12/28 New Member- Help with home testing and seizures

Status
Not open for further replies.
Melificent

Melificent

Member Since 2020
Hello! New member here looking for some advice on my kitty and my vet.

My cat was diagnosed earlier this past summer. She's currently on 1.5u of Lantus twice a day. I give her half of a can of wet food (I use a couple different flavors of Weruva cats in the kitchen line.)

Last night she had a little freeze dried food I rehydrated and then around a third of a can of wet food and her insulin 2 hours later. Ar 2am she had a seizure. Once she recovered she ate and I took her in to our vet first thing. The vet thinks the seizure doesn't seem related to the diabetes? Does that seem likely? No insulin in the morning and her glucose was 215 at the vet. Fructosamine was around 425. My vet doesn't even bother trying a curve anymore because my cat is "grumpy." She recommended upping the Lantus to 2u tonight. Is this safe? I'm planning on picking up a meter and doing my own testing tonight. Any advice or thoughts from the members here?
 
Hello and welcome!

Melificent said:
Ar 2am she had a seizure
Click to expand...

Melificent said:
My vet doesn't even bother trying a curve anymore because my cat is "grumpy." She recommended upping the Lantus to 2u tonight.
Click to expand...




:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Please do not increase the dose before you start home-testing!!!!

-- I have no idea why your vet would say that your cat's seizure was not likely related to the insulin. It's a classic (and extremely dangerous) symptom of severe hypoglycemia. See the info in How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!

-- If it was a hypo last night, many cats are extra sensitive to insulin afterwards, so it's doubly the wrong time to increase the dose

-- No insulin in the morning and then 215 at the vet? If the vet is using a pet meter, 215 isn't even far off from normal BG!


Did you switch food recently to the low-carb canned? That can have a dramatic effect on insulin needs. Or, it could be that your kitty's insulin needs have just changed on their own, as often happens. The best way to figure this all out is to start home testing, so good for you for taking matters into your own hands and getting started on that!

Did your vet make a different diagnosis to explain the seizure???
 
Nan is correct. I don’t know where you live but if in the US I would go to Walmart and buy a Relion human meter and a box of test strips. The starter kit doesn’t come with many strips. Get lancets that are for alternative areas. If elsewhere go to a pharmacy and get a human meter. Do not give any insulin until you can test and post here asking for help.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm... I don't think that seizures are a common occurrence with hyperglycemia, at least we haven't seen them around here (and we see a lot of diabetic cats). Can't rule it out, but it's just not the high probability here, especially when you say that it happened ~5hrs post-shot. That's just about the time where you'd expect the insulin to be nearing peak activity, and it's much more likely that she'd go low then than to (suddenly) show a severe reaction to high numbers that she'd likely been living with for a while.

Another condition such as epilepsy is of course a possibility, and it's not really something we would be able to say, one way or the other, over the internet. It's good that things like that are on your vet's radar, because she's the one who would be in a position to evaluate your kitty for that, but based on what you've said I'm sticking with my original guess that the problem is hypoglycemia.

I definitely agree with the others, I wouldn't shoot any insulin until you are able to get testing up and running. We are happy to help in any way we can!
 
Melificent said:
Hello! New member here looking for some advice on my kitty and my vet.

Last night she had a little freeze dried food I rehydrated and then around a third of a can of wet food and her insulin 2 hours later. Ar 2am she had a seizure.
Click to expand...
Can I just clarify when you fed her and when you gave the insulin please. You said above you gave some freeze dried food rehydrated and a third can wet food and then her insulin 2 hours later? Later on you said she had her food and insulin at 9.30 so the seizure was 5 hours later. Just trying to establish how long after the food you gave the insulin.

It sounds very like a hypo seizure to me as well. And I would definitely NOT increase the dose of insulin to 2 units. As @Nan & Amber (GA) said 215 on a pet meter is not high after a skipped dose and a hypo overnight. I don’t know where your vet is getting hyperglycaemia from. And to not bother to do curves because the cat is grumpy is a pathetic excuse.... that is her job for goodness sake. All patients are not ideal patients....she should be able to work around that.
I seriously question how much your vet actually knows about feline diabetes.

Good on you for deciding to do home testing. We can help you get started.
Here is a link to home testing hints. Please don’t give any more insulins until you have a BG test result. When you get one, Post the result and we will help you

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

You might like to set up a spreadsheet as well and the we can help you with dosing so you can keep your kitty safe.
If you have any trouble setting it up I will get someone to help you
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Can I just clarify when you fed her and when you gave the insulin please. You said above you gave some freeze dried food rehydrated and a third can wet food and then her insulin 2 hours later? Later on you said she had her food and insulin at 9.30 so the seizure was 5 hours later.
Click to expand...

What I mean is, she had a small amount of the rehydrated food at close to 7. Then at 9:30 she ate the rest of the can and had her insulin at the same time.

I just got home with the Relion Prime meter. She hasn't eaten in over 4 hours and no insulin. The level reads 400. Should I start at a lower dose or wait?
 
