New Member - Christina & Kitty Cat - 9/13/20

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I was also tracking his weight and he lost even more weight this weekend, probably from all the vomiting. Vet is also concerned that his numbers aren't going down. He was 223 this morning but vet said he's in the 400s now even though he got his morning insulin.
All the reading points to DKA being treatable so of course I want to try everything before ever making that kind of decision to put him down. He's only 8! And he was so lively this morning waiting to be fed. I'm working on applying to jobs so I can keep affording this treatment for as long as he needs. Luckily have some savings. The vet just estimated $2k but it all depends. I just called the hospital and it's $210 for a consultation and then they'll figure out the costs from there. Waiting on the vet to call me back so we can arrange it.
Just sobbing over here and trying to get some rest. It felt so weird to leave the vet's office without him.
 
https://dcin.dreamhosters.com/

For now, ignore this bit other than the CareCredit option. They go over and above to try and find the money to help.

If your cat is in the middle of a veterinary emergency, please see the Emergency Veterinary Assistance page. NOTE: Due to our current financial situation, as of July 13, 2019 we are no longer able to support emergency veterinary assistance. If you have not yet applied for CareCredit, we encourage you to do so to see if that can help.
 
Looking at care credit but it seems like it's justajust credit card? I've been putting the bills on my credit card already and my savings should be good to cover everything so I think I'm alright. Too bad there's no retroactive medicaid type of thing. I got that last year when I was in the hospital suddenly but I'm no longer on medicaid.
I feel bad using funds that could go to someone more in need. I will just make sure to work hard to earn the money.
I'm sitting outside the hospital now waiting for them to call. It's been 45 minutes already and it's all so nerve wracking not knowing what's going on or off they're even looking at him. Primary vet said he'll likely need to be here for a few days so I made sure to give him as much love as I could through his carrier before handing him off.
Thanks everyone for being here and caring about my baby and helping me through it all. Praying for the best now.
 
The SNAP test for pancreatitis will just give a positive or negative. The SpecfPL will give a score so better because the SNAP won't be positive if in the gray zone. Losing that much weight so fast can cause fatty liver. Kitty can recover from that as well.:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Tagging a couple people who have had kitties in DKA and get over it. @AliceMeowliss&Cassandra @Sienne and Gabby (GA)
Sorry, I know there are more, but my brain is a fog like the smokey air here.
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Thank you! Hospital just called and he's going in for an ultrasound now. They highly suspect pancreatitis and liver infection so just need to confirm. If there's nothing unexpectedly worse going on, he'll be admitted and stay here a few days. Wish I could hold him the whole time. You guys give me hope!
 
Christina & Kitty Cat said:
Thank you! Hospital just called and he's going in for an ultrasound now. They highly suspect pancreatitis and liver infection so just need to confirm. If there's nothing unexpectedly worse going on, he'll be admitted and stay here a few days. Wish I could hold him the whole time. You guys give me hope!
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Poor kitty cat & you - you have been through a lot these few days. Hugs to you both from me & my 3 kitties
Thoughts are with you both. You're doing an amazing job for him.
Gill :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
When Gabby was diagnosed she had DKA, pancreatitis, and hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver from not having eaten -- my kitten was snarfing down her food behind my back although, she didn't have much of an appetite). I had 2 vets preparing me for the worst. She pulled through. I was probably a pain in the neck with calling the ICU but it made me feel better to hear that her labs were improving. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Kitty.
 
Update: I got to take him home tonight!!!!!! They did the ultrasound and they said he DOES have pancreatitis and GI inflammation, BUT it's not severe and he's not in DKA "yet" so he wasn't required to stay overnight which would have cost me $3k. No blockages. He did poop (no blood) and pee when we got home! Some signs of aging in his kidneys (he's 8) and slightly elevated liver values.
They gave me some pills to take home: ondansetron - once every 8 hours & famotidine - once a day.
He got fluids and Cerenia from the primary vet today and did not throw up, but hospital said to also give him the pills tonight. His dinner time is in half an hour and he's definitely hungry so hoping he eats normally and keeps it down.
I did another keytone strip today and it's a lot lighter, I think between negative and trace.
They said if he keeps his food down, great, resume as I was. If not, I'll have to bring him back in to the hospital tomorrow. She said if he can keep the food down and gets insulin on the regular schedule, the other stuff will hopefully go away on its own.
 
