Sudden hypo on pancreatitis

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Camcat

Camcat

Member Since 2020
Hi. My cat has pancreatitis. Her bg has been high for the past few days. Tonight it is dropping rapidly, and she doesn't want to eat. It dropped from PS 313, to 157 at +2 to 67 at 2.5 (30 minutes). to 59 at +2.75. Normally, I would give her food and she would gobble it down, no problem. Now, she won't touch it. I'm scared. Please help.

Update: I don't have a syringe feeder, but I have a dropper and I have given her some sugar water. I'm going to keep monitoring. She does not want any food at all.
 
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Thanks for your help @sandscout

I think I am holding her bg steady at 60 used the sugar water via dropper. Will continue to monitor through the night.

I changed the title from 911.

Update: An hour later we are at 90. Thank goodness. Will continue to monitor and give sugar water as needed.

I've been trying to figure out why her bg dropped so suddenly.

Her ketones were normal, earlier today (blood monitor, precision xtra -- will test her in a little bit when we've calmed down from this bg scare), and although she has not been wanting to eat over the past few days, she has managed to eat and drink some. She has diarrhea, but she is hydrated (peeing, normally).

Could it be hepatic lipidosis? She also had a covenia shot when she was diagnosed with pancreatitis on Wednesday -- could this be part of an adverse reaction?
 
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Nicely handled by you by the way!

Simba has been through his shares of hypos. Due to an asymetric reaction to a steady Lantus dosing.

:bighug:
 
Thanks @Ann & Scatcats . It was due to hubby's quick thinking.

I gave her 1.25 units of Prozinc this evening for her PM shot, which is what I have been giving her for the past few days/weeks. During the day I have been giving her 1.5, even though her BG has been in the 300s, bc she hasn't been eating and I've been worried. Today, I gave her 1.75 to try and bring her down a bit more -- it didn't work, she stayed in the 300s. I gave her the 1.25 at night for her PM shot.
 
Hi Belinda I am sorry I didn’t see the tag earlier.
Well done handling the low numbers.
Did the vet give you any cerenia or ondansetron for nausea?
Cats with pancreatitis will be nauseated and won’t eat. I would ask the vet tomorrow for some antinausea oral medication to have at home.
He may give Cam an injection of cerenia tomorrow for the vomiting. I would ask for one to be given.
Cam may also need something for pain as pancreatitis is very painful.
It’s really important she eats.
Cam has earned a reduction in dose down to 1 unit with those low green numbers. It may need to be increased later when she is eating better but at the moment reduce it for safety.
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) ! She was diagnosed on Wednesday, received Cerenia, Covenia, B12 and fluids. I've been giving her Onsior (Thurs-Sat), and Cerenia (Thurs-tonight). Her BG has been high all week. I've been trying a variety of different kinds of wet foods, adding fortiflora, dry foods. She's been managing to eat some each day -- she has been accepting Tiki cat Broths, some fancy feast, and some kibble. Tonight she seems to have gotten worse -- not wanting to eat at all, then this BG sharp drop.
 
Camcat said:
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) ! She was diagnosed on Wednesday, received Cerenia, Covenia, B12 and fluids. I've been giving her Onsior (Thurs-Sat), and Cerenia (Thurs-tonight). Her BG has been high all week. I've been trying a variety of different kinds of wet foods, adding fortiflora, dry foods. She's been managing to eat some each day -- she has been accepting Tiki cat Broths, some fancy feast, and some kibble. Tonight she seems to have gotten worse -- not wanting to eat at all, then this BG sharp drop.
Click to expand...
If she didn’t eat, that could be why the BG dropped.
If she is no better tomorrow I would take her back to the vet. She may need more subQ fluids and another cerenia injection.
offer her whatever you think she will eat. At the moment any food is ok. Don’t worry if it is high carb as long as it is food. Would she eat some chicken breast cooked in a little water.? Most cats love the broth from the chicken
Do you have some honey or karo for low BGs?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
If she didn’t eat, that could be why the BG dropped.
If she is no better tomorrow I would take her back to the vet. She may need more subQ fluids and another cerenia injection.
offer her whatever you think she will eat. At the moment any food is ok. Don’t worry if it is high carb as long as it is food. Would she eat some chicken breast cooked in a little water.? Most cats love the broth from the chicken
Do you have some honey or karo for low BGs?
Click to expand...


Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) I will give the chicken breast a try. I have high calorie nutritional gel (the first ingredient is corn syrup), and honey. I try to put the gel on her paw, but she absolutely panics. This evening when I tried, she shook it off her paw and ran and hid. Sugar water seems to be easier for now. Just checked at 10 mins ago and she's up to 124.
 
When Simba had become multi-factor very very bad. I had to go through everything we had, and it was only a novelty meat he would eat. And that was thin sliced frozen reindeer meat I put on a plate with some water in and quick boiled in the microwave.

