FluffyP
Member
Hello everyone, first post here. Been lurking a week or so. The following post will be quite lengthy but I hope to thoroughly cover the timeline to the best of my memory.
My cat, an 18lb 10 year old male, Fluffy was diagnosed with Diabetes in mid-late January after a visit to the emergency clinic following a night of extreme increased thirst and urination. He was placed on 2 units of vetsulin at the time. Following a visit to a non-emergency vet (that would eventually see him over the course of the last few months) he was placed on Prozinc and I was instructed to give him 3 units due to a glucose reading in the upper 500s. Initially the vet wanted to do follow up checks in THREE MONTHS, however after monitoring for two weeks and seeing little improvement i insisted on a checkup at the end of the same month (late February). The vet did one glucose check at that following visit and since it was still above 550 decided to move to 4 units and committed to a fructosamine test. Never once did the idea of at home testing come up. Following the results of the fructosamine lab work i received a call to increase to 5 units, with another fructosamine test a month later.
As the date of the second test approached (late april) i began to notice him struggle with the use of his back legs. He began to struggle mightily with jumping on the bed. The day of the test it became ovbious he was developing diabetic neuropathy and he was having difficulty just walking around. I didnt even get to speak to the vet at this point and had one fo the lead techs ask me if i managed to accidentally poke him in the legs ???.
At this point I finally made the decision to commit to home testing, which i know i shouldve done much sooner but my vet at the time insisted it wasnt necessary. A few days later I recieved a call from the vet with the results that showed fructosamine levels at 676. I also asked about diet changes and she said that might be a good idea and so we moved to purina pro plan DM dry food. She also suggested that his insulin resistance might be due to an underlying infection so prescribed him clavamox as well. At this point she upped him to 6 units.
Over the following days I transitioned away from his old dry food (IAMs indoor weight control) to the new dry food. I also did a few readings (not knowing how a real glucose curve was supposed to be done) and these were the results.
The clavamox immediately gave him loose stools. He's also been icredibly lethargic and depressed. He spends a significant amount of time just lying down next to his water bowl much like in the early days of diagnosis (i had seen improvement with the increased thirst but it seems like all that has completely gone away over the past week) I finally had enough and decided to switch vets but am afraid it may be too late. The new vet saw him and performed a blood work and took a urine sample. Unfortunately I dont have those results avaialble but the gist of it was that most of his vitals looked good. Only one level of the kidneys numbers were slightly elevated but she didnt think that was the primary culprit of the increased thrist. Urine levels looked good as well and she pointed out a result that indicated the inslulin was being properly absorbed ( i wish i could say which level that was but it was so much info to take in at once). She did want to cut the clavamox and instead sent him home with metronidozale to help with his gut, as well as fluids under the skin.
She was hesitant to chage his insulin dose because at this point he had only been on the new food and increased dose for approx 4 days. She asked to make a followup check for this Friday and asked that i perform a glucose curve a couple of days prior. If she saw no improvements she mentioned wanting to switch to a glargine insulin but said she would have to start back at the beginning with a small dose
Fast forward to today and nothing has improved. His appetite is still good but he still has loose stool. He still spends half of this time lying at the water bowl. His neuropathy seems even worse. I've taken a couple of glucose readings and they were between 592 at their highest and 345 at lowest. I just feel like I'm watching him detriorate in front of my eyes, he looks like he's suffering and in a great deal of discomfort. To the point Im not sure I can watch him like this for another week and am seriously considering euthanasia over the next few days. At the same time I feel like his veterinary care has been so poor that he hasnt really had a fair shot at getting the right treatment. Obviously Im really really conflicted.
I could really use any advice that yall have to offer. Ill be checking this post regularly and would love to answer any questions
My cat, an 18lb 10 year old male, Fluffy was diagnosed with Diabetes in mid-late January after a visit to the emergency clinic following a night of extreme increased thirst and urination. He was placed on 2 units of vetsulin at the time. Following a visit to a non-emergency vet (that would eventually see him over the course of the last few months) he was placed on Prozinc and I was instructed to give him 3 units due to a glucose reading in the upper 500s. Initially the vet wanted to do follow up checks in THREE MONTHS, however after monitoring for two weeks and seeing little improvement i insisted on a checkup at the end of the same month (late February). The vet did one glucose check at that following visit and since it was still above 550 decided to move to 4 units and committed to a fructosamine test. Never once did the idea of at home testing come up. Following the results of the fructosamine lab work i received a call to increase to 5 units, with another fructosamine test a month later.
As the date of the second test approached (late april) i began to notice him struggle with the use of his back legs. He began to struggle mightily with jumping on the bed. The day of the test it became ovbious he was developing diabetic neuropathy and he was having difficulty just walking around. I didnt even get to speak to the vet at this point and had one fo the lead techs ask me if i managed to accidentally poke him in the legs ???.
At this point I finally made the decision to commit to home testing, which i know i shouldve done much sooner but my vet at the time insisted it wasnt necessary. A few days later I recieved a call from the vet with the results that showed fructosamine levels at 676. I also asked about diet changes and she said that might be a good idea and so we moved to purina pro plan DM dry food. She also suggested that his insulin resistance might be due to an underlying infection so prescribed him clavamox as well. At this point she upped him to 6 units.
Over the following days I transitioned away from his old dry food (IAMs indoor weight control) to the new dry food. I also did a few readings (not knowing how a real glucose curve was supposed to be done) and these were the results.
The clavamox immediately gave him loose stools. He's also been icredibly lethargic and depressed. He spends a significant amount of time just lying down next to his water bowl much like in the early days of diagnosis (i had seen improvement with the increased thirst but it seems like all that has completely gone away over the past week) I finally had enough and decided to switch vets but am afraid it may be too late. The new vet saw him and performed a blood work and took a urine sample. Unfortunately I dont have those results avaialble but the gist of it was that most of his vitals looked good. Only one level of the kidneys numbers were slightly elevated but she didnt think that was the primary culprit of the increased thrist. Urine levels looked good as well and she pointed out a result that indicated the inslulin was being properly absorbed ( i wish i could say which level that was but it was so much info to take in at once). She did want to cut the clavamox and instead sent him home with metronidozale to help with his gut, as well as fluids under the skin.
She was hesitant to chage his insulin dose because at this point he had only been on the new food and increased dose for approx 4 days. She asked to make a followup check for this Friday and asked that i perform a glucose curve a couple of days prior. If she saw no improvements she mentioned wanting to switch to a glargine insulin but said she would have to start back at the beginning with a small dose
Fast forward to today and nothing has improved. His appetite is still good but he still has loose stool. He still spends half of this time lying at the water bowl. His neuropathy seems even worse. I've taken a couple of glucose readings and they were between 592 at their highest and 345 at lowest. I just feel like I'm watching him detriorate in front of my eyes, he looks like he's suffering and in a great deal of discomfort. To the point Im not sure I can watch him like this for another week and am seriously considering euthanasia over the next few days. At the same time I feel like his veterinary care has been so poor that he hasnt really had a fair shot at getting the right treatment. Obviously Im really really conflicted.
I could really use any advice that yall have to offer. Ill be checking this post regularly and would love to answer any questions
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