4/21-Scratchie-AMPS-247, +3.5-247 now at ER vet

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Scratchie'smom

4/20 Condo

Morning all. A little concerned about my boy this morning - he is definitely 'off' his normal game. No Ps in place since midnight. Barely ate this morning - just enough for his shot. Seems to not be feeling well at all. Nose is dry and he threw up some clear bile this morning. The not eating bothers me, as well as his whole demeanor today. He just plain doesn't feel well for some reason.

Hoping he gets to feeling better. Paws crossed on that one. This just isn't like him. He didn't even sleep with me last night.... :sad:

Hope everyone has great numbers and a great day today! Working from home again today and other than a trip to the grocery store, should be around. Don't want to be too far away from my boy......

Jo
 
Re: 4/21-Scratchie-AMPS-247

Scratchie'smom said:
4/20 Condo

Morning all. A little concerned about my boy this morning - he is definitely 'off' his normal game. No Ps in place since midnight. Barely ate this morning - just enough for his shot. Seems to not be feeling well at all. Nose is dry and he threw up some clear bile this morning. The not eating bothers me, as well as his whole demeanor today. He just plain doesn't feel well for some reason.

Hoping he gets to feeling better. Paws crossed on that one. This just isn't like him. He didn't even sleep with me last night.... :sad:

Hope everyone has great numbers and a great day today! Working from home again today and other than a trip to the grocery store, should be around. Don't want to be too far away from my boy......

Jo
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Poor Scratchie - and poor mom - it is really frustrating that they can't tell us what's wrong;. Here's hoping its just an upset tummy that clears quickly.....
 
Re: 4/21-Scratchie-AMPS-247

((((Hugs))))) I'm so sorry he isn't feeling well today, hopefully it is nothing serious and just a little upset tummy or something. We will have all our fingers, toes, paws and tails crossed that it is just one of those days and it passes quickly. Please do keep us updated will be sending tons of Feel Better Scratchie vibes.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Re: 4/21-Scratchie-AMPS-247

Hi Jo,

I am really sorry to hear Scratchie isn't well today; is he feeling any better this afternoon? I truly hope so. Gobbles & I are sending -feel better- vines to Scratchie and -don't worry too much Mom- vines to you cat_pet_icon
 
Re: 4/21-Scratchie-AMPS-247

At the ER his ketones very high all of a sudden

Pray for my boy!!!
 
Re: 4/21-Scratchie-AMPS-247

Scratchie'smom said:
At the ER his ketones very high all of a sudden

Pray for my boy!!!
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You two are in my thoughts.....best of luck to you both. Scratchis is a very lucky kitty to have such a caring and attentive mom that caught this early.
 
Oh Honey tons of healing snowflakes on their way for Scratchie and calming vibes for you and your DH as well. Crossing everything we have for him to pull through this, hopefully you caught it very quickly and his stay in the ER will be a short one. PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED!!!!! We will all be pulling for you both. I know how quickly they can go from just fine to gravely ill seemingly almost overnight.

Prayers on their way from our home to yours. Come On Scratchie Fight Boy Fight mommy and daddy love you so very much you just have to be okay.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Thanks everyone. They say he is not critical and I caught it quickly. Did they say that to make me feel better? I'm so upset! DH is just mad. Don't want to go there with that. Sometimes he doesn't understand. Was it the switch on insulin? The Dr mentioned that but I don't think so.

Keep the prayers coming please!

Then what do I change when I get him home??

Love to all! Hug your babies!!
 
:-D High Paws from Heathy and Lunatoones! So happy it turned out OK. Will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. You did the right thing taking him to the ER.
 
Thanks. Don't know if its ok they kept him overnight take to vet in the morning. I'm praying he will be ok
 
I know its hard but ya gotta send Scratchie positive vibes. He needs his wonderful momma strong. Its probably all precautionary. Your all in my thoughts.
 
Scratchie'smom said:
Thanks. Don't know if its ok they kept him overnight take to vet in the morning. I'm praying he will be ok
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Thats a wise precaution......they'll continue to give him fluids to flush out his system and make sure that they keep his electrolytes balanced while they do this. I'm sure they'll also monitor his BG levels and hopefully they'll manage to run a bit of a curve.

