NEW and needing advice please (recent BG 20.7mmol/L)

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Katie Bee

Katie Bee

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Hi all

My name is Katie and I am new to the forum having found it late last night, and I am really worried about my boy :(

Quick info - cat is Sully, 10yo Maine Coon cross boy (profile photo). Diagnosed June 2024 after a week of drinking/peeing lots and liquid stools. On ProZinc. Mixed food diet on diabetic specific food (didn't know he could have anything else til now). Been to vets multiple times for BG curves, blood tests, etc. Very little information given to us from vets (still not got his last blood test results from 4 weeks ago despite chasing it up). Only guidance given was to move immediately to diabetic food, and to shoot insulin 1 hour after eating, twice a day.

Since diagnosis, been on ProZinc, and initially became much perkier and playful. However, his weight has plummeted by several kgs in 2 months - he has always been a chonky boy due to his genetics, but he is now just skin and bone. Vet noticed the weight loss but didn't say anything about it.

Yesterday evening I came home after a few days away (husband had been with him) and found him to be quite quiet. He ate most of his dinner then had his insulin as usual, but I was concerned so found this forum late last night.

This morning, he was very lethargic and didn't touch any food at all. He has been drinking water though. I went out and bought some different food from the list on this forum and a blood glucose monitor (Kinetik) and we have been trying to test his BG levels every 2 hours (although trying to get blood from him has been a very difficult process - we have followed all the guidance on here and have really struggled to get blood from him, resulting in a very stressed cat). Results are in the spreadsheet in my signature. Essentially, his BG levels are very high. After the first test, we gave him his insulin dose. Since then, the BG levels have fallen, but are still high.

I hoped someone may be able to provide us with guidance as to what to do next. We want to keep tracking every 2 hours where possible, but our main concerns are his refusal to eat anything at all and whether we have left it too late to help him? I wish I had found this forum sooner, as I feel so guilty we just did as the vets said and he seems to be getting worse :(

If I am missing any information above, please ask - I am very new to this and am trying to understand it asap to help my boy.

Thank you
 
Katie --

I'm going to make a suggestion in part to be aggressively cautious. I always worry when someone, especially a new member, is describing their cat as lethargic and refusing to eat. Since it's hard for you to test Sully, suggesting you purchase a blood ketone meter may not be the best option. However, you can likely get one at a pharmacy and test Sully's blood for ketones. There are urine ketone test strips you can purchase but it's much harder to predict when your cat will use the litter box. The other option is to take him to an emergency clinic and let them know he's newly diabetic and you have observed a change in his behavior and would like to ask them to test for ketones. If your vet's office is open today, tell them (don't ask) that you're bringing him in and you may be overly cautious but you want him tested for ketones.
 
Katie Bee said:
Hi all

My name is Katie and I am new to the forum having found it late last night, and I am really worried about my boy :(

Quick info - cat is Sully, 10yo Maine Coon cross boy (profile photo). Diagnosed June 2024 after a week of drinking/peeing lots and liquid stools. On ProZinc. Mixed food diet on diabetic specific food (didn't know he could have anything else til now). Been to vets multiple times for BG curves, blood tests, etc. Very little information given to us from vets (still not got his last blood test results from 4 weeks ago despite chasing it up). Only guidance given was to move immediately to diabetic food, and to shoot insulin 1 hour after eating, twice a day.

Since diagnosis, been on ProZinc, and initially became much perkier and playful. However, his weight has plummeted by several kgs in 2 months - he has always been a chonky boy due to his genetics, but he is now just skin and bone. Vet noticed the weight loss but didn't say anything about it.

Yesterday evening I came home after a few days away (husband had been with him) and found him to be quite quiet. He ate most of his dinner then had his insulin as usual, but I was concerned so found this forum late last night.

This morning, he was very lethargic and didn't touch any food at all. He has been drinking water though. I went out and bought some different food from the list on this forum and a blood glucose monitor (Kinetik) and we have been trying to test his BG levels every 2 hours (although trying to get blood from him has been a very difficult process - we have followed all the guidance on here and have really struggled to get blood from him, resulting in a very stressed cat). Results are in the spreadsheet in my signature. Essentially, his BG levels are very high. After the first test, we gave him his insulin dose. Since then, the BG levels have fallen, but are still high.

I hoped someone may be able to provide us with guidance as to what to do next. We want to keep tracking every 2 hours where possible, but our main concerns are his refusal to eat anything at all and whether we have left it too late to help him? I wish I had found this forum sooner, as I feel so guilty we just did as the vets said and he seems to be getting worse :(

If I am missing any information above, please ask - I am very new to this and am trying to understand it asap to help my boy.

Thank you
Click to expand...
Welcome Katie, your boy is just gorgeous, you are in the right place, below is the link on how you can begin to get your fur baby back to health, unfortunately many Vets are not familiar with cat's diabetes and most of us have been left in the loop, here you will find experts members, and long time members that can guide you along, I trust this Forum, for everything, My Corky also uses ProZinc, he is in a very good insulin, is important that you home test, use only low carb foods between 0-10% have a Hypo Kit handy this includes KARO SYRUP, medium carb food, and High Carb food, no gravy foods, most of us like Fancy Feast pates also helping us to help you I am sending you a link on all the brand Foods you can choose from, the this column of the list are the carbs, I always tell new members to step back breath in and breath out, we are here to help you with any concern you may have no matter how small it is, the ProZinc experts can help you with increasing/decreasing doses, my suggestion is you are here in the right place, read a lot of the Main Forum Sticky notes, and especially trust, for the appetite I can recomend Miratz it is prescribed you can get it at your vet's office, stick with us and before you know it you will be a pro! you got this:bighug::cat::cat:https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
 
I agree with Sienne. I would want to know if there are any ketones. Having a lethargic kitty who is not eating and with high blood glucose is a big red flag.
If you can’t test for the ketones yourself ( Ketostix for testing the urine) I would take your kitty to the ER or a vet asap. I don’t think it is a wait and see situation as if it is ketones, it needs to be treated immediately.
I don’t think you have left it too late. Diabetes is a very treatable disease.
 
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