Dka

Hi, im new to this site , my cat mittens was diagnosed with diabetes about a year ago. Receiving shots twice daily. Well insulin bottle dropped on Saturday and pharmacy was closed. rushed her to the hospital this morning and she has dka. I'm so upset and worried. I didn't know about home testing or the importance of missing doses. wasnt really well educated at all about feline diabetes. Any chance of her recovering from this?? Thank goodness for this wonderful website. thanks so much

 

She's got a good chance of recovering but will need to stay at the hospital to get IV fluids and all her electroytes/glucose level stabilised. This is a good site to get info on caring for cat swith diabetes and the best food, home testing etc.

 

Thank you the hospital called me yesterday and started her on a more aggressive fluid therepy and an antibiotic. Hopefully I get to visit this afternoon since I wasn't allowed last night. I just hope she has improved some overnight. Vet is supposed to call this morning. Waiting us the hardest part. I feel so horribly guilty for this. Love her so much it's killing me to see her so sick when I could have prevented it. Thanks again. So very very much.

 

Let us know what they say. With DKA, she's in the right place right now. My cat, Bob, is a dka survivor. He was at the ER for three days.
Carl

 

Much much thanks again everyone. And thank you Carl. So, the vet called me this morning and said she's moving in the right direction. She possibly has had an infection which made the situation much worse. Her numbers are decreasing but the ketones are still high. Said that this happens with pancreatitis and we just have to wait it out. She picked at her food but didn't eat a full meal. I get to visit tonight and I'll hopefully have better news. I can't wait to see her. She's such a trooper. I took her out of a bad situation when she was just a small kitten. Shes such a good kitty and so loved. All I hope for is for to get 100%.

 

The keys to treating DKA are:
Sufficient insulin
Getting rid of any infection
Sufficient food

They will most likely be giving her fast acting, short duration insulin, probably intramuscular shots, and antibiotics to control the infection. Lack of appetite is common with DKA kitties, and they might have to syringe feed her if she won't eat on her own. In some cases a feeding tube is needed. Eating is critical.

Your visit will definitely help her. Bring a tee-shirt or some other item of clothing that smells like you that you can leave with her. That will give her something familiar in a strange environment.

Sending healing thoughts and prayers,
Carl

 

Make sure they get food into her. That will also help her recover more quickly. If she won't eat on her own, they may need to syringe feed her.

We always had a "one skipped meal" rule here with Boo. He could go without breakfast or dinner but not both.

 

Hi Melissa

You did the best you could with what you knew. Now, you know more. Take some time to read over the Feline Diabetes website to get yourself thoroughly acquainted with the information.

Your vet may be feeding a prescription food for diabetes - some of them, cats don't like very well, plus, many over the counter varieties are low carb, such as Wellness Turkey and Giblet, Fancy Feast Classic Pate's, and Friskies Turkey and Giblets. (These are just some varieties I've used myself.) If appetitite is a problem, you might try one of those to see if it triggers eating. More reading about feline nutrition is available at Cat Info, a website written by a vet.

Hang in, it could be several days of hospitalization.

 

Just got back from hospital. My poor baby, shes thin but a bit more alert. i did have sense enough to bring a blanket and my thermal shirt with me. once again thanks for all the advice (= She seemed a bit more steady, also sitting up on her own. they said did eat a bit on her own this morning Not much but a little I also took some chicken and turkey with me which she enthusiastically ate almost all of it I have to say about 6 or 7 ounces which was awesome. I am going tomorrow night to see her and get her to eat more. Her ketoñes are still elevated and also they said her liver value was high as well which is concerning me but again may be from her not eating her pancreatitis is also concerning but she didn't complain during ultrasound and is on the antibiotic if her liver value continues they may add another antibiotic in the mix They will call me in the morning with her morning lab results Hopefully since she ate tonight it will help things along a bit

 

I suspect you havent been home testing or you probably would have noticed her numbers getting higher because of the infection. Please start, it is the only way to keep little mittens safe. You can also test her urine for ketones (essential when numbers are high) with ketostix for humans that you can buy from the chemist. That way if you see ketones you can act quickly before it gets to DKA.

My cat Vyktor is also a DKA survivor so I know how stressed about all of this you must be - sending virtual hugs.