Better safe than sorry......but its not your fault - you didn't do anything wrong......every cat is different and lots of things can cause ketosis in a diabetic cat. Hopefully the tests that they are running will point to something that you can fix or monitor so that you won't be worrying quite so much when you get him home tomrrow.
 
Jo,

Ever since I saw your post I have been pouring over his spreadsheet, and I honestly don't believe it was the switch in the insulin, Lantus just wasn't working for him and his numbers have been so much better on Levemir. For the first time in a long time he is starting to come down and stay down, he's holding on to the yellows instead of constantly swimming in the pinks. Granted he still isn't as low as either you or I would like him to be, but neither of us wanted him crashing either. He is getting movement on Lev where he had none on Lantus or he would roller coaster which couldn't have felt good either.

Hopefully the tests will reveal the cause of this sudden switch for him, but honestly I don't know what else you could have done at this point with him other than switch insulins. He just could continue the way he was, living on the pink floor something had to change and you took the logical next step...if it wasn't food, it had to be the insulin. And it was starting to work for him and since he had never shown the tendency to throw ketones you had no way of knowing not to keep raising the dose rapidly to force him down quicker. It could be just so many things...an infection brewing somewhere, possible pancreatis that threw him off his game when it came to eating. Because normally high BGs in and of themselves doesn't cause ketones, and because you are a wonderful momma bean even afterall this time of caring for him you didn't become slack on testing him for ketones. You didn't take the approach of well he's never had them so he is fine, you kept checking and because you did you caught him early while it was just high ketones and not DKA.

We can only do our best with the information we have at the time, and that is what you did, your level best for your boy. Just like none of us before we had our first diabetic knew that dry food was bad for them, we learn as we go along and our present cats benefit as well as every cat that lands in our lives afterwards benefits. We aren't born with all the answers, not in caring for our human children, our furry children or for that matter how to live our own lives. Nothing in this life on earth comes with a set of instructions, we learn by trial and error. We make mistakes we are human. Only God is perfect and we just aren't him we are imperfect and we will make mistakes. And something that I have learned the hard way in years and years of loving animals and in rescue, sometimes regardless of what we do, how much we know or what we don't do, there are things beyond our control. Even when we have done everything right things are going to happen, we are going to have them get sick, we are even going to lose a few. It is just the way of life.

Holding you all close in my thoughts and prayers today and those prayers are just going to keep coming until your boy is healthy and happy again and back in your arms.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Mel that was beautifully said. Thank you!

I don't think it was the change either. Hopefully we will find out the cause.
 
Wondering if anyone here has experience with low potassium causing symptoms similar to the ones Jo describes with Scratchie. Found this article online on Pet MD (link below).

The article titled Low Blood Potassium in Cats says, “In diabetic patients (with low potassium), the urinalysis may reveal high glucose levels and ketone bodies in urine.” Jo mentioned that Scratchie’s blood work revealed low potassium – but not sure if it was cause or effect.

The article also says symptoms of low potassium include vomiting, lethargy, lack of appetite etc., and that one possible cause of low potassium is “insulin administration.”

I found other references online saying that giving insulin could cause low potassium levels; and also that low potassium levels in turn could suppress the release of insulin (these were human references). So wondering if low potassium could be playing a role in the production of ketones in this case, as well as impacting Scratchie’s ability to absorb the insulin (based on his history of higher numbers despite high insulin dose).

I am not a medical professional, so wondering if anyone else out there has any experience or could speak to the relationship between potassium and insulin, and whether it might be a factor here.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/end ... XSQGIJAvcZ
 
I don't but I know Jenn Tucker's Mom went through low potassium with Tucker. But that would be something that is going to show up I would think on Scratchie's blood work and tests. But I know in Tucker's case at least muscle weakness was one of telling signs. Personally I don't want to jump to any conclusions or go looking for the what ifs until we have lab results to point us in a particular direction. I know with Musette when she did a complete 180 on me it was because of anemia so there could be literally 100s of reasons and until we have lab values to put us on a trail it is kind of pointless to cause needless worry. Sort of putting the cart before the horse kind of thing IMHO. Right now the focus is to get Scratchie home and feeling better then if need be we start trying to piece together the what happened and how do we keep it from happening again.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
I understand. Jo mentioned to me that the lab results said low potassium so that's why I was speculating about it and wanted to know if anyone else had experienced anything similar. Just something to ask the vet about (cause and effect).
 
