Vet says Diabetes, but non-typical symptoms... Advice!?

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Katrina

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Hi All - I have a 12 -13 year old cat named Sydney. She is strictly indoors and weighs about 13lbs. I noticed she started vomiting more often, peeing outside her litter box, drinking lots of H20, and lethargic so I took her to the vet on May 5th. My vet said she was diabetic b/c her blood sugar was at 440/120, but had not gone into ketosis. She wanted to start her on Lantus insulin (1.5 units, twice a day). I gave her 1st shot the night of 4/11. This is where things get weird....

She threw up foam & clear liquid within 5 mins of the injection. I stayed up with her until 5 AM, I couldn't get her to eat, she had grown very weak, dazed & confused & threw up about 3 more times. I figured she was hypoglycemic so I tried giving her 1 tsp of Karo which made her thirsty. Took her to the vet the next morning. They kept her all day. They gave her a cerenia (anti-nauseous) and famotidine (peptid) shots. They took her glucose reading 4 times throughout the day (10a - 5p) and they read in the following order (220, 211, 98, 108). She had stopped throwing up, but they couldn't get her to eat. They were confused as to how her glucose was staying in the average range. So they sent her home hoping that being home will promote eating.

She threw up in the car on the way home (I'm thinking due to car motion). I let her out the carrier and she wobbly walked upstairs & wanted to stay under the bed all night. Now its Saturday. Still can't get her to eat or drink, but she at least she is showing an interest. She sticks head in bowls but it's like she forgets how to eat & just won't open her mouth. (I have tried tuna, baby food, 2 types of wet, 3 types of dry). Called the vet & they are confused. They gave me an appetite stimulant pill and want me to give her 1/8 of the pill. Tried giving it to her, but she just kept spitting/drooling it out. My cat is the worst with pills.

I am at a loss. I don't know what to do. I'm not even sure she has diabetes at this point. Her blood sugar is now normal. She is walking normal, no longer vomiting, but she won't eat or drink. It's going on two days. I don't want her to go into heptic shock. I also don't know if she got enough of the appetite stimulant. Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions!
 

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Katrina said:
Hi All - I have a 12 -13 year old cat named Sydney. She is strictly indoors and weighs about 13lbs. I noticed she started vomiting more often, peeing outside her litter box, drinking lots of H20, and lethargic so I took her to the vet on May 5th. My vet said she was diabetic b/c her blood sugar was at 440/120, but had not gone into ketosis. She wanted to start her on Lantus insulin (1.5 units, twice a day). I gave her 1st shot the night of 4/11. This is where things get weird....

She threw up foam & clear liquid within 5 mins of the injection. I stayed up with her until 5 AM, I couldn't get her to eat, she had grown very weak, dazed & confused & threw up about 3 more times. I figured she was hypoglycemic so I tried giving her 1 tsp of Karo which made her thirsty. Took her to the vet the next morning. They kept her all day. They gave her a cerenia (anti-nauseous) and famotidine (peptid) shots. They took her glucose reading 4 times throughout the day (10a - 5p) and they read in the following order (220, 211, 98, 108). She had stopped throwing up, but they couldn't get her to eat. They were confused as to how her glucose was staying in the average range. So they sent her home hoping that being home will promote eating.

She threw up in the car on the way home (I'm thinking due to car motion). I let her out the carrier and she wobbly walked upstairs & wanted to stay under the bed all night. Now its Saturday. Still can't get her to eat or drink, but she at least she is showing an interest. She sticks head in bowls but it's like she forgets how to eat & just won't open her mouth. (I have tried tuna, baby food, 2 types of wet, 3 types of dry). Called the vet & they are confused. They gave me an appetite stimulant pill and want me to give her 1/8 of the pill. Tried giving it to her, but she just kept spitting/drooling it out. My cat is the worst with pills.