Melificent said:
My vet doesn't even bother trying a curve anymore because my cat is "grumpy."
Click to expand...

Abby’s vet said/did the same thing, which was frustrating but it forced me to home test Abby and I think that’s been helpful for Abby’s journey. Sounds like Melificent is a good with you testing at home, but if not, it definitely gets easier! Good luck!
 
Well done getting the test done so quickly...impressive!
As we have no data on your kitty at all, it is hard to give advice on the dose, but as she had a seizure last night, I would definitely reduce the dose.
Just a couple of question first.
Did the vet ever mention ketones at all when she was diagnosed or at any other time?
Do you have some high carb food and honey or Karo at home now?
Are you able to monitor during the whole of this cycle if necessary?
Also what is your kittys weight?
 
Last edited:
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Did the vet ever mention ketones at all when she was diagnosed or at any other time?
Do you have some high carb food and honey or Karo at home now?
Are you able to monitor during the whole of this cycle if necessary
Click to expand...

Um to be honest I don't remember if she actually had ketones present at the initial diagnosis. I believe so. She wasn't eating and very lethargic so I brought her in and they did some tests.

I do have corn syrup and honey!

Unfortunately, I'm working a long day tomorrow at work. I'll let be gone for 9-10 hours.
 
Melificent said:
Um to be honest I don't remember if she actually had ketones present at the initial diagnosis. I believe so. She wasn't eating and very lethargic so I brought her in and they did some tests.

I do have corn syrup and honey!

Unfortunately, I'm working a long day tomorrow at work. I'll let be gone for 9-10 hours.
Click to expand...
Can you test tonight?
 
Mel, can you answer these questions please. It will help decide what is best to do...thanks
how much are you feeding her a day?
Are you offering snacks during the cycles?
Do you have a timed feeder to put snacks in when you are at work?
If you put food down for her during the day would she eat it all at once or are there other cats there that would eat the food?
Do you have anyone at home who can check on her during the day?
 
Last edited:
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Well done getting the test done so quickly...impressive!
As we have no data on your kitty at all, it is hard to give advice on the dose, but as she had a seizure last night, I would definitely reduce the dose.
Just a couple of question first.
Did the vet ever mention ketones at all when she was diagnosed or at any other time?
Do you have some high carb food and honey or Karo at home now?
Are you able to monitor during the whole of this cycle if necessary?
Also what is your kittys weight?
Click to expand...
Thank you Bron :cat::bighug:
 
Hi Bron,

Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I don’t know where your vet is getting hyperglycaemia from.
Click to expand...
By way of general background info, hyperglycaemia was mooted as a potential seizure trigger by the vet of another kitty here in recent weeks. I had a quick scout around online at the time and discovered that apparently it can happen in humans (couldn't find anything about it in cats), though it appears to be very much the exception, not the rule (and doesn't look very likely in this particular instance given the information provided above).

From this article:

Seizures related to diabetes

A diabetic seizure is brought on by extremely low blood sugars. In order to function properly, the brain needs glucose. When the blood sugar drops very low, usually under 30, the actions of the neurons in the brain decrease and the person seizes.

High blood sugar can also cause seizure activity in the brain. The increase in the sugar causes hyper excitability of the neurons. This causes something like a short circuit, and the overexcited brain can seize. This is not as common as hypoglycemic ones.​


Mogs
.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
how much are you feeding her a day?
Are you offering snacks during the cycles?
Do you have a timed feeder to put snacks in when you are at work?
If you put food down for her during the day would she eat it all at once or are there other cats there that would eat the food?
Do you have anyone at home who can check on her during the day?
Click to expand...

She gets 1 6oz can of wet food. Half in the morning and half in the evening. She does get a couple snacks during the day. Usually like 6 or so pieces of freeze dried treats (like vital essentials rabbit bites or sometimes dried salmon.)

I don't have a timed feeder but I could look into getting one. Since she eats wet food I've never tried one before. I also started a new job recently and am gone more often now.

She will definitely eat all the food. But no other cats right now.

My family can check on her during the day should anything happen but testing is difficult for anyone but me.
 
Hi Mel,
Have you made contact with @Bandit's Mom about the spreadsheet?
Have you got any more BG tests in apart from the original one?
Just reading what you have said above......it sounds as if you have kept to the same dose of 1.5 units, is that correct?

I would encourage you to give Pepe some snacks of the low carb wet food around +3 and +5 for both the am and the pm cycles. This will give him some food in his tummy when the insulin is working the strongest.
If yu could get a timed feeder that would be ideal and very good for Pepe. He timed feeders are fine for putting in wet food.
 
Melificent said:
She's very tired today. I gave her food and her previous dose this morning. I didn't increase. Going to try testing again. It was 400 before food.
Click to expand...

Aw, poor little girl. One thing that can make them feel yucky is the bouncing back and forth between higher and lower numbers. That may be what is going on here, but I'd also try to test for ketones tonight when you get home, or as soon as you can, just to make sure.

Congrats on getting the testing up and running! :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top