Tyler had DKA from pancreatitis!

Hello everyone! I joined this group back in March when my kitty was diagnosed with diabetes. We were able to keep him in remission for 7 months! Then, one day, my food loving kitty decided he didn't want to eat. He was hiding, drinking tons of water, peeing a lot, but not eating or sleeping or pooping. Took him to the vet, they ran bloodwork, did a urinalysis which showed traces of ketones and sent us home with some medicine that was supposed to be both an appetite stimulant and anti-nausea. Gave him the pill and within an hour he ate some food. That's when it got scary. He started having tremors and throwing up. I took him back to the vet where they kept him for two days, giving fluids and started him on insulin to try to get rid of the ketones. After 2 days, all his levels were returning to normal but he still refused to eat. My vet got in touch with a specialist that recommended an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed he had pancreatitis and because his pancreas wasn't functioning properly his body was producing these ketones. He is home now, taking cerenia, prilosec and insulin. My fear now is that he is getting better and doesn't need the insulin because everytime he gets his shot, it is about two hours of begging for food. This worries me that he is getting hypoglycemic. I give him as much food as he wants because I don't want his blood sugar to get too low. We go back to the vet a week from today for them to do his glucose curve. Any advice until then? He is on the lowest possible dosage of insulin.

 

Yes... My advice is to pop into Walmart and get a meter so you aren't guessing if he's high or low. It's easy to test their bg at home. We can give you a shopping list of what to buy if you want. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.

 

The recipe for DKA is: Not enough food PLUS Not enough insulin PLUS infection/inflammation/major stress. Insulin, if needed and not given, literally causes kitty to starve to death while eating everything they can find. It's a hormone required by the body to work. If there's not enough insulin, the body begins burning fat stores for energy - those fat stores burning causes ketones...

 

I suggest you go to WalMart and buy a glucometer and a box of test strips for the glucometer and a box of ketone test strips. Being hungry could be a sign of his sugars too low or too high like Lyresa said above. You don't want ketones.