12/3 Alska AMPS=343 No more insulin

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RobinCot

RobinCot

Member Since 2013
ALL of my cats are extremely ill. Not a single cat outside the kitten room, including Alska, is eating. One is near death. I am beginning to syringe feed them. Alska does not show any signs of URI except for not wanting any food that I offered and since he will only pee in my chair, he is being locked in his room for the unforeseeable future. Since he is not eating, I will not shoot insulin. He will have to get in the syringe line behind the two most serious civvie cases. My Bing hasn't eaten a full meal since Friday morning, then he ate some Turkey last night - about five small pieces. I may lose him. My other civvie is in hiding. I haven't seen him since Sunday night.

I am told that I should have EXPECTED this. I don't think I would have done this if I KNEW that I could lose my entire feline family. I am so sick about all of this.
 
OH hon, I'm so sorry. You and yuour babies are in my prayers, hoping all comes out ok for you. I'm sorry girl. :YMHUG: :YMHUG:
 
Sending all kinds of healing vines from my crew to yours.

I would seriously rethink completely stopping Alska's insulin. With his numbers you could be setting yourself up for DKA. Remember the recipe is not enough insulin+not enough food+infection. You already have infection and not enough food and high numbers. Removing insulin as well could be a disaster brewing. If you do stop insulin and even if you don't you need to be testing for Ketones like a crazy woman.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Agree with Mel, please reconsider not give his insulin.

I was so concerned over the illness that I didn't even notice that you said you weren't giving it. I'm sorry.
 
Also my sick boy civvies are showing signs of the same URI as kittens but Alska is not even sneezing and he got a vaccination in May so I dont know what is wrong with him.
 
While he's this high I wouldn't reduce unless he looks like its going to drop him into hypo range. But let me see if I can round up some eyes with a little more experience with sick diabetic kitties. Since thankfully I've yet to have to deal with this particular dilemma.

Mel and The Fur Gang.
 
I wouldn't reduce either, but you must test frequently if he isn't eating. Have you taken any of them to the vet? At least to ask for anti-nausea/ appetite stimulant Rx. You want to give the anti-nausea to settle the stomach if you are giving an appy stimulant (cyproheptadine is a good one.)
 
Thanks Ann

Those high numbers have me spooked about stopping or reducing. After dealing with DKA and losing Musette it is nothing I want to play with again. I would also be asking about giving fluids as well because if not eating probably not drinking either.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Ok. I did give him his shot this morning because he came down to the kitchen for breakfast so I wasnt expecting him to not eat. He might smell the FF Florentine that I have been enticing Bing with and refusing anything else. I guess I will see tonight. I can keep him at 1.5u

I took the foster momma in to vet last week for URI and she got through it without meds. Bing is at day 7 of this 10 day bout. He did eat a little before I left the house. I could get meds from agency. I just dont have the funds to go right now.

Thanks for all the advice and hugs.
 
This might work as a stop gap. But if you can find liquid Echinacea aka purple cone flower. Its a herb that throws the immune system into hyper drive. You can safely give 20 drops per day for up to two weeks and should be fairly cheap at most Natural Food Stores.

If they were eating you could just get the capsule and open it and mix into their food.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
For kitties, L-Lysine powder is good immunity booster. You can buy it specially for cats, or just buy it in the people section. Get some that is either loose powder or just capsules and add the contents to food. Some lysine has starch in it, so just check the contents for one that is FD friendly for Alska.

Sending healing vines to your fur gang. :YMHUG:
 
The entire household has been getting L-Lysine in their Raw meals for the past two weeks. I think I can get something that soothes and coats their throats that might help them eat. I will have to check into the Echinacea - they are drinking lots of water, maybe I can put it in there.
 
If this is, in fact, a URI, have you tried "steaming" your kitties? You run the shower until the bathroom is really, really steamy and leave them in there for 20 - 30 min. If you have a vaporizer, running it in the room with the cats will accomplish the same thing when it comes to breaking up the congestion.

I agree with Mel. Holding off on insulin in a cat that is not eating and may have an infection is a set up for ketones. If all Alska will eat is high carb, I'd give your kitty whatever he will eat.
 
Yes I have moved the Vicks vaporizer from the kitten room where it really helped, to my bedroom for Bing. He hates it though. Last weekend I kept moving it to wherever he moved. He kept growling at it. I really should continue to do that for him. Thanks. I will see what Alska will eat and if it is high carb (12-16%) then we will deal with the numbers and dosage. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Mikey went through about a week of not eating a couple of months back (it was determined he had colitis). You can check it out on his spreadsheet starting around 8/8 to about 8/16. I still gave insulin when his numbers warranted it, but I had to give greatly reduced doses and I had to monitor extensively and even skipped quite a few shots due to numbers too low to shoot (from lack of food driving his numbers up). Once he started eating normally again, he still ended up at a whole unit less than he had started with and we're still not back up to his original 2.5u dose.

If the numbers are high, then give insulin. Just be sure to monitor carefully for both significantly lowered BGs and ketones!

I'm praying for you guys and hope everyone comes out of this fine! {{hugs!}}
 
You also might want to check out this post on the Main Forum. She's got a similar outbreak (diarrhea, in this case) running through her household and there are some good tips in the post on how to prevent cross-contamination and re-contamination.
 
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