick which is what happened yesterday.

I use a Contour Next monitor in Canada.

Thanks all.

Tribby and Cass

 

I can't answer the dosing question, but bumping it up.

Do you have any pain meds handy? That will help with the flare until she gets over it.

 

Yes. She's getting slippery elm gel as needed and medicine to relieve her gas. Thank you.

 

I am so sorry about the flare... I know ho helpless you feel as do I when my guy has one. I have no advice on dosing with canisulin but if you have ondansetron I would recommend giving that and possibly cerenia too.
I am tagging @Wendy&Neko as she is very knowledgable and I believe a fellow Canadian

 

Thanks. It's been a rough day. She's feeling a bit better I think? Simethicone helped settle her bowel. No gas sounds and no diarrhea in a few hours. The SEG alleviates the nausea and is nutritious. Helps the bowel as well. Fingers crossed we get her antibiotic Tylosin tomorrow. My vet had to order it.
What does your kitty eat? Tribby has developed a serious reaction to carageen and guar gum in canned food. Even a small bit and she has a bad flare. Diarrhea all night with blood by morning. She vomited too this am. She never vomits.

 

Hello from BC. Do you have any spreadsheet or records of Tabby's numbers on Caninsulin? It would be nice to know how low it takes her. I'm not sure what you mean by 1 u twice daily "as needed".

Can you assist feed her? She might feel worse without any insulin. Even a smaller dose, half or so? might help. If she's feeling icky, her numbers may be higher from that.

 

I don't sorry have a chart. I couldn't on my old phone and just got a new one.
She did eat a bit but I may get a syringe into her then a bit of insulin. Her low tends to be 6 - 8 at 1 unit or less. Typically 2 hours after injection. I find the # creep back up at about 10 hours.
She was doing really well on a raw diet and had a consistent low without needing insulin. Often just once a day and less then a unit if close to normal. She takes Prednisolone which raises her bgl. With out that I wonder if she would be in remission BUT she stopped eating the raw.

I'm going to syringe feed her. Wait a bit. Retest then give her a dose I think. She had a larger dose of pred this am.

Thanks!

 

@Wendy&Neko how much should i give her? I baby bulleted 1/2 cup safe chicken food w a bit of chicken baby food 1 tablespoon) and water. I gave her 15 mls already. She's taking it well.

 

When I had to assist feed Neko, I tried to give the same number of calories as she would normally eat. For tonight, I would suggest many small meals, don't overwhelm her with all at once. 15mls is a good start. Have you retested her blood sugar to see what it's doing?

 

If the Prednisolone is for her IBD, you might want to talk to your vet about trying budesonide instead. That's what Neko took. It's more specific to the GI system and didn't impact Neko's blood sugar. Neko stopped eating raw too.

 

I have asked about bude. My vet doesn't carry it normally soon would have to purchase the entire bottle. Very expensive.
She's still at 15. I'm going to stay up for a few hours to see if she wants to eat. If not I'll give her another 15 mls. Try to test her again if she doesn't eat on her own. It's late here and I've been up since 5am but will certainly try.
Lots of rumbling in her bowel. A few drips of diarrhea but no explosions or blood thank goodness. I did give her boulardii tonight as well. Simethecone again as well for her gas. I usually give her prednisolone at night but I'll wait until tomorrow. Give her system a chance to stabilize.


Thanks again.

 

Unfortunately my boy will starve himself if he does not get something he likes which is not necessarily great quality but he is 19 years old so he wins! (usually fancy feast or purina one fish (I know gag) sometimes MAX cat ). He will eat the dog version of the freeze dried Stella and chewys beef and momentum chicken breast freeze dried, bonito flakes and wild side salmon)
He had dental last year and got water poo which increased some flares which I gave fluids ondansetron cerenia an the diarrhea got so bad he went on a steroid budesonide which induced FD
I weaned him off the steroid as I added the poo pills and he went into remission quickly however the watery poo came back when he had a flare shortly after. I started the budesonide again and so far no FD -
All in all we are very lucky as he is usually happy and bright but that being said the "bad" days are SO stressful. My heart goes out to you and it sounds like things are looking up

 

It's such a roller coaster ride isn't? Tribby would gobble down some Friskies now with out hesitating. Then she would be up and down all night with explosive diarrhea ending with bloody/mucusy diarrhea by morning. May be even vomit which she rarely does.
I know because this is what happened last night.
I read bude doesn't affect the bgl as much. I'd love to try it but do not have the funds. I'd have to see a new vet and get it prescribed or special order it from my vet. I've looked at getting it online but no pharmacy I've looked at carries it.
I'm going to try Tylosin once my vet has it in. Hopefully tomorrow. She was o. Flagyl before but had a very scary nuerotoxic reaction. I'm not a fan of constant antibiotic use but they do have a place.
I'm lucky Tribby is so good to handle. She's not happy about it and is hiding right now mind you. She gets sub q fluids and b12. We do boulardii which has helped and slippery elm too.

Thanks again.
Cass and Tribby

 

If you have a compounding pharmacy near you, they might make up the budesonide for you. I got mine made up in fish flavoured liquid, and it cost about $30 a month. And was cheaper than the pills from the vet.

 

I also found out when I last got Ricos budesonide that the cost of 90 pills was about 5$ more than 30 pills!! Why didn't they tell me this sooner

 

You probably know this but tylon has a awful and I mean AWFUL taste so if you don't have gel caps to put it in I highly recommend them.... my 2 cents (ok maybe 25cents )

 

My other kitty had IBD too - when it rains it pours. Anyway, metronidazole mostly worked for him. We tried tylon instead, but back to daily vomiting. But he need pred to really make things better.

 

I do! Size 3. Thanks though!

 

A compounding clinic is an excellent idea. We have one close actually. Would I need a prescription from my vet?

Thanks.
Some things here like insulin and iv fluids you don't need a script
Things like b12 you do need a script buy you can buy it direct from a pharmacy with out one
Prednisolone definitely a script!

 

My vet phoned in the prescription to my local compounding pharmacy.

 

I second the metronidazole works a treat when my dog has a flare up. Usually very quickly too.

 

I have a compounding pharmacy as well my vet called it in.
Hope she is feeling better today

 

Tribby can't have metronidazole because she had a scary nuerotoxic reaction to it. She couldn't walk, jump or climb without falling. Similar to a stroke. This can happen if metronidazole is used over a long time.