But I also always have a fresh can of KMR formula standing and have several different feeding plastic syringes, like a home pharmacy, so they, both Simba and Gustav, is always force fed plenty of KMR in feeding syringes when they've stopped eating for any longer period than I day. It says on how much KMR formula an adult sick cat shall have.
Once they start lick it from a bowl themselves, I whisk out 1 fresh high energy yellow egg yolk in the KMR formula too, to increase the nutrition, and also sometimes some cream.


I looked after a neighbour's cat too, Tiggy, and it turned out that the fresh peeled shrimps, good juicy fresh beef, reindeer meat e.t.c I tried to convince him to even try at least a sniff on, I tried for days but nope he was turning all down. :banghead: So I then resorted to go to the store and bought him a half newly grilled chicken which I scraped the grill spicing off on when I got home. That was the only thing Mr Tiggy ate, that grilled chicken. I can't remember if I tried fried turkey too but he turned it down.


Come on Cam, eat is GOOD.
:bighug:
 
I doubt that the Convenia is the cause of the reaction. It's possible but unlikely given that the shot was several days ago.

It's also unlikely that this is hepatic lipidosis. It takes several days of no food for it to develop. You indicated that Cam was eating prior to Sunday.

The most likely explanation is that there was no food to offset the effect of the shot. You and your husband did a great job of steering the numbers.

If Cam is still not wanting to eat today (Monday), I would get her in to the vet. Another shot of Cerenia, more Cerenia tablets, and an alternative to Onsior for pain would be good. Please ask your vet to not prescribe an NSAID (it can be very hard on the kidneys -- Metacam is one they like to prescribe and in the US, it has a black box warning from the FDA for use in cats). Most of us ask for buprenorphine. It's an opiate and can be given as a liquid in the cheek pouch. Cerenia, along with another anti-nausea/vomiting med, ondansetron, can be given together. They work differently and can be a double whammy when trying to overcome nausea.

For the diarrhea, see if you can track down S. boulardii. It's a probiotic that does a very good job at stopping diarrhea. You may find it at a health food store. It's also available on Amazon. Florastor or ReNew Life are good brands. I'd start at 1/4 to 1/3 of a capsule twice a day and see how it goes and increase to 1/2 a capsule x2/day.
 
@Sienne and Gabby (GA) such a relief to hear re the hepatic lipidosis and Convenia - thank you so much! And thank you everyone for your insight and advice. I appreciate it so much.

I'm happy to report she seems to be doing better this morning. I woke up to her cuddling in my arms, not hiding! Her appetite has came back a bit this morning. She ate a few bites of food on her own, and drank some water. Had a normal/slightly large pee, and some more diarrhea (probably 1 -2 tbls worth, lightish, smelly). She is bouncing, to be expected, with reading of 499 for am pre-shot. Since she only ate a few bites, I gave her 0.5 units of prozinc and will monitor her.

Vet wants to see her this afternoon. I will ask for the buprenorphine and Cerenia shot. I'm going to look up S. boulardii now.

Thank you all so much, again.
 
Forgot to note, and I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I've noticed that she starts feeling bad before the diarrhea. She'll start pacing around, meow a little bit, seem as if she wants food but refuses. Then she'll go to the litter box, and feels better afterwards, even eating a few bites. I've never seen this before.
 
As a side note on antibiotics. Antibiotic shots are never used at the Animal Hospital here in Sweden. We are also under strict rules to limit antibiotics use unless a cultured bacterial infection proven of what bacterias and then also an Antibiotics Resistance testing of the bacteria. And in Swedish farm animals antibiotica is strictly forbidden at all.

So different cultures.
 
UPDATE: I don't know quite what to think, but she seems to be doing so much better today! She's nibbling food on her own, she's not hiding, she even rolled over for some belly rubs (hasn't happened in a week!).

I spoke to the vet and agreed that I'll just monitor her at home for the next 24 hours and see how she does. I have a few more doses of Cerenia, so I'll give her some tonight. I know that ideally she'd have some pain meds, but since she's doing a lot better I'm thinking it might be okay. Is it possible the Onsior was making her not feel good? The last dose was Sat night at about 7pm. Would have been exiting her system last night, I guess.

I have an appointment for tomorrow. Will update you all.
 
I would think she is getting a pain in the tummy before the diarrhoea and that is why she is pacing and meowing before going to the LB.
I doubt the Onsior was making her feel had. It’s a very effective medication for pain relief even though it can cause tummy irritation if not used correctly.

Have you tried plain mashed pumpkin for the diarrhoea?
Cook pumpkin in water, drain, mash and give a teaspoon twice a day. Freeze unused for later. Or you can buy canned pumpkin... just make sure it is plain with nothing else added. I’m glad she is feeling better.
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA) okay, that is good to know. The vet had said to give it to her with food, which I did, but it may not have been enough food.

That's a great suggestion. I haven't tried plain pumpkin. I had gotten a couple if Tiki cat tilapia and pumpkin pouches (had small amounts of pumpkin in it), which she had a few bites on occasion but was not impressed. I'll try the pure, plain pumpkin tonight. Fingers crossed!
 
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