 

yes, I wasn't testing at home. she was diagnosed last year and the vet never told me about home testing, only to give her the shot twice a day at the same time. Needless to say, I have changed vets. I absolutely will be testing from now on and educate everyone in the house or who sometimes care for her on how to test her as well in the case I get home late from work. The hospital called this morning she has been eating the diabetic food on her own. Her ph is normal now and her creatinine levels are normal. Her ketones are still around 4 but initially they were high 6's. They are waiting for her liver blood work and urine culture to come back but over all looks like she is starting to get better. I get to visit this afternoon for a bit and she will still prob be there for a few more days. I am wondering if a glucometer that tests glucose and ketones would be better or if I should test urine strips for ketones independently? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. And I truely truely appreciate all the support.

 

Use separate glucometers - not sure I've seen them combined, though someone else may know of one.

Something like the WalMart ReliOn (aka Arkray Glucard 01 at our shopping partner ADW throught shopping link above) is inexpensive and works well for glucose monitoring.

Blood ketone monitoring is much more expensive (ex NovaMax), so you might want to do regular urine ketone testing w/ confirmation via blood test if it looks suspicious. My signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools describes some tactics for urine testing, plus some other ways to monitor your cat's health.

 

She's home today (=. She didnt really want her dinner tonight but she ate alittle. . They put her on purina dm. 1/2 can twice a day. If she eats all of it then I am to give her 1 unit of insulin if she only eats abit then half a unit. They also changed her insulin to lantus. I'm just really super paranoid. She was sleepy and I kinda woke her up a bit to make sure she wasn't having a reaction because she didn't really eat. Is 10p now and she nibbled on her dry purina dm food abit but still drinking water. She goes back in one week to f/u. Any suggestions on how to get her to eat her full amount ?? Hopefully she will be hungrier tomorrow morning.

 

I'm glad your kitty is home. Sorry they put her on DM, unfortunately a lot of vets do that.

Your cat may not like the DM food, many don't. Most people here feed their cats low carb commercial wet food or raw food. Examples are Wellness, Fancy Feast Classic pate types. On the right hand column of the CatInfo website there is a document listing commercial cat foods and their protein/fat/carbs. We feed low carb, which is less than 10% carbs. You'll note that most if not all of the veterinary specialty foods are inappropriate for diabetics. And they are more expensive. All dry foods are too high in carbs. Just take back the DM food and tell your vet your cat wouldn't eat it. What did your cat eat before?

If you don't have or can't get some low carb commercial wet food around tonight, there are a couple of tricks you can try until you get some. Add some warm water to the wet food, that will enhance the smell. If you have something like tuna bonita flakes, add some of those. Also try a bit of parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, or canned tuna water from (tuna packed in water only, nothing that has onions or soy). A lot of people use Fortiflora, but that would have to wait for Amazon or can be purchased from the vet. I sometimes have to sprinkle freeze dried chicken breast pieces on one of my cat's food. They are great no carb treats and are common here for treats after blood testing. Just to get her to eat, even a boiled chicken breast will get something in her. Good luck!

 

It is important that she eats .... feed her whatever she will eat but basically NEVER feed her dry again! Dry food is like crack to a cat but it is very bad for them. Cats don't normally drink a lot .... feed them dry and it sets up all sort of problems. The best is a pate, like Fancy Feast or Friskie's OR there are lists. Learn to mix with water starting out with just a little and increasing until she says quit!!

Go to the Lantus tight regulation insulin support group and introduce you and Mittens and have them guide you on testing and such. It is a VERY busy group and there are always people to help you. Lantus is very specific and you need to follow the protocol.

DKA is a terrible thing, my Payne has gone through it 4xs .... she will never again! I know the signs, I test like crazy and I ALWAYS know if she has ketones! Ketones are the building block of DKA, without ketones there is no DKA. That is why testing is so important to a cat who has thrown off ketones. You should get a meter that you only use for ketones, another for glucose.

The strips for the ketone meter are expensive (try eBay) but they tell you right where you are and also get the urine one's they tell you where she's been and alerts you to the problem. If you see ketones all you need is ONE other thing .... not eating, infection, not enough insulin, etc. and you are off to DKA. Always knowing IF she has ketones will put you in control.

Good luck .... it is a marathon!
Nancy and Payne

 

Oh wow. I did finally get her to eat. I did try adding water to her wet food This morning she are alittle but I gave her turkey also to get something in her stomach. Her prior diet was actually feast classic or before grain wet food from petco. I was also giving royal cainin and blue dry food. I have To find a way for my 3 other cats since they really dont eat so much wet food and are super picky. And one of them has allergies so have to be careful with him as well.