New Member - Stoney

Our sweet, big boy Stoney, 6 years old, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on 9/24/2025. I got a whiff of acetone on his breath and knew something was wrong. I took him in and his glucose level was 415. Our vet prescribed 1 unit of U-40 insulin, twice a day at feeding time. I gave him his first dose at the vet with her, and the second at home by myself. It was difficult to say the least. The next morning I knew the smell got stronger and made the call to take him to the emergency vet. When we took him in, his level was 382 and ketones were about a 5.9. He has been at the emergency vet since 6am on 9/25/2025. They have called and told me his level went up to 500, then to 200ish, then down to 50. They said he is now sitting at around 200, and his ketones are at a 4. Vet said he is still out of it and his eyes are heavy. He has at least another day at the emergency vet, but could be up to 5 days. My husband and I are trying to navigate this. We have already spent $6800 to get him into the vet and started on treatment. We are going to go see him tonight. I have been crying since Tuesday, I don’t know how to get through this. I love this boy so much!

He is 17.2lbs. Also, the vet is not considering him in DKA, they said they have never seen it before where a cat has all the symptoms and numbers with a normal PH balance. They are calling him “diabetic keto-basic”.

@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

Welcome to FDMB, I am sorry for what you and your beautiful fur baby are going thru and all the money you have spent, also, ProZinc and Lantus are the best insulin for a cat is easy on the system and is a 12 insulin, iyour baby will get out of this with the right treatment, and right Vet, make sure he is experienced in Feline Diabetes ,do not be afraid to ask questions to your vet stay calm, we are here for you as well, so step back for a minute, breath in and breath out, Feline diabetes and Ketones is manageable, I am sure one of the members will plug in shortly

Thank you, he is currently on Prozinc. I should have mentioned that but honestly forgot the name til you mentioned it.

Awesome I will tag one of the best members that can help you to get that Ketone number down and the dosing without spending more money on hospital and vet bills, My Corky is also on ProZinc, Suzanne saved his life, although he will be a life time diabetic, if you look at his spreadsheet down below in blue, his glucose numbers are as if he were on remission, I trust this forum, their members and Suzanne blindly I personally Have had bad experience with Corky’s and Coco’s vet since they were little kittens and he brushed me off or should we say fire me, when I brought Corky to him after being hospitalized for 8 days and almost $10,000 later, I will tag Suzanne, she’s awesome, you and you precious fur baby, all that back and forth to the vet and locked up in a crate hospitalized is not going to help his BG to stabilize.
@Suzanne & Darcy

Wow thank you so much. We are on our way to see him now in hopes that we hear that his levels have dropped/evened out. I am really really scared!

Remember if is just high BG’s and Ketones, which goes together, if it was me, I would take him home as long as you continue to home test the BG, with ProZinc the protocol is TEST/FEED/SHOOT, you can always test for ketones at home, I have read many members with their cats having high ketones, that is important that they eat, please do not quote me on this, I might be wrong, we would like you to create your signature and spreadsheets as well, we are very numbers oriented, and in order to help with dosing Suzanne needs to see the daily progress during before after shooting, you should give at least 2-3 small meals during the day to keep the insulin depot, after you dose you should test after 2 hours, that’s when ProZinc kicks in, and give a small low carb meal/ snack, a curve is very simple to do at home, is testing every two hours for a period of 12 hours, most members, including myself use the ReliOn Premier human monitor and strips, and diabetic cats need to have a diet of wet can food between 0-10% carbs most members feed Fancy Feast Pates, I will send you the links to crest your signature and SS

here are the links to create your signature and spreadsheet, also, I am including a Drs. Food chart, you can find the carb % on the third column, also a carb calculator, to determine the correct carb % ,most member use Fancy Feast Pates, it is US made and regulated, so no waste goes into the food,. Using the nutrients %s in the ingredients in the food, you determine the proper carb %, the Dry Matter carb is the correct carb %; most members feed 0-5%,, do not get overwhelmed, take your time, we are here for you, please post any concerns you may have, also if you run into some difficulty creating the spreadsheet, let us know there's always a member here to help you, the faster you create your signature, and spreadsheet, the faster Suzanne and other members help you to stabilize your precious baby, without continuing to create larger holes in your pocket,

Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
https://felinediabhttp//scheyderweb...DMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

Unfortunately I do not have a glucose reader yet, and he is still in emergency care, when he gets out I will start filling the spreadsheet out. He perked up a lot when we got there and finally ate something. Thank you for your help!

McKenzie LaPray said:

Unfortunately I do not have a glucose reader yet, and he is still in emergency care, when he gets out I will start filling the spreadsheet out. He perked up a lot when we got there and finally ate something. Thank you for your help!

Click to expand...

Walmart has the ReliOn Premier monitor for $19.99 and the strips are $17.88 for 100 strips and $9.00 for 50. It’s good to have extra strips, especially at the beginning in learning how to test, still after 3 years of obsessive tester that I am, sometimes I use 2-3 strips in one test, because either got too much, too little blood or the strip is bad. Just make sure to have the monitor by the time you get him home, I am sure he was happy to see you

Wow that is a great price! I will check that out!

Welcome to FDMB!

I'm going to link information on ketones and DKA. Hopefully, this will help you get information from the vet hospital on Stoney's condition. Cat's can develop ketones but not be in DKA. Basically, if a cat has an infection/inflammation + not eating enough calories + not getting enough insulin, there's a good chance that ketones will happen. The ketones can throw electrolytes off and then it's truly an emergency. What I find concerning is that you did great noticing the acetone smell on your cat's breath. That's a sure sign that ketones are happening. Your vet should have dealt with this more aggressively.

