Need advice...cat has suddenly lost his sight?

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Jenn & Frank Sinatra

Jenn & Frank Sinatra

Member Since 2019
Hello everyone-- My partner rushed my cat Frank to the vet tonight because he was displaying symptoms of a hypoglycemic event. He was fine this morning at 0400 when I gave him his food and insulin. His BG this morning was 147. Normally, his numbers in the morning have been higher--between 180 and 210. Because his numbers were lower than normal, I gave him half (.75u) of his normal (1.5u) dose of Levemir. He ate his full breakfast (1 can of fancy feast) and ate his normal timed tablespoons of dry food that came out of his feeder at 0830 and 1230. My partner reported that he was out and about most of the day and acting normally. He noticed at 1530 that Frank was acting funny--bumping into things, trying to climb things he normally doesn't climb. Thinking that his BG may be low, my partner tried to dose him with a syringe of karo syrup and feed him a can of wet food. Frank would not eat. My partner brought him to our vet and I met him there on my way home from work. The vet took his BG (65 at 1630)--first vet refused to treat him due to time and suggested I go to the emergency vet. I asked for a different doctor, who gave treats and baby food, which he ate, and monitored him for a brief period of time-- it seemed as though he had snapped out of it. He seemed to be seeing again and was back to his talkative self. Vet recommended that I continue to monitor BG and try to continue to offer food. I got him home and he again started acting strange again. His sight again seemed to be minimal at best. His BG at 1845 was 80. He refused both Fancy Feast and a can of tuna, which I blended for him. He also refused dry food. I gave a syringe of karo syrup and tested again at 1915--his BG was 120. I gave him a second syringe of karo. He is rising, but still wandering around like he's completely lost his sight. Has this happened to anyone else's cat? I'm not sure what to do? Is the emergency vet the answer? Can they really do anything that I'm not doing at home?
 
Those are safe numbers for his blood glucose, but the seeming loss of eyesight is worrying. You might give him a little while to see if he perks up, but if he doesn't, I think an ER vet is probably a good idea.

There may be something else going on other than his BG.
 
I honestly don't know why some vets became vets....refusing to treat a cat because of time is a pathetic excuse.

Do you have a spreadsheet you can share with us to have a look at Franks BG numbers.?
Do you normally test inbetween the cycles to see how low the insulin is taking Frank?
Do you normally change the dose based on the nadir or the preshot?

As Chris said, the numbers you are telling us are safe numbers, but we don't know how low he went before the 65 at the vet.

Another reason cats can lose their sight is from high blood pressure.

I would monitor Franks BG closely. If he has had a sympathetic hypo, he could be very sensitive to the insulin and may require less insulin.
If he does not improve, I would take him back for further testing.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I honestly don't know why some vets became vets....refusing to treat a cat because of time is a pathetic excuse.

Do you have a spreadsheet you can share with us to have a look at Franks BG numbers.?
Do you normally test inbetween the cycles to see how low the insulin is taking Frank?
Do you normally change the dose based on the nadir or the preshot?

As Chris said, the numbers you are telling us are safe numbers, but we don't know how low he went before the 65 at the vet.

Another reason cats can lose their sight is from high blood pressure.

I would monitor Franks BG closely. If he has had a sympathetic hypo, he could be very sensitive to the insulin and may require less insulin.
If he does not improve, I would take him back for further testing.
Click to expand...
Hi Bron , boy a vet refusing to help a poor kitty because of time, it just made my blood boil.I would have had a few choice words for that vet, I hope this poor kitty will be ok
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I honestly don't know why some vets became vets....refusing to treat a cat because of time is a pathetic excuse.
Click to expand...

Yes, I couldn’t believe it either. I wanted them to give him an IV with dextrose just to boost his BG and hydrate him a bit and she refused saying that they closed at 1830 and “wouldn’t be able to monitor him.” When I assured her that I would be monitoring him at home, she said I wasn’t qualified. She then advised to see an emergency vet.

At this point I left the room, spoke with the clinic manager, who then sent in our regular vet who specializes in cats and had been super supportive of my regular testing/insulin regimen.

I think what was going on is that she had zero experience with diabetic animals and couldn’t just say it. She tried to lead me to believe that I was unqualified to care for my animal, even though I was standing there with a notebook filled with six months of data on his eating/elimination/BG.

It was beyond frustrating.