How's Scratchie today...Been watching for updates....hope all is well and he is either already home, or will be shortly.... nailbite_smile

We are all praying for your little guy.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
Well you beat me to it, I was going to pop in and post the same thing...I also heard from Jo...they are both home but she is just completely exhausted but will post tomorrow. Breathing a big sigh of relief I know I was up every couple of hours last night watching for and also hoping not to see any further updates. As I figured if anything had happened for the worse she would have updated.

So for now just wrapping them all in great big cyber hugs and wishing Jo, DH and Scratchie sweet dreams and much needed rest tonight. With continued prayers and healing vines for all.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
MommaOfMuse said:
Well you beat me to it, I was going to pop in and post the same thing...I also heard from Jo...they are both home but she is just completely exhausted but will post tomorrow. Breathing a big sigh of relief I know I was up every couple of hours last night watching for and also hoping not to see any further updates. As I figured if anything had happened for the worse she would have updated.

So for now just wrapping them all in great big cyber hugs and wishing Jo, DH and Scratchie sweet dreams and much needed rest tonight. With continued prayers and healing vines for all.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
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Thank you guys for the update - I've been worried, so its good to know she and Scratchie are home....but I can totally understand how exhausted she must be......
 
Jo

Any updates today on Scratchie? Sending him healing vines and white light. Please let us know if we can do anything.

If he has high ketones, he needs insulin, lots of water, and lots of food and the vets need to identify the source of any infection so it doesn't go into DKA. If his ketones are still high today, I'd talk to the vets about getting fluids into him...you can do subq fluids at home. And if he's not eating, you can syringe feed him something like IAMS Max Cal. It's low carb but packed with calories. You need a script for it if your vet doesn't carry it.

We have alot of members who are very knowledgeable about high ketones, DKA, pancreatitis and we can support you with following treatments prescribed by your vet or give you info to take to him/her.

((((Jo))))))
 
Jo --

I'm very glad you caught the ketone level.

With DKA, electrolyte levels (potassium and phosphorus) can drop. This is one of the reasons that ketones/ketoacidosis can be so dangerous. You cannot simply add potassium. Typically, electrolyte levels need to be carefully monitored since too high a level is just as dangerous as too low.

I feel compelled to make a point. Scratchie's BG levels on Lantus were looking good when he was getting over 5.0u. When the dose was drastically cut, the SS turned to pink. With the switch to Lev and a further dose reduction to 0.5u, frankly, I'm not entirely surprised that ketones are a problem.

Ketones can result from not enough insulin, the presence of some sort of inflammation or infection, and not eating. In this particular situation, I doubt that it's the insulin switch that is a causal factor. Rather, the drop in dose is likely a contributing factor.

Please add as much water as Scratchie can tolerate to his food. Fluids can help to flush ketones. You may need to discuss giving subcutaneous fluids with your vet. You need to do something about Scratchie's dose. Either raise his dose in a systematic, but aggressive manner or you need to discuss the use of Humulin R with your vet or with experienced members -- both Libby and Dyana have used R. I am very concerned that if you don't get a sufficient amount of insulin into your kitty, you are going to be waging an ongoing battle with ketones.

I hope Scratchie is doing better this morning.
 
Sending positive vibes to you and Scratchie! I hope he's starting to feel better.. This board has great info and support as I am sure you know. I don't think my furbaby and I would have made it through this past month without the board and these people!!
 
Wishing you all the best Scratchie and Jo.
J.D. is a DKA survivor, so I know how scary ketones can be.

Please let us know if we can be of any help, okay?

Sending loving pets to Scratchie and hugs to you.
 
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