DKA

Took our kitty to the vet because he had ketones in urine and hasn't eaten in 2 days.
The doc just gave him fluids and sent us home.
But he is still vomiting and not eating or drinking.
I don't know what to do.

 

It sounds to me like he should have been admitted with those symptoms but does your vet have 24 hr care? If he was mine I would be taking him to an emergency vet right now where 24hr care can be provided.

What was his ketone level?

Has he not eaten anything at all for two days? A cat can't go on like that or it will get hepatic lipidosis. If you can't get him to an emergency vet do you know how to assist feed him and do you have any syringes to do that? You can't give straight water like that though or you may choke him.

 

No no all wrong. Vet should have kept him there and put in a feeding tube asap, and also hooked him up on IV insuline and glucose which they handle carefully. Vet should also have taken I-STAT blood work samples, to see blood PH-level if he was acicdic.

As Vyktors mum said, find a fully equipped 24/ hospital, and take him there as an DKA emergency.

 

My cat is a DKA survivor. I think your cat needs to get to the ER for 24 hour care, immediately. My cat was at the U of Penn School of Veterinary Medicine. He came home with a feeding tube (which he soon dispensed with after he got home), but that feeding tube and the hospital saved his life. Cats can not go long without eating.

 

Anyone heard about the kittie? Hope all is ok nailbite_smile

 

got him to eat a little with the fortiflora and squirted some water into his mouth, but theres no urine to test ketones again.
he seems to be a little better, no vomiting this morning.
Thanks everyone for your help, I'll be going to a new (third) vet tomorrow morning asap.

 

When he's sick, he really needs to get his normal amount of calories, or more. If he continues to not eat, I would get him to an ER, today. Can you syringe feed him?

 

something I did for Civvie Slappy was to puree her food in my magic bullet with some tuna water and used a dropper to feed. She went for about 4 days without eating. I had someone (Patricia) offer help to burrito her and I took the help. Without that, I would probably lost my girl.

 

With DKA - its a combination of not enough food, not enough insulin and most often infection. It is critical that she get to the ER for fluids and treatment. DKA cats are often inappetant and nauseated.

1. Food. You need 1.5 or 2.5xs the amount of normal food to recover. If your cat is okay with oral syringe feeding you can get away without a feeding tube. But you have to be able to assist feed lots of calories. MaxCal by IAMS has 330 calories a can and your vet can provide this. There are some kitten foods that also have high enough calories. The Yahoo Feline Assisted Feeding group is dedicated to helping people assist feed their cats - either by feeding tube, assist feeding via syringe or active feeding - finger feeding. Please join and read up. You can learn about tubes while your kitty is at the hospital. You have to get enough food into your cat and they have to keep it down.

2. Nausea - Cerenia is used for acute vomiting but not overall nausea. Ondansetron/dolasetron are the preferred medications for this. You can use both. Ondansetron varied widely in price. The starting dose is 1mg every twelve hours. Get the 4mg non disolving pills. Costco has decent prices and you don't have to be a member. Thriving pets online sells this for $1 a pill. For your cat to feel okay and to return to eating on his own this is a must. Do NOT throw an appetite stimulant into the mix unless you are 1000% positive you have nausea addressed. This can make things worse by adding food aversion to the mix (like giving you one with an all out flu). Pepcid and Reglan/metoclopromide do not address nausea in cats.

3. The dosing advisors will help you with the daily doses of insulin and testing.

4. Infection - is your cat ill or dealing with an infection? Urinary Tract infection for example?

We are here to help you through this. Over on the Lantus forum two cats recently recovered from DKA and fatty liver (feline hepatic lipidosis). Both had feeding tubes. Until you get your cat regulated and deal with possible infection, you will most likely have a relapse which is why a feeding tube is a good idea. Etubes are easily placed and your cat will adjust very easily - much easier than you will. Maverick had a feeding tube for 10 weeks in 2008 when he almost died from weight loss and not eating - our vet didn't warn us of the dangers of putting a cat on a diet - even though it was because of his instructions. Maverick wasn't diabetic at the time.

Sending hugs.

 

For a cat dealing with a crisis such as DKA this is not enough. Lots of calories are a must. So syringe feeding around 9oz of food a day or less depending on if its high calorie food like the MaxCal.