1/11 Zoot! AMPS=50; +.5=50; +1=57, +1.5=63; +3=61; +5=52; +6.5=70 ;PMPS=72; +3.5=50; +4=66; +4.75=76

Cinnie Cole

Cinnie Cole

Member Since 2019
Fourth day of Zoot! seeming off. Less energy, finicky about food (but he is eating).

He vomited small amounts of food twice Wednesday and once Thursday. Yesterday no vomiting (but he was licking his lips occasionally).

Took him to our Vet last night. His numbers have been mainly blues; but his BG was 241 on the Vet’s AlphaTrak2; it was an hour to get to our vet, right after his PM meal and dose; and he was nervous – we all felt that all contributed to the high reading.

Our Vet gave him Cerenia for the nausea and sub q fluids. Otherwise Zoot! had no signs of issues. Last night he was looking much better, but had a really bad diarrhea in the middle of the night.

At AMPS he was 50, an immediate recheck was 52. He was maybe a little slow this AM, so gave him 1 tbsp of HC wet as part of morning meal. We did not give him insulin this AM.

He seems lethargic, but is drinking, and ate well. Retested at +.5 and he is 50 again, then at +1 he is 57. Should I give more HC food?

I plan to retest at half hours after until his numbers start to rise; then after that again in an hour.

Any advice on next steps is much appreciated.

Thanks
 
There is no need to give any HC food if he hadn’t had any insulin for 13 hours. You can give some ordinary low carb food. Good idea to get a few more tests in to see his numbers are not dropping.

I would also test the urine for ketones if he had been feeling off and lethargic for a few days and you skipped the insulin this morning. I am glad his appetite is ok at the moment.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
There is no need to give any HC food if he hadn’t had any insulin for 13 hours. You can give some ordinary low carb food. Good idea to get a few more tests in to see his numbers are not dropping.

I would also test the urine for ketones if he had been feeling off and lethargic for a few days and you skipped the insulin this morning. I am glad his appetite is ok at the moment.
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Ah okay re: HC. It is hard to tell if he is lethargic because he has always slept a lot. He definitely seems "off" but there are not clear signs of why.

He has been a particularly elusive pee-er this week; but he has never had ketones and recently his urine tests show no ketones AND no excess glucose in urine. I will keep an eye out (and capture cup ready) to get his pee sometime today to test.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
I was thinking pancreas well. The cerenia will wear off in about 24 hours. I’d get cerenia pills from your vet or ask for an RX for ondansetron. I always have both around as Max had chronic pancreatitis and I never knew when it would occur. Catching and keeping up with nausea is impotent.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Did the vet think to test for pancreatitis? Your observation of Zoot being "off" and the nausea might be early signs
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While he did not specifically test for pancreatitis, he did give cerenia and sub q fluids. I will give a call today to see discuss getting him tested (probably not till Monday). In the meantime we are monitoring closely. His BG dropped pretty precipitously from last night at the vet to this AMPS and continues low. He is cleaning himself but it is hard to tell if he is "lethargic" or just his normal low-key self.

I just tested again and he is at 61. He is due for a small meal now.
 
There may be good reasons that the vet thought pancreatitis isn't in the picture. It's common is diabetic cats so it doesn't hurt to ask. The test you want is either a Spec or Snap fPLi test. The former requires that blood be sent out and the latter is an in office test that's like a pregnancy test (+ or - result) if the vet stocks the test.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
There may be good reasons that the vet thought pancreatitis isn't in the picture. It's common is diabetic cats so it doesn't hurt to ask. The test you want is either a Spec or Snap fPLi test. The former requires that blood be sent out and the latter is an in office test that's like a pregnancy test (+ or - result) if the vet stocks the test.
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We will be following up - in the meantime, he is acting pretty normal if a little needy. Just wish his numbers were a little higher.
 
UPDATE: Gave him some of his regular food; he's eating.
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Darn it. He is at 52 at +5.

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) Advice?

Regular food or HC? I think he might eat regular, but may need to be enticed.
 
