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Sarah Smith

Sarah Smith

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Hi all! I was here a year and a half ago with Cooter, thanks to you wonderful folks we were able to get him OTJ. Luckily his diabetes was steroid induced, and probably alot easier to get regulated. today I took my 15 year old Mary to the vet, shes been feeling bad for a few days, stopped eating, and lost alot of weight quickly. She was never a big cat so she looks awful right now :(
Sure enough BG came back 512 and she has Ketones. Doc said Ketones were a 1(?) so we have a good chance. Big hiccup is I have moved, and am now 60 miles from the vet, who does not have 24 hr support. Vet is confident we can get her back on track here at home and installed a IV catheder and showed me the fluids drill. She gave her 1 unit of Prozinc at 1130 and said I should give her a dose whatever time I plan on starting her doses. this would be 5 or 530 central, need to figure it out exactly for my hour long commute to work. Does that sound ok to do? it will only have been 6 hours between doses and it didnt soumd right to me. She is still not eating, I syringe fed her a bit about an hour ago. Am currently looking for the home Ketone posts that I know are here to get a good treatment plan going. sorry for the long post, it kind of got away from me! Oh, The only test strips I have tonight and in the AM expired Nov 30th.... will they still work? 20 mile drive to walmart :(
 
Hi Sarah - and welcome back, although I'm sorry you have to be here! Do you still have your meter to test at home? It's not really safe to give two doses that close together. If Mary is that high at home, you may be able to shoot before the 12 hours though if we can be certain that she's rising and is high enough for that to be safe.

I would go ahead and use the ketone strips you have for now, but try to replace them soon. I'll write more, but I think it's near your ideal shot time so I want to post this in the hopes of catching you before you give an early dose.
 
Managing ketones at home is tricky. Are there any other vets closer to you? Are there any vets near work? Normally I'm all for managing diabetes around the constraint of our own schedules, but ketones are serious and I'm wondering if you can stay home tomorrow, or if there is a vet you can leave Mary with to keep up the feedings while you're gone. I'm not an expert at DKA, but I don't think you can leave her for that long without feedings until she is eating on her own. When you can, give her a BG test and post here so we can start to figure out the earliest you can shoot.
 
Thanks! its my relion meter strips that are expired, but since its all i got I decided to use them.. 138 at +6 so I dont think we will be giving anything now! Bright side to this is I didnt forget how to get blood from a turnip, 2 pokes and we had a test :facepalm:
 
Djamila said:
Managing ketones at home is tricky. Are there any other vets closer to you? Are there any vets near work? Normally I'm all for managing diabetes around the constraint of our own schedules, but ketones are serious and I'm wondering if you can stay home tomorrow, or if there is a vet you can leave Mary with to keep up the feedings while you're gone. I'm not an expert at DKA, but I don't think you can leave her for that long without feedings until she is eating on her own. When you can, give her a BG test and post here so we can start to figure out the earliest you can shoot.
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Luckily my mom lives with me as she cant work, she will be home all day with Mary. I already have a plan B if it is too much for her :)
 
That's a pretty big drop from 512 to 138, even factoring in the pet meter/human meter thing. She still doesn't want to eat? I would think she'd be starving with that kind of drop. Ah kitties....they never make it easy for us, do they?
 
Djamila said:
And hooray for mom! Does she know how to syringe feed?
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She does! month long fight against fatty liver many years ago, just wish I knew how to do it without the mess lol! I do have some ketone strips, the date is good, just barely though. I plan on restocking everything tomorrow, just couldnt stop at walmart with a sick kitty in the truck, and its a long hike back down there from here! One of the few cons of moving way out of town!
 
Dosing is going to be tricky for a bit, we think she also has an infection, and is starting antibiotics, plus stress at the vet... sure the number was elevated, but it wasnt food driven at all
 
Poor thing! And poor you! I know that's gotta be devastating to hear that you have another diabetic and a ketonic one at that! I am glad your mom is there...it is surprising that the number is so much lower at home. Guess we'll have to wait and see what's going on.

As a note, there is a blood ketone meter that you can buy...it's more expensive than the glucometers, but a lot of people who DKA kitties will buy the blood ketone meter and just use it for checking ketones when needed...sometimes easier than getting a urine test. We can look it up for you if you want.

I don't know much about dealing with DKA, but I do know food and fluids should help. Several others around here can help with the ketones, though, so you'll be in good hands. And we're here for you to help with dosing if needed or to just be a shoulder to cry on when needed! I'm glad to see you again, Sarah, even though I'm so very sorry to hear it's under these circumstances!
 
Infections can raise numbers....and cause ketones, so getting started on the antibiotics is good - do they know what type of infection so the antibiotic can be targeted? Or did they put her on a broad spectrum antibiotic and just hoping it will hit whatever she has?
 
Hi again Rachel and Mogs! As for the infection, vet thinks she has a UTI from the sugar, gave us some clavamox, and gave her a shot of cefazolin at the office. Hopefully iy will help
 
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