? 25/05 Freya keeps bouncing - how do we stop this?

SwedishLiz

SwedishLiz

Member Since 2023
Hi, everyone!
Every time we seem to be making progress, poor little Freya’s body seems to overreact & we spend the next few days dealing with her ‘bounce’.
I’m loathe to increase her current dose as she’s still (occasionally) reaching good BG levels & I definitely don’t want her to drop even faster & therefore bounce even more, but I’m running out of ideas as to how to stop her dropping so low that her body then feels the need to bounce in the first place…
As always, all advice/expertise is gratefully received! Thank you!
 
You are writing as if bouncing is a bad thing. Almost all cats bounce, some more than others, especially when newer diabetics. The way to get rid of bouncing is to get to a dose where she spends a lot of time in normal blood glucose numbers, and gets comfortable in those numbers. That means increasing the dose and not holding dose too long. I would increase as per what TR says to do. Otherwise glucose toxicity will also happen. That means her body gets used to higher numbers, and you have to increase the dose even more to get her out of those high numbers. Doses that see a bit of green, but not regulated, should be increased every 10 cycles. You've held this dose for 14 cycles so far, so she needs another increase.

One more thing, it looks like you have gotten Freya past the 6 units dose. At this point, we suggest to people that there is some other condition causing insulin resistance. I would recommend you get the vet to have her tested for acromegaly. That's a blood draw that is sent to the Royal Vet Clinic in England. There are other secondary endocrine conditions that can cause cats to need higher doses (IAA or insulin auto antibodies, and Cushings), but research from RVC shows one in about 4 diabetic cats has acromegaly, so it's the more likely condition. And there are treatments for acromegaly, should that be what Freya has. My Neko had both acromegaly and IAA.
 
Wow. This has scared the absolute pants off me! I’ll have to do some research over the weekend as to what these conditions are & how they may affect a cat, but asking a Swedish vet to send a test to the UK just won’t happen (thanks, Brexit!) so unless the acromegaly test is available in Sweden ideally or the EU in general, we can count this out!
On your advice, we’ll increase Freya’s dose to 7.5 units tomorrow morning & keep everything crossed!
Thank you!
 
Acromegaly is the result of a benign tumour on the pituitary gland. It causes excess growth hormone to be produced, which in turn causes the diabetes. We do have a separate forum with information on FDMB that has more information. IAA mostly impacts dosing, and is self limiting, meaning it can go away on it's own after a while.

We have had plenty of vets in Europe send blood for this test to England. Just recently one from Prague, who sent it through Idexx labs. You won't know until you ask. You do want to get a diagnosis, because if it's positive, you can look at treatment. The only other place that does this test is Michigan State University in the US.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Acromegaly is the result of a benign tumour on the pituitary gland. It causes excess growth hormone to be produced, which in turn causes the diabetes. We do have a separate forum with information on FDMB that has more information. IAA mostly impacts dosing, and is self limiting, meaning it can go away on it's own after a while.

We have had plenty of vets in Europe send blood for this test to England. Just recently one from Prague, who sent it through Idexx labs. You won't know until you ask. You do want to get a diagnosis, because if it's positive, you can look at treatment. The only other place that does this test is Michigan State University in the US.
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I have limited funds, multiple health issues of my own & a failing marriage so my options to help Freya are not always what others may have access to. Please, send me links to any clinics that may be able to help, Thank you!
 
The cheapest option for treatment is a drug called cabergoline. You just need to get a vet to prescribe it and you give it daily. The other options involve travel and can be rather pricey. We don't know yet that Freya has this condition, so it's early to discuss details.
 
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