2/11 Sid questions on ketone level~urine strip & anemia

Hi everyone,

The Ps are all in place for Sid!! He actually played today for the first time since December!!!!! It made my whole weekend. He is still having diarrhea though and he has a ravenous appetite but things are going better than expected so far.

Question 1:
I've been testing Sid's urine 2-3 times/day and the result is negative I think but sometimes maybe a little bit pink. It is not completely pink or completely tan. I ran out of strips for the ketone meter. They were supposed to come 1 day shipping (I paid extra) but they did not come so I have not been able to test his blood for ketones. His glucose level has been going down into the blue range more often because I've been increasing his dose of the prozinc.

I wanted to clarify a point because I think this is important. I've read several times on this board that ketones appear in the blood before they appear in the urine; however, I just read something last night that says trace levels of ketones appear in the urine before they appear in the blood - http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Ketoacidosis

Question 2:
sid is still eating carpet. He rips the carpet until he gets pieces off and then he vomits. I've asked the vets about this. One has no idea and the other thinks he may have early hyper-T even though his level is normal. I did post to the CRF board to see if this is related to his anemia (HCT 22%) but no one has responded.



last condo: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=65928

Lydia:

I'm not sure about ketones showing up in urine first when the level is lower. I've always heard they show up in blood first. Can you give him fluids? It might not be a bad idea if you can.

I've never heard of a CRF or hyper-T cat eating carpet because either one of those conditions or associated anemia. Gus's HCT is about the same...he never does this. He was hyper-T and we had I131 done; he never ate carpet. Teddi also was hyper-T...never ate carpet. It sounds like pica to me. In the attached article, it states diabetes can cause pica: Pica in cats

Marje, Yes, Sid gets fluids every day, usually twice, about 90 ml total and has been for the last month since he got out of the hospital. The carpet eating is a new behavior within the last 2 weeks. Maybe like the article said it is a vitamin deficiency though he already gets b12 injections every week.

Lydia --

I'm sorry but the info in the Pet Diabetes link makes absolutely no sense to me. It's also completely inconsistent with the information on blood vs. urine glucose testing that you can find anywhere else. Ketones always show up in the blood before the urine and there is a solid correlation between the two methods of testing based on research data. You've also gotten the equivalent of trace readings when doing a blood ketone test which wouldn't happen if the article was correct. The reference that was linked on this topic is a student page of the British Medical Journal -- it's not the actual journal and there's no archived version. I suspect this is outdated information or it's just wrong. Unfortunately, Wiki does contain errors.

Oh I know not everything on the internet is true, especially Wikis that's why I wondered about this article because I had never heard that before. I also read somewhere else that PZI the insulin itself can cause trace readings and that doesn't make sense and obviously isn't true either.

The blood ketone meter was out of range on exactly 5 test strips from 3 different lots so I don't have complete faith in the readings I received but feel it is a good start to getting an idea of what his blood ketone readings are compared to the urine strip.

Marje talked about pica and gave you a couple links - I just wanted to add that it is common in iron-deficiency anemia. Anemic people often crave weird things like ice, clay or paper. A friend of mine was anemic during her pregnancy and craved a particular reddish mud from a spot in her backyard. :lol:

Great to know, Melissa. I think the anemia associated with CRF is typically non-regenerative anemia although it can be a lack of vitamin B. I just wonder if you are giving the correct vitamin B for him if he has renal issues. He should be getting a good multi-B vitamin like Jarrow's B-Right and then methylcobalamine. I know you are giving him B12 shots; I used to do that with Teddi. When I switched to giving her the capsules, her HCT and HGB improved.

Thanks Marje and Melissa. Did she eat the mud out of her yard? Yuck. :lol:
someone on the CRF board also recommended the b capsules so I am going to find those today.

I am also wondering if she ate the mud???

I can't help with any of this but yay for play and yay for blue on the urine glucose. Many scritches to Sid.

Apparently the practice of eating red clay is common in Georgia and other parts of the south.

Great to hear that Sid is playing again!

See you later,

In haste,
Ella