I also want to point out that high blood glucose levels are not a sole indicator of ketones. It's far more important that Stoney's lab work is stable and his ketones are at a level that are manageable for you at home. Either trace or lower on a urine ketone strip or below 2.4 on a blood ketone meter is what you're looking for. And please keep in mind that ketones can develop fairly quickly so get supplies and look for changes in behavior, particularly lethargy.

All of that said, there are any number of us who have cats that survived DKA. Mine was one of them. When she was diagnosed, I had two vets tell me that not all cats recover. Gabby did. It's going to be some work on your end to keep Stoney safe and keep him stabilized but it is manageable and we're here to help.

While he's in the hospital, I'd encourage you to get set up for his coming home. Low carb, canned food will be helpful. If you're not sure what he'll eat, don't buy food by the case. Try a few different types and see what he may like. Maria/Corky linked a food chart. The chart had carb levels listed. You want foods that are below 10% carb. Remember, calories are your cat's friend when recovering from DKA/ketones. We suggest 1.5 times your cat's normal calorie consumption. You'll want to pick up a glucometer -- the Walmart Relion meter is fine. It's not necessary to get a pet calibrated meter. The strips are very expensive. You can also pick up any brand of Ketostix at Walmart. Those are the urine test strips for ketones. Also, you'll want to add water to Stoney's food. Water/fluid helps to dilute ketones.

Please let us know how we can help. The first several weeks of learning how to manage your cat's diabetes is hard, if not overwhelming. It's even more so when ketones are in the mix.

@Bron and Sheba (GA) will likely be along. She's great with helping out with ketones.

Hi McKenzie, how is Stoney coming along?
Is he eating on his own?
Can you ask the vet if his electrolytes are normal?
Do you have some Ketostix test strips to test the urine fir ketones once had comes home? Or you can buy a blood ketone meter which tests the blood for ketones. You will need to buy either the test strips to test the urine or get a blood ketone meter as it is vital we know what’s happening with the ketones once he comes home.
I would also look at setting up a spreadsheet to document the blood glucose levels. I’ll add a link below for that. If you have any trouble setting it up, just ask us to help.
And ask the vet to give you some antinausea medication such as cerenia or ondansetron.
Once he comes home we can help you.
Bron

Information for new members spreadsheet, hypo box and signature

Good morning. How's Stoney? What did the Vet say?

Good evening! Sorry for the delayed response. I still need to get my spreadsheet together and typed up. We are still dealing with a lot. We were able to bring him home last night and he is acting not himself. I’m worried, but chalking it up to being hospitalized. He is on a continuous glucose monitor (freestyle libre 3) and 2 units of insulin 12 hrs apart. His numbers have ranged from 230-330 today. As for his ketones, our monitor and strips are coming in the mail tomorrow for me to check. He is not liking the Hills Science DM pate so he isn’t eating much. We tried to give Tiki Cat (our other cats eat it), and decided to pivot while we wait for our Purina Pro Diabetic food to arrive and give him what he is used to, Sheba cuts in gravy. He scarfed that down! We are going to try mixing the Sheba in with the Hills tomorrow morning for breakfast. We really just need him to eat so we are taking what we can get at this point. They also prescribed him Mirataz for his appetite, which I will try in the morning. Unfortunately we are living in a 5th wheel with 3 cats right now, so it’s hard to separate them and let him have access to a litter box. Vet advised us to have them separated when we administer that medication. We have successfully given two doses at home ourselves so far, so really happy about that. Called the vet today concerned about his numbers she said that his blood glucose numbers are expected to be high while trying to get him regulated, and to keep his dosage the same. I will be asking the vet if we can get an anti nausea medication for him as I am desperate. His siblings are not taking to him right now, they smell the vet I’m sure, so that is not helping things. He has gone pee twice, no poop though, which is starting to worry me. Sorry I am very all over the place right now.

It was good to transition to wet and slowly, you are right it ca upset the stomach, if he’s not pooping it could be the change in food, wet food is well digested in the system, so you will not see everyday pooping anymore, there is no waste, he’ll most likely poop every other day or so, if you see he takes more than that to poop, do not let it go more than 3-4 days, you can put in the food twice a day 1/4 tsp of MIRALAX, for 3-4 days, is for humans over the counter at CVS, Walgreens any pharmacy, my cats get constipated at times and I just sprinkle it over the food it has no taste

What was Stoney being fed while in the hospital and how was his appetite?

You're correct in that getting him to eat is important. Many cats are not happy with DM. Read the ingredients and you'll understand why. Also, there is really no such thing as "diabetic" food. The pet food manufacturers lost a class action suit for calling foods "prescription." There is nothing that is medication in the food. In fact, several brands of so-called diabetic foods are high in carbohydrates. Feed Stoney what he likes. In fact, your life will be considerably easier if all of your cats eat a low carb, canned food diet. It's a healthy choice given that cats are obligate carnivores and don't metabolize carbs.

He was given the Hills Science Gluco Support canned wet food. He would only eat if we were there, but not much. I did have a 12pack of FF classic pates delivered about an hour ago and I want to see if he will eat that shortly. Vet advised that we should only feed him 2 times a day, before his insulin, but I have read on here that feeding small amounts throughout the day is ok, I really just need him to eat. The vet did call and check on him a few minutes ago and is relaying my concerns to the doctor. He is still very lethargic and smells slightly of acetone again. My ketone meter was supposed to be delivered today but ended up with ketone strips in the same order as the FF pate. I’m going to try to get his levels next time he urinates. He still has not gone, to my knowledge, since yesterday morning, that was also conveyed to the vet. I am expecting a call shortly to bring him back in.

Right now, feeding him as much as he wants is fine. I'd also add water to his food since water helps dilute ketones. If you're noticing an acetone smell, it's good that you spoke to the vet.