122420 New Member Sugar 403

Good afternoon everyone, so today I got the call on Christmas Eve from the vet that my 4 year old cat has a blood sugar result of 403. We are trying to collect a urine during the long holiday weekend and we'll know more this weekend when the vet is back open and we can drop off a sample. Vet said it's possible he has diabetes, but we'll know more once more results come back. We took him to the vet originally for his routine wellness exam and requested blood work because he's been over grooming badly for the better part of this year. We've tried a bunch of things and even vet visits to no avail. So we asked for blood work. My question is, in the meantime is there anything I should be doing? Anything I can do over the next few days to support my cat?

 

Hello!

Was your kitty showing any signs of diabetes - excessive hunger/drinking/peeing? Usually an undiagnosed cat will stop grooming themselves altogether. Do you know if that blood sugar reading was done as a fructosamine test or just a in-house blood sugar test? That makes a difference. Cats at the vet will be stressed which increases blood sugar, as well as infections, illness, and dental problems.

For the time being, what food is he on? You want to switch him to low-carb asap if he isn't already, it is MUCH easier to switch before starting insulin if he is indeed diabetic because it will lower blood sugar significantly. Some cats can be diet-controlled before needing insulin therapy. The food should be under 10% carbs - popular choices here are Fancy Feast Classic Pates and Friskies Pate but there are many other options found here. Ideally below 5%.

 

Hello, I've not noticed any change in his eating/peeing behavior this year. But I'm unsure how long this might have been going on. The test was an in house test, I'm not sure what type, it just came back today and they haven't emailed me the results yet. She did say the reference range on the sugar is 72-175 if that helps? I'm sure he was extremely stressed at the vet. Our vet is only doing "curbside" so we can't go in with them. My other cat that had an appointment at the same time they said she had a high heart rate, I'm sure they were both very scared. Roswell also needs dental work, he has plaque they told us about. Currently Roswell is on Orijen Regional Red dry food, and Tiki Cat 1x a day wet food. Usually it's just a Tiki Cat Broth with a little bit of Stella & Chewy's Freeze dried Rabbit on it.

 

Okay, good to know. You want a fructosamine test done to confirm the diagnosis. Not many vets do those in-house (mine was the only one I'd heard of that did).

You will want to get a dental done on him for sure, even if he is diabetic you will struggle to control his BG (blood glucose/sugar) if his teeth need work.
I believe all Tiki Cat is low-carb but you'll want to cut out the dry food immediately, it's very high-carb. There are only two brands of dry food in the US (not sure if you're there or elsewhere), Young Again and Dr Elsey's Clean Protein but it is expensive. I would try to tackle the food switch and dental when you can to help lower the BG. Overgrooming is often indicative of some sort of stress in the home as well. Posting the results when you get them would be helpful.

 

Hi there and welcome.

Which part of himself is he overgrooming?


Mogs
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His belly, tail is really bad, front legs and back legs

 

Here’s a few pictures

 

Poor wee thing!

Have you discussed potential allergies with your vet? Or possible sources of stress in the environment (e.g. neighbourhood cat(s) hovering round your home)?


Mogs
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Yes, we have a referral to an allergist. But he wanted to check blood, urine and stool first. That’s when we got the blood sugar result from. For stress, I’ve read tons of pages on cat stress and I just can’t seem to find anything in our home that matches. No cats outside, no schedule changes, I’m home all day (always have been) so it’s not that he misses me, no furniture changes, they have tall places and hidden places to go if they want, we play toys together, he gets along extremely well with the other cat in our house. We use feliaway plug ins, have tried calming collars and sprays. I just can’t seem to find anything that is stressing him. Before his blood sugar came back the plan was to try allergist, if that didn’t work then behaviorist. We also removed all chicken from his diet in case that was the allergen. We keep them on flea prevention in case it was flea allergy.

 

Flea allergies usually cause hair loss on the rump/base of tail and cause lesions on the chin as well. Doesn't look like fleas to me. Perhaps he has OCD? A behaviorist would know I imagine. I take it you haven't moved in the past year or so? My tortie was overgrooming from stress of a new house even months after the fact.

 

We adopted him January 2019, he's been in the same home since then. We adopted a kitten July 2019. The over grooming started in November 2019.

 

We got the results back, I've attached them. The vet called and says he is Type 2 Diabetic. Do you agree based on the test results?

 

Hi there,

The labs show elevations in BG and urine is strongly positive for glucose. I could not see any results for a fructosamine test. (If one was not run then this is a major oversight if diabetes is suspected.)

As Elizabeth advised above, the BG level in a blood sample drawn at the vet may be influenced by temporary stress hyperglycaemia.

Urine glucose levels only provide insight into a cat's blood glucose in the hours since the previous voiding of the bladder, so while a strongly glucose-positive urine sample is a better indicator of possible diabetes, it's not a cast iron guarantee that the cat is diabetic. (Example: we had a kitty here in the last few months who was so stressed out during the hours it was at the vet that its BG levels temporarily shot through the roof and it ended up with very high urine glucose. The cat proved not to be diabetic.)

Fructosamine test results aren't skewed by any transient stress hyperglycaemia because they give an indication of average BG levels over a period of weeks, hence their value in confirming a diagnosis of diabetes: they provide evidence of a protracted period of hyperglycaemia, not just a potentially temporary spike.

If you're not already doing so, I very much recommend that you start checking Roswell's BG levels at home immediately so that you can determine whether he's running in diabetic numbers. This is urgent, because if he is then he needs to be started on insulin as soon as possible. I also strongly recommend that you test his urine daily for urine ketones because cats that need insulin but who are not yet receiving it are at risk for developing ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis (a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes). I'd also recommend talking to the vet about getting an urgent fructosamine test run and about starting insulin treatment.


Mogs
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I was replying to another thread about a hair coat issue and it made me think of Roswell when I was discussing B vitamins. I don't know whether this will be of any help to you whatsoever, but deficiencies can cause skin irritation. There's a helpful table here:

Importance of B Vitamins

Maybe it might be something to ask the allergist about when they see Roswell. I hope you find something that helps him soon. (((Roswell)))


Mogs
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