Hmm, he's a poop machine now. Maybe he just needed the fluids today to push everything out.
Wendy&Neko said:
I really like ondansetron, plus it has no flavour so I'm easily able to hide it in a pill pocket. Paws crossed his food stays on the inside this time.
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I stuck the pills in the first bite of dinner and he ate it right up no problem.
Wendy, for the Ondansetron when it says every 8 hours, do you know how strict that needs to be? I just gave him one with dinner and it's 9pm so the next has to be at 5am or is there some wiggle room?
Wendy&Neko said:
Now we know that Kitty Cat can't skip his insulin.
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Yes! I feel so bad I skipped it yesterday morning because he was at 414. I was just so concerned about him not having it with food. But I now know to always give insulin at the regular time unless he's under 250. The hospital last night actually said to skip this morning's insulin, but the primary vet this morning said it was okay to give him since he did eat breakfast normally.
 
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Question about food:
With fancy feast, should I follow feeding amount instructions on the can, or does it need adjustment because he's diabetic? He lost weight again so he's under 7lbs now. When the vet prescribed w/d she said to feed for an ideal weight of 10lbs. FF says 1 can per 3-3.5lbs, so I will feed him at least 3 cans a day.
Question about treats:
I also got PureBites chicken breast treats and Greenies oven roasted chicken flavor dental treats .Vet said he has gingivitis and a lot of buildup but he's not strong enough to go under anesthesia for a cleaning right now so the treats could help in the meantime. How would this affect his main food amount? I see it says "adjust amount of main meal to compensate for calories delivered by treats".
I'm getting him to drink water!
When I mixed w/d with water, he wasn't really into it, but with the FF, he's licking the bowl dry. I also threw a treat in a bowl of water which forced him to drink the water for a bit before finally fishing the treat out.
 
Christina & Kitty Cat said:
or the Ondansetron when it says every 8 hours, do you know how strict that needs to be?
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How big is the ondansetron dose, and how much does Kitty Cat weigh?
Christina & Kitty Cat said:
But I now know to always give insulin at the regular time unless he's under 250.
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We say it's OK to shoot over 200, and we will often suggest lower for new people if the cat has ketones.
Christina & Kitty Cat said:
Question about food
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Give to effect. If you know what his ideal weight it, use the scale to tell you if he needs more or less food. With ketones recent, I wouldn't worry about feeding a little extra for the next while. I never go by amounts to feed on the can, but rather by the calories. If he needs to gain, also don't worry about the treats. Not sure on the carb amounts for the Greenies though...
 
Sorry, saw you said he's 7 lbs. Ideal ondansetron dose is 1.5-2 mg per dose to start. You can give the next one about 1/2 - 1 hour before breakfast. You don't have to be so strict if later.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
How big is the ondansetron dose, and how much does Kitty Cat weigh?
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Prescription is 1mg (1/4 of a 4mg tablet) every 8 hours. Sorry I though he was below 7lbs when I weighed at home but it's probably not accurate. According to primary vet he's 7.24lbs, according to hospital, he's 7.45lbs (few hours later). 2 weeks ago primary vet said he was 7.46.
Wendy&Neko said:
Not sure on the carb amounts for the Greenies though...
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I noticed it had grains but I was hoping just giving him 2-3 a day (bag says 8 for 10lbs) wouldn't hurt and it really helps getting him to drink water.
 
For Ondansetron, I got 20 mg total so less than a weeks worth on this dosage but hopefully he won't need it after that.
The Famotidine dose is 4mg (1/4 of 20 mg tablet) once daily until gone and I have 100mg total so will last 20 days.

