Patricia & Noodle
Member Since 2015
Hi all! I've been scouring the forums for information and figured it's about time to introduce myself/the patient after a very scary few days.
Noodle is a 7.5 y/o female who's never had major health problems, until now. We've had a very scary week. I noticed last week she wasn't eating nearly as much and appeared to have lost some weight from her normal, but chalked it up to stress from my roommate packing up + her cat being stressed and lashing out at Noodle. By the end of the week she was somewhat lethargic, but seemed ok enough and would eat treats voraciously, just not her food.
By Sunday PM, she'd taken a turn for the worse and I brought her to the emergency vet. After bloodwork, we found a BG of 392, elevated ketones (~150), elevated bilerubin, and low electrolytes. She was admitted and given a tentative diagnosis of Ketosis (PH levels were normal) and FHL (enlarged liver shown in ultrasound) along with the diabetes. Monday was very hard with her completely lethargic and not much hope at all from the vets, although she did pick at her food a bit. She was stable overnight and by morning, I insisted they attempt to force feed her before we made a decision about a tube (risky) since her phosphorus and red blood cells droped, and the bilerubin hadn't gotten better.
By afternoon Tuesday, she seemed much, much better. Started on 1U of Lantus Monday evening, BG staying in the 100s until she's due her next dose when it spikes to the 200s, ketones had dropped to 40 that morning as well. She was alert and much more herself when I visited that night. Moving her head where she wanted scratches, getting comfy in her cocoon, paying attention to her world. Vet said she'd even taken kibble into her nesting corner, apparently saving it for a snack later.
This morning she is much more active, tolerating the syringe feeding and still nibbling on her own, and all her numbers except bilerubin and ketones are stabilizing. The vet mentioned those can fluctuate during treatment and it's not necessarily a bad thing and we are now "cautiously optimistic." Those words alone made me cry after Monday's fears. The current plan is to keep her overnight again for fluids and meds and have her come home to continue treatment with me tomorrow. I've read a lot of what's available here and I plan to work closely with the vets, but I guess my question is... what next? What do I need to know bringing her home? Has anyone rehabbed a cat from similar circumstances and can offer advice or encouragement? I'm still quite scared.
A few more specific questions that I can come up with now:
-I'm planning to continue syringe feeding at home, how should that work with her insulin + does anyone have any recc's for food? I see MaxCal mentioned often, they're feeding her one of the Hills now (wet + dry).
-Should I keep dry food available while we are working though the FHL? Before this, she would get 1/3c Chicken soup for cats AM/PM which she'd graze during the day, plus ~2oz wet food per day. Usually Trader Joes tuna for cats, Wellness salmon, Best Feline Friend varieties, or Friskies pâtés. She enjoys dry food.
-She's very treat-motivated, how can I use this in her care going forward? Are there low carb treat options to use when I don't need to give her extra carbs? She seems to like crunching on dry food and I wonder if I can keep that as a motivator when I need her to behave.
-The vets are timing her insulin now around 5am/5pm, with my work schedule, it's quite hard for me to get home at 5 every day. How difficult is it to shift this over time?
I'm interested in the TR protocol with lantus since it seems quite successful here, I guess I should post our story there as well? I'm not sure if that's putting the cart before the horse in this situation, though.
Noodle is a 7.5 y/o female who's never had major health problems, until now. We've had a very scary week. I noticed last week she wasn't eating nearly as much and appeared to have lost some weight from her normal, but chalked it up to stress from my roommate packing up + her cat being stressed and lashing out at Noodle. By the end of the week she was somewhat lethargic, but seemed ok enough and would eat treats voraciously, just not her food.
By Sunday PM, she'd taken a turn for the worse and I brought her to the emergency vet. After bloodwork, we found a BG of 392, elevated ketones (~150), elevated bilerubin, and low electrolytes. She was admitted and given a tentative diagnosis of Ketosis (PH levels were normal) and FHL (enlarged liver shown in ultrasound) along with the diabetes. Monday was very hard with her completely lethargic and not much hope at all from the vets, although she did pick at her food a bit. She was stable overnight and by morning, I insisted they attempt to force feed her before we made a decision about a tube (risky) since her phosphorus and red blood cells droped, and the bilerubin hadn't gotten better.
By afternoon Tuesday, she seemed much, much better. Started on 1U of Lantus Monday evening, BG staying in the 100s until she's due her next dose when it spikes to the 200s, ketones had dropped to 40 that morning as well. She was alert and much more herself when I visited that night. Moving her head where she wanted scratches, getting comfy in her cocoon, paying attention to her world. Vet said she'd even taken kibble into her nesting corner, apparently saving it for a snack later.
This morning she is much more active, tolerating the syringe feeding and still nibbling on her own, and all her numbers except bilerubin and ketones are stabilizing. The vet mentioned those can fluctuate during treatment and it's not necessarily a bad thing and we are now "cautiously optimistic." Those words alone made me cry after Monday's fears. The current plan is to keep her overnight again for fluids and meds and have her come home to continue treatment with me tomorrow. I've read a lot of what's available here and I plan to work closely with the vets, but I guess my question is... what next? What do I need to know bringing her home? Has anyone rehabbed a cat from similar circumstances and can offer advice or encouragement? I'm still quite scared.
A few more specific questions that I can come up with now:
-I'm planning to continue syringe feeding at home, how should that work with her insulin + does anyone have any recc's for food? I see MaxCal mentioned often, they're feeding her one of the Hills now (wet + dry).
-Should I keep dry food available while we are working though the FHL? Before this, she would get 1/3c Chicken soup for cats AM/PM which she'd graze during the day, plus ~2oz wet food per day. Usually Trader Joes tuna for cats, Wellness salmon, Best Feline Friend varieties, or Friskies pâtés. She enjoys dry food.
-She's very treat-motivated, how can I use this in her care going forward? Are there low carb treat options to use when I don't need to give her extra carbs? She seems to like crunching on dry food and I wonder if I can keep that as a motivator when I need her to behave.
-The vets are timing her insulin now around 5am/5pm, with my work schedule, it's quite hard for me to get home at 5 every day. How difficult is it to shift this over time?
I'm interested in the TR protocol with lantus since it seems quite successful here, I guess I should post our story there as well? I'm not sure if that's putting the cart before the horse in this situation, though.