The emergency vet at least seems receptive to the information I’ve provided. She took him back for some tests.
 
Jennifer & Frank Sinatra said:
Yes, I couldn’t believe it either. I wanted them to give him an IV with dextrose just to boost his BG and hydrate him a bit and she refused saying that they closed at 1830 and “wouldn’t be able to monitor him.” When I assured her that I would be monitoring him at home, she said I wasn’t qualified. She then advised to see an emergency vet.

At this point I left the room, spoke with the clinic manager, who then sent in our regular vet who specializes in cats and had been super supportive of my regular testing/insulin regimen.

I think what was going on is that she had zero experience with diabetic animals and couldn’t just say it. She tried to lead me to believe that I was unqualified to care for my animal, even though I was standing there with a notebook filled with six months of data on his eating/elimination/BG.

It was beyond frustrating.

The emergency vet at least seems receptive to the information I’ve provided. She took him back for some tests.
Click to expand...
Hi Jennifer, that's unbelievable, I would have had a few choice words for her, please let us know what's going on when you have a chance, that poor baby must be so scared.
My heart breaks for Frank
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Do you have a spreadsheet you can share with us to have a look at Franks BG numbers.?
Do you normally test inbetween the cycles to see how low the insulin is taking Frank?
Do you normally change the dose based on the nadir or the preshot?

As Chris said, the numbers you are telling us are safe numbers, but we don't know how low he went before the 65 at the vet.

Another reason cats can lose their sight is from high blood pressure.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I have been keeping only paper notes on Frank’s BG/eating/elimination; without my book in front of me, I can only say that, on average, I see his BG levels before insulin between 180-220. This is what I consider his “normal” pre-shot numbers. In the event that he is low(for me, this number is below 150, but above 120) I adjust his insulin dose to half (.75u). If his BG is below 120 I do not shoot.

I perform an at-home curve every 3 months. The last time I did this was September—his lowest number was 85. Outside of during a curve, I only test before insulin.
 
The vet just came in with an update—his latest (2145) BG is 410. Guess the Karo syrup did the job. His blood pressure was normal—130.

I asked that she give him fluid, run some tests on his urine and do a thyroid panel. She seems puzzled. Not sure if this was a great idea to bring him here..but at least it’s ruled out a couple of things. No closer to really having a reason for this type of shift though.
 
Jennifer would you mind taking down the 911 sign now please as people have responded....thanks :)

With your testing the blood glucose levels.....it is great you are testing before every shot. That is very important.
But doing a curve every three months is not enough to keep Frank safe.
BG levels change all the time. You could be doing a curve on a day he is bouncing or just in higher numbers.
And the need for insulin changes as well.

To keep Frank safe, I would recommend you continue to test before every shot and also try and get some inbetween tests done to see how low the insulin is taking Frank. If you work during the week you may only be able to get some +2 tests during the day or +10 when you get home from work. During the weekend you could try and get some in the +4 to +8 range to see where the nadir is.
In the pm cycles I would recommmend to always get a 'before bed' test done, because most cats drop lower at night.
If the before bed test is lower than the preshot then you may have to test again later to keep Frank safe.

Are you able to set up a spreadsheet and add at least the last months data in? That would be a help and then we can start helping you with getting a safe dose for Frank.
If you would like to set it up, here is the link to the SS
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Until you can gather more data, I would reduce his dose down to 1 unit bd....and test frequently during the cycles.

Has Frank had any history of ketones in the urine or blood?

Can you tell us what type of food you are feeding him? Looks like low carb wet and some dry food.

Any further updates?
Please keep asking questions
 
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Blindness can be a result of a deep hypo. However the BG numbers you provided - those are not low. It may be possible that Frank went into real low numbers (ie 20-35) and you didn't measure him at that point.

When Leo had that bad hypo, his eyesight issues lasted a week or so. I think part of the issue was minor cognitive (brain) damage.

Cats are "luckier" than dogs. Low blood sugar in dogs is real bad, often causing blindness. Cats are more resilient this respect.

For Frank, the issue may not be diabetes. It could be something else such as a stroke.
 
How is Frank doing? It may well be something other than his insulin. We had a cat who went blind as he had Histoplasmosis. Not a real typical thing and was not found until we had his eyeballs physically removed and tested because they continued to have pressure build up. All the vets around here had to get busy and educate themselves about that disease! Hope Frank is doing better.
 
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