I am at a loss. I don't know what to do. I'm not even sure she has diabetes at this point. Her blood sugar is now normal. She is walking normal, no longer vomiting, but she won't eat or drink. It's going on two days. I don't want her to go into heptic shock. I also don't know if she got enough of the appetite stimulant. Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions!
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Your descriptions sound very familiar.... the first thing that I'd suggest is to watch for signs of nausea which are quite subtle but once you know what to look for can be easily observed. They include backing away from the dish of food, sniffing food with interest but walking away, licking lips but not eating. If your cat is doing any of these things then it's possible she wants to eat but can't because of an upset tummy. When my kitty displays those behaviors, I have had success getting him to eat by raising his dish by about 6 inches - the top of a paint can works well. Sometimes this is all he needs. It's so scary and difficult having a cat who needs to eat and just won't. Another thing to try is to warm up the baby food in the microwave for about 4 seconds. Then it smells quite strong and can help them be much more interested in eating. My little guy always goes for warm baby food whenever he won't touch anything else... I hope that your kitty will eat soon.
 
Moving reply over here:
Katrina said:
Hi Yong - Thank you for your reply. Yes I did post this in the main thread after i realized this wasn't the forum for it. I did mean May 11 (not April). The vet ran two test to test for ketones (even sent one off to a lab) and they both came back OK (no ketones). I will go to Petsmart now and buy some FortiFlora and try this! The acid reflux was just a one-time shot the vet gave her. I am not home testing because her last two readings have been normal. This was yesterday at the vet so I am going off her last numbers. In addition, if her sugar was low wouldn't she have an appetite? So I don't think its low. The vet mentioned I should just focus on getting her to eat right now.
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If she's naturally lower BG that's fine, usually when they're on insulin therapy and go low they'll want to eat. Not sure if the same goes without insulin therapy. But if she is nauseas she won't want to eat, regardless. Getting some food in her is important. Glad ketones were negative. Do they sell FortiFlora at PetSmart? o_O Thought it was Vet only... I'm going to post this reply on your main thread so they're all together ;)
 
Another thing to try is to put a bit of babyfood on your finger... sometimes that will get Radar going and then he'll eat/lick the babyfood from his dish.
 
Jan Radar said:
Your descriptions sound very familiar.... the first thing that I'd suggest is to watch for signs of nausea which are quite subtle but once you know what to look for can be easily observed. They include backing away from the dish of food, sniffing food with interest but walking away, licking lips but not eating. If your cat is doing any of these things then it's possible she wants to eat but can't because of an upset tummy. When my kitty displays those behaviors, I have had success getting him to eat by raising his dish by about 6 inches - the top of a paint can works well. Sometimes this is all he needs. It's so scary and difficult having a cat who needs to eat and just won't. Another thing to try is to warm up the baby food in the microwave for about 4 seconds. Then it smells quite strong and can help them be much more interested in eating. My little guy always goes for warm baby food whenever he won't touch anything else... I hope that your kitty will eat soon.
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Thank you for your reply. I have been putting the food on flatter surfaces and lifting off the ground for her to eat. She is just not having it. I have tried getting her to eat from my hand, as well. I have tried warming it. I have tried different types of bowls. I do agree with you that she just has an upset tummy. She is not used to canned food. I just got back from the store and am going to try syringe feeding her some water mixed with baby food (I made sure it has no onion in it). I just want to get something in her.
 
Yong said:
Moving reply over here:


If she's naturally lower BG that's fine, usually when they're on insulin therapy and go low they'll want to eat. Not sure if the same goes without insulin therapy. But if she is nauseas she won't want to eat, regardless. Getting some food in her is important. Glad ketones were negative. Do they sell FortiFlora at PetSmart? o_O Thought it was Vet only... I'm going to post this reply on your main thread so they're all together ;)
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Hi Yong - I went to Petsmart to get the FortiFlora, but yes you do need a prescription and my Petsmart doesn't have a vet. My vet is closed. So I'll have to scratch that idea for now. I am about to force feed her some water and baby food just to get something in her.
 
other things to try.... people food....
some cats love fried chicken.... peel off the breading....
deli meat
scrambled egg
human can of tuna

see if any of these will tempt her....
 
probiotic yogurt, canned pumpkin, watch what's on the ingredients though. I'm working in the dark here but we're all trying to help. Come on Sydney, eat for us!
 