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Sorry. I've been off the board. With the 52, did you not test again? If it were me, I would have fed some LC or a LC + MC to bump the numbers up a little bit and re-testing at +5.5.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Sorry. I've been off the board. With the 52, did you not test again? If it were me, I would have fed some LC or a LC + MC to bump the numbers up a little bit and re-testing at +5.5.
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Sorry not to respond sooner - I did feed some LC food +5 - then I had to go to work; I am back and tested again at +6.5 and he is at 70; so hopefully he is on a good track now. He is up an around, walking okay and alert.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I would also test the urine for ketones if he had been feeling off and lethargic for a few days and you skipped the insulin this morning. I am glad his appetite is ok at the moment.
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Was able to catch his urine. Ketones are negative and Urine Glucose is negative. Took two separate samples (beginning and end of his peeing) and they were consistent. So, good with that!
 
@Bron and Sheba (GA) ; @Sienne and Gabby (GA) Sorry to bother - but it seems he is struggling - low numbers and mild symptoms - really just lethargic and a little unsteady. I gave him HC wet (about 1 tablespoon). Should I continue to feed his regular LC food as well (he will likely eat because he is hungry. Or should I hold off to see if the food I gave will increase his numbers enough. I plan to test in 15 minutes.
 
So no insulin for 24 hours, right?
I’m glad you tested for ketones and there were none. Do another test when you can though seeing he is lethargic.
I think if he is hungry feed him . He is staying in normal numbers.
Keep checking on the BG just to see it doesn’t go up. It shouldn’t go down at this stage I wouldn’t think after no insulin for 24 hours.
He is in normal numbers for a cat not having insulin at the moment. 50 is not too low.
See what Sienne thinks.
 
Cinnie - what is Zoot! doing?!!
I've been looking at his SS, and I'm stumped. I'm just surprised he could be going close to low, not having insulin for over 24 hours.
Bron, of course, is exactly right though, about 50 being a normal number.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
So no insulin for 24 hours, right?
I think if he is hungry feed him . He is staying in normal numbers.
Keep checking on the BG just to see it doesn’t go up. It shouldn’t go down at the stage I wouldn’t think after no insulin for 24 hours.
He is in normal numbers for a cat not having insulin at the moment. 50 is not too low.
See what Sienne thinks.
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Right no insulin for 24 hours
Good - I will feed him cause he wants food
His BG is up to 66. It was really watching him come down stairs where I saw him stumble - not typical. He is quieter that normal. Will feed a bit more if he wants it and test agin in a while.
I keep thinking that if he was perkier, I would be less concerned about a lot of green :-)
Thanks
 
Tina Marie and Jan said:
Cinnie - what is Zoot! doing?!!
I've been looking at his SS, and I'm stumped. I'm just surprised he could be going close to low, not having insulin for over 24 hours.
Bron, of course, is exactly right though, about 50 being a normal number.
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Zoot! is forging his own path, I guess. Thanks - will be watching him and testing periodically Nutty guy trying to make me stay up past my bedtime!
 
He will have some of the depot still in his system. I’m not sure why he would be stumbling. That is of concern and I think you are wise to keep an eye on him and keep testing his BG
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
He will have some of the depot still in his system. I’m not sure why he would be stumbling. That is of concern and I think you are wise to keep an eye on him and keep testing his BG
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Yeah there may be something else going on, but our Vet could find nothing when we were there yesterday.
For the record, he had no problem jumping off the couch when he heard my husband getting the food out just now :-)
 
Cinnie Cole said:
Yeah there may be something else going on, but our Vet could find nothing when we were there yesterday.
For the record, he had no problem jumping off the couch when he heard my husband getting the food out just now :)
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I’m glad he was checked by the vet yesterday.
Maybe he had been asleep upstairs and wasn’t awake properly when he stumbled.
Ahh! I love a cat that is motivated by food!
 
Tina and Salem said:
I hope your cat is doing well today !
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How is Salem? I see a 147 so not bad, do you think it might be a little bounce? Salem's numbers look great! I hope you have success in getting to remission.

With Zoot! it was like at one point his Pancreas just kicked in (someone said like a light switch) We went from 1.5 U Lantus to no dose in one day.

So that leads to great news. The consensus from the moderators AND our vet is that Zoot has decided to do an OTJ trial! So the past two days' low numbers have happened without insulin. We stopped dosing (per our Vet) on Saturday, and Zoot! has taken it from there! So they are officially calling today Day 3 since he has had low numbers for the past 4 cycles.

To say we are ecstatic and still cautiously optimistic is about the truth.

He was 79 at AMBG (AM blood glucose). Fingers crossed he continues on this path!

Pets to Salem!
 
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