Thomas and Ketoacidosis

Hello everyone.

Long story, a neighborhood cat was left behind by his old family when they moved away during the summer. I started tending to him and gained his trust. He got attacked by a dog in August and so I immediately brought him inside and got him vetted. He was fixed in September of this year, estimated 4 years old.

Thomas always drank a lot of water, we live in Texas so when he was outside I thought...I don't know. I've always been suspicious of his water intake and I mentioned it to the vet. I feed them wet food twice a day and grain-free kibble. I have two other cats, Henley and Henrik.

Anyway, Thomas had an accident outside the litterbox in September and it was pink urine so I took him to the vet. I asked about diabetes but she said it was likely to be cystitis and gave him pain medication.

Yesterday Thomas seemed very out of it, not interested in things, lingering by the water bowl. He did eat and used the litter box. I kept an eye on him all day and finally at around 5:30 I decided enough was enough and took him to the vet. His blood sugar was 512 and there were ketones in his urine. They admitted him. As of this morning his blood sugar is down to 302 and he ate for them last night and this morning.

Anyway, I would like some advice on the best meters to get for testing his blood. My father is diabetic so I am not really worried about injecting Thomas with insulin, I just need some general advice and support. I have been contacting a few organizations about help with his ER costs (it'll be between 3500-4000, unfortunately)

Here's a picture of Thomas

Thanks for reading and i look forward to getting to know y'all.

 

Welcome to you and Thomas! What a handsome guy he is!
Kudos to you for wanting to home test Thomas. That is key to helping our sugar kitties and keeping them safe.

Many of our US members use either the Relion Micro or Confirm meters from Walmart. Both require a small blood sample which is ideal for cats and the strips are inexpensive when compared with other brands. You obviously already have some knowledge of diabetes so while kitties aren't exactly like humans, the basics are the same in many ways. We can help you out with tips and tricks for testing, lowering costs etc. so come join us over on the Health Forum HERE and ask any and all questions that come to mind. We've all been in your shoes, a little shell shocked but ready willing and able to do what we can for our extra sweet fur kids.

 

Bless you for taking him in and looking after him. Sweet boy!

• re pink urine: was likely cystitis but that doesn't necessarily involve infection. It helps if you feed wet food and add a little warm water to it to make a sort of stew - better hydration for them. My guy is prone and this is very helpful.
• DKA: I've been there. Very scary. Very expensive. Kitty can take a while to get his strength back and will be more prone to ketones in urine - more on that if you read about ketone testing after doing a search here.
• Low carb wet food is strongly recommended. Grocery store brands like Friskies and Fancy Feast pates (no sauce or gravy types) are fine to feed. All kibble, with very few exceptions (one is Young Again Zero Mature, available online) is too high in carbs for a diabetic, even grain free.
• Many people here use Walmart ReliOn brand human glucose meters. Buy one that uses strips that need only a tiny drop of blood. The cost of testing is in the meter strips. Walmart's is economical.
• Learn how to test blood glucose at home. There's lots of advice here (see info "Stickies") or on YouTube videos to get you started. There are tips and tricks we can share. Many vets will say don't bother testing at home. We believe it's essential in keeping your kitty safe. You've already been to hell and back with DKA.
• BG testing should be done first thing AM before food and insulin. Repeat in the PM. These tests will tell you whether the dose is too high for where the BG is. At least one more test mid day or before bed will tell you how low the BG goes. More testing on days off will increase your body of data.
• Please tell us what insulin has been prescribed and what dose. If you post this in the main health forum, along with the summary from above, more people will see your message and can jump in to help.

This is THE place for people with sugar cats (as we call them).

 

Hello and welcome to you and Thomas. I'm sorry he's had such a rough time over the last few months and I'm so glad he now has you to care for him. Bless you for taking him in.

If you haven't already done so, try contacting Diabetic Cats in Need. I think they have a Facebook page.

I am sorry that the vet didn't give proper weight to your concerns about diabetes when you first asked about it. (I had a similar experience with my Saoirse.)

Sometimes cats with ketosis or DKA may have trouble eating for a while till they get back to normal. Having the right supportive treatments immediately to hand at home during convalescence can make a world of difference during the recovery period. Here are links to to two recent threads on Feline Health where there is a lot of very helpful information about the practical aspects of feline DKA (see posts by Meya14 in particular - she is highly knowledgeable about DKA) and also I've posted a fair bit of information and links about dealing with nausea and appetite problems.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/cat-not-improving.169098/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/newly-diagnosed-after-surviving-dka.169143/#post-1835133

I hope that Thomas feels better very soon.


Mogs
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Link to resources for financial assistance with care costs:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/financial-help-links.131190/


Mogs
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Thank you very much for everything you've already told me.