Oh Sydney is a beautiful girl! There's not much worse than a cat that wont eat, it's so frustrating, I know.
I know of no other tricks that what was mentioned here.
Since she is peeing outside the box, did the vet rule out an UTI? Was bloodwork done to check kidneys, liver, etc?
 
When one of my boys were ill they wouldn't eat but they would accept pets. I rubbed his face a lot, whiskers and chin. (This cat loves this in particular.) after a bit of time I put my finger in the wet food and smeared a bit of it on his cheek/whiskers. He licked it off, but wasn't happy about it. It took a while for him to come back for more pets, but I waited him out. Then we did the process over and over for like 3-4 hours. He didn't get much food in him at all during this process, but he managed to get something, and keep it down this way. The next day I got a call from the vet and he had broken his hunger strike.
I don't know if this will help at all, and every cat is different, but that's how I got food in mine.
I sure hope Sydney eats and is able to hold it down for you soon!
 
katiesmom said:
Oh Sydney is a beautiful girl! There's not much worse than a cat that wont eat, it's so frustrating, I know.
I know of no other tricks that what was mentioned here.
Since she is peeing outside the box, did the vet rule out an UTI? Was bloodwork done to check kidneys, liver, etc?
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Hi Yes the doctor ruled out a UTI. She doesn't have one. She does seem to go into the litter box since I took her last Friday. The vet also did check her kidneys and liver on May 5th visit. Her kidneys seemed OK. She said her liver seemed to be a bit stressed but she felt it was due to the high blood sugar. This morning she said she doesn't think there is an issue with it especially since she doesn't have ketones present.
 
Hi All - thank you so much for your comments!! About 45 minutes ago I forced-fed Sydney some unflavored Pedilyte and water first. Then I added a bit of Chicken baby food to it and gave her that. I am going to just keep doing this every 2 hours or so. When I was done, I put her down near her food choices again and she stuck her head in it like she wanted to eat, but still she just won't open her mouth. I think her tummy just needs to settle as it is still upset. I'll give another update later tonight. Hopefully I'll have a bit of good news!
 
AlphaCat said:
When one of my boys were ill they wouldn't eat but they would accept pets. I rubbed his face a lot, whiskers and chin. (This cat loves this in particular.) after a bit of time I put my finger in the wet food and smeared a bit of it on his cheek/whiskers. He licked it off, but wasn't happy about it. It took a while for him to come back for more pets, but I waited him out. Then we did the process over and over for like 3-4 hours. He didn't get much food in him at all during this process, but he managed to get something, and keep it down this way. The next day I got a call from the vet and he had broken his hunger strike.
I don't know if this will help at all, and every cat is different, but that's how I got food in mine.
I sure hope Sydney eats and is able to hold it down for you soon!
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I hope I have a story like this to share with you later tonight!
 
Noah & me said:
probiotic yogurt, canned pumpkin, watch what's on the ingredients though. I'm working in the dark here but we're all trying to help. Come on Sydney, eat for us!
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Thank you so much! I read somewhere else about the canned pumpkin. I may have to try this. She is not use to wet food, so she doesn't seem to gravitate to the tuna or canned food options when she does show interest, but I'm trying it all!
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
other things to try.... people food....
some cats love fried chicken.... peel off the breading....
deli meat
scrambled egg
human can of tuna

see if any of these will tempt her....
Click to expand...


Thanks! I did try the tuna and she didn't like it at all.n She has never been interested in human food, but I am going to try the egg later tonight.
 
If she is used to dry food and will eat it, then go ahead and give her the dry. Right now it's just important to get food into her, ANY food. You can get FortiFlora from Amazon and some other online sites. Ebay has it, usually, too. No Rx needed.