Summary update before I try to catch some much needed sleep in case I suddenly need to be alert in the middle of the night:
-a little while after we got home, he pooped a whole bunch, good consistency, no blood!
-also peed, hospital said his bladder was large but was probably just holding it in. tested for keytones and we're in the negative-trace range, better than yesterday's small. I'll keep testing everyday and mark it in a new column on my spreadsheet (this spreadsheet is amazing, bless this community, even my vet said wow)
-he ate 2 whole cans of FF for dinner (1 can in the morning so 3 cans total today). I'm a little worried about him eating so much and possibly throwing up again, but I'm praying all the anti nausea stuff will keep it down for real.
-snuck a bunch of water into tonight's dinner and he had no issues with it
-sticking with 1 unit lantus

I don't want to celebrate too soon but I did feel a lot of relief when they said he didn't need to stay overnight. Today was really hard for us so thanks again everyone for all the love and support. Goodnight everyone and all the fur beans <3 Will keep you updated
 
Morning update! He didn't wake me up this morning but instead I had to wake him up which concerned me because usually he's up way earlier and swatting at my face to feed him. Checked the whole apartment, no vomit anywhere. He peed twice during the night. Considering the amount of water he had with dinner, I feel like this is okay. Checking for keytones will become part of our nighttime routine now.
Gave him the pills with the tiny bit of leftover from dinner and he perked back up to his usual self crying for food. Still wasn't time for breakfast yet though so we walked a couple laps inside my small apartment with treats to get him to exercise since he doesn't play anymore.
Tested 336 bg, ate a little over 1 can FF, got his 1 unit lantus. So far so good!
 
I am feeling a lot better today, thank you!! :) Since he didn't wake me up this morning, I got fairly decent sleep for the first time in a long time. He's sleeping now which is usual after mealtime.

Question about dental health:
I'm looking at the hospital's physical exam and it states "mild periodontal disease". When he first got checked at the primary vet, she said it was pretty bad gingivitis and that he would need a cleaning but to wait until he was stronger and able to handle anesthesia so I asked about what I can do in the meantime. She suggested more prescription methods, but do you guys have any recommendations on this? I got the greenies but don't know if they really do anything other than make him happy for a quick second.
 
Hi Christina,

I suggest that you start a new thread asking for dental health suggestions and copy/paste your question above into the first post. It will help members to see that you need help with that specific topic and hopefully get you some helpful replies.

I'm glad to hear that you slept well. You've been through a lot.

(((Christina)))


Mogs
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Hi Christina,

Can you do another test straight away and post the result as soon as you get it please.

The third test should hopefully tell us which of those is valid.

Please be as quick as you can because if it's the lower then you'll need to steer Kitty Cat in a minute.


Mogs
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Thanks for posting quickly, Christina.

Questions:

1. Did you get the 56 before K.C. started eating?

2. Did you also get the 106 before eating?

3. How long after he started eating did you get the 121?

Please be as precise as you can on the timings.
 
I gave him a couple treats an hour ago while walking around since he seemed really hungry.
56 before he took a bite
106 was 2 minutes later after he started eating. i couldnt get him to stay still so i thought putting the food out would make him still enough to test again but i was having a hard time getting a good blood sample. wasted 2 more strips before I got the third sample
121 ~10 minutes after he started eating
 
The treats were Greenies?
There is only one type of greenies that is low enough in carbs (if my memory serves me correctly) and that is the Duck and Green Pea for dogs (which may have been discontinued).
 
Christina & Kitty Cat said:
I gave him a couple treats an hour ago while walking around since he seemed really hungry.
56 before he took a bite
106 was 2 minutes later after he started eating. i couldnt get him to stay still so i thought putting the food out would make him still enough to test again but i was having a hard time getting a good blood sample. wasted 2 more strips before I got the third sample
121 ~10 minutes after he started eating
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You did really, really well with the testing, Christina.

Kitty Cat is in safe numbers at the moment.

More questions:

* How long till his next insulin dose is due?

* Will you be able to monitor him overnight, potentially for the full 12 hours of this upcoming cycle?

* Do you have any higher carb wet food in the house (e.g. Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers)?

.
.
 
Critter Mom said:
How long till his next insulin dose is due?
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I just gave him 1 unit insulin just now, 10 mins after usual time. After this weekends scare, I'm so scared of missing it and he did eat. so next dose is in 12 hours.
Critter Mom said:
Will you be able to monitor him overnight, potentially for the full 12 hours of this upcoming cycle?
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I will do my best! It's past 9pm here right now but I will stay up.
Critter Mom said:
* Do you have any higher carb wet food in the house (e.g. Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers)?
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I have the hills w/d still, will that work?
 
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