? New sugar cat Hobbes 152 at +4. 101 at +6 94 at +7

N

nikkiaz

Member Since 2010
Hi all -

Yes, we have sugarcat Niki. But today Hobbes was diagnosed also as a sugar cat. He had been drinking a lot, peeing and losing weight. He was vomiting a lot today including blood clots. So off to the ER we went (ironically we had a checkup scheduled for Tuesday). He got the full blown works at the ER.

So he had minimal ketones so the dr felt ok sending him home especially since we have another one already.

But she wants him on 2 units 2x/day. According to the sticky on this board, we should probably start him at 1 unit. Is that correct?

He is 10 years old, and in February weighed 17.38 lbs (I am waiting on the emailed records for his current weight today).

thank you!

and yes, I know we need to start another spreadsheet tonight.

thank you!

nancy

t
 
At 17lbs, the normal starting dose (based on weight) would be 1.9 but we usually do suggest starting a little lower when we get to those higher doses.

Having ketones in the picture also has to be taken into consideration.

Since you know how to test (and have plenty of supplies), I'd probably start at no less than 1.5

Make sure Hobbes gets more food into him than usual too. Calories are like medicine when it comes to ketones.

Did he have an infection of some kind too? Usually it's a mix of not enough food, not enough insulin and infection/inflammation that comes together to make ketones
 
Hi Chris -

Thank you so much!

we weren’t sure, so we did 1 unit tonight. My thinking was that he threw up his breakfast and got nothing to eat all day until dinner (he usually has lunch), so I was worried about sending him into ketacidosis. Obviously my thinking was incorrect; I’m still learning every da6 even with Niki.

We might increase it to 1.25 tomorrow morning then. I would guess we shouldn’t jump it up to 1.5 right away tomorrow morning?

we will also give him more to eat later.

The vet just find a little bit of inflammation in his GI tract; possibly that could be a contributing factor?

Thanks so much Chris!

nancy
 
Yes you can go to 1.5 units in the morning and stay at that dose for at least 5 days unless he drops low or the ketones increase....I agree with Chris....with ketones in the picture you need to get that insulin into Hobbes.
Also as Chris says...up the amount of food.
 
nikkiaz said:
My thinking was that he threw up his breakfast and got nothing to eat all day until dinner (he usually has lunch), so I was worried about sending him into ketacidosis.
Click to expand...

Yeah you got that backwards.....the last thing you want to do with a cat that's already producing ketones is to skimp on the insulin. Even if you have to feed something higher in carbs, they must get the insulin (even the evil kibble....having ketones is the only time we'll recommend kibble if it's all they'll eat)
 
So he was at 152 at +4 and 101 at +6. He did get more food each time.

Those would normally be decent numbers, but are they ok for a cat with a small amount of ketones? I am going to test again in another 15 minutes of so (for +7), but do I need to feed him again?

I’m sorry, I have been reading and reading and having trouble understanding the balancing act between testing/feeding a “normal” diabetic cat vs testing/feeding a cat with a small amount of ketones. And I’m so scared to doing the wrong thing.

I did make a new spreadsheet for him, but it wouldn’t let me use the same email that I have for Niki so I had to add a new account. I will use that from now in, but since I started here tonight I will leave it.

thanks,
Nancy
 
If a cat has ketones in the picture, we like them to eat lots of food, as food is one of the things that combat ketones.
The other thing that combats ketones is insulin.
So you can give up to 1 and a half times as many calories a day as normal to help get rid of those ketones.
Just don’t give food for the 2 hours before the Preshot BG.
Do you have Ketostix at home to test the urine? If not I would definitely get some and test at least once a day for the next several days at least.
The number of ketones in the urine will tell us if we are getting it right with the food and insulin.
I’d also add some water to the food if Hobbes will let you.

How are they treating the inflammation in the GI tract?
 
Thanks again Bron, for explaining it. It takes awhile for me to comprehend things.

We do not have ketostix. We will have to locate some tomorrow. We tried the blood ketone measuring thing with Niki and all it kept reading was high, so we’d drag him to the vets and it would be normal.

He is on cerenia and sucralfate for the GI inflammation.

I’ll try feeding him a bit more with water shortly maybe a higher calorie food and maybe hold off another hour before I poke him again. He just looks so tired after being at the vet all day, poor guy. And no food 2 hrs before AMPS.

thank you for your help!

Nancy
 
I’m sure both you and Hobbes are both very tired.
Not sure where you live but ketostix can be bought at a pharmacy or Walmart.
you need to read the strip exactly 15 seconds after dipping them against the colours on the side of the bottle.
You are doing a really good job looking after him!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top