ETA: Just Google FortiFlora, you'll get a lot of results for places to get it.
 
She sounds like she's still nauseated--is there anything else they can do to address that? Do you think the Cerenia helped for a while?
 
Squeakycats said:
She sounds like she's still nauseated--is there anything else they can do to address that? Do you think the Cerenia helped for a while?
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I think its nausea too. The Cerenia only last for 24 hours so that has worn off. I just force fed her some more pedialyte/water mix AND then some chicken baby food/mixed with water/pedialyte. Afterwards I encouraged her to drink some water. She actually took 2 tiny sips! So at least that is some progress. She hasn't been vomiting so I'm going to see if she keeps down what I have given her over the past 2 hours.

I think I'll just keep syringe feeding her until the vet opens back up on Monday, but she may be back to normal by then. Fingers crossed!
 
Katrina said:
Hi All - thank you so much for your comments!! About 45 minutes ago I forced-fed Sydney some unflavored Pedilyte and water first. Then I added a bit of Chicken baby food to it and gave her that. I am going to just keep doing this every 2 hours or so. When I was done, I put her down near her food choices again and she stuck her head in it like she wanted to eat, but still she just won't open her mouth. I think her tummy just needs to settle as it is still upset. I'll give another update later tonight. Hopefully I'll have a bit of good news!
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Did the vet check her mouth/teeth? A bad tooth will do that for sure. Unfortunately I know that from experience.
 
Guess what All! My Sydney just came downstairs, walked right up to her bowl and started eating! And then she started drinking her water! Then she went to the litter box and used it! I am sooooo happy right now! I will continue to monitor her, but things are looking up right now. You all have been such a support. Thank you for your help. I'll check in later to let you know how she is progressing.
 
Speaking of litter box -> Cats can get intestinal blockages pretty easy. What are her bowel habits like, and did vet check for any blockages (abdominal x-ray). Also, symptoms sound somewhat like pancreatitis.
 
Meya14 said:
Speaking of litter box -> Cats can get intestinal blockages pretty easy. What are her bowel habits like, and did vet check for any blockages (abdominal x-ray). Also, symptoms sound somewhat like pancreatitis.
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Hello - Well before all this happened her bowel habits seemed normal. Then since Friday, I have noticed her using the box less and only poo once or twice, but then again she had not eaten in three days. So now that she is eating she should have something in her system to poo out. My vet did not do any xrays, but I will be taking her in tomorrow and we can go from there.
 
Glad Sydney is feeling better. Did the vet do any testing for pancreatitis? This sounds a lot like pancreatitis and that often goes hand-in-hand with diabetes or it can cause the pancreas to be so inflamed that you will get high BG readings until you get the p-titis under control. There is a snap test they can do in house that will so if there is inflammation and likely p-titis, then they can send out for the fPLI to see how bad it is.
 
Hi! Sydney is doing much better! She is eating/drinking well and started grooming a little. I think she has arthritis though as I noticed stairs have become quite difficult and she doesn't really jump anymore.

I started taking her blood sugar two times a day starting last Sunday. Her numbers have ranged anywhere from 174 - 255. The vet wants me to continue this for two weeks so we can get an average. So we are not giving her insulin at this time.

She didn't test for pancreatitis because she said if she had that the worst has past and it's possible that it along with vet stress is what was causing the higher reading initially. However, if she did have it she thinks maybe the pancreas started producing insulin which attributed to her fluctuating numbers. Her average this far is 206. Higher than I'd like but she is also eating dry food. I got the FortiFlora Per the suggestions so I'm going to start re-introducing wet food to her with this sprinkled on top.

I want to take her to the vet again because now she has a cold (sneezing, runny nose, rubbing eyes). I think this is causing higher numbers at the moment.

I really think once she gets over this cold and I can get her transitioned to the wet food her numbers will be normal and she won't need insulin.

I'll post an update in a couple days with any updates.