I visited Thomas today, his blood sugar was at 289 and he was much more alert and purring when he saw me. They said he is eating really well, and all the vet techs have been loving up on him.

I contacted several places for help financially but unfortunately no one has any funds at this time. Which is understandable, I'm sure they get tons of requests.

I don't know which insulin he'll be on yet, but when I do I'll search for information about it in the Health forum.

For those of you with diabetic cats and non-diabetic cats in the same household, how can I keep him out of the kibble that my other cats CAN eat?

Here's a picture from today, you can tell he's a bit more aware.

 

First of all so glad to hear and see that Thomas is improving. The alertness and purring are very good signs he is feeling better and his BG while still high is much much better! Great picture!

Unless you have other cats on specialized diets for medical issues, the easiest way to handle this situation is to transition them all to the same diet.

If any of your crew are on specialized diets, it becomes a bit more difficult but not impossible. I will admit that sometimes I feel like a junior school lunchroom monitor because even though my two youngsters eat the same food, my sugar will push her brother out of his bowl to pilfer his rations too if unsupervised. LOL!

You can feed the cats in separate areas/rooms to avoid any pilfering of inappropriate diet. There are also automated feeders that will only open for a specific cat or cats using either implanted microchips or one worn on a collar. These feeders can be a bit pricey but can also take a lot of the "work" out of keeping our diabetics out of inappropriate food.

Hopefully others with multiple kitty households will be along to offer some other suggestions.

 

Well, fortunately neither of my cats are on a special diet but my little girl cat, Henley, is a suuuuuper picky eater and transitioning her to new food will be 1000x harder than getting Thomas adjusted. LOL. She's a bit of a diva. I'm going to start taking away the kibble at night and see if I can just adjust her to specific meal times and put her in her own room with her wet food and little bit of kibble. Before this they would get their dry food at 9 AM and 7 PM and they'd have a small bowl of kibble to nosh on throughout the day when they wanted a snack.

Thanks for the help, I'm already feeling so much more sane after reading through some of these posts.

 

I have three cats, one of whom has to be on prescription hypoallergenic food and two others who can eat the same food but in different amounts - one guy is diabetic and the other has been a bit too 'fluffy". They each eat in a separate room at a scheduled feeding time with no food available in between. I was lucky in that they're all stellar eaters and don't mind being apart for meals. They used to get a small amount of kibble which they adored but all that was stopped when my diabetic was diagnosed.

 

BTW - I know how you're feeling after such a scary time with DKA. Your photos of Thomas when he was ill and recently in recovery remind me of Teasel during his episode in March of this year. You have a lot of people here to help post DKA at home and then with treating Thomas's diabetes.

 

If you're in the US and you find that you have trouble with transitioning one of your civvies (non-diabetics) Young Again Zero and Evo Cat and Kitten kibbles are lower in carbs than the others. Young Again do sample packs if you contact their customer service department.

While it is better overall for kitties to be on a low carb, wet, species-appropriate diet the above foods might help avoid Thomas getting his paws on high-carb contraband while you're working toward feeding them all the same grub.


Mogs
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Agree with what Mogs states above. Of course no dry food is best for all the kitties. Sometimes there are kitties who will not give it up ( I got one of those). So your choice for dry is limited to 2 kinds the Young Again can only be ordered from manufacturer. The Evo is in Specialty pet stores. My diabetic couldn't jump so the bowl was on the counter for the one who liked it. Or placed on top step to basement and she would wait by the door to go down when she wanted it. More often when the bowl was put on the floor I just stood there to stop sugar kitty from getting it then pick it up. Of course husband did not do this, but it was EVO food so the damage wasn't to bad.

 

I contacted Young Again and they are sending me a sample.

Thomas is HOME! And now begins the fun part, right?

 

I'm sure you're happy to have your boy home. Did they send him home with any meds? Let us know what insulin he's on and what his dose is. Have you been taught how to test his blood glucose at home? He'll need this kind of monitoring after a DKA episode. It's also a good idea to buy a bottle of urine ketone test strips at a human pharmacy to use in checking him for ketones fairly often after his ordeal. We have advice for all of this so feel free to ask.

 

Yeah! Great news! It will take Thomas a bit of time to fully recover and he'll need some serious TLC (we can tell that won't be a problem!) to ensure he is eating well and staying well hydrated. Kris has given you great information and there are folks here quite well versed in post DKA care. I suggest you start a new thread over on the Health board here with any questions you might have and include the information Kris suggested providing about meds and insulin, as well as the type of meter if you have one already. This forum is just for introductions and Health questions and advice are generally kept pretty simple here. There is also a lot more activity on the Health board so you'll get a lot more folks offering assistance.

 

Check ketones at least once a day for the time being (twice if possible). If Thomas' appetite shows any signs of stalling let your vet know immediately and post here for help, too.

Welcome home, Thomas!




Mogs
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