Need help about diabetes and IBD treatment

My 16 year old kitty has been in diabetes remission for a few weeks and has been diagnosed with IBD. She has lost a huge amount of weight and will be put on steroids. I am panicking about her going back into diabetes and having unregulated diabetes. Has anyone dealt with steroids and diabetes? I am very scared because I have not been able to test her at home. She is on metro and her GI symptoms ate ok but she has gone from 16 pounds to 11 in a couple of months so I am positive that the vet will put her on steroids today. I absolutely love this kitty more than anything in the world. She is currently happy and more active but losing weight. Cancer has been ruled out by an ultrasound. Any guidance greatly appreciated.

 

I'm not sure of your kitty's symptoms but My Chachi has IBD and steroid induced diabetes. He would vomit after eating and have loose stools. He also would have intestinal spasms that would cause him to urinate outside his litter box but he is on even keel for now thank God. He takes 1/2 of 5mg tab of Prednisolone and 1/2 of 16mg Cerenia tab every other day. He eats 1/2 can fancy feast morning and evening and has 1/3 cup of Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein dry kibble for snacking through the day. He is on 1 unit Lantus 2xday. We tried to reduce his steroids but no go on that so every other day seems to be the charm. His IBD is under control and his bg seems to fluctuate but stays under 200. I know IBD and diabetes symptoms can also be stress induced so keeping things quiet and happy helps a lot. If you can't get a test one moment don't stress you can go back later. I have found that when I stress Chachi stresses and then we have trouble. I hope your baby finds her even keel!

 

Thank you very much. Biddy had the GI symptoms but the flagyl stopped them. Right now she is less and less interested in eating and has been losing a lot of weight. I am very worried about her and grateful for your reply. Do the glucose levels swing a lot more on the steroids?. High or low?.Also my vet said there.is another kind of steroid that may be better for a kitty with diabetes.. when she was first diagnosed with IBD she ate.like crazy but now she is less interested which scares me. We go to the vet at noon today.

 

Thank you very very much.
Dayna

 

The Flagyl is an antibiotic right? It will only do so much for IBD. Chachi tolerates the low dose of the prednisolone steroid well for inflammation which helps keep many of his symptoms at bay but he also needs the Cerenia for nausea and vomiting. On rare occasions (like stressful days when the grandkids come) I will give him an Ondansetron for a little more quick acting on the nausea and vomiting. It seems to me that the prednisolone steroid keeps chachi's bg from going to low and so far he is doing ok on just 1 unit of Lantus twice daily. I don't test unless he shows signs or symptoms. It stresses him out. Every three months I take him in for a curve or Fructosamine test depending on any symptoms.

 

That might be budesonide. The theory was that its effects were more localized to the GI tract rather than systemic. It seems to work for some cats without impacting BG much. My Charlie wasn't one of them ... Budesonide threw him back into diabetes, just as the prednisolone had done. But every cat is different.

 

Have you tried any kind of diet change to see if that helps? My kitty was the same way, she was on an antibiotic that helped but as soon as I stopped it, the symptoms came back. Since putting her on a novel protein diet, her IBD has become well controlled so we have managed to avoid steroids for now