Thanks for checking in on my Sydney!
 

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Hi All - here's the update on Sydney…

I took Sydney to the vet on Friday to have vet check her cold symptoms. She thinks it's just viral and will pass. It hasn't yet, but Sydney is starting to really act more like herself. The vet decided to complete a fructosimine test to confirm if she truly has diabetes since she has been all over the place with her symptoms and sugar levels.

She called today and said Sydney was only 65 points over the normal range so she may just be a borderline diabetic. She does think she may have had a bout of pancreatitis which is what initially raised her levels. She thinks she can pull through without insulin. So we are going to take the next few weeks to see if a diet change will lower her numbers. I'm home testing twice a day with a relion meter and she is averaging around a 215.

I'd like to get her on wet food but she just won't eat it. She's also not interested in the FortiFlora. I was pretty bummed but will keep trying. The good news is I ordered samples of the Young Again Zero Mature dry cat food and she eats this! Heard great things about it. So I will be stopping the Iam's on Friday and starting full servings of this and we will watch her closely over the next 2-3 weeks.

If that doesn't work she did suggest the pills, but I can't pill Sydney so we would just go back to insulin injections. Hopefully the food will do the trick :)
 
Katrina said:
Hi All - here's the update on Sydney…

I took Sydney to the vet on Friday to have vet check her cold symptoms. She thinks it's just viral and will pass. It hasn't yet, but Sydney is starting to really act more like herself. The vet decided to complete a fructosimine test to confirm if she truly has diabetes since she has been all over the place with her symptoms and sugar levels.

She called today and said Sydney was only 65 points over the normal range so she may just be a borderline diabetic. She does think she may have had a bout of pancreatitis which is what initially raised her levels. She thinks she can pull through without insulin. So we are going to take the next few weeks to see if a diet change will lower her numbers. I'm home testing twice a day with a relion meter and she is averaging around a 215.

I'd like to get her on wet food but she just won't eat it. She's also not interested in the FortiFlora. I was pretty bummed but will keep trying. The good news is I ordered samples of the Young Again Zero Mature dry cat food and she eats this! Heard great things about it. So I will be stopping the Iam's on Friday and starting full servings of this and we will watch her closely over the next 2-3 weeks.

If that doesn't work she did suggest the pills, but I can't pill Sydney so we would just go back to insulin injections. Hopefully the food will do the trick :)
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This is hopeful news. The oral diabetes meds don't work well for most kitties. Insulin is the way to go if you need to get her BG down. :)
 
Katrina said:
I will be stopping the Iam's on Friday and starting full servings of this and we will watch her closely over the next 2-3 weeks.
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Indeed hopeful news :). Just wanted to suggest being on poo duty :p. YAZ is a very nutrient dense food so I also had to transition my boy very slowly. *paws crossed* the diet works!
 
Katrina said:
That's the same thing my vet said but there is no way I'd be able to get her to take a pill anyway lol.
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When I read your first post I was all... WAIT, There's a pill for this!!! Cuz I can pill a cat! Lol but from the comments after, my excitement didn't last long. (Plus we are way higher than Sydney.)

I'm glad to hear she's low enough you might be able to manage just though diet AND you found a food she'll eat!
 
Yong said:
Indeed hopeful news :). Just wanted to suggest being on poo duty :p. YAZ is a very nutrient dense food so I also had to transition my boy very slowly. *paws crossed* the diet works!
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They sent me two samples so I've been mixing with regular food over the course of a week and a half and their poo has not changed so I'm hoping that means I'm in the clear. I'm out of the sample now and had to give all Iams today and her blood sugar shot up so it's a good indicator that her current food is definitely a culprit. I gave her the last of YAZ I had this morning and it went back down, but didn't have much so it's back up due to having to giving Iams again. I can't wit till her food gets delivered on Friday!
 
Yay! Would probably go a little slow again since she will be a few days without it until Friday. =) Probably not like you did initially, maybe a few days =)
 
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