paracosmist
Member Since 2024
Hi everyone, my name is Sofia and I have an 11 year old female diabetic cat named Hazel. I'm here because I'm desperate and I feel lost and I don't know what to do. Hazel was diagnosed with diabates on December 15th, 2023. She was started on 1.5 units of vetsulin twice a day and only eating purina DM. She was doing great. She had an appetite increase, and became quite insatiable, but she did lose a bit of weight, and dropped to 11 pounds but the vet was fine with it. In February of this year, she did a blood glucose curve and the vet was satisfied with the results and said to keep giving her 1.5 units twice daily.
In early March her hunger decreased a bit, but I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was a sign that the diabetes was becoming regulated. She remained fine for a bit, eating a little bit less than her normal amount, still getting her shots twice daily but sometimes they couldnt always be exactly 12 hours apart. sometimes 9 or 10 hours apart. Anyways, in the second week of March, she became very lethargic and vomited two days in a row, so we decided to take her to an ER late at night, where she was diagnosed with ketoacidosis.
I did not know of this complication prior and I feel very guilty for not taking the steps to fully educate myself. The vet did not let me know that this complication existed, did not tell me to home test for glucose or for ketones. She was in the ER for two days, we couldn't afford it so we had to move her to my primary vet. In total, she was hospitalized for 7 days. She was on constant drip insulin, electrolytes, with a potassium supplement, appetite stimulant, nausea medication, etc. It took about 4 days just for her electrolytes to improve. By day 5, her ketones were at zero, and her electrolytes were restored, and by day 6 and 7 they switched her over to subcutaneous insulin instead of IV and they said her glucose was responding well.
She was discharged yesterday, and they sent me home with keto stix to test her urine. They also said she should receive 2 units now. They told me her ketones measured at trace before she was discharged. She ate a small amount of food last night, got her 2 units, and went to sleep and woke up fine. Now here is my nightmare, I tested her urine at home with the strips today at around 12pm, about 5 hours after her first meal and insulin dose, and it read at the highest amount. Her glucose also read at a very high amount. How is this possible? I called the vet immediately and told them the ketones are reading at the highest value. They asked me if she's lethargic, can she get up and walk around, I said yes she's walking around the whole house, she jumps up onto beds and couches fine, she just tired and is napping for most of the day and had a small breakfast. They advised me to feed her her normal dinner amount and if she eats half of it, give her a half dose, and if she eats all of it, give her a full dose, and to test urine again and call them with an update in the morning.
She got very hungry again around 3pm, her first meal was at 7:30am, but she barely ate, she is very very thin. She lost like 3 more pounds while she was hospitalized. I think she hates the purina DM, because i served it and she ate one bite and walked away. but we cooked her unseasoned steamed white chicken breast and she ate nearly an entire cup of it mixed with some fancy feast pate. I know it was less than 12 hours before but she was begging for a meal, so she took about an hour to fully finish the plate but she finished it and got her 2 units. Now she is lying here next to me, napping, stretched out, and purring when I pet her. She seems fine but just really lazy but she's always been kind of a lazy cat so it's hard to tell really. I am just waiting for her to urinate again so I can test it. But what happens if the ketones are still high? The vet told me to take her to the ER if she is too lethargic to move, but that has not been the case all day. is it possible the strip gave a false positive? If not, how can i bring her ketones back down at home? Im just so confused, I dont know why or how they went up again, after being discharged from the hospital less than 24 hours ago. Please, I know I wrote alot and I'm sorry, but I can't lose her, her hospital stay was an insane amount of money and I wouldn't be able to afford that a second time. I just want to understand why and how the ketones went back up and what can I do please, I feel so depressed about this. Thank you for anyone who can help.
In early March her hunger decreased a bit, but I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was a sign that the diabetes was becoming regulated. She remained fine for a bit, eating a little bit less than her normal amount, still getting her shots twice daily but sometimes they couldnt always be exactly 12 hours apart. sometimes 9 or 10 hours apart. Anyways, in the second week of March, she became very lethargic and vomited two days in a row, so we decided to take her to an ER late at night, where she was diagnosed with ketoacidosis.
I did not know of this complication prior and I feel very guilty for not taking the steps to fully educate myself. The vet did not let me know that this complication existed, did not tell me to home test for glucose or for ketones. She was in the ER for two days, we couldn't afford it so we had to move her to my primary vet. In total, she was hospitalized for 7 days. She was on constant drip insulin, electrolytes, with a potassium supplement, appetite stimulant, nausea medication, etc. It took about 4 days just for her electrolytes to improve. By day 5, her ketones were at zero, and her electrolytes were restored, and by day 6 and 7 they switched her over to subcutaneous insulin instead of IV and they said her glucose was responding well.
She was discharged yesterday, and they sent me home with keto stix to test her urine. They also said she should receive 2 units now. They told me her ketones measured at trace before she was discharged. She ate a small amount of food last night, got her 2 units, and went to sleep and woke up fine. Now here is my nightmare, I tested her urine at home with the strips today at around 12pm, about 5 hours after her first meal and insulin dose, and it read at the highest amount. Her glucose also read at a very high amount. How is this possible? I called the vet immediately and told them the ketones are reading at the highest value. They asked me if she's lethargic, can she get up and walk around, I said yes she's walking around the whole house, she jumps up onto beds and couches fine, she just tired and is napping for most of the day and had a small breakfast. They advised me to feed her her normal dinner amount and if she eats half of it, give her a half dose, and if she eats all of it, give her a full dose, and to test urine again and call them with an update in the morning.
She got very hungry again around 3pm, her first meal was at 7:30am, but she barely ate, she is very very thin. She lost like 3 more pounds while she was hospitalized. I think she hates the purina DM, because i served it and she ate one bite and walked away. but we cooked her unseasoned steamed white chicken breast and she ate nearly an entire cup of it mixed with some fancy feast pate. I know it was less than 12 hours before but she was begging for a meal, so she took about an hour to fully finish the plate but she finished it and got her 2 units. Now she is lying here next to me, napping, stretched out, and purring when I pet her. She seems fine but just really lazy but she's always been kind of a lazy cat so it's hard to tell really. I am just waiting for her to urinate again so I can test it. But what happens if the ketones are still high? The vet told me to take her to the ER if she is too lethargic to move, but that has not been the case all day. is it possible the strip gave a false positive? If not, how can i bring her ketones back down at home? Im just so confused, I dont know why or how they went up again, after being discharged from the hospital less than 24 hours ago. Please, I know I wrote alot and I'm sorry, but I can't lose her, her hospital stay was an insane amount of money and I wouldn't be able to afford that a second time. I just want to understand why and how the ketones went back up and what can I do please, I feel so depressed about this. Thank you for anyone who can help.
A few pieces of cooked chicken added to it is fine but limit the un-supplemented chicken to no more than 10% of the diet.
